Free Republic

Trump and Kim Jong Un will begin summit with one-on-one meeting - AP President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un will start their historic summit with a one-on-one session with translators. A U.S. official says Monday that the leaders will meet for up to two hours before an expanded bilateral meeting with their respective advisers.

North Korea leader Kim scheduled to leave Singapore at 2 p.m. on Tuesday: source SINGAPORE (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is scheduled to depart Singapore at 2 p.m. local time on Tuesday, a source who is involved in the planning of his visit to the city-state for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday. The Tuesday departure plan is tentative, the source said asking for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Kim is scheduled to meet Trump at 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday to talk about ending his country’s nuclear program...

T-shirts, tacos, and tourism: Singapore cashes in on Trump-Kim mania SINGAPORE: From summit-themed burgers and online scalpers peddling “World Peace” medallions and “Peace Out from Lion City” T-shirts, Singaporeans are cashing in on a historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong-un arrives in Singapore for historic summit with Donald Trump After its strange flight path from Pyongyang, North Korean leader’s Boeing 747 has been seen on the runway at Changi Airport It is all systems go in Singapore as the country readies itself for the arrival of United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of their highly anticipated summit in the Lion City on Tuesday. Kim arrives in Lion City The Boeing 747 believed to be carrying Kim Jong-un has landed in Singapore, sources on the ground said. Air China flight CA61 touched down...

Trump at G7: Who's who in Merkel's photo? It was always slated to be a tense and awkward G7 summit and an Instagram post from the official account of German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to have captured one of those moments. Here's a who's who of the people pictured, and where they stand on the trade row: 1. Donald Trump, US president: Mr Trump shocked America's allies - namely the EU, Mexico and Canada - when he recently announced a 25% tariff on imports of steel and 10% on aluminium from these countries. They are all threatening retaliatory measures and...

Trump-Kim summit: Kim Jong Un believed to be on Chinese private jet to Singapore BEIJING - A Chinese private jet was spotted leaving Pyongyang on Sunday morning, just an hour after it landed in the North Korean capital, according to a flight route-tracking website. Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the plane, operated by Air China, was detected at the airport by Flightradar24 at 8.30am (7.30am Singapore time). It had arrived at the same airport at 7.20am local time, after leaving Beijing leaving Beijing Capital International Airport at 4.18am. It is not known if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un...

Trump-Kim summit: North Korean advance delegation arrive in Singapore; security preparations in Singapore intensify Deepanraj Ganesan SINGAPORE - An advance party of North Korean delegates are likely to have arrived on Saturday evening (June 9), just as security preparations around the country visibly went up a notch ahead of US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's likely arrival on Sunday. At 6.55pm, a black Mercedes-Benz and a black minivan pulled up at the The St Regis Singapore hotel on Tanglin Road, where Mr Kim, who is Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, is likely to be...

Kim Jong-un due to arrive in Singapore on Sunday afternoon as city state ramps up security Official programme may include meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, sources say, ahead of landmark summit with Donald Trump North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is due to arrive in Singapore around late afternoon on Sunday and will have his own official programme on Monday that could include a meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, sources told the South China Morning Post. If confirmed, this would mean that both Kim and US President Donald Trump would be in Singapore for their historic summit...

Mike Pompeo: North Korea must agree to inspections of 'all of their sites' by Pete Kasperowicz | June 08, 2018 02:32 PM Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that reaching a denuclearization deal with North Korea will mean allowing the U.S. to inspect all of its nuclear sites, including those North Korea hasn't acknowledged. "I don't want to get too far into the details, but when you think about complete denuclearization, it would certainly be all of their sites, not just those that have been declared, right?" Pompeo said in an interview with YTN Korea when asked how North...

Kim Jong-un Has to Take Foreign Plane to Summit June 08, 2018 09:11 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will fly directly on a foreign plane from Pyongyang to Singapore for his summit next week with U.S. President Donald Trump. Talks are underway to use an aircraft provided by Singapore or China. A diplomatic source in Seoul said, "North Korea originally considered a refueling stop in China, but chose to fly straight to Singapore. There was some trepidation about flying the 4,800 km distance aboard Kim Jong-un's own aging plane, so a third country is expected to supply it." Singaporean Foreign...

Lawmakers want Trump to report on North Korea nuclear program Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill on Wednesday that would require President Donald Trump’s administration to provide a detailed report on North Korea’s nuclear program to set a “baseline” for progress on talks with Pyongyang. The bill, seen by Reuters before its public release, is one of a series of efforts by members of Congress to have some say in negotiations ahead of Trump’s summit next week in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Ahead of...

/begin my excerpts N. Korea Punishes Those Linked to Bus Crash with Chinese Tourists... Four were Shot and Military Leadership Replaced According to N. Korean sources, four people were shot as a punishment for the bus crash which led to the death of 32 Chinese tourists, many of whom are left-wing (hardcore communist) Chinese academics. Hwang Yong-shik, the chief executive of Korea Kumgang Group (KKG), and its commissar were among the executed. In addition to the news of Hwang's execution, the sources also said that Kim Jong-gak, Director of General Political Bureau, and Park Yong-shik, Defense Minister, also took the...

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Goes After the Bin Ladens The kingdom’s business leaders apparently realize they’d better work with Mohammed bin Salman lest they lose the rest of their whittled-down holdings Zvi Bar'el Jun 05, 2018 12:31 PM Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman isn’t about to rest on his laurels. First he reached accords with several dozen of Saudi Arabia’s richest men, including ministers and family members. They were arrested in November and held until they agreed to part with significant chunks of their wealth, which freed them from their luxurious captivity in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton. And now the...

France, UK sail warships in South China Sea Patricia Lourdes Viray (philstar.com) - June 4, 2018 - 10:02am MANILA, Philippines — In a bid to challenge China's increasing militarization in the South China Sea, France and the United Kingdom will sail warships in the contested waterway. French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly and British Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson made this statement at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend. In her speech during the plenary session of the defense summit, Parly relayed France's support for a code of conduct in the South China Sea that...

US gives its ties with Taiwan a $334 million upgrade TAIPEI (NYTIMES) - On June 12, in a leafy, middle-class neighbourhood in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, the unofficial, Cold War-era relationship between this island and the United States is getting a major upgrade. That is when the American Institute in Taiwan, the United States' embassy here in all but name, will hold a ceremony to formally unveil a US$250 million (S$334 million) office complex that resembles a university research centre, just with guarded gates and blast walls. Built into a lush hillside, it will be a visible boost to US ties...

U.S. urges China to account for the 'ghosts' of Tiananmen Christian Shepherd, Ben Blanchard BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - The United States urged China to make a full public account of a crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 as tens of thousands in Hong Kong held a candlelight vigil for the victims. The Chinese government sent tanks to quell the June 4, 1989 protests, and has never released a death toll. Estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand. The Tiananmen crackdown is a taboo subject in China...

Report: Assad to Meet With Kim Jong-un in North Korea By Benjamin Hart @realaxelfoley Syrian President Bashar al-Assad plans to visit Kim Jong-un in North Korea, according to a report on Sunday from the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency. Assad reportedly made the announcement of his visit on May 30, as he received the credentials of Mun Jong-nam, the new North Korean ambassador to Syria. The precise purpose of his trip is unclear, as is the timing. Syria is one of the few countries that has maintained cordial diplomatic relations with North Korea over the last few decades, with the...

Newt Gingrich: June 12 Summit 'Still May Not Occur' Despite President Donald Trump's announcement the June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un was back on, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the two leaders are locked in a diplomatic "dance" and the summit plans might collapse again. "What you're watching publicly is a dance, and the dance is going to go on for a while," Gingrich told "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y., per The Hill. "The meeting may occur; frankly, it still may not occur."

Source: N. Korea brings moderate on board as defense minister By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Correspondent June 3, 2018 at 15:50 JST SEOUL--Pyongyang has replaced its defense minister with a moderate in an apparent attempt to stave off potential opposition ahead of a historic summit with the United States on June 12. No Kwang Chol, first vice minister of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, has succeeded Pak Yong Sik as defense chief, according to a source well-informed about North Korean affairs. The opposition is expected in North Korea's military ranks to a possible dramatic change in the country's nuclear policy. There...

Exclusive: U.S. may soon claim up to $1.7 billion penalty from China's ZTE - sources Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - The Trump administration may soon claim as much as $1.7 billion penalty from ZTE Corp (000063.SZ), as it looks to punish and tighten control over the Chinese telecommunications company before allowing it back into business, according to people familiar with the matter. The Commerce Department is also seeking unfettered site visits to verify U.S. components are being used as claimed by ZTE, and wants it to post calculations of the U.S. components in its products on a website, the people said....