Inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the South Korea-ASEAN summit remains an open question, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Thursday. Speaking at a meeting with senior leaders of the Asia News Network -- a coalition of 24 news organizations from across Asia -- in Seoul, Moon said the matter is outside of South Korea’s control, and that all the Association of Southeast Asian Nations members would need to agree. President Moon Jae-in addresses members of Asia News Network at a meeti

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held his first talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, reaching out to the country’s traditional ally as nuclear negotiations with the US remain in a stalemate. At 1 p.m., Kim and Putin started a one-on-one session, which was followed by a three-hour extended session with policy staff at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia’s Pacific port city.  Russian Presi

Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday, vowing to seek closer ties as they look to counter US influence.The summit in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok comes with Kim locked in a nuclear stand-off with Washington and Putin keen to put Moscow forward as a player in another global flashpoint.(REUTERS)The two leaders shook hands and shared smiles as they met and gave brief statements before heading in for the talks, held at a uni

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un began his first summit with President Vladimir Putin in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok on Thursday, with a peaceful resolution of Pyongyang's nuclear quandary expected to top the agenda. The much anticipated summit is seen as a key test of Kim's diplomatic outreach aimed at breaking a logjam in a denuclearization parley with the United States, easing sanctions pressure and catalyzing his lackluster drive for economic development.Kim and Putin met at Far Eas

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he "absolutely" sees a path leading to the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.Pompeo made the remark in an interview with CBS News, saying there was more "nuance" in February's no-deal summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un than appeared in public. (Yonhap)"There was a lot more nuance to the conversation than just, hey, they had a position, we had a position, we walked away," the top US d

A senior North Korean official, who served as Pyongyang’s chief interlocutor in talks with the United States, has been replaced as head of a key espionage agency handling inter-Korean affairs, a lawmaker said Wednesday.Kim Yong-chol, chief of the United Front Department, was recently replaced by Jang Kum-chol, Rep. Lee Hye-hoon of the Bareunmirae Party, who leads the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee, said, citing a source from Seoul’s spy agency.  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Yonha

About a year ago, President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held their historic first summit at the border village of Panmunjom, which led to a rapid thaw in inter-Korean relations.To mark the first anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration that the two Koreas signed at the April 27 inter-Korean summit, the South will hold a ceremony Saturday at the recently demilitarized Panmunjom, though Pyongyang’s lukewarm attitude toward Seoul in recent months indicates a slim chance of the N

As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia on Wednesday for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an expert on North Korea said the meeting would not be a “game changer.”Pak Jung, a senior fellow and the SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies at the Brookings Institution, also said the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump was not a failure, but an opportunity for related parties to understand the limits to what each has been pursuing. Pak was a

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday arrived in Vladivostok, Russia, a day ahead of his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim set out for Russia via his private train in the early hours of Wednesday and arrived in the Russian border city of Khasan at about 10:40 a.m., before moving on to Vladivostok, where he arrived some six hours later. In an interview with Russian media after a welcome ceremony in Khasan, Kim hinted at strengthening cooperation with Moscow in regiona

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived by train at the Russian border city of Khasan on Wednesday en route to the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok for a much-anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian media reported.Kim's special train crossed the Russia-North Korea border at 10:40 a.m. (local time) over a bridge crossing the Tumen River and reached the Khasan station, Russian news service RIA Novosti said, citing a provincial government source.Upon arrival, he received br

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un departed for Russia by train Wednesday for his first summit with President Vladimir Putin, state media reported.Kim's special train left for Russia earlier in the day, the Korean Central News Agency said. It did not specify from where it departed and where it is headed.The Kremlin earlier said that the summit will be held in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok on Thursday. (Yonhap)If the train departed from Pyongyang, it will likely take at least 20 hours to get

Amid the ongoing standoff between the United States and North Korea over denuclearization, going through the right process is important, former US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said in Seoul on Tuesday.At a press conference held as part of the 2019 Asan Plenum, Steinberg said he does not think of the recent Hanoi summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “failure,” stressing the complexity of the issue. Rather, the summit was part of the proces

State media outlets embrace YouTube, speedy reporting

North Korea is unlikely to participate in an event that South Korea is preparing to hold this week in celebration of the anniversary of last year's first summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a unification ministry official said Tuesday.The government earlier said that it notified the North of the planned event through an inter-Korean liaison office in the North's border town of Kaesong on Monday. It provided details on its date, venue and program, though it d

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will soon visit Russia for his first summit with President Vladimir Putin, state media announced Tuesday. Kim "will soon pay a visit to the Russian Federation at the invitation of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation," according to the Korean Central News Agency."They will have talks during the visit." (Yonhap)The KCNA, however, did not mention when and where they will meet. The Rodong Sinmun, the North's official newspaper, also repor