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China-Japan-Koreas

North Korea 'open to talks' despite Trump cancellation of summit

2018-05-26

[Al Jazeera] Pyongyang has said it is still willing to talk to the US government, despite President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's decision to cancel his highly anticipated meeting with North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... next month. In a statement published on Friday by state-run Korean Central News Agency, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said North Korea is "intent to sit with the US side to solve [the] problem regardless of way at any time". "We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the US side time and opportunity," he said. But he also added that the cancellation of the summit, originally for June 12 in Singapore, made Pyongyang "think over if we were truly right to have made efforts for it and to have opted for the new path".

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China-Japan-Koreas

N.Korean Call for New Nuclear Talks Prompts Wary U.S. Response

2013-09-19

North Korea has called again for the resumption of multi-nation talks on its nuclear program. But the United States -- a key participant in the so-called six-party negotiations -- says Pyongyang first must take "meaningful action" on earlier promises to end its nuclear weapons program. The public exchange between Pyongyang and Washington began Wednesday, when North Korea's first vice foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan, called for a new round of talks without preconditions. He spoke in Beijing at a forum marking the 10th anniversary of the talks, which the North abandoned in 2009. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf later said "the onus" is in on North Korea to honor its earlier promises "to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs." Since quitting the talks, Pyongyang has defied United Nations resolutions with two underground nuclear tests, and has ignored further UN directives with multiple missile launches. It conducted a third nuclear test earlier this year. In his Beijing comments, Kim -- the North's chief nuclear envoy -- said attaching such preconditions causes "mistrust." He blamed Washington's "hostility toward North Korea" for increased tensions. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "all parties should be devoted to restarting the six-party talks." Those negotiations involved North Korea, South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. They were aimed at getting the North to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for badly needed foreign aid. Last week, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said Pyongyang likely has restarted a closed plutonium reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex. It based its conclusion on recent satellite photos that appear to show white steam emerging from a building near the reactor. The reactor was shut down in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament deal worked out by the six-nation process. But in April, Pyongyang warned it would restart all operations at Yongbyon to boost its nuclear force in both "quantity and quality."

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China-Japan-Koreas

Little progress in China's efforts to convince N. Korea to change course

2013-09-06

BEIJING -- China appears to have been unable to make much headway in the latest diplomatic efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, diplomatic sources with knowledge of last week's talks between the two said Friday. I think this is nonsense. China can bring the Norks to heel by cutting off the oil and the cash. China is engaged in some play-handwringing to make it look like it's Uncle Sugar's intransigence that is the problem. China's chief nuclear envoy Wu Dawei made a five-day visit to North Korea last week, during which he met with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan. The Chinese foreign ministry has said the two sides discussed ways to re-start the long-stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs. This week, the Chinese foreign ministry briefed diplomats from South Korea, the U.S., Russia and Japan about the outcome of the talks between Wu and Kim, but it didn't say whether Kim expressed an intention to demonstrate its seriousness about denuclearization through concrete actions, according to the sources. "The ministry explained the outcome of Wu's visit to North Korea to relevant nations through a debriefing session, but it didn't say whether North Korea changed its stance on denuclearization," a source said on the condition of anonymity. Though a diplomat asked Pyongyang if it switched its stance on denuclearization during the debriefing session, the Chinese side "did not get a definite answer," according to the source. "At the debriefing session, China only emphasized its efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue without explaining about the North's latest stance," said another diplomatic source.

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China-Japan-Koreas

North Korea to discuss nuclear talks in Moscow

2013-06-30

[Pak Daily Times] North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will meet senior Russian officials in Moscow next week, state media reported, amid signs of a new push to get Pyongyang to re-join protracted talks over ending its atomic programme. Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea's First Deputy Foreign Minister, will meet deputy foreign ministers Vladimir Titov and Igor Morgulov on Thursday "as part of efforts to resume the six-party talks", the RIA Novosti news agency reported. The isolated Asian state recently warned that hostility by the United States could lead to war at any moment, and vowed not to give up its nuclear power in the face of mounting UN and international sanctions following recent tests. At the same time, North Korean diplomats have said they want talks with the United States, and Kim Kye-Gwan last week discussed restarting the six-party talks with China, when he met foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing.

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China-Japan-Koreas

N. Korea, U.S. to meet again Friday following 'substantive' talks

2012-02-24

BEIJING, Feb. 23 -- Envoys from North Korea and the United States held "substantive and serious" talks on Thursday over the North's nuclear weapons program, U.S. chief negotiator Glyn Davies said, announcing an agreement to extend the rare bilateral dialogue by one day. The Beijing talks, the first since the December death of the North's former leader Kim Jong-il, are widely seen as a chance to gauge whether Pyongyang's new young leader, Kim Jong-un, is open to negotiations to get the communist regime to give up its nuclear ambitions. Davies told reporters he and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan discussed "quite a number of the issues" and plan to hold more talks in the Chinese capital on Friday. The North's chief envoy Kim also described the Thursday meeting as "positive," saying both sides took part in the talks with a "serious attitude." Davies said he would hold a dinner meeting with the North Korean delegation. That clearly got the Norks' attention... Before the start of the talks, Davies told reporters, "Today is, as we say, 'Game Day.'" Also on Wednesday, Davies said he saw a "positive sign," but the possibility of resuming six-party talks over the North's nuclear program is up to Pyongyang, reiterating a diplomatic sound bite often used by South Korean and U.S. diplomats commenting on prospects for the multilateral forum. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner described the Beijing meeting as "exploratory talks." Toner said the issue of resuming U.S. food aid to North Korea would be discussed during the Beijing talks.

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China-Japan-Koreas

N. Korean envoy arrives in China for talks with U.S.

2012-02-22

BEIJING/SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's top negotiator arrived in China on Tuesday for talks with his U.S. counterpart as part of diplomatic efforts to resume long-stalled negotiations on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs. North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan is expected to prepare for the high-level meeting with U.S. envoy on North Korea, Glyn Davies, scheduled for Thursday. Davies is expected to arrive in the Chinese capital on Wednesday. The third round of bilateral meetings would mark the first contact between the two sides since the December death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. It is expected to test whether Kim's youngest son and new leader Kim Jong-un will abandon his country's nuclear programs. South Korea's deputy chief negotiator to the six-party talks, Cho Hyun-dong, will leave for Beijing on Thursday to coordinate pending issues with Davies, a foreign ministry official in Seoul said. After the Beijing talks, Davies will also visit South Korea on Saturday to debrief on the outcome of the talks, the official said.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Nork Nuclear Envoy to Meet U.S. Officials

2011-07-26

U.S. and North Korean officials are expected to meet this week, following the first contact between nuclear negotiators from the two Koreas in two years and seven months. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, who also serves as Pyongyang's top nuclear negotiator, visits New York on Thursday, where he plans to meet Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth, and other high-ranking officials to discuss the resumption of the stalled six-party nuclear talks. Kim goes at the invitation of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. The last official contact between the U.S. and North Korea took place in December 2009, when Bosworth went to Pyongyang. Kim is a heavyweight in North Korea's Foreign Ministry who replaced Kang Sok-ju when he was promoted to deputy premier in September of last year. There are forecasts that he will discuss a range of issues with U.S. officials besides the North's nuclear program, including food aid for his impoverished country. The meeting has South Korea's blessing. After Kim met his South Korean counterpart on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum, a high-ranking South Korean official said, "We recommended Washington hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang." But U.S.-North Korean dialogue faces many obstacles. The North continues to demand recognition as a nuclear state, while its uranium enrichment program and reluctance to apologize for attacks on the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island last year are also major bones of contention. "As long as a chance for progress in talks with North Korea has been created, there will be continued efforts to keep them going," a government official said.

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China-Japan-Koreas

King discusses food aid terms in N. Korea

2011-06-01

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Yonhap) -- U.S. government officials and experts focused on coordinating monitoring terms of possible food aid to North Korea during their trip to the communist nation last week, the U.S. administration said Tuesday. Good lord, we're getting ready to feed the Nork army. Again. "While they were there, they discussed, specifically related to the food assessment, monitoring terms necessary to ensure that if indeed we did provide humanitarian aid to North Korea, that it would reach those for whom it's intended," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a press briefing. Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights, led a team of officials and experts to Pyongyang last week before the Obama administration makes a decision on whether to resume food aid to the hunger-stricken nation. The spokesman acknowledged it is a "pressing" issue to decide on humanitarian aid for North Korea but said it is still too early to talk about the details of what King's team found there. Toner did not confirm when King will return to Washington, where he is supposed to attend a Congress hearing on Thursday. Toner also did not confirm whether the United States had briefed South Korean officials on the outcome of the fact-finding mission. King said in a separate meeting with reporters in Beijing over the weekend that his team was "received at the highest levels" in Pyongyang. Did King pay for dinner? Toner said King met with several North Korean officials, including First Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, Vice Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and Ri Gun, director general for North American Affairs at the foreign ministry. Toner said the food assessment experts will remain in North Korea until Thursday and the Obama administration will make a final decision after they present related reports. "Obviously we have to wait for the food assessment team to get back, and then we'll look at (that information), and we'll compare it to the other data that we have, before a decision's made," he said.

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China-Japan-Koreas

North Korea reshuffles officials

2010-09-24

[Al Jazeera] North Korea has has announced a reshuffle of three bigshots just days before a crucial ruling communist party meeting that is expected to outline a change in the country's leadership. State media on Thursday reported the promotion of three diplomats ahead of the Workers' Party of Korea meeting described as "historic". All three of the newly promoted diplomats have been involved in international negotiations on the disarmament of North Korea's nuclear programme. The announcement came as North Korea prepared for its biggest political meeting in decades. The meeting next week is expected to pave the way for a power transfer from Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, to his son, Kim Jong-un. The Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kang Sok-ju, the North Korean first vice-minister of foreign affairs, was made a vice-premier of the cabinet. Kang, known to be overseeing Pyongyang's nuclear negotiations and diplomatic policies on the US, accompanied the North Korean leader during his visit to China last month. Kim Kye-gwan, the country's chief negotiator in the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, was picked to fill Kang's slot at the foreign ministry, while Ri Yong-ho, Kim's deputy in the talks, was named a vice-foreign minister. The ruling party conference "for electing its supreme leadership body will take place in Pyongyang on September 28", the KCNA said on Tuesday. A similar congress held in 1980 confirmed Kim, the North Korean leader, as successor to his father Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994. The conference, initially scheduled for early September and postponed without any explanation, is expected to put a new leadership line-up in place, spell out possible policy shifts and give top party posts to Jong-un's supporters. Kim, 68, reportedly suffered a stroke in August 2008 and has visibly aged since then. Some reports say he also has kidney problems that require dialysis. You get can sepsis from improper dialysis. Just sayin' ...

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China-Japan-Koreas

Top N. Korean nuclear negotiator set to visit U.S. in March

2010-02-12

BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's top nuclear negotiator is expected to visit the United States next month on a trip that could signal the resumption of stalled six-way talks on the communist state's denuclearization, a diplomatic source here said Friday. Kim Kye-gwan, also North Korea's vice foreign minister, has been in Beijing since Tuesday for discussions on ways to resume the nuclear talks with China's former vice foreign minister Wu Dawei, who was named this week as the special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs. "I believe the dates for Kim's trip to the United States have already been set," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The six-way talks involve both South and North Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. They were last held in December 2008. North Korea said late last year that it may return to the nuclear negotiations following bilateral talks with the United States, which were held in Pyongyang in December. Pyongyang is now demanding the removal of U.N. sanctions imposed shortly after its missile tests and second nuclear detonation test last year. Once again, the old 'you give us something, we give you nothing' negotiating ploy ... Kim's trip to the U.S., if made, would mark the second bilateral dialogue between the two since U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang last year. Observers, however, believe the trip could prove fruitless if the North continues to stick to its demands, which also include the start of discussions to replace the 1953 armistice with a peace treaty to officially end the Korean War, which Pyongyang claims is the main source of what it calls U.S. hostilities toward it. Both South Korea and the U.S. have dismissed the North's demands, saying such issues can be discussed only after the North returns to the six-party nuclear talks and makes significant progress toward denuclearization. The North Korean diplomat on Thursday said he and Wu had important talks on issues related to signing a peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of the nuclear negotiations.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Clinton visit unlikely to change North Korea

2009-08-07

No kidding ... By Jon Herskovitz SEOUL, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The United States is playing down talk of a breakthrough with Pyongyang after former U.S. President Bill Clinton flew to North Korea this week to win the release of two jailed American journalists. Their release follows months of tension with North Korea, which has alarmed the region with a nuclear test, ballistic missile launches and threats to attack South Korea, raising concerns it could plunge the economies of North Asia into turmoil. Here are scenarios about what may come next with North Korea: A MORE DIPLOMATIC NORTH KOREA, BRIEFLY North Korea has used military threats for years to squeeze concessions out of regional powers and it is not likely to alter its time-tested strategy over the long run. It may try diplomacy in the next few months to seek rewards that could benefit its broken economy, which has been hit by U.N. sanctions imposed for its May 25 nuclear test and long-range missile launch earlier this year. Most analysts do not see North Korea ever giving up its nuclear arms programme, which is the state's biggest card and prime symbol of leader Kim Jong-il's "military-first" strategy. NUCLEAR TALKS STAY ON HOLD Clinton's visit to North Korea could reduce the chill in ties between Pyongyang and Washington. But few analysts expect it will be enough to revive six-way talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States to end the North's nuclear weapons programme in exchange for aid and better diplomatic standing. North Korea has said it sees the often-stalled talks as dead in their current form and may be signalling it wants to deal directly with the United States by sending its top nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan to meet Clinton at the airport. [ID:nN04166831]. However, the other six-party countries would likely take umbrage at being excluded. DYNASTIC SUCCESSION FIRMLY ESTABLISHED South Korean government officials said the North's recent sabre rattling was aimed at firming up internal support for leader Kim, 67, as he prepares for succession in Asia's only communist dynasty and battles back from a suspected stroke. The Clinton visit will be used by the North's propaganda machine as proof its recent military moves were a stunning victory for Kim that resulted in the former U.S. president coming to Pyongyang to pay tribute and negotiate. With Kim feeling his footing is firmer with the country's powerful military and ruling communist Workers Party, he may make his intentions clearer about his successor, widely believed to be his youngest son Jong-un, thought to be only 25. Kim, who was groomed for years to take over the state, has yet to formally introduce his heir to a North Korean public largely unaware of any details about his offspring and needs to win the support of senior cadres for the continuation of his family's dynastic rule. [ID:nSP535186] NEW DIRECTION FOR THE NORTH'S ATOMIC AMBITIONS North Korea has not yet shown signs of restarting its ageing reactor or nuclear fuel fabrication facility at its Yongbyon nuclear plant, a Soviet-era plant that produces bomb-grade plutonium and was being taken apart under a six-party deal. North Korea has said it was starting to enrich uranium, which could give the impoverished and isolated country with ample supplies of natural uranium a second path for making atomic weapons. North Korea is thought to have produced enough plutonium for six to eight nuclear weapons and may find it too expensive to restart all of Yongbyon and instead opt for uranium enrichment, which can be done out of the view of U.S. spy satellites.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Pyongyang purges for a new era

2009-08-03

Filed under, 'time wounds all heels' ... By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON - For the most skilled and toughest North Korean negotiator, the task of pushing the line while remaining on cordial terms with the man across the table carries inherent risks. A change in policy may be fatal. One mistake, and you may never live to make another. Take Kim Kye-gwan, the North Korean vice foreign minister with whom the United States' Christopher Hill spent years cozying up with Hill in venues from Berlin to Singapore to Beijing when Hill was US nuclear envoy and assistant secretary of state for Asia and the Pacific. Kim seemed like a pretty tough guy, conning Hill into deals such as the six-party agreement of September 2005, under which North Korea vaguely agreed to do away with its nukes in return for multi-billions of god-knows-what. And that wasn't all. Kim then got Hill to sign on to two deals in 2007 under which North Korea agreed in careful detail first to disable and then dismantle its entire nuclear program. All the US had to do was remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism - something former president George W Bush was glad to do in his waning months in office. So what is Kim's reward for all his success in bamboozling the Americans into thinking they had succeeded in getting North Korea to give up its nukes? He seems to have disappeared, and nobody has a clue as to whether he's dead or alive, working on a chicken farm or sent to a prison for re-education.

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