WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Republican lawmakers Wednesday criticized President Barack Obama and warned that North Korea was not to be trusted after it promised to suspend its nuclear program in exchange for U.S. food aid.Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a staunch critic of communist countries, said that the North Korea agreement “sounds a lot like the failed agreements of the past.”“North Korea’s promise to suspend certain nuclear activities can’t be taken at fac

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― A senior North Korean nuclear negotiator could visit the United States for a security forum later this month, diplomatic sources said, as the prospects of resuming six-party nuclear talks rose with the latest disarmament-for-aid deal between the two countries.Washington and Pyongyang simultaneously announced the deal earlier in the day under which Pyongyang promised to temporarily halt its uranium enrichment program and put a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missil

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- A senior North Korean nuclear negotiator could visit the United States for a security forum later this month, diplomatic sources said, as the prospects of resuming six-party nuclear talks rose with the latest disarmament-for-aid deal between the two countries.Washington a

North Korea has offered to halt its uranium enrichment program in exchange for possibly larger grain proportions in the previously-floated 240,000 tons of nutritional assistance from the U.S., sources said Wednesday.The U.S. Department of State announced Wednesday the results of the third round of t

North Korea has offered a temporary way to halt its uranium enrichment program in exchange for more food in addition to the previously proposed nutritional assistance, news reports said Wednesday.The news reports came hours before the U.S. Department of State announced the results of the third round of talks between Washington’s top envy Glyn Davies and North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan in Beijing, which went for two days on Thursday and Friday.The U.S. demanded Pyongyang suspend

China reiterated on Wednesday its stance on North Korean defectors, refusing to recognize them as refugees.   "We oppose that the issue of North Koreans' illegal entry into China is being brought to the international organizations, as those organizations are not the venues to discuss such

Officials from the European Union have been advised to avoid using North Korea’s only airline Air Koryo due to safety concerns, according to the British Foreign Office’s website.Normally, Europeans traveling to the reclusive state fly from Beijing to Pyongyang on Air Koryo.The North Korean flag carrier was on the blacklist of airlines named by the European Commission that were banned from operating in the EU region, due to their failure to meet international safety standards in 2006.In March 201

The United States will soon release some details of “modest progress” in its latest high-level talks with North Korea, an informed diplomatic source said Tuesday.“The State Department is expected to announce contents related to consultations with North Korea at around 9 a.m. tomorrow,” the source said, requesting anonymity.The top U.S. envoy on North Korea, Glyn Davies, held two days of talks with North Korea‘s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan in Beijing last week.The U.S. openly said there wa

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The U.S. military says an American ship has arrived in North Korea to support the hunt for the remains of soldiers missing-in-action from the Korean War.Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Robert Willard, said Tuesday the ship is offloading equipment at Nampho, a port city west of the capital, Pyongyang.The U.S. and North Korea agreed in October to restart the search for thousands of American service members, a sign of easing tensions between the wartime enemies.The program

The United States said Monday that it has not made any decisions on further talks with North Korea or food aid for the communist nation despite “some moderate, modest progress” at their talks in Beijing last week.“No decisions have been made on the six-party talks side or on the nutritional assistance side,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at a press briefing.She pointed out that Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, was still on his way back to Wash

The Seoul government is revving up diplomatic efforts, both officially and unofficially, to persuade China to stop the “inhumane” repatriation of North Korean defectors. On Sunday, Chun Young-woo, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security, paid an unofficial visit to Rep. Park Sun-young of the conservative Liberty Forward Party, who has staged a hunger strike in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul since last Tuesday to protest the repatriation. Chun was the first high-leve