https://www.scmp.com/rss/327228/feed US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Vietnam on February 27 and 28, 2019. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com South Korea will bring back joint military exercises with the US that had been scaled down or halted since about four years ago under former President Donald Trump to facilitate his nuclear negotiations with North Korea. The government of President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who took office in May on pledges of bolstering military ties with the US and taking a tough line with Pyongyang, will resume combined field-training drills with American troops, the Defence Ministry in Seoul said in a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3186266/south-korea-restores-military-drills-once-reduced-help-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3186266/south-korea-restores-military-drills-once-reduced-help-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Jul 2022 10:18:00 +0000 The US National Archives said Monday it had retrieved 15 boxes of records that had been improperly removed from the White House and taken to Donald Trump’s southern Florida home – including “love letters” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The documents and mementos – which also included correspondence from ex-US president Barack Obama – should by law have been turned over at the end of Trump’s presidency but instead ended up at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. The National Archives and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3166177/donald-trump-improperly-took-kim-jong-un-love?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3166177/donald-trump-improperly-took-kim-jong-un-love?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Feb 2022 21:23:23 +0000 North Korea on Sunday tested its most powerful missile since 2017, ramping up the firepower for its record-breaking seventh launch this month as Seoul warned nuclear and long-range tests could be next. Pyongyang has never test-fired this many missiles in a calendar month before and last week threatened to abandon a nearly five-year-long self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range and nuclear weapons. The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile was launched on a high trajectory,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3165280/north-korea-executes-most-weapons-tests-month-trump-kim-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3165280/north-korea-executes-most-weapons-tests-month-trump-kim-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jan 2022 00:47:04 +0000 Silence between enemies creates uncertainty. The reopening of key communications channels between North and South Korea 13 months after they were severed is a chance for stability. Now that phone calls are again being answered, day-to-day problems can be quickly dealt with. There is also greater opportunity for a resumption of high-level talks that can end the hostility and finally bring peace to the Korean peninsula. The North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, expressed a willingness to restore hotlines... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3151182/renewed-chance-peace-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3151182/renewed-chance-peace-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Oct 2021 16:54:48 +0000 Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister has dismissed prospects of North Korea returning to dialogue without preconditions, saying that US expectations for the early resumption of talks would “plunge them into a greater disappointment”. Kim Yo-jong made the comments on Tuesday, after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had described her brother’s recent statement that North Korea will be ready for both dialogue and confrontation – but more for confrontation – as “interesting signals”. “A Korean... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3138263/us-set-disappointment-it-seeks-north-korea-talks-restart-kim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3138263/us-set-disappointment-it-seeks-north-korea-talks-restart-kim?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jun 2021 05:21:46 +0000 Former US president Donald Trump on Friday accused his South Korean counterpart of ripping off the United States, while continuing to highlight his supposed friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. “Kim Jong-un of North Korea, who I have gotten to know (and like) under the most trying of circumstances, never respected the current president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in,” Trump said in a statement. “President Moon was weak as a leader and as a negotiator, except when it came to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3130903/donald-trump-slams-south-koreas-moon-jae-touts-friendship-kim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3130903/donald-trump-slams-south-koreas-moon-jae-touts-friendship-kim?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Apr 2021 22:10:00 +0000 North Korea could resume nuclear tests this year as a way to force US President Joe Biden’s administration to enter into dialogue, US intelligence experts said in a report released on Tuesday. “North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may take a number of aggressive and potentially destabilising actions to reshape the regional security environment and drive wedges between the United States and its allies – up to and including the resumption of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3129443/north-korea-could-resume-nuclear-tests-year-pressure-biden-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3129443/north-korea-could-resume-nuclear-tests-year-pressure-biden-us?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Apr 2021 02:06:55 +0000 Donald Trump offered North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a ride home on Air Force One after their summit in Hanoi two years ago, according to a new documentary. Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an extraordinary diplomatic ‘bromance’ that featured headline-grabbing summits and a declaration of love by the former US president. But no substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after the pair’s meeting in Hanoi broke up over sanctions relief and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3122591/donald-trump-offered-kim-jong-un-ride-home-air?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3122591/donald-trump-offered-kim-jong-un-ride-home-air?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Feb 2021 03:32:11 +0000 The United States election results four years ago caused no shortage of consternation for those who believe strongly in a US-led liberal international order. That international order has certainly been stressed in recent years but has not crumbled in the wake of the Trump presidency. If we are being honest, there are a few ways in which the events of the past four years, both directly and indirectly due to the Trump administration, have ultimately benefited US-led international liberalism. Here... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3111367/contrary-trump-years-have-strengthened-us-led-international?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3111367/contrary-trump-years-have-strengthened-us-led-international?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Nov 2020 20:15:09 +0000 South Korea will seek to advance Donald Trump’s diplomatic legacy regarding the denuclearisation of North Korea, President Moon Jae-in said on Monday, even as the US presidential election outcome left the country in relief. While an opinion poll showed South Korean citizens backed Joe Biden to Trump in an overwhelming margin of four to one, the government has favoured Trump’s approach towards Pyongyang, which saw him meeting leader Kim Jong-un three times. Moon said at a meeting with his top... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3109089/seoul-seeks-further-trumps-legacy-north-korea-under-biden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3109089/seoul-seeks-further-trumps-legacy-north-korea-under-biden?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Nov 2020 09:36:18 +0000 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un deployed flattery and florid prose in the letters that forged his diplomatic courtship of Donald Trump, according to a new book on the US president. The pair’s personal relationship has been a key driver of diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang, veering from mutual insults and threats of war to a declaration of love from Trump. Rage by The Washington Post investigative journalist Bob Woodward unveils 25 letters the pair exchanged, in which Kim uses... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3100994/book-reveals-how-north-koreas-kim-wooed-trump-flattery-filled?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3100994/book-reveals-how-north-koreas-kim-wooed-trump-flattery-filled?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2020 07:54:23 +0000 South Korea’s renewed push to revive moribund denuclearisation talks between North Korea and the United States faces hurdles including intransigence in Pyongyang and scepticism of half-measures in Washington, analysts say, amid reports Seoul hopes to salvage a “small deal” between the sides. US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun was on Thursday due to wrap up a three-day visit to Seoul during which he spoke with South Korean officials about ways to rekindle long-stalled efforts to convince... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3092400/north-korea-nuclear-programme-seoul-hopes-trump-can-learn-art?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3092400/north-korea-nuclear-programme-seoul-hopes-trump-can-learn-art?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Jul 2020 23:00:15 +0000 An influential adviser to the South Korean president on Thursday lashed out at the United States over its “chaotic” decision-making over North Korea as was revealed in former US national security adviser John Bolton’s controversial memoir. Moon Chung-in, a special adviser to President Moon Jae-in on foreign affairs and national security, also accused Bolton of thwarting talks with Pyongyang that came close to a deal on freezing the North’s nuclear weapons development in exchange for lifting some... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3091545/south-korea-official-hits-out-chaotic-us-approach-pyongyang?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3091545/south-korea-official-hits-out-chaotic-us-approach-pyongyang?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Jul 2020 09:00:14 +0000 Accounts by former National Security Adviser John Bolton of discussions between leaders of the United States and the two Koreas in his upcoming book are inaccurate and distorted, South Korea said on Monday. Bolton gives details in the book of conversations before and after three meetings between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, including how their second summit in Vietnam fell apart. The book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, is scheduled for... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3090066/south-korea-rubbishes-distorted-john-boltons-memoir-trump-kim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3090066/south-korea-rubbishes-distorted-john-boltons-memoir-trump-kim?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jun 2020 07:13:29 +0000 In June 2018, their summit in Singapore was the scene of an unlikely bromance between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, the world’s two most recognisable leaders. There was plenty of wooing, the “beautiful letters”, a walk in the garden. There were handshakes, smiles and “fantastic chemistry”. According to Trump, they “fell in love”. Now, two years later, what remains of that relationship? Has it merely run out of steam? Or is it on the rocks and headed for a nasty divorce? In the months before... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3088878/two-years-after-historic-singapore-summit-what-remains-trump-kim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3088878/two-years-after-historic-singapore-summit-what-remains-trump-kim?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jun 2020 22:15:14 +0000 North Korea on Friday said there would be little reason to maintain a relationship between leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump if Washington persisted with sanctions and pressure, as it again vowed to build up its military force to counter what it perceives as US threats. On the two-year anniversary of the leaders’ first summit in Singapore, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said the North would never again gift Trump with high-profile meetings and concessions he could boast as... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3088698/empty-promise-north-korea-sees-no-reason-maintain-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3088698/empty-promise-north-korea-sees-no-reason-maintain-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jun 2020 22:13:39 +0000 North Korea on Thursday threatened to scrap a military agreement with the South and close down a cross-border liaison office unless Seoul stops activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border. The statement issued by the powerful younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un follows a deep freeze in inter-Korean ties despite three summits between Kim and the South’s President Moon Jae-in in 2018. North Korean defectors and other activists have long flown balloons across the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3087488/north-korea-threatens-abandon-military-agreement-south-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3087488/north-korea-threatens-abandon-military-agreement-south-over?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jun 2020 03:18:31 +0000 The US government has charged more than two dozen North Koreans and five Chinese individuals with facilitating over US$2.5 billion in illegal payments for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes, US media reported Thursday. According to a 50-page indictment, the individuals have been accused of acting as agents of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank – its primary foreign currency bank, which is under sanctions – in what would be the largest North Korean sanctions violations case charged by the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3086590/us-indicts-five-chinese-and-28-north-koreans-over-us25-billion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3086590/us-indicts-five-chinese-and-28-north-koreans-over-us25-billion?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 May 2020 21:14:05 +0000 US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was “glad” about the reappearance of Kim Jong-un and that the North Korea leader is apparently healthy. “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!” Trump tweeted, following Kim’s first public appearance in nearly three weeks after intense speculation that he was seriously ill or possibly dead. I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well! https://t.co/mIWVeRMnOJ — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2020 North Korean state television... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3082618/donald-trump-says-he-glad-kim-jong-un-back-and-well?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3082618/donald-trump-says-he-glad-kim-jong-un-back-and-well?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 May 2020 22:27:08 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Nahal Toosi on politico.com on April 27, 2020. North Korea’s dictator has vanished from sight, and in doing so, he has exposed a potentially major weakness of US President Donald Trump’s negotiating tactics. Trump made a bold bet: that by breaking precedent and engaging directly with Kim Jong-un, he could convince the brutal young autocrat to give up his nuclear arsenal in exchange for future economic... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3081834/donald-trump-bet-kim-jong-un-now-hes-disappeared?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3081834/donald-trump-bet-kim-jong-un-now-hes-disappeared?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Apr 2020 00:30:08 +0000 US President Donald Trump on Thursday threw more cold water on reports earlier this week that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was gravely ill, but declined to say if he had been in touch with officials there. “I think the report was incorrect,” Trump said at a daily White House briefing, adding that he had heard it was based on “old documents.” Trump had said on Tuesday that he might contact North Korean officials to inquire about Kim but gave no indication on Thursday he had done so. The two... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3081336/donald-trump-thinks-report-gravely-ill-kim-jong-un-was?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3081336/donald-trump-thinks-report-gravely-ill-kim-jong-un-was?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Apr 2020 23:46:34 +0000 US President Donald Trump wished North Korea’s Kim Jong-un well on Tuesday, amid reports that the leader was gravely ill after a cardiovascular procedure. “If he is in the kind of condition that the reports say … that would be very serious condition,” Trump told a White House news conference, although he also said that the reports had not been confirmed, and he did not put much credence in them. “I just hope he’s doing fine. I’ve had a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un. And I’d like to see... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3080949/donald-trump-wishes-kim-jong-un-well-amid-reports-north-korean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3080949/donald-trump-wishes-kim-jong-un-well-amid-reports-north-korean?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Apr 2020 23:51:07 +0000 North Korea on Monday fired what Japan said appeared to be ballistic missiles, a week after a similar weapons test by Pyongyang. The North “appeared to have carried out joint firing drills involving various types of multiple rocket launchers”, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, expressing “strong regret” over Pyongyang’s actions. Initially they said three projectiles were involved, before changing the description to “multiple”. The devices were fired north-eastward into the sea from South... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3074177/north-korea-fires-unidentified-projectile-south-korean-military?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3074177/north-korea-fires-unidentified-projectile-south-korean-military?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Mar 2020 23:12:07 +0000 US President Donald Trump believes Kim Jong-un will keep his commitments on denuclearisation, despite the North Korean leader’s effective retraction of his pledge to refrain from carrying out nuclear and long-range missile tests. “We did sign a contract, talking about denuclearisation. That was the No 1 sentence, ‘denuclearisation’, that was done in Singapore. I think he’s a man of his word,” Trump told reporters before heading to New Year festivities at his holiday retreat in Florida. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3044180/trump-believes-kim-will-keep-commitment-north-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3044180/trump-believes-kim-will-keep-commitment-north-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jan 2020 05:11:53 +0000 This is the first in a two-part series, with the second part coming on December 29 SHASHI THAROOR Current Indian MP and former United Nations communications head At the regional level we have the coming into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, from which India abstained – reflecting its fears (of China) rather than aspirations (of its entrepreneurial young). India’s absence will mean that both the pact and the country will miss a transformative opportunity. Those... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3043736/looking-2020-india-indonesia-koreas-and-us-china-tensions-expert?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3043736/looking-2020-india-indonesia-koreas-and-us-china-tensions-expert?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Dec 2019 03:00:17 +0000 A senior US diplomat said on Monday that Washington won’t accept a year-end deadline set by North Korea to make concessions in stalled nuclear talks and urged Pyongyang to return to a negotiating table immediately. “On this point, let me be absolutely clear: the United States does not have a deadline,” Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, told reporters. “We are fully aware of the strong potential for North Korea to conduct a major provocation in the days ahead. To say... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3042245/stephen-biegun-washingtons-top-envoy-north-korea-dismisses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3042245/stephen-biegun-washingtons-top-envoy-north-korea-dismisses?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Dec 2019 06:00:08 +0000 A North Korean defector said on Thursday after meeting Donald Trump at the White House that Kim Jong-un is not worthy of the US president’s extravagant praise. Kim “doesn’t deserve all those compliments”, Grace Jo told reporters. Trump has frequently, lavishly praised Kim, talking of their close friendship and even “love” as he tries to persuade the North Korean leader to end his growing nuclear weapons programme. Jo, who escaped the North after losing most of her family to repression and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3036825/kim-jong-un-doesnt-deserve-donald-trumps-compliments-north-korean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3036825/kim-jong-un-doesnt-deserve-donald-trumps-compliments-north-korean?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Nov 2019 23:31:09 +0000 Stephen Biegun, a respected US foreign policy veteran in the difficult job of leading diplomacy with North Korea, was named on Thursday as the State Department No 2 – a role that could become even more key in coming months. President Donald Trump announced Biegun’s nomination to replace Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, who has been tapped to be ambassador to Russia. The nomination is drawing particular attention amid growing speculation that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will run for... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3035834/respected-north-korea-envoy-stephen-biegun-tapped?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3035834/respected-north-korea-envoy-stephen-biegun-tapped?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Oct 2019 22:44:08 +0000 North Korea’s decision to fire a ballistic missile on Wednesday, a day after agreeing to resume talks with the United States over its nuclear weapons programme, was most likely intended as way to increase its bargaining power with both Washington and Beijing, observers say. A “new-type SLBM [submarine-launched ballistic missile] Pukguksong-3” was fired from a location near Wonsan Bay, off the nation’s east coast in “vertical mode”, North Korean state news agency KCNA, said. The test “had no... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3031451/did-north-korea-use-missile-launch-have-stronger-hand-us-nuke?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3031451/did-north-korea-use-missile-launch-have-stronger-hand-us-nuke?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Oct 2019 18:30:09 +0000 US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart held a summit in New York on Monday to discuss plans to restart US-North Korea talks, as the allies hold discussions in Seoul on sharing the cost of American soldiers stationed in South Korea. Though negotiations with North Korea have stalled since a failed second summit between Trump and its leader Kim Jong-un in February, the North has said it is willing to restart working-level talks in late September. However, no date or location... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/3030057/trump-and-moon-discuss-another-north-korea-summit-whats-going?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/3030057/trump-and-moon-discuss-another-north-korea-summit-whats-going?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Sep 2019 03:30:06 +0000 Matt Pottinger, the White House’s senior Asia adviser, is expected to become the top deputy for US President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, two senior administration officials said on Friday. Pottinger, who is likely to take up his new post of deputy national security adviser within days, is a former journalist and ex-US Marine who has helped forge China and North Korea policy since Trump took office in January 2017. He played a key role in arranging Trump’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3029783/asia-expert-matt-pottinger-become-donald-trumps-new?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3029783/asia-expert-matt-pottinger-become-donald-trumps-new?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Sep 2019 19:49:35 +0000 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited US President Donald Trump to visit Pyongyang last month, according to a report in South Korean media. The offer for another Trump-Kim summit came in a letter delivered in the third week of August, the Joongang newspaper said, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. When asked in a parliamentary session on Monday about the report, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers that the government had “received a detailed explanation... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3027478/did-north-koreas-kim-jong-un-invite-us-president-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3027478/did-north-koreas-kim-jong-un-invite-us-president-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Sep 2019 09:54:46 +0000 Top Iranian officials all but ruled out talks with the United States, a day after President Donald Trump extended his most expansive offer yet to the Islamic Republic. The US must lift sanctions on Iran if it wants to negotiate, President Hassan Rowhani said on Tuesday. His foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said during a visit to China and Japan that “a meeting between Iran’s president and Trump is unimaginable”. Zarif made a surprise appearance this week on the sidelines of the G7 summit in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3024471/donald-trump-could-meet-iranian-president-rowhani?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3024471/donald-trump-could-meet-iranian-president-rowhani?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:21:45 +0000 President Donald Trump said on Friday that he agreed with Kim Jong-un’s opposition to US-South Korea war games, after receiving what he called a “positive” letter from the North Korean leader. “I got a very beautiful letter from Kim Jong-un yesterday,” Trump said. “It was a very positive letter.” “He wasn’t happy with the war games,” Trump added, referring to new military exercises between US forces and the South Korean military that began this week. “As you know, I’ve never liked it either.... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3022236/donald-trump-gets-great-letter-north-korea-says-kim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3022236/donald-trump-gets-great-letter-north-korea-says-kim?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Aug 2019 15:48:27 +0000 North Korea threatened on Tuesday to carry out more weapons tests after it fired its fourth set of projectiles in less than two weeks following the start of joint exercises between the US and the South. The rising temperature on the peninsula threatens to derail putative negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington, with the North saying the combined drills were a “flagrant violation” of the process. Pyongyang has always been infuriated by military exercises between the South and US, seeing... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3021553/north-korea-fires-more-projectiles-it-denounces-us-and-south?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3021553/north-korea-fires-more-projectiles-it-denounces-us-and-south?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Aug 2019 22:34:46 +0000 A top South Korean official on Saturday said a US-South Korean military exercise would go ahead as planned next month, denying Pyongyang’s charges that holding it would breach an agreement made between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. “The nature of the exercise is not offensive … and is for strengthening the alliance,” Choi Jong-kun, the secretary for peace planning to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told the Aspen Institute’s annual strategic forum. Later,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3019466/no-compromise-south-korea-says-drills-us-still-refuting-norths?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3019466/no-compromise-south-korea-says-drills-us-still-refuting-norths?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jul 2019 01:03:38 +0000 The United States is considering the suspension of certain sanctions on North Korea if the hermit kingdom dismantles its main nuclear facility and freezes its entire nuclear programme, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Thursday. Citing a source close to the White House’s deliberations on North Korea, Yonhap said the potential offer would see the suspension of United Nations Security Council sanctions restricting North Korea’s exports of coal and textiles – a major source of income for the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3018230/us-mulls-sanction-suspensions-if-north-korea-agrees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3018230/us-mulls-sanction-suspensions-if-north-korea-agrees?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jul 2019 12:00:06 +0000 US President Donald Trump’s summit diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is back on. The two leaders met on the last day of June for a quick meeting at the inter-Korean Joint Security Area, along the Military Demarcation Line that has separated North and South Korea since 1953. The meeting served an important purpose: it allowed both leaders to replace the bitter aftertaste of their last summit encounter in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February with something sweeter. In practical terms, Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3017528/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-handshake-korean-border-was-nice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3017528/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-handshake-korean-border-was-nice?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Jul 2019 08:00:10 +0000 South Korea scrambled fighter jets and helicopters in response to a flock of birds flying near the border with North Korea on Monday, a day after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met at the border and agreed to resume diplomacy. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had said earlier that “traces of flight by an unidentified object” had been detected over the central portion of the demilitarised zone that divides the two Koreas. Local news reports said Seoul launched a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3016721/north-korea-calls-meeting-between-kim-jong-un-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3016721/north-korea-calls-meeting-between-kim-jong-un-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jun 2019 23:04:54 +0000 US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet for a historic handshake at the demilitarised zone that separates the two Koreas on Sunday. Trump, who is South Korea for a meeting with President Moon Jae-in, admitted earlier that any meeting would be “very short”. “Virtually a handshake, but that’s OK. A handshake means a lot,” he told a press conference at the Blue House in Seoul. On Saturday, Trump invited Kim to meet him at the border, in an apparently... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3016662/donald-trump-says-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-wants-meet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3016662/donald-trump-says-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-wants-meet?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jun 2019 03:32:44 +0000 Rebecca Johnson, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist and feminist, is no fan of Donald Trump. But when it comes to the United States president’s efforts to engage North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the founding president of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Amid reports that talks are underway for a third summit between the leaders, Johnson believes Trump must break with conventional wisdom and follow his instincts – namely,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3016552/trump-should-give-kim-chance-rebuild-economy-exchange-nuclear?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3016552/trump-should-give-kim-chance-rebuild-economy-exchange-nuclear?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jun 2019 02:00:12 +0000 The United States is in behind-the-scenes talks with North Korea over a possible third summit and has proposed reviving working-level negotiations stalled since a second meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in February, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday. Trump said on Wednesday he would not meet the North Korean leader during his trip to Asia for the G20 summit, which will include a visit to South Korea at the weekend. “But I may be speaking with him in a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3016248/us-and-north-korea-behind-scenes-talks-over-third-summit-south?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3016248/us-and-north-korea-behind-scenes-talks-over-third-summit-south?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jun 2019 22:24:20 +0000 US President Donald Trump sent North Korean leader Kim Jong-un an “excellent” letter, the North’s state-run news agency reported on Sunday. According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report, Kim “said with satisfaction that the letter is of excellent content”. “Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong-un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content,” the agency said, without elaborating. The White House press... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3015696/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-receives-excellent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3015696/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-receives-excellent?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jun 2019 23:03:56 +0000 The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong-un by Anna Fifield, pub. Hachette. 4/5 stars North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un is an enigmatic figure for all that he is instantly recognisable, a young man who could easily usher the world into its next major conflict. Yet trying to gain an under­standing of who he is can be – to put it mildly – a challenge. Journalists, diplomats and world leaders have tried to unravel the man, searching for clues to his personality... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3015331/great-successor-kim-jong-un-biography-follows-north?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3015331/great-successor-kim-jong-un-biography-follows-north?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:00:11 +0000 South Korea on Wednesday urged North Korea to hold another summit with its leader ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Seoul next week, while the United States said its door remained “wide open” for talks with Pyongyang. US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, speaking at a Washington forum, said the United States had no preconditions for new talks with North Korea, which have been stalled since a failed summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/3015279/south-korea-urges-north-korea-hold-another-summit-donald-trumps?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/3015279/south-korea-urges-north-korea-hold-another-summit-donald-trumps?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Jun 2019 17:53:13 +0000 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have returned empty-handed from the much-touted second summit with United States President Donald Trump, but analysts say the visit of China’s President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang may provide Kim with a much needed political boost – in the form of tonnes of food. As is customary with visits to the impoverished state by top Chinese leaders, Xi is widely expected to provide massive humanitarian aid to the North as a gift, with news reports in Seoul speculating that... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3015052/trump-summit-hanoi-broke-down-xis-pyongyang-visit-set-give?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3015052/trump-summit-hanoi-broke-down-xis-pyongyang-visit-set-give?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:58:01 +0000 US President Donald Trump on Friday again said he was in no rush to reach a deal with North Korea over its nuclear weapons programmes, days after saying he had received a letter from Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-un. Trump, asked about North Korea’s sanctions violations in an interview with Fox News, said “everybody tries to break sanctions”, adding that the sanctions are hurting North Korea and that the US is continuing to impose them. Trump on Tuesday said he had received a very warm letter from... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3014593/donald-trump-says-sanctions-hurting-north-korea-he?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3014593/donald-trump-says-sanctions-hurting-north-korea-he?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Jun 2019 13:58:56 +0000 In the year since the historic first US-North Korea nuclear summit in Singapore, Asean countries have become unwilling to get tough on North Korea, with some eyeing economic benefits from Pyongyang in the future. The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have been trying to improve ties with North Korea, as the possibility has waned that Pyongyang will be engaged in a military conflict with Washington, jeopardising regional stability. A few companies in Asean, meanwhile,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/3014130/why-asean-nations-are-reluctant-put-pressure-north-korea-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/3014130/why-asean-nations-are-reluctant-put-pressure-north-korea-over?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jun 2019 03:45:08 +0000 US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had received a very warm letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, calling the correspondence “beautiful”. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump added, “I think that something will happen that’s going to be very positive”, but gave no details. Washington is seeking to rebuild momentum in stalled talks with Pyongyang, aimed at getting North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme. Trump and Kim last met early this year in Hanoi,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3014106/donald-trump-says-he-received-beautiful-letter-north-koreas-kim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3014106/donald-trump-says-he-received-beautiful-letter-north-koreas-kim?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Jun 2019 18:06:47 +0000 North Korea’s top nuclear envoy is alive but in custody and under investigation for his role in the failed Hanoi summit with the United States, CNN reported on Tuesday, contradicting a South Korean newspaper report claiming he had been executed. Kim Hyok-chol, who led talks in the run-up to the February summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, had not been put to death as previously reported, the American network said, citing several unidentified sources. On... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3013062/executed-north-korean-nuclear-envoy-kim-hyok-chol-reported?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3013062/executed-north-korean-nuclear-envoy-kim-hyok-chol-reported?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Jun 2019 09:12:03 +0000