U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Tuesday he is willing to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to a Reuters report."I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump was quoted as saying of the North's leader in an interview with the Reuters.Trump also reiterated that he would pressure China to rein in the North, according to the report."I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over Chin

North Korea will be a topic when President Barack Obama and other leaders of the Group of Seven countries hold a summit in Japan next week, the White House said Tuesday."I'm confident that this is an issue that will be discussed at the G-7 meeting in Japan. Obviously the world is concerned about the provocations and destabilizing activities of the North Korean regime," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a regular briefing.The U.S. will continue to work with the international commun

A U.S. Republican House lawmaker has called for the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump, to refine his Asia policy, especially his approaches to issues involving North and South Korea.Rep. Peter King (R-NY) made the remark, speaking about Trump's plan to use Chinese pressure to rein in North Korea and his apparent threat to withdraw troops from South Korea unless the Asian ally agrees to pay more for American defense support."I don't think his Asian policy is coherent, because

China called for calm and restraint on Monday, responding to planned joint drills by South Korea, the United States and Japan aimed at tracking North Korean missiles.The planned drills, set for late next month, will be held on the sidelines of the biennial Rim of the Pacific Exercise, or RIMPAC, off Hawaii, a U.S.-led biennial multinational naval exercise. In the latest sign of strengthening defense cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, it will be the first time that the three nat

The South Korean government will hold a nationwide survey on foreign employment later this week as part of its plan to establish a database of its foreign workforce, the state-run census agency said Monday.The survey on 11,500 selected foreign residents over 15 years old will start on Tuesday and run through May 30, according to Statistics Korea.It is aimed at helping the government map out comprehensive policies for the foreign workforce based on the collected data on their employment, unemploy

It was a rainy afternoon, but a small classroom at a South Korea-sponsored Korean language school in Tehran was packed with 15 young people eager to learn a foreign tongue.The students were good enough to complete a few simple sentences although they were in the beginner's class.They looked quite serious while practicing conversation in Korean in pairs, such as, "How did you get to the King Sejong Institute?" "I came by taxi."The King Sejong Institute opened two years ago with 52 students in thr

U.S. President Barack Obama's planned visit to the Japanese city of Hiroshima is aimed at honoring the memory of not only Japanese victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing, but also all innocents lost during the war, the White House said Thursday.Obama is scheduled to visit Hiroshima on May 27 in what the White House described as a "historic" trip that will make him the first sitting American president to do so since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb in the city to end World War II. White House off

The United States was against Japan's bid to gain world heritage status for a building damaged in the Hiroshima atomic bombing, records showed Thursday, as keen attention is being paid to U.S. President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to the city.On May 27, Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima since the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on the city on Aug. 6, 1945, to end World War II.Critics in the U.S. and elsewhere have raised concerns the highly symbolic visit co

Cuban President Raul Castro sent a congratulatory message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for his recent appointment to the chairmanship of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, the communist country's official news outlet said Thursday.Kim was elected chairman of the North's ruling party in the recent four-day party congress which closed on Monday. The move is expected to further consolidate his hereditary one-man leadership over the reclusive country.Calling Kim "honorable comrade," Castro sa

The policy of pursuing nuclear weapons in tandem with economic development by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is doomed to fail, a state-run Chinese newspaper said Wednesday, calling the North's nuclear ambitions a "poison" for its economy. North Korea's just-concluded party congress officially endorsed Kim's "byeongjin" policy of simultaneously pursing both nuclear and economic development, dashing hopes that Kim may chart a different course on its nuclear weapons program. In an editorial, the

Republican presidential presumptive nominee Donald Trump had advocated a surgical strike against North Korea's nuclear facility, according to a book the real-estate tycoon published when he first ran for president in 2000."What would I do in North Korea? Fair question. It's easy to point out the problem, but what should be done to solve it? Am I ready to bomb this reactor? You're damned right," Trump said in the book titled, "The America We Deserve."Trump said that Israel's 1981 strike on Iraq's

U.S. President Barack Obama will visit the Japanese city of Hiroshima later this month, making him the first sitting American president to do so since the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb there to end World War II.Obama will make the "historic visit" with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to "highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement.The visit will take place on May 27 after

China said Monday it would "faithfully" implement U.N. sanctions against North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, responding to remarks by the North's leader Kim Jong-un that Pyongyang will not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is jeopardized.The remarks by Kim, announced during a rare congress of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party and reported by the North Korean media on Sunday, reaffirmed the North's bid to become a nuclear weapons state. "Our republic is a responsible nuclea

The United States and its allies "will not stand unmoved" in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations, a senior American diplomat said, calling for the communist nation to forswear its weapons programs.Frank Rose, assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, made the remark last week as he talked about U.S. efforts to strengthen missile defense, including the potential deployment of the THAAD system in South Korea."The Obama administration is comm