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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit North Korea again next week to try to persuade it to abandon its nuclear weapons, and will take a new U.S. special representative, Stephen Biegun, with him in an attempt to break the deadlock. Pompeo on Thursday named the Ford Motor Co executive, a veteran Republican foreign policy hand, as the U.S. special envoy to North Korea. “Steve will direct U.S. policy towards North Korea and lead our efforts to achieve President Trump’s goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea as agreed to by Kim Jong Un,” Pompeo told...

“The United States has lived up to the Singapore declaration,” Bolton said in an interview on Fox News, referring to the framework Trump and Kim agreed to during their summit in June. “It’s just North Korea that has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize.” The idea that we’re going to relax the sanctions just on North Korea’s say-so, I think, is something that just isn’t under consideration,” Bolton said. “We’re going to continue to apply maximum pressure to North Korea until they denuclearize, just as we are to Iran. The president feels very strongly about it.”...

China’s input needed to move process forward, official says, adding that Pyongyang wants sanctions lifted before abandoning nuclear project North Korean officials are frustrated about the delay of an official declaration ending the Korean war, and China will need to join peace talks to stabilise the denuclearisation process, according to a son of a former South Korean president. Kim Hong-gul, chairman of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation and son of the late Kim Dae-jung – who introduced South Korea’s “sunshine policy”, designed to soften Pyongyang’s attitude towards Seoul – told the South China Morning Post that officials in...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press conference with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts Thursday morning in Singapore to elaborate on the post Trump-Kim summit strategy for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Pompeo called the Singapore meetings between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un an enormous opportunity and turning point for advancing North Korea's relations with the U.S., its neighbors in Asia, and the rest of the global community. Pompeo reiterated that both leaders are committed to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization before adding that the process would involve considerable coordination with Japan and South Korea.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is defending the agreement signed by President Trump and Kim Jong Un at the Singapore summit, insisting it “encompasses” ‘verifiable’ and ‘irreversible’ denuclearization, even though the document does not explicitly use those terms. The document calls only for “complete denuclearization,” sparking criticism the agreement was not specific enough to allow oversight of the denuclearization process. “Let me assure you that ‘complete’ encompasses ‘verifiable’ in the minds of everyone concerned,” Pompeo told reporters in Seoul Wednesday. “One can’t completely denuclearize without validating, authenticating – you pick the word. The President is committed to that.” When a...

Basking in the afterglow of his apparently constructive meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump said that he'd soon like a "real deal" with the U.S.' other long-time enemy Iran. Speaking to reporters following a historic meeting with Kim, at which the regime's leader signed an agreement that appeared to commit to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Trump said he hoped relations could also improve, in time, with Iran. "I hope that, at the appropriate time, after the sanctions kick in — and they are brutal what we've put on Iran — I hope...

Speaking after his historic summit meeting with Kim Jong-un Tuesday, President Trump said that he was suspending joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for a denuclearization pledge from North Korea. “We will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should,” Trump told reporters. “But we’ll be saving a tremendous amount of money, plus I think it’s very provocative.” The concession surprised the Pentagon as well as South Korean officials, according to the New York Times, and hinges...

Historic handshake between the leaders with arguably the two funkiest hairdos in the world There are lessons in the North Korea deal signed by Kim Jung Un and Donald Trump for everyone. For the media: don’t write your (dire) headlines before history happens.For Obama: You want a nuclear-free world? This is how it’s done, son. It’s called “peace through strength." “Watch me”Never-Trumpers: “He’ll never get it done” Trump: “Hold my covfefe”We finally know what he meantJustine Trudeau: If you wanted me to ink a trade deal all you had to do was play it straight Iran mullahs: Ours are bigger...

After a one-on-one meeting and an expanded bilateral working session with senior aides from the United States and North Korea in Singapore Monday, President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un officially established a new relationship under a joint agreement of the eventual denuclearization of the regime. "President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth, and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new U.S.–DPRK relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.  President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman...

SINGAPORE (AP) -- President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have signed a joint document in which they commit to working "toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." The document signed by the leaders at their historic summit Tuesday also says they will join efforts "to build a lasting and stable peace regime" on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to "complete" denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and to a planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday. In Washington, Trump signalled that preparations for the summit with Kim were going ahead. Moon and Kim agreed at a surprise meeting on Saturday that a possible North Korea-U.S. summit must be held successfully, Moon told a news conference in Seoul. "Chairman Kim and I have agreed that the June 12 summit should be held successfully, and that our quest for the Korean peninsula's denuclearisation and...

Key Differences Over Denuclearization Put Trump-Kim Summit in Peril /snip "I think there was a disappointment after Pompeo's visit," said Hill, referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent trip to Pyongyang to prepare for the upcoming summit. "I think they realized that after Pompeo visited Pyongyang, there was no willingness to work out sanctions step-by-step" along with a denuclearization process, Hill said, adding that North Korea is trying to say Trump is "essentially giving nothing for the summit. There is no sanctions relief, no security issues." /snip Wilder believes North Korea's threat to cancel the summit signifies that it...

Donald Trump's warning to Kim Jong-un: make a deal or suffer same fate as Gaddafi Asked about ‘Libya model’, Trump says: ‘That model … was total decimation. That model would take place if we don’t make a deal’ Donald Trump has threatened Kim Jong-un with the same fate as Muammar Gaddafi if the North Korean leader “doesn’t make a deal” on his nuclear weapons programme. The US president issued the threat at the White House when he was asked about the recent suggestion by his national security adviser, John Bolton, that the “Libyan model” be a template for dealing with...

Interview: ‘Kim Jong Un is Thinking About How to Keep His Nuclear Assets’ 2018-05-04 Thae Yong-ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, defected with his family to South Korea in 2016. Following last week’s historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Thae told RFA’s Korean Service that he believes the North will never agree to end its weapons program through a “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” (CVID) process. Instead, he said, Pyongyang will likely seek a way to maintain its current nuclear status, while “denuclearizing the Korean peninsula,” as...

The leaders of North and South Korea signed a historic declaration Friday pledging "no more war" and a common goal of "complete denuclearization" on the Korean Peninsula. The countries, which technically remain in a state of war, heralded the deal as part of "a new era of peace" after a historic summit. North Korea's Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in also vowed to "cease all hostile acts" and to "transform the Demilitarized Zone into a peace zone." The two leaders embraced, and Moon said he would visit Pyongyang in the fall.

President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that he would walk away from his upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un if it wasn’t going to be ‘fruitful.’ SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has expressed its commitment to "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula and is not seeking conditions, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday, as the United States vowed to maintain "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang. Moon said big-picture agreements about denuclearization, establishing a peace regime and normalization of relations between the two Koreas and the United States should not be difficult to reach through summits between the North and...

WASHINGTON - North Korea has confirmed directly to the Trump administration that it is willing to negotiate with the United States over potential denuclearization, administration officials said Sunday. The confirmation offers the administration greater assurances that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is committed to a potential meeting with President Donald Trump by the end of next month. ‘‘The U.S. has confirmed that Kim Jong Un is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,’’ an administration official said.

(LEAD) N. Korea vows to limit nuke production in return for recognition as nuclear state By Sam Kim SEOUL, April 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea pledged Wednesday to limit its production of atomic bombs beyond what it deems necessary, renewing its demand that the communist country be recognized as a nuclear arms state before it joins global denuclearization efforts. The foreign ministry statement, released in the form of a memorandum, appeared to be another bid by the isolated state to raise its bargaining power before it rejoins stalled six-party talks aimed at persuading it to end its atomic ambitions. Despite...

North Korea's Reverse The framework for dismantling the world's most dangerous nuclear program is crumbling. Thursday, September 25, 2008; A18 IN JUNE, the Bush administration's diplomacy with North Korea finally produced the video clip negotiators had long hoped for: that showing the demolition of the cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor. Now, it appears that that picture, which suggested that North Korea's dismantling of its nuclear infrastructure was irreversible, may have been misleading. Yesterday, the secretive communist regime ejected U.N. nuclear inspectors from Yongbyon and announced that it planned to reactivate a reprocessing plant that produces plutonium for weapons....

N.Korea ‘to Stay on Terror List Until Verification Is Agreed’ The U.S. has told North Korea that it will not strike it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism until it agrees on a verification protocol for its nuclear programs and stockpiles, it emerged on Thursday. A reliable source in Washington said Wednesday the U.S. reaffirmed its position that it will not remove North Korea from the terrorism list until it agrees on a detailed verification procedure. The U.S. was expected to strike the North off the list on Aug. 11 but will hold off however long it takes...