North Korea launched its Olympic “charm offensive” in earnest on Thursday with performances by cheerleaders and a mostly-female marching band, followed by an announcement that dictator Kim Jong-un’s sister will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
An African American skater on the U.S. Olympic team, is furious that a white female athlete was chosen by coin toss to represent the U.S. in the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics this week in Peyongchang, South Korea.
Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that the United States will “soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever.” U.S. officials said those sanctions would be imposed before the end of the Winter Olympics, which means Pence will quite possibly be in Pyeongchang, South Korea when they go into effect.
North Korea has announced it will send Kim Yo-jong, dictator Kim Jong-un’s sister, to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, making the high-ranking Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) official the first Kim family member to step foot in free South Korea since the countries split.
North Korea has begun “balloon-dropping” propaganda into South Korea ahead of the country’s joint efforts in the upcoming Winter Olympics.
According to a CNN report, North Korea is planning to show off “hundreds” of missiles and rockets during its pre-Olympic parade on February 8, including dozens of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Contents: NY Times publishes a generational analysis of South Korea; North Korea cancels joint cultural event because of ‘insulting’ media reports; Brief generational history of South Korea since World War II
North Korea suddenly canceled an upcoming joint “cultural event” with South Korea on Monday, while complaining about “biased” and “insulting” South Korean media coverage. The cancellation marks a significant setback in the highly touted “thawing” of relations with the outlaw Communist nation.
North Korea has called for unification with South Korea on a number of issues despite the build-up of tensions between both countries and their allies.
North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Han Tae Song claimed on Tuesday that the United States is using the Winter Olympics as an excuse for provocative military maneuvers, and boasted North Korea has a “powerful and reliable” nuclear deterrent ready to thwart foreign invaders.
A South Korean diplomat told reporters Wednesday that the leftist government of President Moon Jae-in believes “now is the best time” for dialogue between the United States and the rogue communist regime in North Korea.
Despite the diplomatic “thaw” that made North Korean participation in the Winter Olympics possible and a general media atmosphere of excitement around Pyongyang’s relative openness after years of defiant isolation, South Korean officials say North Korea has not responded to their call for military talks.
Multiple polls of South Korean citizens taken this week have found a drop in approval ratings for President Moon Jae-in, who has risked his legacy on a scheme to include North Korea in next month’s Winter Olympics that may come at the price of some South Korean athletes’ lifelong dream.
Contents: US, Canada sponsor international North Korea meeting to send signal to China, Russia; North Korea’s Olympics publicity stunt gains widespread media adoration
The United States and Canada hosted a 20-nation gathering in Vancouver on Tuesday, leading to a consensus that even tougher sanctions could be applied against North Korea to make it give up on developing nuclear missiles. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said military options are still on the table if these sanctions fail.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says rival Koreas have agreed to form their first joint Olympic team and march together in opening ceremony.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made clear on Tuesday that America and its allies would reject the Chinese “freeze-for-freeze” plan to convince the U.S. military to diminish its presence in Asia allegedly in exchange for North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.
President Donald Trump said he ‘probably’ had a great relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, despite ridiculing him on Twitter.
Reuters published a misleading report Thursday giving the impression that South Korea was certain to ban the trading of cyber currencies such as Bitcoin, contributing to a panicked sell-off of digital blockchain assets.
The State Department has approved the sale of $133 million worth of missiles to Japan in an effort to shore up its military defense as tensions with North Korea continue to escalate.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in gave a press conference on Wednesday in which he said President Donald Trump “deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks” that were held this week.
South Korea’s Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon announced Wednesday that Seoul had agreed to allow a “massive delegation totaling between 400-500 people” from North Korea to attend this year’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Delegations from North and South Korea met at the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday to discuss North Korea’s participation at the Winter Olympics and generally improving the tense situation on the peninsula. At the meeting, North Korea made an obvious play to fracture the international coalition aligned against its nuclear missile program and weaken South Korean resolve.
An American tourist was taken into custody Thursday after allegedly walking around a Thai airport naked and throwing feces at airport employees.
North Korea announced on Sunday that it will send a five-member delegation to talks in the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday, the first formal contact between the two Korean nations in over two years.
Contents: North Korea reveals major change in strategic direction; North Korea’s ‘clarification’ of the New Year speech; The stark choice facing the Trump administration
North and South Korea will hold high-level talks next week in the border village of Panmunjom to discuss both the upcoming Winter Olympics and how to “improve the two Koreas’ relations” more broadly, according to a statement from the South Korean Ministry of Unification on Friday.
CNN’s Brian Stelter asked Twitter on Tuesday whether President Donald Trump’s tweet threatening North Korea with his “much bigger & more powerful” nuclear button violated the social media network’s terms of service.
President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in decided in a phone conversation on Thursday to suspend joint U.S.-South Korean military drills during the 2018 Winter Olympics in a diplomatic overture to North Korea, which constantly complains about such exercises.
South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs is scheduled to meet Chinese nuclear envoy Kong Xuanyou on Friday to discuss de-escalating tensions with North Korea.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a press conference on Thursday that Japan’s security environment is “at its severest since World War II” because of North Korea, and he vowed to “protect the people’s lives and peaceful living in any situation.”
Signals from North Korea remain as difficult to read as ever. Wednesday brought news that dictator Kim Jong-un has ordered the reactivation of a hotline to South Korea that has been dormant for nearly two years, but also that he has ordered the construction of North Korea’s largest missile ever, with an eye towards launching it on the 70th anniversary of the Communist regime in September.
South Korea’s Yonhap News reported on Tuesday that Seoul has proposed high-level talks with North Korea next week, ostensibly to discuss North Korean participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. The offer came after North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s intriguingly “conciliatory” annual address on New Year’s Day.
North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un delivered a New Year’s Eve speech, saying the United States is within range of the country’s nuclear weapons.
China is reportedly pushing back against a U.S. move to blacklist cargo ships that violate U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
At least four defectors from North Korea are showing signs of exposure to radiation, a trend that could be linked to the country’s rapidly developing nuclear weapons program.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted that its efforts to contain North Korea are “earnest and serious,” while Chinese state media called President Donald Trump’s accusations of illicit oil trade with Pyongyang “absurd” and “irresponsible” on Friday.
South Korea’s left-wing president Joon Mae-in has described a compensation deal between his country and Japan over the treatment of wartime sex slaves as “seriously flawed” and threatened to revoke it.
Contents: China funds unauthorized anti-Japan comfort woman statue in Manila, Philippines; South Korea calls for renegotiating 2015 deal with Japan on comfort women
Contents: Remembering the 1914 World War I Christmas Truce; The ‘anti-war movement’ in World War I; World War I vs World War II and World War III
