The US State Department on Tuesday declined to specify a time frame for dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear program as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to travel to Pyongyang to discuss the communist state’s denuclearization later this week.“I know some individuals have given timelines. We’re not going to provide a timeline for that,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a regular press briefing.US national security adviser John Bolton said in a media interview Sunday that

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head to North Korea this week to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and discuss detailed steps for North Korea’s denuclearization, three weeks after the historic US-North Korea summit, the White House said.   　Pompeo will fly to North Korea on Thursday “to continue consultations and implement the forward progress” made by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their Singapore meeting, the State Department added in a statemen

The South Korean Red Cross said Monday it has finalized its list of separated families ahead of joint events to reunite families separated by the 70-year-old division of the two Koreas. (Yonhap)The South Korean list of 250 separated families was selected from 500 randomly picked candidates based on their health and willingness for a reunion with their family members in the North, according to the Red Cross here.The list will be delivered to the North Korean Red Cross on Tuesday to start a proces

A Seoul court will hold a hearing this week to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant sought by prosecutors for a lawmaker accused of corruption, court officials said Monday.  The court action on Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party came 46 days after the prosecution applied for the arrest warrant. The closure of a parliamentary session last month enabled the court to start the legal process as lawmakers are given parliamentary immunity while the National Assembly

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Monday to discuss South Korea's policy to increase cooperation with the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).Kang asked for the Thai government's "proactive cooperation" with Seoul's efforts to broaden ties with the ASEAN member countries during the talks held in Bangkok. (Yonhap)The two sides also discussed how to increase bilateral ties in culture, the economy, defense manufactur

(Yonhap)A delegation of South Korean officials, athletes and media people will leave for North Korea this week to participate in inter-Korean basketball matches in Pyongyang, a unification ministry official said Monday.The 100-member delegation will depart for North Korea at 10 a.m. on Tuesday on two military airplanes flying from an airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, according to the official. The delegation will be led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and will consist of around 50 bas

Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines, held talks with North Korean officials on Sunday at the border village of Panmunjeom between the two Koreas as US Secretary Mike Pompeo plans to visit Pyongyang later this week, US media reported Monday.  Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines, leaves the Four Seasons Hotel in central Seoul early Monday morning. (Yonhap)Kim, former US ambassador to South Korea and a nuclear envoy, is reported to have met with North Korean officials for 1 1/

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly plans to travel to North Korea next week to discuss the country’s denuclearization plans in a follow-up to the Singapore summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un three weeks ago.Pompeo, who has already traveled twice to North Korea to pave the way for the Singapore summit, had canceled a July 6 meeting with his Indian counterpart in Washington to fly to Pyongyang, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing four U

JEJU ISLAND -- The two Koreas should be at the center of the denuclearization process, with the backing of the US and China, to resolve the decades-old nuclear standoff and establish a peace regime, a former American diplomat told a forum Wednesday. Philip Zelikow, former counselor of the US Department of State and director of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, suggested that the countries go beyond focusing on technical parts of denuclearization to achieve “results.” 

With North Korea and the US having taken the first step to restore trust through the Singapore summit, the high-stakes denuclearization process is less likely to be derailed, experts said Wednesday at an international forum on peace and security. Former senior US diplomat Joseph Yun gave 4 on the scale of 0 to 10, and presidential adviser Moon Chung-in gave 2, on the possibility of the collapse of future negotiations over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.“I would say two leaders are

JEJU ISLAND -- An intensifying global trade war would increase tariffs by up to 40 percent and reduce trade by two-thirds around the globe, resulting in the whole world becoming poorer, a Nobel Laureate economist said Wednesday at a forum on peace and security. Paul Krugman, a distinguished professor of the City University of New York, said South Korea’s export-driven economy is vulnerable to a US-led trade war, but its strong economic ties with other Asian countries in the region could mitigate

JEJU ISLAND -- Deepening economic interdependence with North Korea is key to resolving the decades-old nuclear crisis and preventing war, a former unification minister said Tuesday at an international forum on peace and security. “The best way to avert a war is to create an economic cooperative body with North Korea,” Lee Jong-suk, the former unification minister who advises President Moon Jae-in on inter-Korean relations, said at the 13th Jeju Forum. “We should more strategically consider (expa

Civic groups from the two Koreas agreed to boost private sector exchanges ranging from sports to culture in line with the joint declaration signed at the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, a South Korean civic group said Monday, after a rare four-day visit to Pyongyang last week.  The South Korean Committee on June 15 Joint Declaration visited Pyongyang from Wednesday to Saturday, which marks the first made by a civic group in nine years.  “The visit was meaningful because it marked the first ti

The extension of economic sanctions against North Korea being coupled with the suspension of further South Korea-US joint military drills hints at US President Donald Trump’s message to the regime, experts say. 　On Friday, Trump renewed sanctions on North Korea for a year in an executive order, saying the country poses an “extraordinary threat,” just 10 days after saying there was no nuclear risk from Pyongyang. US President Donald Trump (Yonhap)The state of national emergency over the threat po

When US President Donald Trump said that North Korea had the potential for condos and hotels on its “great’ beaches at the press conference following the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12, Kim may have been eyeing it up for years. The young leader’s debut on the world stage may signal the beginning of his efforts to develop the economy of his impoverished country. At the heart of it, for now, appears to be boosting tourism.