The US is committed to engaging North Korea, and “sequencing” of denuclearization-related actions led to the summit in Hanoi ending without an agreement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday.  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media in Washington on Friday. YonhapSpeaking in an interview on KCMO, a Kansas-based radio station, Pompeo said that while he cannot reveal details of the summit, differences in the two sides’ ideas about the sequence of denuclearization caused its

Post Hanoi summit failure, speculation grows on what new mode of defense may be

A high-profile North Korean defector suggested Monday that North Korea may be pushing for an amendment to its Constitution in a way that will stipulate that its leader Kim Jong-un is the official head of state.Thae Yong-ho, a former deputy North Korean ambassador to Britain, raised the theory on his blog in light of the result of Pyongyang's latest rubber-stamp parliamentary elections that ended with Kim holding no post at all.  Thae Yong-ho (Yonhap)North Korea held nationwide polls on March 10

South Korea's top diplomat said Monday the United States wants a deal with North Korea on a "big picture" roadmap to get rid of its nuclear and missile programs.On the other hand, in the Hanoi talks held in late February, Pyongyang limited its immediate denuclearization steps to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, according to Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.She was talking about why the two sides failed to reach an agreement in their second summit."Both the US and South Korea think that a comprehensi

Legislator claims Seoul’s plan to give $8 million to World Food Program, UNICEF impeded by US, citing US envoy to Seoul.　

US national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump hoped to resolve the North Korean situation through negotiations, but warned Pyongyang against resuming weapons development. Speaking in an interview with a New York-based station on Sunday (US time), Bolton said Trump was committed to dialogue.  John Bolton. Yonhap“President Trump wants to see this threat resolved through negotiations,” Bolton said. “He’s made a number of proposals to Kim Jong-un, it hasn’t w

North Korea's main newspaper called on provincial counties Monday to play greater roles in boosting regional economies as international sanctions on the communist nation showed no signs of easing amid a deadlock in nuclear talks with the United States.The Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary that if counties make the best use of their potentials, they would be able to resolve the problems they face in their economic development efforts on their own and contribute to development of the na

The United States and North Korea have made too much progress over the past year in their nuclear talks to return to where they were before negotiations started, a high-ranking official of the presidential office said Sunday.His outlook comes amid growing uncertainty after North Korea threatened to quit nuclear talks with Washington following the breakdown of the summit between their leaders last month in Hanoi."North Korea and the US never want to go back to the days of conflict and confrontati

North Korea and Russia have agreed to strengthen "high-level contact" and intensify cooperation on the economy and in humanitarian and various other fields, Pyongyang's state news agency reported Sunday.The agreement was reached during a meeting in Moscow on Thursday between North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il and his Russian counterpart, Igor Morgulov, according to the Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap)"Both sides agreed to boost high-level contact and exchange in the political fiel

Former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has announced on Twitter that he will visit North Korea this month amid a standoff over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.Gabriel posted in the early hours of Friday morning that he would like to get an impression of North Korea, although he did not provide any specific time frame for his visit. (AP)The announcement came as North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said Pyongyang is rethinking whether it will continue nuclear talks wit

A recent United Nations report on sanctions on North Korea details not only how the restrictions are implemented and evaded, but also highlights “unintended consequences” they are having on humanitarian programs in the impoverished nation.The annual report, by a panel of experts, also recommended that the UN Security Council committee overseeing sanctions on North Korea review sanctions exemption requests for humanitarian efforts in a “time-bound” manner and the UN carry out an assessment of the

Little to no activity is spotted at North Korea's main nuclear facility in Yongbyon and its nuclear testing site in Punggye-ri, a US monitor said Friday.The 5-megawatt reactor and the experimental light water reactor at Yongbyon showed no clear signs of operations, 38 North said on its website, comparing commercial satellite imagery from Feb. 21, March 7 and March 12.The monitor observed dredging operations at the complex, along with what appeared to be a white tanker trailer, a vehicle and a "c

North Korea is considering ending talks with the US, a senior North Korean diplomat said Friday. In a press conference for foreign media in Pyongyang, the North’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said Pyongyang had no intention of giving into US demands. (Yonhap)“We have no intention of compromising in any form to the demands of the US,” Choe was quoted as saying in foreign media reports. She also said the US had “lost a golden opportunity” at the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi on Feb. 27 and

South Korea and the United States made progress in their consultations Friday on a temporary sanctions waiver for planned video reunions of separated Korean families, which would allow Seoul to bring related equipment into the communist neighbor, a diplomatic source has said.The two sides held their first "working group" session on pending issues related to North Korea since the unsuccessful Hanoi summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)In the meeting h

A written judgment from a US court ordering North Korea to pay compensation to the family of Otto Warmbier came back a second time from the North’s Foreign Ministry, a US media outlet said Thursday. A Washington court posted a scanned copy of the written judgment on its online records system and explained that the document it sent to North Korea had been returned due to a “delivery failure,” according to Voice of America. The US District Court for the District of Columbia handed down a verdict i