New international sanctions aimed at thwarting North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are having unintended consequences: halting money transfers by foreign humanitarian groups working to help those most in need and forcing some agencies to carry suitcases of cash in from outside.
A top North Korean envoy has delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing’s efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.
President Barack Obama and South Korea’s new leader Park Geun-hye will seek to present a strong front against North Korea’s nuclear threats when they meet at the White House Tuesday. But they also want to leave the door open to talks with Pyongyang.
The final group of South Koreans working in a shuttered factory park in North Korea is expected to leave Monday after their government ordered them to leave the border city, as Pyongyang issued a new threat to shut down the last symbol of detente.
North Korea appears to be gearing up for a major military exercise, a report said on Sunday, amid tensions over an expected missile test and South Korea’s pullout from a joint industrial complex.
North Korea said Saturday it will soon put a detained American on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow the government, further complicating already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington.
North Korea has moved two more missile launchers to its east coast, where preparations are apparently under way for a missile test as tensions simmer on the peninsula, a report said Sunday.
Don’t worry, one popular argument goes, we’ve seen this before. Just ignore Pyongyang’s unlikely threats of nuclear holocaust as you would, say, a child throwing a tantrum.
North Korea dismissed on Sunday the South’s offer for dialogue on the future of the Kaesong joint industrial zone, calling the offer an “empty” political gesture.
South Korean police on Saturday stopped a planned launch of anti-North Korea leaflets across the border, an activist said, as Seoul seeks to open dialogue and defuse soaring tensions with Pyongyang.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Beijing on Saturday to seek China’s help to rein in a belligerent North Korea and provide a foundation for Seoul to lower soaring tensions with Pyongyang.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in South Korea on Friday, kicking off a maiden Asia tour during which he is expected to push China to rein in an increasingly belligerent North Korea.
A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats’ safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North’s clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul.
