North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Sunday declaring its support for “the independent will and decision of the government and people of Venezuela,” without explicitly identifying ally and dictator Nicolás Maduro as the president of the country.
With President Donald Trump now scheduled to hold a second meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un this month, this time in Vietnam, the stars simply are not in alignment for Trump successfully to press Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs. For several reasons, it is advantage Kim.
The State Department’s special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, admitted in remarks Thursday that Washington and Pyongyang “do not have a specific and agreed definition of what final, fully verified denuclearisation” means, hindering talks to end the communist regime’s illegal nuclear program.
North Korea has reportedly dispatched Han Song-ryol, vice foreign minister and one of that country’s most experienced negotiators, to a labor camp along with five other top officials for the crime of “breaching doctrine” by suggesting innovative tactics for breaking the diplomatic stalemate with the United States.
Beijing hosted concerts by North Korean musicians on Saturday and Sunday as a gesture of goodwill upon the visit of senior communist official Ri Su-yong to the Chinese capital, the latest diplomatic effort since dictator Kim Jong-un visited China this month.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on Thursday expressed “great satisfaction” with the “good personal letter” he received from President Donald Trump, praised Trump’s “unusual determination and will” to achieve denuclearization, and ordered preparations to begin for a second U.S.-North Korea summit.
Trusted high-ranking officials in North Korea’s communist Workers’ Party received gifts this month of luxury cosmetics from South Korea, a sign of gratitude from dictator Kim Jong-un that defies government propaganda’s incessant demands that North Korean civilians eschew the comforts of capitalism, a report revealed Wednesday.
A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and its Beyond Parallel project asserted on Monday that North Korea has “approximately 20 undeclared missile operating bases,” one of which is described in detail by the authors.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged the United States to pursue diplomacy with North Korea, promising his country would provide all possible assistance to the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
North Korea’s biochemical weapons capabilities may be even more dangerous than its nuclear missile program with weapons that could “wipe out all of humanity,” military experts warned this week.
The White House announced on Friday afternoon that President Donald Trump met for an hour and a half with North Korean envoy Kim Yong-chol to “discuss denuclearization and a second summit, which will take place near the end of February.”
Senior North Korean official Kim Yong-chol, the second-in-command in the ruling communist Workers’ Party, reportedly landed in Washington, D.C., Thursday for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Several reports suggest Kim may meet with President Donald Trump and may be carrying a letter from dictator Kim Jong-un.
Analysts at 38 North on Wednesday reviewed evidence of extensive construction at the Wonsan-Kalma resort, possibly indicating North Korea expects sanctions to end, engagement with the outside world to increase, and tourism to boom.
South Korean news outlets, citing a report from the Washington Post, claimed on Thursday that North Korea and the United States agreed to a second summit between American President Donald Trump and dictator Kim Jong-un, likely to occur in Vietnam in March or April.
South Korea’s leftist government under President Moon Jae-in abandoned the use of the word “enemy” to describe North Korea, despite the active status of the Korean War, in its most recent defense white paper published Wednesday.
Chinese state media endorsed the idea of communist Vietnam hosting the upcoming summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, following a report by the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun on Tuesday indicating Hanoi is under consideration as the proposed location.
North Korea’s largest and most important nuclear research facilities remain well-maintained and operational, the monitor site 38 North revealed this week.
Lee Hae-chan, chairman of South Korea’s governing Democratic Party (DP), said on Friday that he expects Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping to visit both North and South Korea this spring.
A United Nations expert described North Korea’s serial human rights abuses as creating an “extremely serious” situation in the communist country during a visit to South Korea Friday, urging Pyongyang to allow U.N. inspections and the world to resolve the current sanctions situation on the country.
South Korean leader Moon Jae-in announced on Thursday that he would ask the United States to lift sanctions on North Korea, in part to allow Seoul more contact with Pyongyang.
Kim Jong-un completed his visit to Beijing on Wednesday, beginning the 14-hour train voyage back to Pyongyang following a factory tour, talks with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, and what some outlets describe as a “lavish birthday banquet.”
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un made his fourth known trip to China on Monday at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim made the journey by train, as is his habit, bringing most of the top North Korean Communist Party officials and his wife Ri Sol-ju along for the four-day excursion.
President Donald Trump’s initial leverage with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when they first met has now been lost. It is not a result of his own actions.
North Korea reportedly executed an artillery commander in public in an airfield this week on charges of “insubordination” and “immorality.”
Geologists recorded another earthquake near North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site on Wednesday, an incident that South Korean officials believe is an aftershock from its last nuclear test in September 2017.
South Korean intelligence officials confirmed on Thursday that the chargé d’affaires at the North Korean embassy in Rome, Jo Song-gil, and his family disappeared after allegedly leaving the country to return to Pyongyang in November.
North Korea’s state media announced that Pyongyang sent a celebratory floral basket to the Cuban embassy on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Revolution. Dictator Kim Jong-un also sent a friendly greeting to dictator Raúl Castro, a sign North Korea expects Cuba to play a major role in its diplomacy in 2019.
President Trump issued a warm tweet to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of an anticipated second meeting early this year.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un delivered his much-anticipated New Year’s address in the early hours of Tuesday morning Eastern time. As expected, the speech was largely focused on North Korea’s economy but included some mixed messages about denuclearization.
It is a safe bet that 2019 will be a crucial year for North Korea. Dictator Kim Jong-un closed out the year by sending South Korean President Moon Jae-in a letter with a “positive” message, an invitation to hold further summit meetings, and a vague commitment from Kim to make his long-promised historic visit to Seoul.
North Korea’s state media has wrapped up 2018 with yet another tirade against the United States, this time condemning Washington’s condemnation of the dire state of human rights in the communist country and insisting that any criticism is the product of the envy Americans feel at the “flower garden of human love” in North Korea.
President Donald Trump tweeted 2,843 times in 2018, willingly engaging in a messaging war with his critics, the “haters,” the “losers” and the “fake news” on social media.
North Korea’s state media assailed the United States and allies at the United Nations Tuesday for helping pass a resolution condemning Pyongyang’s decades-long systematic human rights abuses, calling the resolution “a serious political provocation against the dignified” Korean state.
The South China Morning Post, citing Reuters statistics, reported on Monday that China has reduced its trade with North Korea by over 50 percent in the past year, potentially crippling Pyongyang’s economy given that China is North Korea’s largest trade partner.
North Korea announced on Thursday it will never unilaterally get rid of its nuclear weapons unless the United States removes its own “nuclear threat” from the Korean peninsula.
Contents: US issues new sanctions on North Korea over human rights abuses; North Korea threatens retaliation for the sanctions; Japan-Korea relations worsen over ‘comfort women’ issue
The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo highlighted a report on Friday indicating that North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which it dramatically claimed to have been blown up as a gesture of goodwill, may still be able to function with minimal repairs.
China has apparently arrested another Canadian, just a few days after detaining analyst and former diplomat Michael Kovrig. The second detainee is Michael Spavor, a businessman with ties to North Korea who helped arrange meetings between dictator Kim Jong-un and former basketball star Dennis Rodman.
The prospects of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un visiting Seoul in the last few days left in this year are bleak, the Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday, citing South Korea’s presidential office.
South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyon expressed hope on Tuesday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will follow through on his promise to visit Seoul and make the trip a “stepping stone” to his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
