North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's special train passed the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Sunday, sources said, after departing from Pyongyang the previous day for Hanoi for a summit with US President Donald Trump.The train, which left Pyongyang Railway Station around 5 p.m. on Saturday, crossed into the Chinese border city of Dandong about 9:30 p.m. before reaching Tianjin around 1 p.m. on Sunday, a source in Beijing said on condition of anonymity.(Yonhap)"From Jiefang Bridge, Cha

North Korea's official news agency on Sunday warned the United States of missing a "rare historic opportunity" if it fails to achieve a positive outcome in the ongoing nuclear talks, three days ahead of a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Denouncing US Democrats and other skeptics for disrupting the negotiations on "groundless stories and misinformation," the Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary that the Trump administration should not

The UN Security Council has granted sanctions exemptions to the World Health Organization (WHO) and two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide North Korea with humanitarian assistance, including aid for food security and access to clean water. A UN committee handling sanctions on North Korea granted the waivers for the WHO as well as for the Irish NGO Concern Worldwide and the German NGO Deutsche Welthungerhilfe earlier this month, according to the committee's website.The list of items

North Korean defectors living in South Korea hope that the second summit between Washington and Pyongyang this week will bring about a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but doubts remain regarding Kim Jong-un’s commitment to departing from the Kim family playbook. “Denuclearization is not just about giving up nuclear weapons, he (Kim Jong-un) has to put down all the power he has. We know as soon as the nuclear arsenal is gone, the dictatorial regime will face an imminent collapse,” Kim Hyeong-soo,

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un set out for Hanoi by train Saturday, North Korean media reported Sunday. North Korean state media reported in the early hours of Sunday that Kim left Pyongyang by train to attend the summit with US President Donald Trump. On the trip, which is expected to take approximately 60 hours, Kim is accompanied by a number of top officials including his sister Kim Yo-jong and top aide Kim Yong-chol. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves from the train bound for Hanoi at a

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has departed by train for Hanoi to hold a second summit with US President Donald Trump later this week, Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday.Kim left Pyongyang Railway Station on Saturday afternoon and was accompanied by senior officials, including his sister Kim Yo-jong and top aide Kim Yong-chol, the Korean Central News Agency reported. (Yonhap)But there was no mention of Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, in the list of those accompanying the leader.Kim is to hold his s

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Friday that inter-Korean cooperation in the forestry sector could make progress faster than any other joint economic project.He made the remarks while visiting a farming association corporation in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province."As North Korea needs to produce food and reforest its territory at the same time, the fruit trees that we have improved could play a useful role," Lee said. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon looks around a food processing factory

Senior North Korean and US envoys held hourslong talks in Hanoi on Friday as part of home-stretch preparations for another summit between the leaders of the Korean War foes.The negotiations on the summit agenda came as Washington said that freezing all of Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction programs and delivery systems will be a priority at the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, slated for Feb. 27-28.Kim Hyok-chol, Pyongyang's special represent

South Korea's chief nuclear envoy headed to Hanoi on Friday for consultations on next week's summit between North Korea and the United States.Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, plans to meet with Stephen Biegun, Washington's envoy for Pyongyang, there to discuss a negotiation strategy, a government source said. Lee Do-hoon (Yonhap)Biegun is leading the working-level bargaining with North Korea on the agenda items of the two-day talks between lead

WASHINGTON (AP) - The US will not move to ease economic sanctions on North Korea until it is confident that the nuclear weapons threat from Pyongyang has been "substantially reduced,'' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.Pompeo didn't elaborate, but his comment seemed to leave open the possibility that sanctions relief was possible short of complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.(Yonhap)Pompeo told NBC's "Today'' that he hopes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

The United States is seeking to move quickly and with "very big bites" to denuclearize North Korea and offer a brighter future for its people, a senior US administration official said Thursday.The two countries are engaged in negotiations ahead of next week's second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."I think we need to move quickly and with very big bites. We are not looking to have incremental steps as a key driver of this process," the official told r

Dismantling the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex could be a meaningful step in North Korea’s denuclearization, as it is key to the country’s nuclear weapons program, a South Korean think tank said Thursday. “While the Yongbyong nuclear facility has emerged as a primary target for the first phase of the denuclearization process, there are opinions that denigrate or belittle the value of the possible dismantlement,” said Hong Min, director of the North Korean research division of the Korea Institute for N

US national security adviser John Bolton will travel to Seoul later this week to discuss matters regarding the US-North Korea summit, CNN reported Wednesday. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to hold their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. Details of the meeting’s schedule have not been released, but the US has announced that the summit will be held on Feb. 27 and 28. John Bolton. YonhapAccording to a CNN report citing two Trump administration officials, Bolton

North Korea on Thursday turned down South Korea's offer to hold joint events celebrating the upcoming centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japan's colonial rule, the unification ministry said."We have been in consultations to make the event take place as best we could, but the North officially notified us today that it would be difficult to jointly celebrate the March 1 Independence Movement," the ministry said.The North explained that circumstances do not allow it to arrange

ROME (Reuters) - North Korea informed Italy last year that the daughter of its acting ambassador had asked to return home after her father left his post in Rome, the Italian foreign ministry said on Wednesday.North Korean diplomat Jo Song Gil and his wife went missing in November, and a South Korean newspaper has reported that they have applied for asylum in an unspecified Western country.Thae Yong Ho, a former deputy North Korean ambassador to Britain who defected to South Korea in 2016, said o