Donald Trump has been accused of taking nepotism to alarming new depths after giving his daughter, Ivanka, a prominent role in meetings with the G20 and Kim Jong-un.
Related: #Unwantedivanka: awkward moment at G20 prompts slew of Trump parodies
Continue reading...US-North Korea negotiations are back on – but will they lead anywhere?
As it turned out, it was more than a photo op. Donald Trump not only shook hands again with Kim Jong-un and became the first incumbent US president to enter North Korea but also, instead of the expected exchange of pleasantries, sat down with his counterpart and talked for an hour in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the Koreas. And there was a tangible outcome.
Meetings between US and North Korean working groups will restart four months after they broke down at the Hanoi summit in February. Real negotiations are back on. The question, as ever, is whether they will lead anywhere.
Continue reading...US president hails ‘great honour’ of crossing border at impromptu meeting
Donald Trump has invited Kim Jong-un to the US after becoming the first sitting American president to enter North Korea.
The apparently impromptu meeting came about after Trump tweeted an invitation to Kim on Saturday from the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Continue reading...The US president has met North Korea’s leader, becoming the first US president to set foot on North Korean soil. The meeting was held in the demilitarised zone. ‘I just want to say this is my honour,’ Trump said, adding: ‘Stepping across that line is a great honour – great progress has been made, great friendships have been made and this has been, in particular, a great friendship.’ The president also took the opportunity to invite Kim to the US
Continue reading...President tweeted invitation to ‘say hello’ to Kim and says ‘a handshake means a lot’
So we are now just waiting for Donald Trump’s handshake meeting with Kim Jong-un, which Trump said would happen in four minutes (roughly 10 minutes ago).
Confirmation that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are in the DMZ with the president.
Yeah, Javanka there. Iron-clad stares. https://t.co/CqTunSPTDI pic.twitter.com/8Nfs6JgosG
Continue reading...Scott Morrison says world leaders at G20 summit have offered assistance to help find Sigley
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says Australian authorities are still attempting to establish what happened to Perth student Alek Sigley, who disappeared in North Korea several days ago.
Morrison told reporters at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday evening that he had been in contact with Sigley’s family. He said world leaders at the summit had offered their assistance in attempts to locate the young man.
Continue reading...Department of Foreign Affairs confirms it is providing support to family of a man detained
An Australian student has reportedly been arrested in North Korea. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it is providing consular support to the man’s family.
South Korean and Japanese media identified the man as 29-year-old Alek Sigley, a university student living in Pyongyang.
Continue reading...Xi Jinping is greeted warmly in North Korea on his first state visit there as China’s president. He has backed North Korea’s new focus on economic development, saying in a speech in the capital that the nation under leader Kim Jong-un had ‘initiated a new strategic line of economic development and improving people’s livelihoods, raising socialist construction in the country to a new high tide.’ North Korea remains heavily dependent on aid, mainly from China and food security is a constant concern.
Continue reading...Experts say region is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced
South-east Asia is battling to contain the spread of highly contagious African swine fever, known as “pig Ebola”, which has already led to the culling of millions of pigs in China and Vietnam.
African swine fever, which is harmless to humans but fatal to pigs, was discovered in China in August, where it has caused havoc, leading to more than 1.2m pigs being culled. China is home to almost half of the world’s pigs and the news sent the global price of pork soaring.
Continue reading...Kim’s sister reappears after reports she was out of favour, as he lambasts organisers of gymnastics show
Kim Jong-un’s influential younger sister has appeared in public for the first time in more than 50 days, attending the “Mass Games” propaganda displays that the North Korean leader later criticised for their “wrong spirit”.
Kim Yo-jong, who was by Kim’s side throughout both of his meetings with the US president, was shown seated next to her brother at the event in Pyongyang on Monday evening.
Continue reading...Photo shows Kim Yong-chol attended an art performance with Kim Jong-un on Sunday
A senior North Korean official who was reportedly sent to a labour camp has attended a concert alongside the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, state media have said.
There had been speculation about the fate of Kim Yong-chol after a South Korean newspaper reported last week that he had been subjected to forced labour and “ideological education”.
Continue reading...South Korean paper claims Kim Hyok-chol has been killed and senior negotiator Kim Yong-chol subjected to forced labour
North Korea’s special envoy to the US, who was credited with paving the way for nuclear talks with Washington, has reportedly been executed over the failure of the recent summit between North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and Donald Trump.
The South Korean Chosun Ilbo newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying that Kim Hyok-chol and foreign ministry officials who conducted working-level preparations for February’s doomed Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, were executed in March.
Continue reading...Defector calls on European tourists and online viewers to shun cultural displays that take children out of school
The highest-ranking official to defect from North Korea has called for Europeans to stop being an audience for the “child exploitation” in the country’s famous mass games.
Thae Yong-ho, the former deputy ambassador to the UK, who defected in 2016, said travel companies and tourists should boycott the cultural displays, which attract large numbers of visitors and social media viewings. He said North Korean children already faced appalling rates of malnutrition, brainwashing and forced labour and the displays were yet another act of cruelty.
Continue reading...President says recent missile tests bother some people, but not him, and praises regime for calling Joe Biden ‘a fool of low IQ’
Donald Trump has dismissed concerns about North Korea’s recent missile tests, calling them “small weapons”, a day after his national security adviser said there was no doubt the launches violated UN security council resolutions.
The US president tweeted on Sunday: “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me”.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s national security adviser is stoking tensions with North Korea, Iran and Venezuela, in line with decades of taking the most hawkish position on any given issue
The US is now engaged in three major confrontations around the world that have the potential to degrade into war. And in the driving seat on all three fronts is John Bolton, one of the most fervent believers in American military power ever to work in the White House.
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Continue reading...Launching of two suspected short-range missiles casts doubt on nuclear talks with US
North Korea has fired two suspected short-range missiles, South Korea’s military has said, its second weapons launch in five days and a possible warning that nuclear disarmament talks with Washington could be in danger.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the weapons flew 420km (260 miles) and 270km (167 miles), respectively. It said it was working with the US to determine more details, such as the type of weapon that was fired.
Continue reading...Experts say Pyongyang is stepping up pressure against US after failed nuclear summit
South Korea has issued a stern rebuke to Pyongyang for escalating military tensions on the divided peninsula after North Korea fired a series of “unidentified short-range projectiles” into the sea.
The projectiles were fired on Saturday from the east coast city of Wonsan at around 9am, and flew 70 to 200km towards the north-east, South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Continue reading...The supreme leader was met by cheering crowds as he returned from his first Russia visit. Footage of Kim's arrival back in the country was broadcast on state-run television channel KRT. Waiting at the platform among the crowds were high-ranking officials and guards. During his first Russia visit, Kim told Vladimir Putin that peace and security on the Korean peninsula depended on the US, saying a state of hostility could easily return, KRT reported
Continue reading...Adrian Hong Chang sought by Spain in connection with alleged raid, but lawyer says this is based on ‘unreliable’ North Korean account
US authorities are focused on southern California in their manhunt for a one-time human rights activist accused of leading a violent takeover of North Korea’s embassy in Spain, according to a federal arrest warrant unsealed on Friday.
Adrian Hong Chang is wanted by Spain in connection with the alleged embassy raid in February, but his lawyer denounced the US Justice Department for seeking his arrest and extradition based on “the highly unreliable accounts of North Korean government witnesses”.
Continue reading...US official who was sent to retrieve Warmbier signed an agreement to pay the surprise invoice, the Washington Post reports
The United States was handed a $2m bill from North Korea for the hospital care of American Otto Warmbier, who died soon after his release back to the US in a comatose state in 2017, after being detained for 17 months.
Acting on instructions passed down from Donald Trump, the main US official who was sent to North Korea to bring Warmbier back to the US signed an agreement to pay the surprise invoice he was handed by Pyongyang, according to the Washington Post on Thursday, which cited two anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
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