United States and North Korea

Suspected North Korean hackers have attempted an attack targeting a major joint military exercise between Seoul and Washington that starts on Monday, South Korean police said.

South Korea and the United States will kick off the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield drills on Monday through August 31 to counter growing threats from the nuclear-armed North.

Pyongyang views such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and has repeatedly warned it would take "overwhelming" action in response. — AFP

A US soldier is believed to have been detained by North Korea after crossing the heavily fortified border -- an incident likely to further aggravate Washington's troubled relations with the nuclear-armed state.

Hours later, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, according to the South Korean military -- an apparent response to the first visit by an American nuclear-armed submarine to a South Korean port in decades.

The events underscored the diplomatic tightrope being walked by Seoul and Washington in the face of an increasingly assertive Pyongyang. — AFP

North Korea threatens to shoot down any US spy planes violating its airspace and condemns Washington's plans to deploy a nuclear missile submarine near the Korean peninsula.

A spokesperson for the North's Ministry of National Defense says the United States has "intensified espionage activities beyond the wartime level", with "provocative" flights made by US spy aircraft over eight straight days this month, and one reconnaissance plane intruding into its airspace over the East Sea "several times".

"There is no guarantee that such shocking accident as downing of the US Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane will not happen in the East Sea of Korea," the spokesperson says in a statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. — AFP

North Korea has accused a US spy aircraft of violating its airspace and condemned Washington's plans to deploy a nuclear missile submarine near the Korean peninsula.

A spokesperson for the North's Ministry of National Defence said "provocative" flights were made by US spy aircraft this month, with one reconnaissance plane intruding into its airspace over the East Sea "several times".

"There is no guarantee that such shocking accident as downing of the U.S. Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane will not happen in the East Sea of Korea," the spokesperson said in a statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. — AFP

North Korea has warned that it would be a "clear declaration of war" if its missiles were shot down during their test launches over the Pacific Ocean.

The United States and South Korea have ramped up defence cooperation, including joint drills, in the face of growing threats from nuclear-armed Pyongyang, which has conducted a wave of banned weapons tests in recent months.

North Korea has said its nuclear weapons and missile programmes are for self-defence, and has bristled over US-South Korea military exercises, describing them as rehearsals for an invasion.

"It will be regarded as a clear declaration of war against the DPRK, in case such military response as interception takes place against our tests of strategic weapons," Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister, says in a statement, using North Korea's official name.

"The Pacific Ocean does not belong to the dominium of the U.S. or Japan." — AFP

State news agency KCNA says North Korea's foreign ministry accused the United States of "intentionally" ramping up tensions by flying in joint military drills with South Korea.

The allegation comes after Seoul and Washington announced on Friday more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises from March 13 to 23.

South Korea's defence ministry also posted video online Monday they said showed war planes from both countries training together off the coast of the Korean peninsula. — AFP

The United States has denounced a "dangerous" lack of action by the UN Security Council on North Korea's missile launches, accusing -- but not naming -- China and Russia of having "forced" the body "into silence."

The reclusive North Korean state test-fired dozens of missiles in 2022, setting security postures in East Asia on edge. It fired two ballistic missiles Monday, 48 hours after it test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile.

"In the face of unprecedented launches last year, two permanent members forced us into silence in spite of countless DPRK (North Korean) violations," Washington's UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says, referring to vetoes by China and Russia last May of a resolution that would have imposed new sanctions against Pyongyang.

"On this vital matter, silence leads to irrelevance," she adds at an emergency meeting of the Security Council. — AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister warns of "corresponding counteraction" to US-South Korean joint military drills, state media said, after Pyongyang carried out two banned missile launches in two days.

"The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces' action character," Kim Yo Jong says in statement carried by the official KCNA. — AFP

North Korea has threatened an "unprecedentedly" strong response to upcoming US-South Korea joint military drills, describing them as preparations for war.

The warning came ahead of a tabletop exercise next week in Washington, in which the two allies will discuss responses to the use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang.

North Korea has long condemned joint US-South Korea military drills, calling them rehearsals for an invasion.

It regards the exercises planned for this year "with just apprehension and reason... as preparations for an aggression war", a spokesperson for the North Korean foreign ministry says in a statement released by state media.

If Washington and Seoul go ahead with the drills, "they will face unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions", the statement adds. — AFP

North Korea slams Washington's decision to supply Ukraine with tanks, claiming the US is "further expanding the proxy war" to destroy Russia.

Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, one of the most powerful and sophisticated weapons in the US army, to help Kyiv fight off Moscow's invasion.

Along with China, Russia is one of the North's few international friends and has previously come to the regime's aid. — AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he will seek China's help in persuading North Korea to sit down for talks after Pyongyang's slew of missile tests ratcheted up tensions.

Blinken, who plans to visit Beijing in early 2023 in the first trip by the top US diplomat in more than four years, said he will discuss with China how to "try to convince North Korea to move in another direction."

"We've said very clearly -- and it remains the case -- that we're open to diplomacy without any preconditions. We remain committed to seeing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Blinken told a news conference.

"Today North Korea is not engaged on that basis, but that remains a possibility, and I think China can play a role in helping to move things in that direction," he said. — AFP

State media reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would respond to US threats with nuclear weapons, after Kim personally oversaw Pyongyang's latest launch of intercontinental ballistic missile.

Since Kim declared North Korea a "irreversible" nuclear state in September, Washington has ramped up regional security cooperation, including joint military exercises, and is looking for ways to boost the protection it offers Seoul and Tokyo.

Kim slammed what he called "aggression war drills" and said that if America continues to make threats against the North, Pyongyang "will resolutely react to nukes with nuclear weapons and to total confrontation with all-out confrontation," KCNA reports. — AFP

North Korea defends its recent flurry of missile tests as a legitimate defense against what it called US military threats.

The reclusive communist country has conducted six sanctions-busting launches in less than two weeks, the latest coming Thursday with the firing of a pair of ballistic missiles.

On Tuesday, the North fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, prompting a call for people in affected areas underneath to take cover. — AFP

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles as it justified its recent blitz of sanctions-busting tests as necessary countermeasures against joint military drills by the United States and South Korea.

As the United Nations Security Council met to discuss Pyongyang's Tuesday launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, North Korea blamed Washington for "escalating the military tensions on the Korean peninsula".

The recent launches -- six in less than two weeks, including likely its longest-ever test by distance -- were "the just counteraction measures of the Korean People's Army on South Korea-US joint drills," Pyongyang's foreign ministry says. — AFP

The United States and South Korea warnsof a swift response if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, including US military "adjustments," but again offered talks as a way out.

The two allies say that North Korea could at any time test its first nuclear weapon since 2017, after months of escalating tensions including missile tests and Pyongyang's rebuffing of overtures from President Joe Biden's administration.

Meeting his South Korean counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States was working with allies in Tokyo and Seoul "to be able to respond quickly should the North Koreans proceed with such a test."

"And we are prepared to make both short- and longer-term adjustments to our military posture as appropriate," he says. — Agence France Presse

North Korea, believed poised to test a new nuclear weapon, has ignored multiple US overtures for discussions as well as offers to help in its Covid-19 outbreak, a US diplomat says.

Speaking after Pyongyang test-launched eight ballistic missiles in a single day Sunday, Sung Kim, the US Special Representative to North Korea, says the country has not responded to months of public and private communications seeking to engage over tensions.

President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have repeatedly said publicly that Washington seeks diplomatic talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea "without preconditions," Kim says. — Agence France Presse

US President Joe Biden flies Sunday to Japan for the second leg of a trip intended to reinforce US leadership across Asia in the face of a rising China and dangerously unpredictable, nuclear-armed North Korea.

Biden is leaving South Korea, where he joined newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol for a series of meetings, including discussing expanded military exercises to counter Kim Jong Un's sabre rattling.

As officials from both countries warned that Kim could raise tensions with a nuclear weapon test while Biden is in the region, the US president said the democratic allies must deepen ties.

At a joint press conference with Yoon, Biden cited a global "competition between democracies and autocracies" and said the Asia-Pacific region is a key battleground.

"We talked in some length about the need for us to make this larger than just the United States, Japan, and Korea, but the entire Pacific and the South Pacific and Indo-Pacific. I think this is an opportunity," Biden said. — AFP

The top US envoy on North Korea arrived in Seoul Monday for talks after Pyongyang ratcheted up tension on the peninsula with an unprecedented blitz of missile launches and hints of a nuclear test.

Pyongyang has carried out more than a dozen weapons tests this year, the latest one over the weekend, a short range test that North Korea claimed would enhance the "efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes".

Sung Kim, the US Special Representative for North Korea Policy, will meet with his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk and other officials during his five-day visit.

His arrival comes as Seoul and Washington kicked off a nine-day annual joint military drill. Such exercises have always infuriated Pyongyang, which calls them a rehearsal for war. — AFP

The United States calls for tougher international sanctions against North Korea at the UN Security Council, accusing Pyongyang of "increasingly dangerous provocations" after it test-fired its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile.

"The United States calls on all member states to fully implement the existing Security Council resolutions," US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield says during the meeting convened to discuss North Korea.

"Because of DPRK's increasingly dangerous provocations, the United States will be introducing a... Security Council resolution to update and strengthen the sanctions regime" that was adopted in December 2017, she says, using the official acronym for North Korea. — AFP

The United States announces new sanctions on entities and people in Russia and North Korea after Pyongyang's new ICBM missile test.

The targeted persons and organizations are accused of "transferring sensitive items to North Korea's missile program," the State Department says in a statement.

"These measures are part of our ongoing efforts to impede the DPRK's ability to advance its missile program and they highlight the negative role Russia plays on the world stage as a proliferator to programs of concern," the statement says, using the official acronym for North Korea. — AFP

State media reports that North Korea accused the United States of "double standards" over weapons testing after an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the issue.

Pyongyang fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on Tuesday, the latest in a series of tests in recent weeks, prompting the US and Britain to call the diplomatic meeting in New York.

But a spokesperson from the North's foreign ministry said the test was not aimed at the United States and was carried out "purely for the defence of the country". — AFP

A US envoy makas a new appeal for talks with North Korea, insisting the United States has no hostile intent following a spike in tensions.

Sung Kim, the US special representative on North Korea, met in Washington with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, ahead of a three-way meeting Tuesday with senior Japanese official Takehiro Funakoshi.

"We will seek diplomacy with the DPRK to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States and our allies," Kim says, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We harbor no hostile intent toward the DPRK and we are hopeful to meeting with them without conditions," Kim tells reporters. — AFP

The leader of nuclear-armed North Korea, Kim Jong Un, has blamed the United States for tensions on the peninsula, state media reported Tuesday.

The US is the "root cause" of instability, he said in an opening speech at a defence exhibition, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Pyongyang is under multiple international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which have made rapid progress under Kim. — AFP

The state media reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong has blamed the United States for tensions on the peninsula and accused the South of hypocrisy, as he opened an exhibition showcasing his nuclear-armed country's weapons.

The US is the "root cause" of instability, he said in an address to the "Self-Defense 2021" display, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Pyongyang is under multiple international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which have made rapid progress under Kim. — AFP

The United States says it bears "no hostile intent" towards North Korea and remains open to the idea of negotiations, after Kim Jong Un called the offer "no more than a petty trick."

Kim has accused the administration of US President Joe Biden of pursuing a hostile policy against his nuclear-armed nation, even though Biden's government has repeatedly offered to meet North Korean officials without preconditions.

"The United States harbors no hostile intent toward the DPRK," a State Department spokesperson says in a statement. — AFP

The United States says it bears "no hostile intent" towards North Korea and remains open to the idea of negotiations, after Kim Jong Un called the offer "no more than a petty trick."

Kim has accused the administration of US President Joe Biden of pursuing a hostile policy against his nuclear-armed nation, even though Biden's government has repeatedly offered to meet North Korean officials without preconditions.

"The United States harbors no hostile intent toward the DPRK," a State Department spokesperson says in a statement. — AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemns a US offer of dialogue as a "facade", state media reported Thursday, and accused the Joe Biden administration of continuing a hostile policy against his nuclear-armed country.

Kim condemns the declarations as "nothing more than a facade to mask their deception and hostile acts and an extension of hostile policy from past administrations", the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reports.

Under the new administration, "the US military threat and hostile policy against us have not changed at all but have become more cunning", he says in a lengthy address to the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's one-party parliament. — AFP

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calls Seoul authorities "treacherous" Tuesday over the South's joint military exercises with the United States, warning the two allies would face greater security threats as a result.

Kim Yo Jong — a key adviser to her brother — says the South was "treacherous" for holding "dangerous" joint military drills with Washington this month, which the North has long considered rehearsals for invasion.

"I take this opportunity to express my strong regret for the treacherous treatment of the South Korean authorities," she says in a statement released by Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency. — AFP

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says Tuesday that Washington had "wrong" expectations for dialogue with Pyongyang and was facing "greater disappointment", state media reports. 

Kim Yo Jong — a key adviser to her brother — appears to dismiss the prospects for an early resumption of negotiations.

The US seemed to be seeking "comfort for itself", she says in a statement reported by Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency.

It harboured expectations "the wrong way", she adds, which would "plunge them into a greater disappointment". —  AFP

The US special representative for North Korea on Monday offered to meet with Pyongyang "anywhere, anytime, without preconditions", with no public contact so far between the Biden administration and the nuclear-armed nation.

Sung Kim's remarks came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week gave his first reaction to Washington's recent review of its approach to his isolated country, saying Pyongyang must prepare for both "dialogue and confrontation".

The Biden administration has previously promised a "practical, calibrated approach", including diplomatic efforts, to persuade the impoverished North to give up its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. —  AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his country needs to prepare for "both dialogue and confrontation" with the United States under President Joe Biden, state media reported Friday.

At a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Thursday, Kim outlined his strategy for relations with Washington, and the "policy tendency of the newly emerged US administration", the Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim "stressed the need to get prepared for both dialogue and confrontation, especially to get fully prepared for confrontation in order to protect the dignity of our state" and reliably guarantee a "peaceful environment", KCNA reported.

The North Korean leader "called for sharply and promptly reacting to and coping with the fast-changing situation and concentrating efforts on taking stable control of the situation on the Korean peninsula", the agency said. — AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asks North Korea to embrace diplomacy as he briefed allies on a new US strategy that stresses low-key progress rather than Donald Trump's pageantry.

In London for the first in-person Group of Seven meetings in two years, Blinken consulted his counterparts from Japan and South Korea on President Joe Biden's fresh approach which has already been denounced by Pyongyang.

"I hope that North Korea will take the opportunity to engage diplomatically and to see if there are ways to move forward toward the objective of complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," Blinken tells reporters. —  AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's influential sister slams the South's president Tuesday as "a parrot raised by America" after he criticised a missile test by Pyongyang.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has long backed engagement with Pyongyang, made a carefully measured speech on Friday  — when the South marked three deadly attacks by the North since 1999 — that did not specifically refer to the missile test.

His speech prompted denunciation from Pyongyang, with Kim Yo Jong, a key adviser to her brother, calling it the "height of effrontery".

She had been "struck speechless", she says in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, referring to Moon only as the South's "chief executive" and not by his name or title. —  AFP

Joe Biden's condemnation of this week's North Korean missile launches risked provoking further weapons tests, a top regime official says after Pyongyang's first substantive provocation since the US president took office. 

The nuclear-armed North has a long history of using weapons tests to ramp up tensions, in a carefully calibrated process to try to forward its objectives.

Pyongyang had been biding its time since the new administration took office in Washington, not even officially acknowledging its existence until last week. — AFP

US President Joe Biden warns North Korea that the United States will "respond accordingly" if it escalates its military testing, after Pyongyang fired two missiles in its first substantive provocation since his inauguration.

Biden made clear the possibilities for North Korea, telling a news conference that "there will be responses if they choose to escalate" but adding that he was "prepared for some form of diplomacy."

The United States had initially played down North Korean launches Sunday, saying they involved small anti-ship missiles that were not banned by UN Security Council resolutions —  AFP

North Korea's diplomats in Malaysia shuttered their embassy and prepared to fly home Sunday, after Pyongyang severed diplomatic ties over the extradition of a citizen to the US.

Pyongyang announced the shock move Friday, labelling Malaysia's extradition of a North Korean man last week an "unpardonable crime" carried out under "blind obedience" to American pressure. 

The Southeast Asian country had been one of Pyongyang's few allies but ties were already strained following the 2017 assassination of leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother at Kuala Lumpur airport. 

A court ruling earlier this month that Mun Chol Myong could be extradited to the US to face money laundering charges for allegedly exporting prohibited items to the North in violation of sanctions proved the final blow. 

After Pyongyang cut ties, Malaysia gave the North's diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. — AFP

North Korea's diplomats in Malaysia shuttered their embassy and prepared to fly home Sunday, after Pyongyang severed diplomatic ties over the extradition of a citizen to the US.

Pyongyang announced the shock move Friday, labelling Malaysia's extradition of a North Korean man last week an "unpardonable crime" carried out under "blind obedience" to American pressure. 

The Southeast Asian country had been one of Pyongyang's few allies but ties were already strained following the 2017 assassination of leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother at Kuala Lumpur airport. 

A court ruling earlier this month that Mun Chol Myong could be extradited to the US to face money laundering charges for allegedly exporting prohibited items to the North in violation of sanctions proved the final blow. 

After Pyongyang cut ties, Malaysia gave the North's diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. — AFP

North Korea says it will ignore all US efforts to foster contact or dialogue unless Washington changes course, hours before President Joe Biden's top envoys held talks in Seoul.

The comments from the North's first vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui came with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin in the South for the second leg of an Asian tour to bolster a united front against the nuclear-armed North and an increasingly assertive China.

The pair have repeatedly called for the "complete denuclearisation of North Korea" on their trip, which began in Japan. — AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's influential sister slammed the US and South Korea, the South's Yonhap news agency reports Tuesday, as the new US secretaries of state and defense began a visit to Tokyo and Seoul.

The US and South began joint military exercises last week and North Korean state media carried a statement from Kim Yo Jong offering "a word of advice to the new administration of the United States that is struggling to spread the smell of gunpowder on our land from across the ocean," Yonhap reports.

"If you wish to sleep well for the next four years, it would be better not to create work from the start that will make you lose sleep." —  AFP

State media reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the United States is his nuclear-armed nation's "biggest enemy", in comments that throw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden.

The declaration comes less than two weeks ahead of the new US president's inauguration and after a tumultuous relationship between Kim and the outgoing leader Donald Trump. — AFP

US Deputy Secretary of State and North Korea envoy Stephen Biegun pour cold water on reports Washington had sought a meeting with Pyongyang officials, with nuclear discussions at a standstill.

Biegun is on a four-day trip to Seoul and Tokyo to discuss North Korea's denuclearisation.

The visit triggered speculation in the South that Washington was trying to rekindle diplomacy with Pyongyang ahead of the US presidential election in November -- even though the North has repeatedly said it had no interest in talks. — AFP

A senior diplomat says North Korea does "not feel any need" to resume talks with Washington, days after Seoul called for a summit as it seeks improved ties with Pyongyang.

The statement by the North's vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui comes after former US national security advisor John Bolton reportedly said President Donald Trump might pursue another meeting with leader Kim Jong Un in October. — AFP

US President Donald Trump appears to confirm that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is alive, saying he wished him well after days of speculation over the dictator's whereabouts.

Asked if he had new information about Kim's health, Trump says "yes, I do have a very good idea, but I can't talk about it now. I just wish him well."

"I hope he's fine," Trump continues, speaking at a White House press conference. "I do know how he's doing, relatively speaking." — AFP

State media says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for "diplomatic and military countermeasures", ahead of a year-end deadline for Washington to change its stance on stalled nuclear talks with Pyongyang.

His latest comments, made during a meeting of top ruling party officials in Pyongyang on Monday, came ahead of his set-piece New Year speech that could flesh out a threat to seek a "new way" forward after the expiration of the year-end deadline.

He spoke for seven hours during the ruling Workers' Party meeting, the North's official KCNA news agency said in a report released Tuesday, calling for measures to rebuild its economy and "diplomatic and military countermeasures for firmly preserving the sovereignty and security" of the isolated nation. — AFP

North Korea on Saturday warned Washington would only aggravate tensions and "pay dearly" for criticising Pyongyang over human rights, with nuclear negotiations between the two deadlocked.

The international community has frequently condemned North Korea for political repression, and for decades of prioritising its military and its nuclear weapons programme over adequately providing for its people.

Criticising Pyongyang's human rights record would only aggravate the "already tense situation" on the Korean peninsula, "like pouring oil over burning fire", a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The statement was in response to concern expressed by a US state department official over North Korea's human rights situation, KCNA said. — Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump says he'd be "disappointed" if North Korea had something "in the works" as a year-end ultimatum from Pyongyang about the fate of their nuclear talks approaches.

The nuclear-armed North has issued increasingly strident declarations in recent weeks, even promising an ominous "Christmas gift" if Washington does not come up with some concessions.

The top US envoy to the negotiations with North Korea, Stephen Biegun, says in Seoul that Pyongyang's rumblings were "hostile and negative" -- and Trump says he was watching. — AFP

State media reports North Korea has conducted another "crucial test" at its Sohae satellite launch site, as nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington remain stalled with a deadline approaching.

"Another crucial test was successfully conducted at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground from 22:41 to 22:48 on December 13," a spokesman for the North's National Academy of Defence Science says in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The "research successes" will be "applied to further bolstering up the reliable strategic nuclear deterrent" of North Korea, the spokesman adds. — AFP

North Korea on Monday slammed US President Trump for "bluffing" and called him "an old man bereft of patience" as Pyongyang ramps up pressure on Washington over stalled nuclear talks.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un engaged in mutual insults and threats of devastation in 2017, sending tensions soaring before a diplomatic rapprochement the following year.

Pyongyang has set Washington an end-of-year time limit to offer it new concessions in deadlocked nuclear negotiations, and has said it will adopt an unspecified "new way" if nothing acceptable is forthcoming. — Agence France-Presse

Seoul says North Korea fired an "unidentified projectile" on Thursday -- the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, as nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain deadlocked.

The one-line announcement from the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff did not immediately provide further details and came shortly after 3:00 am in Washington, DC on one of the US' biggest annual holidays. — AFP

Pyongyang says the possibility of talks between nuclear-armed North Korea and Washington is "narrowing" after the US State Department reaffirmed its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Last month the North walked away from working-level nuclear talks with the US in Sweden, saying it was disappointed at the lack of "new and creative" solutions offered by Washington.

The process has been deadlocked since the Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump broke up in February amid disagreement over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give up in return. — AFP

North Korea says Sunday the United States must not exploit the "close personal relations" between Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump as negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal remain deadlocked.

Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have stalled since a second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February broke down without an agreement.

The two have since blamed each other for the failure of the summit, with the North demanding the US bring forward a "new method" by the end of the year.

Kim Yong Chol, who served as the North's counterpart to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo until the collapse of the Hanoi meeting, credited Trump and Kim's close ties for salvaging the diplomacy, but warned they were not enough.

"There is a limit to everything," Kim, now the chairman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. -- Agence France-Presse

A top Pyongyang official says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump have a "special" relationship, echoing remarks this week by the American head of state.

Analysts said the comments were an indication Pyongyang still hoped to reach a deal directly with Trump over its nuclear programmes, despite Washington's longstanding insistence it give up its weapons before sanctions are lifted.

In a statement carried by Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA, foreign ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan says he had met the North Korean leader "a few days ago", and "he said that the relationship between him and President Trump is special". — AFP

The United States was awarded ownership of a North Korean cargo ship that was seized for violating international sanctions, the US Justice Department says.

The Wise Honest — the first North Korean vessel to be seized by the US for sanctions violation — was caught carrying a $3 million shipment of coal in Indonesian waters last year and later handed over to the US.

The latest ruling by the Southern District of New York finalizes the US government's seizure of the North Korean vessel and ends its use in a "criminal scheme," the Justice Department says in a statement.

"This order of forfeiture sinks the Wise Honest's career as one of North Korea's largest sanctions-busting vessels," says Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers. — AFP

North Korea says US aggression and an obsession with disarmament mean another summit between Washington and Pyongyang is looking doubtful, even as it praised US President Donald Trump as "bold" and "wise".

Washington has "done nothing for the implementing the joint statement" from the first US-North Korea summit held in Singapore last year, Kim Kye Gwan, advisor to North Korea's foreign ministry, writes in a statement carried in Pyongyang's official news wire KCNA.

The official then slammed Washington for its joint military drills with the South, which it has long considered rehearsals for invasion. — AFP

US President Donald Trump says that it is "probably not" the right time for him to visit North Korea but he could see doing so sometime in the future.

"I don't think we're ready for that," Trump tells reporters when asked about visiting Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "I think we have a ways to go yet.

"The relationship is very good," Trump adds, but the time was not right for a visit to Pyongyang. — AFP

South Korea's military say North Korea fired projectiles into the sea hours after Pyongyang said it was willing to hold working-level talks this month with the United States.

Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been gridlocked since a second summit between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in February ended without a deal.

North Korea twice launched "unidentified projectiles" Tuesday morning in an easterly direction. The objects flew approximately 330 kilometres (205 miles) from the Kaechon area in South Pyongan province, according to the South Korean military. — AFP

North Korea lashes out at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his comments on Pyongyang's "rogue behaviour" and warned its expectations for nuclear talks with Washington are "gradually disappearing".

Pyongyang's angry words come as working-level talks with Washington remain gridlocked, despite an agreement in June between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump to kickstart the process.

Instead no progress has been made in recent weeks, as the reclusive state launched a series of weapons tests in protest at joint military exercises between the US and South Korea. — AFP

US President Donald Trump says that he agreed with Kim Jong Un's opposition to US-South Korea war games, refusing to criticize missile tests that Pyongyang said are a "solemn warning" over the exercises.

Trump says he had received a "beautiful letter" from Kim expressing Pyongyang's anger over the joint war games, which spurred the series of tests of extremely fast, short-range guided missiles.

But hours after Trump said he foresaw having another meeting with Kim, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired two more apparent rockets into the East Sea, or Sea of Japan. — AFP

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un says the country's latest missile launches were a warning to Washington and Seoul over their joint war games, state news agency KCNA reports, as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula.

The latest launch by the nuclear-armed North came after the South Korean and US militaries began mainly computer-simulated joint exercises on Monday to test Seoul's ability to take operational control in wartime.

Those drills are taking place despite Pyongyang's warnings that the exercises would jeopardise nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea. — AFP

President Donald Trump brushes off the bellicose language accompanying North Korea's latest short-range missile test, saying it referred to ally South Korea, not the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called two missiles fired Thursday under his personal supervision a "solemn warning" to the South over planned military drills with the United States.

Trump, who has invested heavily in a relationship with Kim, widely seen as one of the world's most repressive dictators, was unconcerned. — AFP

North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, after warnings from Pyongyang over military exercises between Washington and Seoul next month.

The North has warned the war games could affect the planned resumption of denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

The North fired the two missiles just after dawn, an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, and they flew a distance of around 430 kilometres (260 miles) before falling into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

"It's not clear whether Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch on site", he said, referring to the North's leader. -- Agence France-Presse

The United States says it hoped to hold denuclearization talks with North Korea, after Pyongyang warned that US-South Korean military exercises could affect their planned resumption.

The North had earlier Tuesday hinted it could even reconsider its moratorium on nuclear testing over next month's drills, which have been held for years but were scaled down to ease tensions with Pyongyang.

It was the North's first statement on the talks since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to a resumption of dialogue at an impromptu meeting in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas on June 30. — AFP

North Korea warns that US-South Korea military drills to be held next month "will affect" proposed working-level nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

It was the first statement from Pyongyang on the issue since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed at an impromptu meeting in the Demilitarized Zone to resume stalled denuclearisation talks.

"While efforts are underway to arrange working-level talks between North Korea and the US in the wake of the top-level meeting at Panmunjom, the US is planning the joint 19-2 Dong Maeng military exercise," an unnamed spokesperson of the foreign ministry says in comments carried by state news agency KCNA. — AFP

US President Donald Trump left South Korea on Sunday after a trip to Asia that took in a G20 summit in Japan and a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula.

Trump departed on Air Force One just before 1000 GMT (7pm local time) en route to Washington, a few hours after he became the first sitting US president to step onto North Korean soil. — Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump confirms that he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula on Sunday to "just shake hands quickly".

"We're going to the DMZ border and I'll be meeting with Chairman Kim. I look forward to it very much. We've developed a very good relationship," Trump said, hailing a "certain chemistry" between the two leaders.

But he was "in no rush" when it came to tensions on the Korean peninsula, Trump said, and stressed the meeting would be short.

"Just shake hands quickly and say hello because we haven't seen each other since Vietnam," he says, referring to a summit that collapsed without an agreement in February.

"It's just a step and probably a step in the right direction," says Trump. — Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump says he was open to meeting Kim Jong Un at the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea while on a trip to Seoul this weekend.

After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2019

The surprise offer came amid a recent flurry of diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear programme after a Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi collapsed without an agreement.

President Donald Trump says he could soon talk with North Korea's strongman leader Kim Jong Un even if they don't meet.

The US president is headed to South Korea following this week's G20 summit in Japan.

"I'll be meeting with a lot of other people. Not him," Trump tells reporters at the White House. "I may be speaking to him in a different form." — AFP

US President Donald Trump says that "nobody's happy" after North Korea raised the pressure over the future of their deadlocked nuclear negotiations by launching two short-range missiles.

Trump's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February broke up without an agreement or even a joint statement as the two failed to reach a deal on what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in exchange for relief from sanctions imposed over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. — AFP

US President Donald Trump says he is studying the situation in North Korea "very seriously," after Pyongyang welcomed a US envoy's visit to Seoul by firing two missiles.

"We're looking at it very seriously right now. They were smaller missiles, short range missiles — nobody's happy about it," Trump told reporters.

"The relationship continues — but we'll see what happens," Trump added. "I know they want to negotiate, they're talking about negotiating, but I don't think they are ready to negotiate."

— AFP

The United States is watching North Korea's actions after the South Korean military said Pyongyang had launched short-range missiles into the sea, the White House says.

"We are aware of North Korea's actions tonight. We will continue to monitor as necessary," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says in a statement.

The launch would be North Korea's first such action in more than a year as it seeks to up pressure on Washington with nuclear talks deadlocked. — AFP

Kim Jong Un has accused the US of acting in "bad faith" in talks on its nuclear arsenal, North Korean state media says as he left Russia following his first summit with President Vladimir Putin. 

Kim's armoured train departed the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok a day after talks that saw Putin back the North's need for "security guarantees" in its standoff with the United States. — AFP

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he expected "bumpy" talks ahead with North Korea but that he still hoped to reach a potentially landmark denuclearization deal.

US President Donald Trump in February cut short a summit in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with Pyongyang later blaming Pompeo for a pushing a hard line and calling for his exclusion from future negotiations. — AFP

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he remained in charge of negotiating with North Korea despite the regime's demands to exclude him, as he voiced guarded hope with Japan on securing a deal. 

Pompeo led four-way talks in Washington of the US and Japanese foreign affairs and defense chiefs, the latest in a flurry of major meetings scheduled between the close allies.

Amid a standstill with North Korea, Pompeo has brushed aside an angry statement this week in which Pyongyang called the top US diplomat "reckless" and immature and demanded that he be removed from future negotiations. — AFP

North Korea has demanded the removal of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from stalled nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington, accusing him of derailing discussions.

"I am afraid that, if Pompeo engages in the talks again, the table will be lousy once again and the talks will become entangled," Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Department of American Affairs at North Korea's Foreign Affairs Ministry says, according to the official KCNA news agency. — AFP

State media reports that North Korea's Kim Jong Un has supervised the test-firing of a new tactical weapon with a "powerful warhead" in the first test of its kind since nuclear negotiations with Washington stalled.

The test marks a ratcheting up of tensions weeks after a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed without agreement. — AFP

A US monitor says an activity has been detected at North Korea's main nuclear site, suggesting Pyongyang may be reprocessing radioactive material into bomb fuel since the collapse of a summit with Washington. 

The possible signs of fresh reprocessing activity last week come after a February summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended abruptly without agreement on Pyongyang's nuclear programme. — AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is willing meet with US President Donald Trump a third time if Washington comes to the table with the "right attitude", state media reports.

Kim also said he would wait until the end of the year "for the US to make a courageous decision" on another meeting, after his most recent summit with Trump in Vietnam broke down and both sides left without agreement.

Washington has blamed the February deadlock on the North's demands for sanctions relief in return for limited nuclear disarmament, but Pyongyang said it had wanted only some of the measures eased. — AFP

State media reports that North Korea has replaced its nominal head of state -- who represents Pyongyang in international engagements -- with a man under US sanctions for alleged human rights abuses.

Kim Yong Nam, who held the position for almost 20 years, was replaced by Choe Ryong Hae during the first session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly held Thursday, KCNA says. — AFP

State media reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has struck a defiant note over his failed summit with US President Donald Trump in Hanoi and insisted Pyongyang would overcome the effect of sanctions,

The remarks were Kim's first official comment on the North's position since talks on denuclearisation with Washington broke down in Vietnam in February, in part over Pyongyang's demands for immediate sanctions relief.

Trump is set to host South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House later on Thursday, seeking to rekindle dialogue with the North. — AFP

The US special envoy for North Korea is visiting Beijing to coordinate policies with China, the US embassy says Tuesday, a month after the failure of a denuclearisation summit.

Stephen Biegun, Washington's North Korea envoy, is here to "continue US-China coordination on policies related to North Korea", a US embassy spokesman says, declining to share more details. — AFP

President Donald Trump announces the cancellation of sanctions imposed by his own Treasury Department to tighten international pressure on North Korea.

It was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea. I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2019

— AFP

North Korea is considering suspending denuclearisation talks with Washington after the Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump ended without agreement, one of its top diplomats says.

The warning came amid concerns over the North's satellite rocket launch site, where some rebuilding activity has been observed in recent weeks, triggering international alarm that Pyongyang might be preparing a long-range missile or space launch. — AFP

US President Donald Trump insists his relationship with Kim Jong Un "remains good" even as his aides attempted to paper over the collapse of the high-stakes second summit which concluded last week without even a modest deal on reducing Pyongyang's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. — AFP

Activity has been detected at a North Korean long-range rocket site, suggesting Pyongyang may be pursuing the "rapid rebuilding" of the facility after the collapse of the Hanoi summit, according to analysis of satellite imagery.

Another research website suggested the rebuilding of the site may have started even before last week's meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump. — AFP

A train carrying North Korea's Kim Jong Un has left a Vietnamese rail station bound for China, following his summit with US President Donald Trump in Hanoi this week. 

Kim boarded his armoured train at the northern border station of Dong Dang, an AFP reporter saw, which slowly pulled out at the start of a 4,000 kilometre (2,500 mile) journey back to Pyongyang through China. — AFP  

North Korea has promised further negotiations with the US despite a spectacular failure to strike a nuclear deal at their Hanoi summit, with both sides keeping the door of diplomacy open.

The high-stakes second meeting between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump broke up in disarray, without even a joint statement. — AFP

North Korea has promised further negotiations with the US, as both sides sought to hold open the door while staking out their positions after their Hanoi summit spectacularly failed to produce a nuclear deal.

The meeting between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump broke up in disarray, with a signing ceremony cancelled and no joint communique issued. — AFP

A summit between North Korea's Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump ended without agreement, the White House said Thursday after the two-day meeting.

"No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. -- Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump said his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un ended with no agreement because he was not willing to lift all the sanctions on North Korea. 

"It was about the sanctions," he told reporters after the summit ended without a joint statement. "Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn't do that." — AFP

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he "had to walk" from negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, after the summit ended with no deal. 

"Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times," he told reporters after the summit was abruptly cut short. — AFP

A summit between North Korea's Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump ended without agreement, the White House said Thursday after the two-day meeting.

"No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. -- Agence France-Presse

North Korea's Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump meet for a second day of talks in Hanoi aimed at building on their last meeting eight months ago. 

That first historic summit in Singapore produced little more than a vaguely worded document committing to "complete denuclearisation" and observers say concrete steps will need to be laid out at their second meeting in Hanoi. — AFP

North Korea's state media showcase Kim Jong Un's arrival in Hanoi ahead of his second summit with US President Donald Trump, praising the host country's economic development as Kim seeks sanctions relief.

Images of Kim are carefully controlled and managed in the isolated North, and swift and detailed coverage of his trips unusual. — AFP

US President Donald Trump says he predicts an "awesome" future for North Korea if Kim Jong-un will give up nukes.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's train arrived in Vietnam Tuesday ahead of his second summit with US President Donald Trump in Hanoi. 

The olive green train pulled into Vietnam's Dong Dang station after a marathon 4,000 kilometre (2,500 mile), two and a half day journey across China from Pyongyang. 

Kim is expected to drive to the Vietnamese capital where he will have a state visit.  — AFP

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (C) arrives at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, Lang Son province, on February 26, 2019, to attend the second US-North Korea summit. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed into Vietnam on February 26 after a marathon train journey for a second summit showdown with Donald Trump, with the world looking for concrete progress over the North's nuclear programme. AFP/Nhac Nguyen

A UN Security Council sanctions committee has agreed to allow North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's delegation to travel to Vietnam for a summit meeting with US President Donald Trump, diplomats say.

Vietnam had asked the committee to grant an exemption to senior North Korean officials who are on a UN sanctions blacklist to allow them to attend the February 27-28 summit in Hanoi. — AFP

US President Donald Trump says that while he hoped his next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would yield much progress, he was also in "no rush" for results.

"I'd like to see ultimately denuclearization of North Korea," Trump says, just over a week out from the February 27-28 summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. — AFP

A Washington envoy says there was still some hard work to be done ahead of the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,

Stephen Biegun, the US Special Representative for North Korea, says preparatory talks had been productive, but more dialogue was needed ahead of the summit scheduled for Vietnam from February 27 to 28. — AFP

US President Donald Trump announces that his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place in Hanoi on February 27 and 28.

My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong Un. It will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 & 28. I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim & advancing the cause of peace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2019

US President Donald Trump says he would meet the elusive Chairman Kim Jong Un on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam, although he did not specify the venue. — AFP

A top North Korean general pays a rare visit to Washington, where he is expected to meet President Donald Trump to finalize a new summit aimed at denuclearization and easing decades of hostility.

Kim Yong Chol, a right-hand man to leader Kim Jong Un, is the first North Korean dignitary in nearly two decades known to have spent the night in the US capital, little more than a year after Trump was threatening to wipe the totalitarian state off the map. — AFP

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has voiced optimism that a second US-North Korea summit would take place soon but says he doubted it would seal a landmark deal. — AFP

President Donald Trump says he looked forward to another summit with Kim Jong Un, a day after the North Korean leader warned Pyongyang could take a different approach to nuclear talks if US economic sanctions persist. — AFP

President Donald Trump says he looked forward to another summit with Kim Jong Un, a day after the North Korean leader warned Pyongyang could take a different approach to nuclear talks if US economic sanctions persist. — AFP

North Korea is considering a change of approach if the US maintains its sanctions on the nuclear-armed country, leader Kim Jong Un warned in his New Year speech Tuesday after 12 months of diplomatic rapprochement.

"If the US does not keep its promise made in front of the whole world," Kim says, "we may be left with no choice but to consider a new way to safeguard our sovereignty and interests". — AFP

South Korea's top diplomat says North Korea has asked the United States to delay planned high-level talks in New York this week, a day after Washington abruptly announced the meeting's postponement.

The US State Department says that the encounter between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, initially scheduled for Thursday, had been shelved for "a later date". — AFP

A senior North Korean envoy's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been delayed, throwing already deadlocked diplomacy over the North's nuclear weapons into further uncertainty.

The State Department says in a short statement the officials would meet later "when our respective schedules permit." It offered no reason, and the North's propaganda services has not mentioned the meeting. — AP

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in Tokyo on Saturday for talks with Japanese officials ahead of his trip to North Korea.

Pompeo is under pressure to make progress on convincing North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons as President Donald Trump seeks to meet with leader Kim Jong Un for a second time after their June summit in Singapore.

Pompeo will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono later Saturday to discuss their North Korea policies before heading to Pyongyang on Sunday. — AP

North Korea rules out dismantling its nuclear arsenal in exchange for the US declaring an end to the Korean War, saying a peace treaty should "never be a bargaining chip."

The North has for decades demanded that the US formally declare the end of the 1950-53 conflict that was halted only with an armistice, saying an official end to the war would ease tensions on the flashpoint peninsula. — AFP

President Donald Trump says he won't rush into any deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump tells a rally in Springfield, Missouri, that he received a "beautiful letter" two days ago from Kim. But he's not saying what the letter said.

The president and Kim met in June in Singapore to discuss denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

Trump says he has a "very good" relationship with Kim. He notes that North Korea has returned Americans being held there, as well as remains of American service members who went missing during the Korean War.

The president also notes that North Korea has not conducted any ballistic missile or nuclear weapons tests in months.

Trump says, "Let's see what happens," adding "I'm in no rush." — AP

North Korea has reiterated its calls for the United States to agree to a declaration to formally end the Korean War, which it says President Donald Trump promised during his June summit with Kim Jong Un.

The column in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper also says the Trump administration must discard its "stubborn" stance that the North must denuclearize first before the United States agrees to a peace treaty.

The article says North Korea has shown "goodwill and generosity" through actions such as returning U.S. war remains and dismantling a nuclear testing ground but that the United States has been failing to respond with corresponding measures to improve relations.

The article came a day after a South Korean presidential delegation visited Pyongyang and set up an inter-Korean summit on September 18 to 20. — AP

A South Korean presidential official says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told him he still had faith in U.S. President Donald Trump despite ongoing difficulties in the nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

Chung Eui-yong says that Kim emphasized during a meeting in Pyongyang that he has not once talked negatively about Trump to anyone including his closest advisers.

Chung says Kim said that he wishes for North Korea and the United States to put an end to their seven decades of hostile relations before the end of Trump's first term.

After their June summit in Singapore, Trump and Kim announced a vague statement about a nuclear-free peninsula without describing when and how it would occur. Post-summit nuclear negotiations were rocky and quickly settled into a stalemate. — AP

President Donald Trump says that there's no reason to spend a lot of money on military wargames with South Korea, but he warned he could "instantly" relaunch the exercises again and they would be "far bigger than ever before."

Trump made the comment in a series of tweets that primarily took aim at China, blaming it for lack of progress on getting North Korea to end its nuclear program, following the president's landmark summit with Kim Jong Un in June. — AP

South Korea has called the U.S. decision to call off a trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "unfortunate" but says it's most important for the allies to pursue "substantial progress" on denuclearization.

The ministry says South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa spoke with Pompeo over the phone and they pledged joint efforts to keep the momentum of dialogue alive. — AP

President Donald Trump has directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to delay a planned trip to North Korea, citing insufficient progress on denuclearization. — AP

North Korea's foreign minister criticises the US for urging that sanctions be maintained against Pyongyang, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked the international community to keep up pressure against the reclusive regime.

Despite "goodwill measures" taken by the North, Washington was "raising its voice louder for maintaining the sanctions against the DPRK," says the North's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, according to a statement. DPRK are the initials of the North's official name. — AFP

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is warning Russia, China and others against any violation of international sanctions on North Korea.

He says Washington will take seriously any action that reduces pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear weapons. — AP

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says North Korea is far from living up to its pledge to denuclearize and remains in violation of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Speaking before he attends an Asian security forum in Singapore with North Korea's foreign minister, Pompeo says there was "still a ways to go before" achieving the goal of ridding the North of its nuclear weapons. — AP

The White House rows back President Donald Trump's suggestion that he would soon meet Kim Jong Un again, following their June 12 summit in Singapore.

There is "no meeting planned," press secretary Sarah Sanders says.

Earlier, the White House said Trump had received a new letter from Kim on Wednesday. — AFP

US President Donal Trump, in a tweet, thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Kim "for keeping your word & starting the process of sending home the remains of our great and beloved missing fallen! I am not at all surprised that you took this kind action."

Thank you to Chairman Kim Jong Un for keeping your word & starting the process of sending home the remains of our great and beloved missing fallen! I am not at all surprised that you took this kind action. Also, thank you for your nice letter - l look forward to seeing you soon!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2018

The remains of dozens of presumed casualties of the Korean War are back on U.S. soil following an emotional ceremony in Hawaii.

Vice President Mike Pence presided over the return of the remains.

Members of the U.S. military carried 55 boxes draped with American flags off C-17 aircraft and into a hangar at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The U.S. military will take the remains to a laboratory at the base for identification.

The remains are expected to mostly be American, though may also include servicemen from other United Nations member nations who fought alongside the U.S. in support of South Korea during the war.

The boxes are believed to hold the remains of servicemen from the U.S. and other United Nations member countries who fought to support South Korea during the war.

North Korea handed over the remains last week. — AP

The White House says North Korea has turned over the potential remains of American service members who have been missing since the Korean war, following through on a promise made last month to President Donald Trump.

The White House says in a statement Thursday night that a U.S. Air Force plane containing remains of fallen service members has departed Wonsan, North Korea, and is en route to Osan Air Base in South Korea.

The transfer of remains represents one of the first tangible results of Trump's June 12 summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It sets off a lengthy series of forensic examinations and tests to determine if the remains are human, and whether they are actually American or allied troops killed in the conflict. — AP

 A U.S. research group says North Korea has started dismantling key facilities at its main satellite launch site in what appears to be a step toward fulfilling a commitment made by leader Kim Jong Un at his summit with President Donald Trump in June.

An official from South Korea's presidential office said Seoul has also been detecting dismantlement activities at North Korea's Sohae launch site but did not specify. While the official said such moves could have a "positive effect" on the North's denuclearization, analysts say such steps wouldn't reduce North Korea's military capabilities unless the country dismantles the whole site. — AP

South Korean President Moon Jae-in urges U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try harder to achieve a breakthrough in their nuclear negotiations.

Moon says at a forum in Singapore that Trump and Kim would "face the stern judgment of the international community" if their promises on denuclearization weren't kept. — AP

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reports the foreign ministry said the outcome of Pompeo's talks with senior official Kim Yong Chol was "very concerning" because it has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm."

"We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders' summit ... we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures," it says.

It adds: "However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable. Our expectations and hopes were so naive it could be called foolish." — AP

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has wrapped up two days of talks with senior North Korean officials without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Before departing Pyongyang on Saturday, Pompeo tells reporters that his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been "productive," conducted "in good faith" and that "a great deal of progress" had been made in some areas. But he stresses that "there's still more work to be done" in other areas, much of which would be done by working groups that the two sides have set up to deal with specific issues.

Pompeo says that a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials on or about July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains and that working level talks would be held soon on the destruction of North Korea's missile engine testing facility. — AP

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has opened a second day of talks with senior North Korean officials.

On his third trip to Pyongyang since April and his first since last month's historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pompeo was meeting with Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official. Both say they needed to "clarify" certain elements of their previous discussions, but provided no detail. — AP

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo begins his first trip to Pyongyang since President Donald Trump's summit with leader Kim Jong Un last month with a vow to nail down the specifics of Kim's commitments on denuclearization.

Pompeo, who arrived in the North Korean capital, has the crucial task of dispelling growing skepticism over how seriously Kim is about giving up his nuclear arsenal and translating the upbeat rhetoric following the summit into concrete action. — AP

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he expects North Korea to be ready to "fill in some details" of the commitments on denuclearization made by Kim Jong Un at his historic summit with President Donald Trump last month.

Pompeo arrived for a refueling stop at Yokota Air Base in Japan on his way to Pyongyang for the third time since April and the first since the June 12 summit.

His mission is to translate the upbeat rhetoric following the first meeting between leaders of the U.S. and North Korea into concrete action that will eliminate the threat posed by Kim's nuclear arsenal. — AP

The U.S. military wants to install missile defense radar in Hawaii to identify any ballistic missiles that are fired from North Korea or elsewhere, officials said Tuesday.

The $1 billion system would spot warheads on missiles headed for Hawaii and other U.S. states, and provide that information to ground-based interceptors in Alaska designed to shoot them down. It would be able to distinguish warheads from decoys that are designed to trick missile defense systems. — AP

The U.S. military says it moved 100 wooden coffins to the inter-Korean border to prepare for North Korea's returning of the remains of American soldiers who have been missing since the 1950-53 Korean War.

U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Chad Carroll also says Saturday that 158 metal transfer cases were sent to a U.S. air base near Seoul, South Korea's capital, and would be used to send the remains home.

North Korea agreed to return U.S. war remains during the June 12 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. While the U.S. military preparations suggest that the repatriation of war remains could be imminent, it remains unclear when and how it would occur.  — AP

North Korean state media say the country's leader Kim Jong Un thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his support in last week's groundbreaking summit with President Donald Trump.

Kim is in Beijing during his third visit to China this year, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbors.

A report by the Korean Central News Agency says Kim expressed his gratitude to Xi in a meeting on Tuesday, during which Xi "gave high appreciation and extended heartfelt congratulations" to Kim over the summit. — AP

South Korea says a joint military exercise scheduled with the U.S. has been suspended to support ongoing talks both countries have with North Korea, The Associated Press reports.

Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said Tuesday that her government believes the decision will help maintain momentum in the talks.

She spoke after the U.S. and South Korea announced that the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills slated for August have been called off.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says South Koreans strongly support the outcome of the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that bad reviews of the meeting were from people "isolated" from public thinking.

South Korea's presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom described Moon's comments from the president's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday.

Pompeo said while in Seoul that Trump's tweet about North Korea no longer posing a nuclear threat was made "with eyes wide open."

Kim says Moon and Pompeo also agreed that Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang could collaborate on recovering the remains of soldiers missing and presumed dead from the 1950-53 Korean War. — AP

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says there will be no sanctions relief for North Korea until it denuclearizes.

Pompeo is pushing back on a report from North Korean official state media that said President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un had agreed to a "step-by-step" process. That was interpreted as meaning the U.S. would grant concessions to North Korea concessions along the way despite longstanding U.S. insistence that it would not.

Pompeo says Trump has been "incredibly clear" about the sequencing of the process.

Speaking alongside Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers in Seoul, Pompeo says that "we're going to get denuclearization." He says that "only then will there be relief from the sanctions." — AP

The rival Koreas are holding rare high-level military talks to discuss reducing tensions across their heavily fortified border following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump.

It's possible North Korean officials during Thursday's talks will seek a firm commitment from the South on stopping military drills with the United States.

Trump said after his summit with Kim on Tuesday that the joint military exercises should stop. South Korea has said it's trying to discern Trump's meaning and intent.

Seoul's Defense Ministry says the military talks will focus on carrying out agreements from a summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in which they vowed to take steps to reduce military tensions and eliminate the danger of war.

They may also discuss efforts to recover the remains of Korean War soldiers. — AP

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has landed at Osan Air Base south of Seoul ahead of meetings with America's allies in the aftermath of the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

He's expected to meet privately in the evening with Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea.

Pompeo will meet President Moon Jae-in on Thursday morning to discuss the summit.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is also heading to Seoul and is due to meet with Pompeo and his South Korean counterpart. Pompeo, the former CIA director, then plans to fly to Beijing to update the Chinese government on the talks. — AP

Russia is welcoming the outcome of the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says "one can only welcome the fact that such a meeting took place and that direct dialogue was begun."

Peskov tells reporters in Moscow on Wednesday that the meeting helps de-escalate tensions and push the situation away "from the critical point where it was just a few months ago."

Peskov says the meeting confirms Russian President Vladimir Putin's view that "there is no alternative to political and diplomatic means in solving the problem of the Korean Peninsula."

Peskov adds, however, that given how complicated the situation is around North Korea, the Kremlin isn't expecting a quick resolution. — AP

A spokesman of South Korean President Moon Jae-in says Washington and Seoul need to consider a "variety of ways to further facilitate dialogue" while they are engaged in nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang.

Kim Eui-kyeom made the comments on Wednesday when asked to respond to President Donald Trump, who following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that the United States and South Korea should stop their joint military exercises "as long as we are negotiating in good faith."

Kim, Moon's spokesman, says Seoul is still trying to figure out the exact meaning and intent of Trump's comments. — AP

President Donald Trump is thanking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for "taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people," saying their summit Tuesday "proves that real change is possible!"

Tweeting from Air Force One, which just landed in Hawaii to refuel on the trip back from Singapore, Trump says, "There is no limit to what NoKo can achieve when it gives up its nuclear weapons and embraces commerce & engagement w/ the world."

Trump is celebrating Tuesday's agreement to launch a process to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, though experts and allies are still awaiting details on the broad accord the two sides say they've reached. — AP

North Korea says U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his intention during a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to halt joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Trump also expressed his intention to offer security guarantees to North Korea and lift sanctions "over a period of good-will dialogue" between the two countries.

KCNA quoted Kim as saying that the North can take unspecified "additional good-will measures of next stage commensurate with them" if the United States takes genuine measures to build trust.

KCNA quotes Kim as saying it's "urgent to make a bold decision on halting irritating and hostile military actions against each other."

Annual military drills between the United States and South Korea have been a major source of tension on the Korean Peninsula. The North has called them an invasion rehearsal and responded with its own weapons tests.

President Donald Trump has stunned the Korean Peninsula by announcing the stoppage of U.S.-South Korean annual war games that have long been defended as defensive and vital by the allies.

Trump speaks to reporters after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday and essentially took the North Korean line on the military exercises, calling them "provocative."

The 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea.

Trump calls the war games "tremendously expensive," suggested South Korea didn't contribute enough and said they would be "inappropriate" as the U.S. and North Korea negotiate a new relationship.

A statement from South Korean President Moon Jae-in says the Trump-Kim summit opens a new era of peace and cooperation. The statement did not address Trump's comments about the drills. — AP

President Donald Trump says he really believes North Korea's Kim Jong Un is going to make good on his promise to denuclearize.

Trump says Tuesday near the end of a lengthy press conference in Singapore that he may be wrong about Kim, but he'll never admit it.

Trump jokes that he "may stand before you in six months and say, 'Hey, I was wrong.'" But he says, "I don't know that I'll ever admit that." — AP

President Donald Trump is pushing back on criticism that the U.S. has gotten little in return for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump tells reporters at a news conference in Singapore Tuesday after his meeting that he "gave up nothing."

He says "it's not a big deal" for world leaders to meet with the president of the United States.

Trump announced that he will stop conducting U.S. military "war games" with ally South Korea while negotiations between the two countries continue.

Trump cast the decision as a cost-saving measure, but North Korea has long objected to the drills as a security threat.

Trump also says Kim has committed to denuclearizing his country, but details of how that will happen and be verified have yet to be hashed out. — AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un commits to 'complete denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula' in joint text he signed with US President Donald Trump.

The document also eyes establishment of "new US-DPRK relations." — AFP

US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un shake hands, exchange farewells without interpreters as Singapore summit ends.

After Kim and Trump signed what Trump called a "pretty comprehensive" document, Trump was asked about a possible invitation. Trump said "absolutely, I would" invite Kim.

Both leaders have characterized the document they signed as historic though neither provided details. Trump says the details would come later. — AP

US President Donald Trump, with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, announces they will sign unspecified document shortly. — AP

President Donald Trump jokes about his appearance as he prepares to sit down to lunch with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

Trump tells photographers at Tuesday's summit in Singapore: "Getting a good picture, everybody? So we look nice and handsome and thin? Perfect."

A video feed provided by the summit host showed Trump, Kim and their aides taking their places at a long table. Salad courses were prepositioned on the table along with flower bouquets.

Trump takes his spot in the middle of the table, and Kim opposite him. — AP

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman says he received a call from the White House ahead of President Donald Trump's historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Rodman says on Tuesday that a White House staffer called the former "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant to tell him the president was proud of him.

Rodman struck up an unlikely friendship with Kim over their shared love of basketball, but he says former President Barack Obama never took him seriously.

Rodman described Kim as a "big kid" who wants to see the world. The former basketball player was very emotional in the interview, openly weeping as he spoke.

Rodman is in town for the summit, but the White House had said he will play no official role. — AP

President Donald Trump is sounding optimistic about his ability to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program after a lengthy one-on-one meeting with leader Kim Jong Un.

It was hard to hear the president and Kim over the constant clicking of camera shutters, and it remains unclear precisely what he was referring to.

But Kim appears to echo the president's optimism — AP

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands as historic nuclear summit opens in Singapore. — AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived at Singapore's Sentosa Island, where he'll be meeting shortly face-to-face with President Donald Trump.

The two men are expected to share a handshake before they meet alone with a pair of interpreters for roughly 45 minutes while their entourages wait nearby.

After the intimate huddle, they're scheduled to hold a larger meeting and working lunch. Trump's chief of staff, national security adviser and secretary of state are among those expected to join.

The meeting is the first sit-down between a sitting U.S. president and North Korean leader and is meant to settle a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Trump earlier defended his decision to meet with Kim, tweeting that North Korea has already released three detainees and that missile tests have halted. — AP

The White House says in a statement ahead of US President Donald Trump's historic summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un that the talks with North Korea are moving "more quickly than expected." The White House says Trump now plans to depart Singapore on Tuesday evening ahead of schedule, The Associated Press reports.

The White House says Trump will address the media on Tuesday following his summit with Kim and depart Singapore at approximately 8 p.m. local time for the United States. The president had been expected to leave Singapore on Wednesday morning.

Trump is set to meet with Kim in Singapore on Tuesday morning.

US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un will start their historic summit with a one-on-one session with translators.

A U.S. official says Monday that the leaders will meet for up to two hours before an expanded bilateral meeting with their respective advisers. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations and insisted on anonymity.

Officials remain uncertain what will come out of Tuesday's unprecedented summit, the first of its kind between a sitting U.S. president and the leader of North Korea.

Trump has said he wants to strike a deal to get the North to give up its nuclear weapons. He also has sought to lower expectations for the meeting, saying it may be the start of a longer process. — AP

North Korea's official media have reported that leader Kim Jong Un is in Singapore to meet President Donald Trump to discuss how to forge a new relationship.

The first word Kim is in Singapore for Tuesday's summit came early Monday morning. Though North Koreans have been left largely in the dark about the summit, the reports of his arrival came relatively quickly by North Korean standards.

A dispatch by the state-run Korean Central News Agency says Kim and Trump will exchange "wide-ranging and profound views" on establishing a new relationship, the issue of building a "permanent and durable peace mechanism" and realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The report notes the summit is being held "under the great attention and expectation of the whole world." — AP

North Korean plane presumably carrying leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Singapore ahead of Kim's summit Tuesday with President Donald Trump, according to The Associated Press.

The jet landed at the airport Sunday afternoon amid huge security precautions on the city-state island.

A report from Channel News Asia also said Kim's motorcade already left the Changi Airport following his arrival.

Kim is set to meet Tuesday with Trump in what’s shaping up to be one of the most unusual summits in modern history.

The small island nation of Singapore, which prides itself on law and order, is feeling the pressure of more than 3,000 members of the press arriving for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The heavy media presence along with stringent security measures for the summit Tuesday has added to the frenzy unusual for the laid-back tropical state. — AP

President Donald Trump says he doesn't need the advice of Democrats when it comes to North Korea, tweeting early Friday that they "did NOTHING" on Pyongyang's nuclear program during the Obama administration.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters this week that he's concerned the president's desire for a deal could saddle the U.S. and its allies with unfavorable terms. Democrats have written a letter to Trump outlining what they say should be conditions for the planned summit next week.

Trump tweets that Schumer and other Democrats were unable to achieve such a meeting with the North Korean leader. He writes: "Schumer failed with North Korea and Iran, we don't need his advice!" — AP

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Thursday (Friday, Manila time) he will head to South Korea, Japan and China next week to brief leaders after Donald Trump's summit with Kim Jong Un.

"I will provide an update and underscore the importance of implementing all sanctions imposed on North Korea," Pompeo tells reporters at the White House. — Agence France-Presse

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also says he is willing to talk directly with North Korea in a bid to resolve the festering issue of abductions of Japanese citizens and foster better ties with Pyongyang.

"I wish to directly face North Korea and talk with them so that the abduction problem can be resolved quickly," Abe says at a joint press conference with President Donald Trump.

The US leader promised to raise the highly sensitive issue of the Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s with Kim Jong Un at next week's high-stakes summit in Singapore.

Abe adds there was no change in Japan's policy to pursue "real peace in Northeast Asia" and that if North Korea "is willing to take steps" in the right direction, it will have a "bright future." — Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump says Thursday (Friday, Manila time) that a letter he received last week from Kim Jong Un was "warm," and adds that he hopes his summit with the North Korean leader will be the starting point for an eventual normalization of ties.

"It was a warm letter and nice and I appreciated it very much," Trump tells a joint press conference at the White House with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

When asked about eventual normalization of ties, he says: "That is something I would hope to do that when everything is complete."

Trump even went so far as to say he will consider inviting Kim to visit the United States if the June 12 summit in Singapore goes well.

"Maybe we'll start with the White House, what do you think?" he says when asked if Kim would be invited to Washington or his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. — Agence France-Presse

A U.N. human rights expert on North Korea says he hopes next week's U.S.-North Korea summit will lead to increased dialogue with Kim Jong Un on humanitarian issues.

Tomas Ojea Quintana tells reporters in Geneva that North Korea is struggling with a lack of food and that some 10 million people there are in need of humanitarian aid. — AP

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, unable to meet North Korea's leader himself, is heading to Washington to try to make sure President Donald Trump doesn't overlook Japan's security and other concerns at the unprecedented U.S.-North Korea summit next week.

Abe will have less than two hours to make his points to Trump at the White House on Thursday, before both go to Canada for a G-7 summit on June 8-9, and the American president then flies to Singapore for his June 12 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. — AP

State-owned Air China will resume flights to North Korea's capital on Wednesday, an airline employee said, amid preparations for a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, The Associated Press reports.

Air China's decision in November to suspend flights to Pyongyang, blaming lack of demand, deepened the North's isolation as UN sanctions aimed at ending its nuclear and missile programs were tightened.

"The flights from Beijing to Pyongyang will be resumed due to market reasons," said the employee of the airline's press office, who would give only his surname, Zhang. He gave no other details.

When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump hold their summit at an exclusive venue in Singapore, one of the priciest destinations in Asia, they will no doubt run up quite a bill. And if past precedent is any indication, expect Pyongyang to pay as little of it as possible, The Associated Press reports.

Speculation over how North Korea will handle the costs for Kim's June 12 meeting with Trump has taken off after a Washington Post report cited two anonymous U.S. officials suggesting the Trump administration has been "seeking a discreet way" to help pay Kim's hotel bill.

The report suggested host nation Singapore might take care of it.

South Korea's defense minister says there's no reason to doubt the sincerity of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of a summit with President Donald Trump.

Song Young-moo says, "Just because we have been tricked by North Korea in the past doesn't guarantee that we will be tricked in the future. If we believe that, we will never be able to negotiate with them and make peace with them."

He was speaking at an international security conference in Singapore, which is hosting the June 12 summit.

Song says if the talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons are successful, they can be compared to the 1989 Malta Summit between former President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, less than a month after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Song says: "A dramatic change has come for the security environment of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia." — AP

The issue of US troops stationed in South Korea will not be "on the table" at a summit this month between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, says US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

"That issue is not on the table here in Singapore on the 12th (of June), nor should it be," he said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security summit in Singapore, referring to the scheduled date of the Trump-Kim meeting.

There are currently some 28,500 US forces based in the South. — AFP

Russia's U.N. ambassador says Moscow supports a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but adds, "Every side has to be realistic about it."

Vassily Nebenzia stressed Tuesday that a meeting between the two leaders is "the start of a long and winding road."

The White House says it is continuing to "actively prepare" for an "expected summit" between Trump and Kim in Singapore which had been scheduled for June 12.

As for results, Nebenzia told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York, "Don't expect that it happens overnight."

But he says a Trump-Kim meeting is "a move in the right direction at least." He says Russia "will support it of course, and especially meaningful agreements to be reached there."

Japan's U.N. ambassador says "maximum pressure" should be maintained on North Korea until it takes concrete actions toward eliminating its weapons of mass destruction.

Koro Bessho told a small group of reporters Tuesday that Japan would like to see "comprehensive, verifiable, irreversible, dismantlement" of North Korea's nuclear weapons as well as its chemical and biological weapons.

He says Japan also wants to see Pyongyang's ballistic missiles dismantled and the abduction of Japanese citizens to North Korea addressed.

Bessho says Japan is "working with the United States very closely."

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump at the White House on June 7, ahead of Trump's expected meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.

South Korean media say a senior North Korean official is heading to the United States, potentially to participate in preparatory negotiations to set up a possible meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea's Yonhap news said Tuesday it saw the name of Kim Yong Chol on the passengers' list for a flight Tuesday from Beijing to Washington. They later reported that Kim changed his flight to go to New York on Wednesday, but it wasn't clear why. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport Tuesday by Associated Press Television.

The South Korean presidential office couldn't confirm the report.

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee tasked with inter-Korean relations.

A team of American diplomats involved in preparatory discussions ahead of a potential summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have left a hotel in Seoul amid speculation that they are resuming the talks.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the American officials including Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to Manila, were heading Tuesday to the border village between the Koreas where they met with North Korean officials on Sunday.

Trump withdrew from a planned June 12 Singapore summit with Kim last Thursday citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting could still happen. South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Kim on Saturday in an effort to keep the meeting alive.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry says U.S. and North Korean officials are engaged in talks to prepare for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The ministry said in a release Monday the U.S.-North Korean talks were taking place at the Korean border village of Panmunjom. It refused to provide more details.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in told reporters Sunday that the United States and North Korea would soon start working-level talks to set the agendas and make other preparations for the Trump-Kim summit.

Trump pulled out of the much-anticipated summit last week before quickly saying the meeting could be held in Singapore on June 12 as initially scheduled. — AP

President Donald Trump says a U.S. team is in North Korea to "make arrangements for the Summit between Kim Jong Un and myself."

Trump tweeted Sunday that North Korea "has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day."

The president added, "It will happen!" though his exact meaning was not clear.

The State Department said earlier Sunday that a team was in Panmunjom, which straddles the border inside the demilitarized zone, or DMZ. One can cross the border simply by stepping across a painted line. But moving beyond several footsteps into the North at Panmunjom would be rare for U.S. officials.

Trump withdrew from the planned June 12 Singapore summit with Kim several days ago, but quickly announced that it could get back on track. — AP

The U.S. State Department says American officials are meeting with North Korean officials at the border village of Panmunjom as talks continue over a potential summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says a 'U.S. delegation is in ongoing talks with North Korean officials" inside the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea that was created at the end of the Korean War.

She says preparations are moving ahead for "a meeting" between the two leaders.

Trump said Saturday that conversations about a potential summit were "going along very well."

He announced on Thursday that he was withdrawing from the scheduled June 12 meeting in Singapore, only to say on Friday that the summit might be back on. — AP

United States President Donald Trump says negotiations over a potential summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are “going along very.”

Trump says they are still considering June 12 in Singapore for the summit with Kim.

He adds there is a lot of “good will” and denuclearization of the Korean peninsula would be “a great thing.” — AP

South Korean president Moon Jae-in says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un remains committed to holding a summit with United States President Donald Trump and to the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Moon met Kim at the border on Saturday for the second time in a month to discuss how to keep Kim's summit with Trump on a track. The Kim-Moon meeting followed a whirlwind 24 hours that saw Trump cancel the highly anticipated June 12 meeting before saying it is potentially back on. — AP

South Korea welcomes the renewed prospect of a summit between the United States and North Korea after President Trump cancelled talks with Kim Jong Un only to suggest they might still take place.

"We find it fortunate that the embers of the North Korea-US talks are reignited. We are watching developments carefully," Presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-gyeom says. — AFP

President Donald Trump says the U.S. is "having very productive talks with North Korea" about a summit next month with Kim Jong Un, and says it could happen June 12, the date that was under consideration before Trump abruptly canceled the summit Thursday.

Trump is tweeting that if the summit happens it "will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date."

We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

Trump had said earlier Friday that the potentially historic summit might be getting back on track.

On Thursday, Trump had canceled the summit, citing the North's "tremendous anger and open hostility."

The North Korean government said Friday it is still "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks "at any time." — AP

Japan says it understands President Donald Trump's cancellation of the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Top officials there say talks should be held when progress on the North's denuclearization is achieved.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday the summit is useful only when it makes progress on the North's nuclear and missile abandonment and on the issue of the North's abductions of Japanese citizens.

Trump cited hostility in recent remarks from North Korea when he canceled the summit on Thursday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, in Mexico for talks with officials, said Japan expects a summit where North Korea can commit to denuclearize itself. He said Japan will keep cooperating with Washington to achieve it. — AP

North Korea says it is still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a summit between the two countries, a decision Pyongyang described as "extremely regrettable."

Trump on Thursday called off the planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming "open hostility" from the North Korean regime.

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," read Trump's letter to Kim, which was dictated word for word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official. ?— Agence France-Presse

Donald Trump, the US president, cancels his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un slated in Singapore on June 12. In canceling the meeting, Trump cites "tremendous anger and open hostility" in recent statement. 

A senior North Korean minister slams US Vice President Mike Pence for "ignorant and stupid" remarks he made in a recent media interview about upcoming denuclearisation talks.

"I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president," vice-minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui says in a statement released by the state-run KCNA news agency. — Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump announces that his anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jon Un will be held in Singapore on June 12. In making the announcement, Trump expresses hope for world peace as he and Kim try to forge an agreement on contentious issues such as Pyongyang's missile and nuclear weapons programs and American sanctions on the Asian country. 

US President Donald Trump greets three freed Korean-Americans who were detained in North Korea for more than a year. They returned to the mainland US Thursday.

The men, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim, were released Wednesday amid a warming of relations between the longtime adversaries.

North Korea had accused the three Korean-Americans of anti-state activities. Their arrests were widely seen as politically motivated and had compounded the dire state of relations over the isolated nation's nuclear weapons.

Washington's top diplomat Mike Pompeo arrives in North Korea, pool reports say, where he is holding meetings to prepare for a landmark nuclear summit.

Pompeo, who met Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last month while he was still director of the CIA, arrived in the North and is at Pyongyang's Koryo Hotel for meetings.

In addition to planning the summit, due later this month or in June, Pompeo has been pressing the North Korean regime to release three detained US citizens. — with AFP

President Donald Trump says that although he's looking ahead optimistically to a historic summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, he could still pull out if he feels it's "not going to be fruitful."

Trump says that CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Kim "got along really well" in their recent secret meeting, and he declares, "We've never been in a position like this" to address worldwide concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons, the Associated Press reports.

President Donald Trump says that although he's looking ahead optimistically to a historic summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, he could still pull out if he feels it's "not going to be fruitful."

Trump says that CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Kim "got along really well" in their recent secret meeting, and he declared, "We've never been in a position like this" to address worldwide concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons, the Associated Press reports.

The White House says the U.S. has had talks "at the highest level" with North Korea's government in advance of a planned summit. But White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders clarifies those talks were not with President Donald Trump directly.

Trump appeared to answer in the affirmative Tuesday evening when asked whether he had been speaking directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But he said as he sat down for dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, "Let's leave it a little bit short of that," adding, "We have had talks at the highest level."

Trump is hosting Abe at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

In a surprise move last month, Trump accepted an invitation from Kim to meet in person in the coming months.

Kim Jong Un discusses future US talks at party meeting: KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed talks with the US at a party meeting, state media reports, in his first official mention of dialogue with Washington ahead of a proposed summit with US President Donald Trump in May.

At the meeting of party officials Monday, Kim delivered a report "on the development of the recent situation on the Korean peninsula," including the separate summit with South Korea to be held later this month, the official KCNA news agency reported.

Kim "made a profound analysis and appraisal of the orientation of the development of the north-south relations at present and the prospect of the DPRK-US dialogue," it said, referring to the North by its official acronym. — AFP

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the first meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should take place at a "nice, neutral site."

He's suggesting China would not be an ideal place.

Tillerson says it should be held somewhere that "both parties will feel confident." But he says that doesn't mean China won't have a role in the broader process. Tillerson says China "is going to have a stake in how this all this all turns out." He says Russia, South Korea and Japan will as well.

Tillerson says the first meeting will be about Trump and Kim "getting a sense of one another" and determining whether there is the space and will to accomplish something together on the North's nuclear weapons program.

The United States formally concluded that North Korea ordered the murder of Kim Jong-Nam, a half-brother and potential rival to ruler Kim Jong-Un, with the VX nerve agent.

"This public display of contempt for universal norms against chemical weapons use further demonstrates the reckless nature of North Korea and underscores that we cannot afford to tolerate a North Korean WMD program of any kind," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

The finding triggered another layer of US economic sanctions against Pyongyang, just as South Korea reported that the regime is ready for talks to end a nuclear standoff.