Discussions are currently under way with the United States to get sanctions exemptions for South Korea's plan to send food aid to North Korea, a government source here said Thursday.The Seoul government and the World Food Programme are trying to secure ships that will be used to transport 50,000 tons of rice to the impoverished state struggling with worsening food shortages, he added."Negotiations are under way between the WFP and the US on sanctions exemptions that are needed for ships and

Working-level nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea will likely resume only after the planned joint military exercises between South Korea and the US are over, a former unification minister has said.Jeong Se-hyun made the remark during a meeting with reporters on Wednesday, following Pyongyang's warning earlier this week that it will decide whether to open the working-level talks after "keeping watch over the US move," criticizing the allies' joint military exercises

China exported 1,536 tons of refined oil to North Korea in May, according to its monthly report to a UN sanctions committee Thursday. The May figure brought China's cumulative supply of refined oil products to the North to 5,730 tons this year, the report posted on the website of the sanctions committee on North Korea showed. The cumulative figure is almost on a par with the 5,920 tons that China supplied to the North during the same period a year earlier.The amount represents about one-fourth o

SEOUL/LOS ANGELES -- A US citizen accused of involvement in a raid on the North Korean Embassy in Madrid in Feb. has been released on bail as he awaits a court trial on possible extradition to Spain. Christopher Ahn, a 38-year-old Korean-American and former Marine, was released Tuesday for a $1.3 million bail under the condition of home confinement. He was arrested in April following an extradition request from Spain, which has accused him and his anti-North Korea group of raiding and stealing c

North Korea seems to consider a security guarantee more important than sanctions relief in its denuclearization negotiations with the United States, a Seoul-based think tank chief has said.Lim Kang-taeg, head of the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, made the remark during a meeting with reporters Tuesday, saying Pyongyang seems to have changed its strategy to bring the security guarantee issue to the forefront after the collapse of the Hanoi summit between its leader Kim Jong-u

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States said Tuesday it hoped to hold denuclearization talks with North Korea, despite a warning from Pyongyang that US-South Korean military exercises could affect their planned resumption. The North had earlier Tuesday hinted that 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 facilitate dialogue with Pyongyang.It was the first statement from the North on the talks since U

US President Donald Trump has said that time is "not of the essence" in handling North Korea, amid concerns that renewed tensions over a planned South Korea-US military exercise could hamper the resumption of working-level nuclear talks with the regime.Trump made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday where he also boasted of "tremendous progress" in his diplomacy with Pyongyang and predicted that "good things" will ultimately happen. The remarks came hours af

PYONGYANG (AP) -- North Korea on Tuesday suggested it might call off its 20-month suspension of nuclear and missile tests because of summertime US-South Korean military drills that the North calls preparation for an eventual invasion.The statement by the North's Foreign Ministry comes during a general deadlock in nuclear talks, but after an extraordinary meeting of the US and North Korean leaders at the Korean border that raised hopes that negotiations would soon resume.The comments ramp up pres

A North Korean nuclear negotiator, reported to have been executed as punishment for the failed summit in Hanoi with the United States, appears to be alive, South Korea‘s state intelligence agency told lawmakers here Tuesday.　Citing multiple sources, a Seoul-based newspaper reported in late May that the negotiator, Kim Hyok-chol, had been executed by gunshot in a purge by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of some officials involved in preparations for his Hanoi meeting with US President Donal

North Korea warned Tuesday that the agreed-upon resumption of working-level nuclear talks with the United States would be affected if the US goes ahead with joint military exercises with South Korea.A spokesman of the North‘s foreign ministry made the remark, referring to the 19-2 Dong Maeng exercise slated for next month.The remark indicates the North could reconsider the agreement to resume working-level talks if the planned exercise takes place. The North has long denounced such exercis

Nearly half of North Korea's total population suffer from undernourishment, a recent UN report said as the impoverished country grapples with worsening food shortages. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019 released by the Food and Agriculture Organization on Monday, the prevalence of undernourishment in North Korea's total population came to 47.8 percent from 2016 to 2018.The number is sharply up from the 2004-2006 period, where the comparable figure stood at 35

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday he hoped both North Korea and the United States could "be a little more creative" when the two sides restart talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.Speaking in a radio interview on "The Sean Hannity Show," Pompeo did not say when the negotiations would resume. At the end of June he had said it would likely happen "sometime in July... probably in the next two or three weeks." President Donald Trump m

North Korea will resume its Kumgangsan tour program in late July, the country’s propaganda media outlet said Monday, in an apparent attempt to overcome the economic burden of the international sanctions.According to DPRK Today, the four-day tour program, which will run through the end of November, includes activities such as hiking, fishing and spa treatments. The treks will enable travelers to see natural wonders such as Manmulsang, a unique formation of cliffs and strangely shaped rocks;

A nuclear freeze is the next "logical" option the United States could take in its negotiations with North Korea as it is impossible to resolve the nuclear issue in a "a single, one-step agreement," a former senior CIA official has said.In a Washington Post column on Sunday, former acting CIA director Michael Morell also stressed that a freeze, however, cannot be the end state of the negotiations and should require Pyongyang to declare all of its nuclear programs.  "

The US government is waiting for a response from North Korea after proposing to resume working-level negotiations on denuclearization this week, diplomatic sources said Sunday. North Korea has yet to give an answer to the offer made through a diplomatic channel last week. After their surprise meeting June 30 at the inter-Korean border, US President Donald Trump said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had agreed to resume working-level negotiations “within two to three weeks.&rdquo