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China-Japan-Koreas

Trump says 'we'll see' as North Korea threatens to cancel summit

2018-05-17

[DAWN] US 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... sounded a note of caution Wednesday about his much-vaunted summit with 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... , saying "we'll see" after Pyongyang threatened to cancel. Trump said the US government had not received any official word of a change in plans for the June 12 meeting in Singapore. "We haven't been notified at all. We'll have to see," Trump said in the Oval Office. "We haven't seen anything. We haven't heard anything. We will see what happens. Whatever it is, it is." After weeks of warm words and diplomatic backslapping, Pyongyang abruptly threatened to pull out Tuesday, over US demands for "unilateral nuclear abandonment." In an angrily worded statement, the North warned "if the US is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue." The statement was attributed to first vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan and carried by state media KCNA. In that case, he added, Pyongyang would have to "reconsider" its participation at next month's summit in Singapore.

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China-Japan-Koreas

US, Norks to hold nuclear talks in Beijing

2012-02-14

US and North Korean officials will meet on 23 February to discuss Pyongyang's controversial nuclear programme, the US state department says. It says the US envoy for North Korea, Glyn Davies, will hold talks with North Korean First Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan in China's capital, Beijing. The talks are aimed at restarting negotiations over disarmament. They will be the first such talks since the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in December. The talks in Beijing were announced by state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland at a news conference in Washington. "This is a continuation of the meetings that we've been having with North Korea to see if it is prepared to fulfil its commitment and its international obligations as well as to take concrete steps towards denuclearisation," she said. Ms Nyland was referring to the 2005 agreement under which Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for aid. Two rounds of such talks between US and North Korean officials were held last year, but the third round was cancelled because of the death of Kim Jong-il.

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China-Japan-Koreas

DPRK leader meets former U.S. president Carter

2010-08-26

(Xinhua) -- Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), met former U.S. president Jimmy Carter here Wednesday, the official KCNA news agency reported. They had "a cordial talk," and Kim arranged a reception in honor for Carter, the KCNA said. Carter arrived here Wednesday afternoon aboard a chartered civilian jet. His trip is reportedly aimed at securing the release of an imprisoned U.S. citizen. Carter was greeted by DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan at the Pyongyang international airport. Carter received a bouquet from a little girl, and blew a kiss to her with a smile. Without any speech to reporters and the crowd at the airport, he swiftly got into a car and left. Reporters present from the DPRK, China and Russia were provided with a temporary shelf to stand on but couldn't get close to Carter. U.S. media has said Carter will visit Pyongyang to negotiate the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was detained by the DPRK on Jan. 25 for illegal entry into the country. On April 6, Gomes, a 30-year-old former English teacher in South Korea, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment and fined about 700,000 U.S. dollars. Media reports said Carter might spend one night in Pyongyang and return with Gomes Thursday. The Obama administration Tuesday refused to comment on the visit, saying Washington had no plan to send an envoy to Pyongyang and would continue to evaluate Gomes' situation through Swedish diplomats there and negotiate his release with Pyongyang. Carter, a Nobel peace laureate, is said to be traveling as a private citizen, similar to that by former U.S. President Bill Clinton last August when he secured the release of two female U.S. journalists detained there for illegal entry. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who worked for Current TV, co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, were arrested in March 2009, for illegally crossing the DPRK border from China and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in June. Following Clinton's visit, in which he met top DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, Pyongyang announced their release. Carter, a Democrat, served as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981 and won the Nobel peace prize in 2002. He made a historic trip to the DPRK in 1994 to help defuse a crisis over the country's nuclear program.

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China-Japan-Koreas

North Korea: 2 U.S. journalists pardoned

2009-08-04

North Korean media say leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two American journalists and ordered their release during the visit of former U.S. President Bill Clinton. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a surprise mission to Pyongyang to negotiate the release of two Americans, holding "exhaustive" talks on a wide range of topics, state-run media said. Clinton "courteously" conveyed a verbal message from President Barack Obama, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report from Pyongyang. Kim expressed his thanks, and engaged Clinton in a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern," the report said. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, denied Clinton went with a message from Obama. "That's not true," he told reporters. Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the freedom of Americans Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts." His landmark visit, which was not announced in advance by North Korea or the U.S., comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, foes during the Korean War of the 1950s, over the regime's nuclear program. North Korea in recent months has conducted a nuclear test and test-fired an array of ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with Washington leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its defiance. It's only the second visit to Pyongyang by a former U.S. leader. Jimmy Carter traveled to North Korea for talks with Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994 in a groundbreaking meeting during a time of similar tensions. Clinton's meeting with Kim would be the notoriously reclusive North Korean leader's first with a prominent Western figure since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke a year ago, sparking questions about the future of the nation he controls with absolute authority. Kim, said to have a taste for fine wines and fancy gourmet food, also is believed to suffer from chronic diabetes and heart disease. The man who once sported a noticeable pot belly has appeared gaunt and gray in recent months. Though Clinton was in North Korea on a private basis, his visit was treated by North Korea as a high-profile visit, with senior officials — including Kim Kye Gwan, the vice foreign minister who serves as the country's chief nuclear negotiator — meeting him on the tarmac. Footage from the APTN television news agency showed the arriving Clinton exchanging warm handshakes with the officials and accepting a bouquet of flowers from a schoolgirl. Kim later hosted a banquet for Clinton at the state guesthouse, Radio Pyongyang and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported. Photos in state-run media of the visit showed Kim, with a broad smile, standing next to a solemn-looking Clinton. The two also posed with Clinton's party in front of a mural, and another picture showed the men and others seated around a conference table. Though Clinton does not hold office, his stature and good relations with Pyongyang could yield positive results, analysts said. "This is a very potentially rewarding trip. Not only is it likely to resolve the case of the two American journalists detained in North Korea for many months, but it could be a very significant opening and breaking this downward cycle of tension and recrimination between the U.S. and North Korea," Mike Chinoy, author of "Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis," said in Beijing. There was no word in state media on the status of Clinton's negotiations to secure the release of Ling, 32, and Lee, 36. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month urged North Korea to grant the women amnesty, saying they were remorseful and that their families were anguished. Lee, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen, is married and has a 4-year-old daughter in Los Angeles; a native Californian, Ling is the married younger sister of TV journalist Lisa Ling. Clinton's administration had rocky but relatively good relations with Pyongyang, and both he and Gore, his vice president, had been named as possible envoys to bring back Lee and Ling. Also mentioned was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who in the 1990s traveled twice to North Korea to secure the freedom of detained Americans. However, the decision to send the former president was kept quiet. A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling Tuesday with Hillary Rodham Clinton that the White House would not comment on the trip to Pyongyang until the mission was complete. "While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said later in a statement from Washington. "We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission." In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was encouraged by reports about Clinton's trip. "This is welcome news and we are pleased to see movement in this case," said Bob Dietz, the group's Asia program coordinator. "The fate of these two women should not be linked to broader issues on the Korean peninsula, and to see both sides make a move toward the release of these reporters will bring some relief to them, their families and friends."

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China-Japan-Koreas

Bush's North Korea Capitulation

2008-04-15

By JOHN R. BOLTON President George W. Bush is fond of comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. But as he meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington this week, his policy regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons program looks more like something out of Bill Clinton's or Jimmy Carter's playbook. In dealing with the Soviet Union on arms control, Reagan was famous for repeating the Russian phrase, "Doveryai, no proveryai" (trust, but verify). Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev reportedly once complained to Reagan, "You use that phrase every time we meet." To which Reagan smilingly replied, "That's because I like it so much." [Bush's North Korean Capitulation] This administration appears to have forgotten that concept altogether. Although the Six-Party Talks have been sliding into dangerous territory for some time, the Bush administration has repeatedly said that North Korea's complete, verifiable disclosure of its nuclear program was a sine qua non of any deal. No longer. Last week in Singapore, U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Gwan reached a deal that rests on trust and not verification. According to numerous press reports and Mr. Hill's April 10 congressional briefing, the U.S. will be expected to accept on faith, literally, North Korean assertions that it has not engaged in significant uranium enrichment, and that it has not proliferated nuclear technology or materials to countries like Syria and Iran. Indeed, the North will not even make the declaration it earlier agreed to, but merely "acknowledge" that we are concerned about reports of such activities – which the United States itself will actually list. By some accounts, the North Korean statement will not even be public. In exchange for this utter nonperformance, the North will be rewarded with political "compensation" (its word): Concurrent with its "declaration," it will be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and freed from the Trading With the Enemy Act. Rest at link.

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China-Japan-Koreas

New US-NKorea nuclear talks raise hopes for breakthrough

2008-03-12

Top North Korean and US nuclear negotiators will hold one-on-one talks in Geneva this week to seek a breakthrough in stalled disarmament talks, officials said Tuesday. The scheduling of the talks could mean that North Korea is ready to respond to a proposed compromise that China has reportedly crafted as host of ongoing six-nation negotiations on the North's nuclear disarmament. US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. McCormack said the talks were expected to last a day, but could go longer.

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China-Japan-Koreas

N. Korean nuclear envoy arrives for Beijing talks

2007-07-17

North Korea's top nuclear envoy arrived Tuesday in Beijing for another round of talks on disarming Pyongyang's nuclear program, a day after the UN confirmed the communist country had shut down its sole functioning nuclear reactor. Kim Kye Gwan did not say anything at the Beijing airport, but he told broadcaster APTN on leaving Pyongyang that "there should be discussion on how to define the targets of the second phase, the obligations for each party, and also the sequence of the actions." North Korea pledged in an international accord in February to shut the reactor at Yongbyon and dismantle its nuclear programs in return for 1 million tons of oil and political concessions. However, it stalled for several months because of a separate, now-resolved dispute with the US over frozen bank funds.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Kimmie: It's all about the money

2007-04-10

U.S. delegation pressed North Korea on Monday to shut down its main nuclear reactor and allow in U.N. inspectors even as the top American negotiator said it would be difficult for a weekend deadline on the closure to be met. The American delegation said North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, told them his government would allow U.N. nuclear inspectors into the country as soon as $25 million in disputed North Korean funds are released. Kim, who is also vice foreign minister, met with shadow president Nancy Pelosi New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate, and Anthony Principi, President Bush's former veteran affairs secretary, who were visiting the North Korean capital. If you look at the link, you'll see that reuters was displeased by Gov. Richardson's strong representation of American interests... But Principi said Kim told the Americans that it would be difficult to shut down the nuclear reactor by a Saturday deadline called for in a Feb. 13 nuclear disarmament accord. Under that agreement, the North must shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and a reprocessing facility in exchange for an initial shipment of aid. The International Atomic Energy Agency is slated to monitor and verify the shutdown in what would be its first visit since late 2002, when North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors after U.S. officials accused the communist nation of running a secret uranium enrichment program in violation of a 1994 disarmament deal. "They can make a beginning, but whether they can completely shut down a nuclear reactor in such a short time would be very difficult," Principi said. The North agreed to shut the reactor only after the U.S. promised to resolve the key financial issue within 30 days — which Washington failed to do because the fund transfer has been mired in technical complications. Kim "indicated that the North Korean government would invite the ... inspectors back the moment the funds are released to the North Korean government," Principi told reporters. "They believe that it's critical that the $25 million be returned to their pockets government," he said. The money dispute has held up progress in implementing the landmark agreement in which North Korea promised to take initial steps toward dismantling its nuclear program, including closing its main nuclear reactor, in exchange for economic aid and political concessions. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment on what might happen if North Korea misses the deadline, but said the United States continued to believe that all parties to the agreement are "working in good faith to meet it." But, he told reporters the money issue "was more complicated than anyone could have imagined," and suggested Washington might not object to an extension of the deadline. "We'll take a look at where we are on Saturday," McCormack said. On Tuesday, Japan's Cabinet approved a six-month extension on trade sanctions against North Korea, which were imposed in the wake of the communist state's nuclear test last year, Cabinet Office spokeswoman Miwako Fujishige said. The measures include closing ports to North Korean ships and banning the import of North Korean goods. North Korea has refused to move forward because of the delayed transfer of the money frozen by Macau authorities after the U.S. blacklisted a bank in the Chinese-administered region in 2005 for allegedly helping Pyongyang launder money. Richardson said his delegation pushed Kim for a show of good faith that North Korea was ready to meet its obligations under the February deal, asking for a meeting of the six nations involved in the nuclear disarmament talks before the deadline. He said he was hoping to travel to the reactor site in Yongbyon, 55 miles north of Pyongyang, but there were a lot of "political issues involved." He did not elaborate. "I can say no more!" Kim and the Americans met at the Foreign Ministry building, which overlooks Kim Il Sung square. Hundreds of children and women in brightly colored traditional Korean dresses practiced dances that they will perform on Sunday, when North Koreans celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country's founding president and the father of current leader Kim Jong Il. Richardson and Principi also visited the USS Pueblo, the only active-duty U.S. warship in the hands of a foreign power. A North Korean official called the vessel a living example of continued U.S. aggression toward his country. Richardson, a former ambassador to the U.N., has regularly made diplomatic trips, often on his own initiative, to global hot spots. Although visits to North Korea by senior U.S. officials are rare, this was Richardson's sixth. In a possible sign of improved ties, a North Korean general said the remains of six U.S. servicemen would be handed over to the Americans. Three of the sets of remains had identification tags, U.S. officials said after meeting with the general. Richardson called it a noble humanitarian gesture that would bring comfort to American families.

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China-Japan-Koreas

NKorea calls on US to lift sanctions on Macau funds

2007-03-18

BEIJING - North Korea will not shut its nuclear facility at Yongbyon until it gets back all its money frozen in a Macau bank by US sanctions, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said on Saturday. This really has been the shoe that pinched the most, hasn't it? It's starting to raise a blister... North Korea has not yet been informed of the raising of the US sanctions, said Kim, North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator, on his arrival in Beijing for talks with the six-nation working group on the dismantling of the communist state’s nuclear weapons programme. “If the United States does not remove all of its restrictions on our funds at Banco Delta Asia (BDA), we cannot shut down our nuclear facilities at Yongbyon,” Kim said. US financial sanctions against the BDA in Macau have been a key obstacle to progress in the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. In a decision taken Wednesday, the US Treasury Department said it had finished its investigation, which it said would free up the Banco Delta Asia to release legally held North Korean funds, estimated to be in the millions. But at the same time, it barred any direct or indirect access to by the US financial system to the Macau bank. It was not clear how the continued isolation from the US banking system had changed anything for the Macau bank or would make the unfreezing of the funds possible.

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China-Japan-Koreas

N Korea calls on US to lift financial sanctions

2007-03-11

SEOUL - North Korea has said it will take ‘corresponding action’ if the United States does not lift its financial sanctions on the country following the recent agreement on ending the international dispute over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. North Korea ‘cannot but take corresponding actions if the US does not fully lift the sanctions,’ news agency Yonhap quoted North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan as saying in Beijing on Saturday. Kim reiterated Pyongyang’s insistence that Washington lift all sanctions againt the Banco Delta Asia bank in Macau, where numerous North Korean accounts have been frozen since September 2005 after the US alleged they were being used for the proceeds of North Korean counterfeiting and money laundering. I'm thinking that's the shoe that pinched the most. It was not however clear if North Korea was raising the possibility that it could renege on the agreement reached last month to close its contentious Yongbyon nuclear power plant within 60 days. No need to be coy about it, KT reporter. These are NorKs we're talking about.

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China-Japan-Koreas

N. Korea: If sanctions stop, we'll close reactor

2007-03-09

A top North Korean official said the US must lift sanctions against his country before it will shut down its nuclear reactor as part of an international disarmament deal, news reports said Friday. The backsliding begins. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, making a brief, surprise stopover at Tokyo's main international airport late Thursday en route to Beijing from New York, said Pyongyang would be watching Washington's moves closely, the mass-circulation Yomiuri newspaper said. "The United States promised to resolve the problem of sanctions against our country within 30 days. If this promise is kept, then we will shut down our nuclear facilities in 60 days," said Kim, the chief negotiator to the disarmament talks, the Yomiuri reported. The Asahi newspaper and Kyodo News agency carried similar reports.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Rice declines to speculate on U.S.-DPRK normalization talks

2007-03-03

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined on Friday to speculate on the prospects of the incoming normalization talks between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). "You recognize that this is the beginning of the implementation of the agreement of a couple of weeks ago," Rice said when she was asked what she expects to get out of the normalization talks. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack has played down the prospect for immediate breakthroughs during the talks. "Don't look at it as a meeting that is going to produce immediate results. Nobody is going to come out the front door and wave a piece of paper with some agreement on it," McCormack said. The move follows a landmark agreement in the six-party talks in Beijing on Feb. 13 in which the United States and the DPRK agreed to start talks on establishing normal relations after decades of hostility. DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan has arrived in the United States to attend the talks due on March 5-6 in New York.

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