US President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday talks for the location of a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are underway, after the two said last week they are ready to meet to further discuss Pyongyang’s denuclearization. “We’re negotiating a location. It will be announced probably in the not-too-distant future,” Trump told reporters before boarding a helicopter for a presidential retreat to Camp David, Maryland.  US President Donald Trump speaks on the South Lawn of the White Hou

South Korea is expected to deliver its promised Tamiflu antiviral medication to North Korea as early as this week as a necessary domestic approval process is under way, observers said Monday.The South Korean government unveiled its plan to provide Tamiflu and other early medial detection kits to the North in December and discussed the issue with the United States through a joint working group session on North Korea late in the same month to make sure the aid doesn't violate sanctions. (Yonhap)"W

An email suspected to be carrying malicious code has been sent to dozens of reporters covering South Korea's unification ministry handling relations with North Korea, prompting an investigation into the incident, an official said Monday.The email titled "TF reference info" with a compressed file attached was sent to more than 70 members of the ministry's press corps earlier in the day. It was sent through a private email address from a person named "Yoon Hong-geun." The ministry suspects it cont

North Korea's official newspaper urged South Korea on Monday to stop joint military drills with the United States, saying it will help create a peaceful atmosphere and move forward inter-Korean relations. The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the North's ruling party, also called on Seoul to stop bringing any foreign strategic assets onto the Korean Peninsula, reiterating what leader Kim Jong-un demanded during his New Year's Day speech last week. (Yonhap)"Removing nuclear threats on the Korean Peninsu

A North Korean propaganda outlet called on the United States on Monday to take "corresponding" steps for the "sincere measures" the North has taken toward denuclearization since their summit in June.Meari, a propaganda website, made the request as the two countries are preparing for a second summit between their leaders after a protracted stalemate for months over their denuclearization talks."Our republic has granted an excessive amount of goodwill and generosity to the US," Meari said on its w

A former senior North Korean diplomat who defected to the South in 2016 on Saturday urged a former colleague who has gone into hiding before ending his term in Italy to come to Seoul, as opposed to the US where he is reportedly seeking asylum. Thae Yong-ho, who was the deputy ambassador in London and the most recent senior diplomat to defect, wrote an open letter to Jo Song-gil, 44, until recently North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, who fled the Rome embassy with his wife in early November

A security policy advisor to South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Saturday that "bold" action by North Korea and partial US sanctions relief could help address a perceived deadlock in negotiations over Pyongyang's denuclearization.Moon Chung-in, a Yonsei University professor, made the remarks as Seoul seeks to advance its peace initiative by creating fresh momentum for the apparently stalled dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang. Moon Chung-in (Yonhap)"A breakthrough may emerge should the

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that he is "confident" that a second meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will happen in the near future.Speaking to Fox News Thursday evening, Pompeo maintained that he believes the two leaders will be able to make progress toward dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program when they meet to follow up on their historic first summit last June. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean leader Kim Jong

The number of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's public appearances increased in 2018, mainly in the fields of economy and external affairs amid rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula, government data showed Friday.Kim appeared in public 98 times last year, up 4.3 percent from 94 in 2017, marking the first time in five years for the number to rise, according to the data compiled by the unification ministry. (Yonhap)The tally had been decreasing every year since reaching its peak with 212 in 2013.O

North Korea has been hunting down its top diplomat in Italy after he went missing in early November amid news reports he applied for asylum with an unidentified Western country.Jo Song-gil (Yonhap)The department of international affairs of the North’s Workers’ Party and its Foreign Ministry were ordered to conduct a sweeping probe into its acting Ambassador to Rome Jo Song-gil, look for others who may be seeking to defect and find ways to prevent such occurences, JoongAng Ilbo reported Friday, c

A United Nations expert on human rights will visit South Korea next week to collect information on North Korea, his office has said.Tomas Ojea Quintana, special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, will meet government and civic group officials and North Korean defectors during his trip to Seoul from Monday to Friday next week, according to the office.Tomas Ojea Quintana, special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea (AP)He regularly visits South Korea and r

North Korea‘s acting ambassador to Italy, Jo Song Gil, went into hiding with his wife in November, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in Seoul on Thursday. A high-profile defection by one of North Korea‘s elite would be a huge embarrassment for leader Kim Jong Un as he pursues diplomacy with Seoul and Washington and seeks to portray himself as a player in international geopolitics.  South Korean lawmaker Kim Min-ki said an official from Seoul’s National Intelligence Service shared the infor

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s comment about nuclear weapons in his New Year’s speech has evoked mixed responses from experts here.“We declared at home and abroad that we would neither make and test nuclear weapons any longer nor use and proliferate them, and we have taken various practical measures,” Kim said in a televised address on Tuesday. Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat, said Kim’s speech shows there is no change in Kim’s stance on clinging to nuclear weapons.   “His 2019 p

Kim’s New Year speech hints at Pyongyang seeking safeguards

North Korea’s top diplomat in Italy sought asylum from an unidentified Western country with his family, JoongAng ilbo reported Thursday.Jo Song-gil, the acting North Korean ambassador to Rome, is currently under protection of Italian authorities upon his request, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.  (Yonhap)Jo was appointed as the acting ambassador after Italy expelled then Ambassador Mun Jong-nam in October 2017 in protest of a nuclear test by the North in violation of