WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed Tuesday to meet during the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month, the White House said.The leaders spoke by phone ahead of Wednesday's planned trip to Pyongyang by a South Korean government delegation headed by Moon's chief national security aide, Chung Eui-yong.(AP)The trip is aimed at setting the date for Moon's third meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which the two sides agreed ea

    A Chinese delegation headed by a senior communist party official will visit North Korea this week for the anniversary of the foundation of the communist state, the North's state media reported Tuesday.   Li Zhanshu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, will head the delegation for the 70th anniversary of the foundation of North Korea, the Korean Central News Agency said.Li Zhanshu(right), a member of the Standing Committee of the Politic

Korean Red Cross said Tuesday it sent an additional 2,144 hygiene kits for those affected by a dam collapse that occurred in late July in Laos.The relief goods are to be delivered by Korean Air to Danang, Vietnam. From there, they will be transported on land to the site of the incident by the Lao Red Cross and International Committee of the Red Cross in Laos, the Korean organization said. Hygiene kits prepared by the Korean Red Cross (Korean Red Cross)The kits include detergents for washing and

North Korea on Tuesday lashed out at the US for standing in the way of the two Koreas’ efforts to improve inter-Korean relations, a day before South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy is set to travel to Pyongyang. 　The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, carried a commentary titled “Blocking North Korea-South Korea relations is blocking the US’ own road ahead.” It called upon South Korea to pursue inter-Korean projects without being i

A key mission for South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy to Pyongyang is to salvage stalled denuclearization talks between North Korea and the US by persuading North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to take bolder steps to denuclearize, experts say. Headed by Moon’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, the five-member delegation will travel to Pyongyang on Wednesday for a one-day trip to set the date and agenda for the inter-Korean summit planned for this month, according to the presid

Heavy rain could not stop Kim Bok-dong, 92, from staging a solo protest in a wheelchair in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the thick of Monday's rush hour. The victim of Japan's forced sexual slavery is the first in a line of others to follow to protest against the establishment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation, a controversial state-run body for Korean sexual slavery victims built with a 1 billion-yen ($9.2 million) Japanese contribution. "It's only been five days since

South Korean President Moon Jae-in named his national security adviser Chung Eui-yong as a special envoy to lead a delegation on a one-day trip to North Korea on Wednesday, the presidential office said Sunday. 　The delegation’s visit to Pyongyang comes as Moon is set to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this month amid a deadlock in denuclearization talks between North Korea and the US.  Led by Chung, the five-member delegation includes Suh Hoon, chief of the National Intelligen

After a UN anti-discrimination body on Thursday advised Tokyo to adopt a victim-centered approach to achieve a lasting solution on the issue of Japan’s wartime military sexual slavery, which largely involved Korean women, Tokyo’s UN mission has expressed its regret and lodged a protest with the UN committee, according to local media.　　The 18-member UN body stated that Tokyo’s efforts did not “take a fully victim-centered approach (and) that the surviving (victims) were not adequately consulted.”

The head of state of Libya will visit South Korea next week for a bilateral summit with President Moon Jae-in, Moon's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.Fayez Mustafa Al-Sarraj will arrive in Seoul on Sunday on a three-day visit, becoming the first Libyan leader in history to visit South Korea, according to Cheong Wa Dae. (AFP)The presidential office said the Moon-Sarraj meeting will also mark the first bilateral summit between the two countries without specifying the exact date for t

WASHINGTON -- The US government said Thursday it has decided to keep a ban on its nationals traveling to North Korea amid what officials in Washington describe as a "slow and tough" denuclearization process."The safety and security of US citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities," the Department of State said in a statement. "The travel warning for North Korea remains in place."It "strongly" warned US citizens not to travel to North Korea," citing "continued concerns about the threat of

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reaffirmed his decision to suspend joint military exercises with South Korea, but also warned he could “instantly” resume the drills, and they could be “far bigger than ever before,” both appeasing and pressuring North Korea amid the stalled denuclearization talks. (Yonhap)Without directly taking aim at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump blamed China -- North Korea’s biggest ally, currently engaged in an intensifying trade dispute with the US -- for a l

Culture ministers from South Korea, China and Japan began their three-day annual meeting in Harbin, China, on Wednesday, the South Korean culture ministry said.Culture ministers Do Jong-whan of South Korea, Luo Shugang of China and Yoshimasa Hayashi of Japan will discuss ways to expand trilateral cultural exchanges and cooperation and announce a declaration for this on Thursday.The officials vowed to push for cooperation for developing the common brand of the East Asian Culture City and to conti

The US appears to be turning up the heat on North Korea amid stalled denuclearization talks, with US Defense Secretary James Mattis hinting at a resumption of US-South Korea military drills and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang being delayed.　As the US reportedly responds to a “belligerent letter” from North Korea by stepping up the pressure, prospects of negotiations between North Korea and the US appear bleak unless the communist state makes a major concession, experts say

North Korea’s silence on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s canceled trip to Pyongyang is a sign of its deepening frustration over what steps to take next, with denuclearization talks likely to drag on, experts say. Trump canceled Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang, citing insufficient progress on North Korea’s denuclearization and laying some blame on China, North Korea’s major ally which is also engaged in an intensifying trade war with the US.Kim Jong-un (Yonhap)A report by the Washington Post on Mo

A South Korean activist said he had emailed a complaint to the members of the International Olympic Committee about its recommendation not to include the eastern islets of Dokdo on a flag for the two Koreas to use together at international sporting events.The original mock-up of the Korean Unification Flag, which features a blue Korean Peninsula against a white background, included the disputed rocky islets in the East Sea. But Seoul decided to amend the image, using an alternative for the Pyeon