International

South Korean dog farmers defiantly gobbled down canine meat at a counter-protest to an animal rights demonstration in Seoul yesterday, handing out leaflets touting “the health benefits of the divisive delicacy.” Wearing headbands saying “Fight! Unite!” and dipping each stringy morsel in spicy sauce, the small but vocal group gathered paces away from a rally against the dog meat trade in front of South  Korea’s parliament. Around 1mn dogs are eaten every year in the country, where the greasy red meat  is part of traditional cuisine. But consumption has declined as the nation embraces the idea of dogs as pets instead of livestock, with slaughterhouses closing and pressure mounting from activists - at home and abroad - to ban  eating the animals altogether. Hollywood actress Kim Basinger, a long-time vegetarian, joined the group of black-clad animal rights protesters carrying handmade models of emaciated dead dogs. But the farmers, who oppose legal measures currently tangled up in the courts to make killing pooches for meat illegal, were doggedly stating their case. “Dog meat itself is a chunk of collagen, which is good for the skin and makes one a beautiful woman,” the farmers’ leaflet said, adding that “it is also good for the health of the elderly.” “Dear citizens, please eat dog meat - a traditional, delicious delicacy that has been enjoyed by our ancestors for generations - without shame and thereby lead happy and healthy lives.” The two protests took place on what is the first of the summer’s three hottest “dog days”, as dictated by South  Korean folk belief. Many Koreans believe that eating chicken soup or dog meat on this particular day helps them beat the heat. A 2017 survey found that 70% of South Koreans do not eat dogs, but only about 40% believe the practice should be banned.

Japanese and South Korean officials held hours of talks yesterday to discuss a worsening diplomatic row that has prompted Washington to offer to mediate between the US  allies. The meeting between representatives from Japan’s trade ministry and South Korea’s foreign ministry ran hours longer than expected but there was no sign of a detente in the  simmering dispute. Japan last week ramped up long-running tensions over the use of forced labour during World War Two by announcing restrictions on exports used by South Korean chip and smartphone companies. The move sparked anger in Seoul, but also raised international concern about the effect on the global tech supply chain and the possibility of price hikes for consumers. Tokyo says the constraints, which apply to three chemicals as well as technology transfers, were made necessary by a “loss of trust” in relations with Seoul, but also accuses South Korea of improperly handling exports of sensitive materials from Japan. And Japanese officials said they defended their decision in yesterday’s talks. “We confirmed Japan’s safety management system on exports,” a spokesperson from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We answered all their questions in a careful manner and explained that this is based on international rules. It is not a World Trade Organisation violation, and it is not a countermeasure.” But earlier in Seoul, President Moon Jae-in’s office said South Korea had done nothing wrong and called for a third-party investigation into Japan’s claims. The brief glimpse given to media of the meeting suggested an environment that was anything but warm - the two Japanese officials remained stony-faced and sitting at a table when their South Korean counterparts arrived, offering no apparent greetings or handshakes before reporters were ushered out. The new restrictions, which significantly slow exports, took effect from July 4. Japanese officials are weighing additional measures including removing South Korea from a “white list” of countries that face minimal constraints on technology transfers with  national security implications. Seoul has threatened to take the issue to the World Trade Organisation and also urged Washington to intervene. US officials said they would “do everything we can” to ease tensions, without offering a specific opinion on Japan’s measures. Relations between the American allies have long been strained over issues related to Tokyo’s brutal 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula. But ties have been further hurt by a series of rulings from South Korean courts ordering Japanese firms that used wartime forced labour to  compensate victims. Experts said there was little hope of either side backing down quickly, with both Moon and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unlikely to offer concessions. “As the dispute deepens, it is increasingly difficult for either Moon or Abe to yield,” wrote Tobias Harris, an analyst at the Teneo consultancy group, in  a note. Any compromise by Moon “would likely be seen as capitulation to Japanese economic coercion and could trigger a  backlash,” Harris wrote. “Meanwhile, the South Korean reaction has likely convinced Abe that he has hit a pressure point... and could encourage his administration to intensify the pressure to goad Moon into  surrendering.” Japanese officials appeared to rule out further talks. “We think we fully answered all the questions,” the spokesperson from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. “We will accept emails if they have technical questions.”

An Australian student who was expelled from North Korea denied on Tuesday that he had been spying on the authoritarian state while he lived there. Alek Sigley, 29, was released last week after being detained for several days, with Pyongyang later accusing him of promoting propaganda against the country online. "The allegation that I am a spy is (pretty obviously) false," he wrote on Twitter, adding that he was "well both mentally and physically". "I am still very interested in North Korea and want to continue academic research and other work related to the country. But I currently have no plans to visit the country again, at least in the short term," he wrote. The tweets were the first comments addressing the incident from Sigley, who speaks fluent Korean and had been one of just a handful of Westerners living and studying in North Korea. His disappearance, which prompted deep concern about his fate, came just days before a G20 summit and a landmark meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. After he was released and flew to Japan, North Korean state media published a report saying the country had deported the student for spying. "I may never again walk the streets of Pyongyang, a city that holds a very special place in my heart," Sigley, who speaks fluent Korean, tweeted Tuesday. "I may never again see my teachers and my partners in the travel industry, whom I've come to consider close friends. But that's life." From the capital, Sigley organised tours to the country and ran a number of social media sites which posted a stream of apolitical content about life in one of the world's most secretive nations. His blog posts focused on everyday Pyongyang -- from the city's dining scene to North Korean app reviews -- and he married his Japanese wife there last year. He also wrote columns for specialist website NK News, which North Korean state media called an anti-regime news outlet in its report on Saturday. NK News has released a statement denying the accusations, which the student said he stood by.  He said the "only material" he gave to the news site and other outlets was what was published.  His case was complicated by Australia's lack of diplomatic representation in North Korea, with the Swedish envoy helping to negotiate his release. On Twitter, Sigley said he would not be speaking to the press or answering questions about the events on social media, having said on Friday he was planning to "return to normal life". In 2016, University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned during a tour of North Korea, died days after arriving back in the United States. Doctors said Warmbier suffered severe brain damage while in detention and fell into a coma before his death aged 22.

North Korea's state news agency said on Saturday an Australian student who was expelled from the country after 10 days' detention had committed "spying acts" through his work with foreign media. Alek Sigley, who had been held in North Korea since June 25, was an active social media user and also a regular contributor to international media organisations including NK News about his time in North Korea. "Investigation revealed that at the instigation of the NK News and other anti-DPRK media he handed over several times the data and photos he collected and analysed while combing Pyongyang by making use of the identity card of a foreign student," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. His latest post, uploaded on April 30, describes his dining experiences in Pyongyang, according to the NK News website. "The six articles Alek published represent the full extent of his work with us and the idea that those columns, published transparently under his name between January and April 2019, are "anti-state" in nature is a misrepresentation which we reject," Chad O'Carroll, CEO of NK News publisher the Korea Risk Group, said in a statement. "Alek Sigley's well-read columns presented an apolitical and insightful view of life in Pyongyang which we published in a bid to show vignettes of ordinary daily life in the capital to our readers," O'Carroll added. KCNA said Sigley admitted his "spying acts" and repeatedly asked for a pardon. It added that he was expelled from North Korea on Thursday. On Friday Sigley said he was safe and well in Tokyo and intended returning to normal life. He did comment on the reason for his detention or on what happened to him in Pyongyang.

An Australian student who was detained in North Korea was freed and safely left the country yesterday, arriving in Tokyo via Beijing later the same day after Swedish officials helped broker his release. Alek Sigley, 29, who was studying in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, had been missing since June 25. “I’m OK. I’m good, I’m very good,” Sigley told reporters after arriving at Beijing airport. He declined to comment about what happened to him in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang where he had been living. He made a peace sign as he walked through the airport. Hours later he landed in Tokyo, walking past a throng of reporters waiting at the airport without answering their questions. Sigley is married to a Japanese woman, Yuka Morinaga. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison interrupted parliament earlier yesterday to confirm that Sigley had been freed. Morrison later said in a statement that Swedish authorities had helped secure the student’s release. “This outcome demonstrates the value of the discreet, behind the scenes work of officials in resolving complex and sensitive consular cases, in close partnership with other governments,” Morrison said in the statement. He did not say why Sigley had been detained. Australia has no diplomatic presence in North Korea and relies on other countries such as Sweden to act on its behalf. In a statement to Reuters, the Swedish foreign ministry said it welcomed the release. “Sweden has acted in accordance with the agreement on providing consular services that exists with Australia and in close co-operation with Australian authorities,” it added. Sigley’s father, a professor of Asian studies in the western Australian city of Perth, told reporters that his son would soon be reunited with his wife. “We are extremely pleased that Alek is safe and sound,” Gary Sigley said. Sigley was an active social media user in North Korea and regularly posted photos and blog posts about subjects such as food and fashion. Alarm was first raised that he was missing when he disappeared from his social media accounts. He was also a regular contributor to international media about life in North Korea, which he was invariably enthusiastic about.

US President Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea yesterday when he met its leader, Kim Jong-un, in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and agreed to resume stalled nuclear talks. The meeting, initiated by a spur-of-the-moment tweet by Trump that Kim said took him by surprise, once again displayed the rapport between the two. But they are no closer to narrowing the gap between their positions since they walked away from their summit in February in Vietnam. The two men shook hands warmly and expressed hopes for peace when they met for the third time in just over a year on the old Cold War frontier that for decades has symbolised the hostility between their countries, which are technically still at war. Trump, escorted by Kim, briefly crossed a military demarcation line into the North side of the Joint Security Area (JSA), patrolled by soldiers from both Koreas. Moments later, they returned to the southern side and joined South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in for a brief chat, marking an unprecedented three-way gathering. Trump and Kim then held a closed-door meeting for nearly an hour. “We just had a very, very good meeting,” Trump said after the talks. “We’ll see what can happen.” He said both sides would set up teams to push forward stalled talks aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, adding “speed is not the thing.” Trump and Kim met for the first time in Singapore in June last year, and agreed to improve relations and work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But the second summit in Hanoi broke down after the two sides failed to narrow differences between a US demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and a North Korean demand for sanctions relief. Kim looked relaxed and smiled as he chatted with Trump amidst a throng of press photographers, aides and  bodyguards. Trump said the two leaders “moved mountains” to arrange the last-minute meeting. “I was surprised to see you expressed an intent to meet,” Kim told Trump, referring to Trump’s offer for a meeting in a tweet on Saturday. Trump came to South Korea after attending a Group of 20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. “This is an expression of his willingness to leave behind the past and work towards a new future,” Kim said. Kim said it would be a great honour if Trump visited his capital of Pyongyang. The two agreed to visit each other’s country “at the right time,” Trump said. “To cross that line was a great honour,” Trump said, referring to his brief incursion into the North Korean side of the DMZ. “It’s a great day for the world.” But there has been little sign that North Korea and the United States are any closer to narrowing differences on the nuclear issue. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters shortly before departing South Korea that a fresh round of talks will likely happen “sometime in July” and the North’s negotiators would be foreign ministry diplomats. Pompeo made clear in a tweet later that the United States believed that sanctions put in place under UN Security Council resolutions needed to remain in place as talks moved forward. “We remain ready to engage (North Korea) in negotiations, but remain firm on the implementation of UNSCRs ahead of denuclearisation,” he said. Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said the meeting between the two leaders was important in reviving working-level talks. “But the North wouldn’t easily change its stance, even though Trump has effectively responded to the so-called top-down approach cherished by Kim,” he said. Trump said he had “plenty of time” and was in “no rush” to reach a deal. “We want to get it right,” he said. North Korea has pursued nuclear and missile programmes for years in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, and easing tensions with North Korea is one of the US president’s top foreign policy priorities. The DMZ was set up after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a truce, leaving North Korea and the United States still technically at war.

US President Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea on Sunday when he met its leader, Kim Jong Un, in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and agreed to resume stalled nuclear talks. The meeting, initiated by a spur-of-the-moment tweet by Trump that Kim said took him by surprise, once again displayed the rapport between the two. But they are no closer to narrowing the gap between their positions since they walked away from their summit in February in Vietnam. The two men shook hands warmly and expressed hopes for peace when they met for the third time in just over a year on the old Cold War frontier that for decades has symbolised the hostility between their countries, which are technically still at war. Trump, escorted by Kim, briefly crossed a military demarcation line into the North side of the Joint Security Area (JSA), patrolled by soldiers from both Koreas. Moments later, they returned to the southern side and joined South Korea's President Moon Jae-in for a brief chat, marking an unprecedented three-way gathering. Trump and Kim then held a closed-door meeting for nearly an hour. "We just had a very, very good meeting," Trump said after the talks. "We'll see what can happen." He said both sides would set up teams to push forward stalled talks aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, adding "speed is not the thing." Pope Francis, making his weekly address in St. Peter's Square, praised the meeting. "I salute the protagonists, with a prayer that such a significant gesture will be a further step on the road to peace, not only on that peninsula, but for the good of the entire world," he said. Trump and Kim met for the first time in Singapore in June last year, and agreed to improve relations and work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But the second summit in Hanoi broke down after the two sides failed to narrow differences between a US demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and a North Korean demand for sanctions relief. Kim looked relaxed and smiled as he chatted with Trump amidst a throng of press photographers, aides and bodyguards. Trump said the two leaders "moved mountains" to arrange the last-minute meeting. "I was surprised to see you expressed an intent to meet," Kim told Trump, referring to Trump's offer for a meeting in a tweet on Saturday. Trump came to South Korea after attending a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan. "This is an expression of his willingness to leave behind the past and work towards a new future," Kim said. Kim said it would be a great honour if Trump visited his capital of Pyongyang. The two agreed to visit each other's country "at the right time," Trump said. "To cross that line was a great honour," Trump said, referring to his brief incursion into the North Korean side of the DMZ. "It's a great day for the world." But there has been little sign that North Korea and the United States are any closer to narrowing differences on the nuclear issue. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters shortly before departing South Korea that a fresh round of talks will likely happen "sometime in July" and the North's negotiators would be foreign ministry diplomats. Pompeo made clear in a tweet later that the United States believed that sanctions put in place under U.N. Security Council resolutions needed to remain in place as talks moved forward. "We remain ready to engage (North Korea) in negotiations, but remain firm on the implementation of UNSCRs ahead of denuclearization," he said. Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said the meeting between the two leaders was important in reviving working-level talks. "But the North wouldn't easily change its stance, even though Trump has effectively responded to the so-called top-down approach cherished by Kim," he said. Trump said he had "plenty of time" and was in "no rush" to reach a deal. "We want to get it right," he said. North Korea has pursued nuclear and missile programmes for years in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and easing tensions with North Korea is one of the US president's top foreign policy priorities. The DMZ was set up after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a truce, leaving North Korea and the United States still technically at war. 

* Trump makes offer of brief handshake in tweet * N.Korea official: meeting could advance two-way ties -KCNA * S.Korean president Moon welcomes Trump's initiative * Trump and Kim have exchanged letters  US President Donald Trump on Saturday proposed a weekend meeting with Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, an encounter North Korea said would be meaningful if it goes ahead. If Trump and Kim do meet, it will be for the third time in just over a year, and four months after their second summit broke down with no progress on US efforts to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. North Korea said it had not had an official proposal. Trump made the offer in a tweet about his trip to South Korea, where he landed on Saturday after the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan. "While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!" Trump said, later telling reporters his offer was spontaneous: "I just thought of it this morning." "If he's there, we'll see each other for two minutes, that's all we can, but that will be fine," he said, adding that he and Kim "get along very well". About five hours after Trump's tweet, the state news agency KCNA quoted Choe Son Hui, North Korea's first vice-minister of foreign affairs, as saying: "We see it as a very interesting suggestion, but we have not received an official proposal." "If the DPRK-US summit meetings take place on the division line, as is intended by President Trump, it would serve as another meaningful occasion in further deepening the personal relations between the two leaders and advancing the bilateral relations," Choe said in a statement. She was referring to North Korea by its official name - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Later, Trump told a news conference: "We may be meeting with Chairman Kim ... Kim Jong Un was very receptive." He added, "We won't call it a summit. We'll call it a handshake", and said he would be very comfortable stepping over the border into North Korea if he met Kim at the DMZ. After arriving in Seoul, Trump was asked whether there would be a three-way meeting with Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday. "We're working things out right now," he said. "We’re going to see." At dinner with Trump, Moon said: "If it happens as described in the Twitter message, it will be a historic event and, if it doesn't, I think it's a great achievement in its own right because President Trump showed great consideration to Chairman Kim Jong Un." US special envoy Stephen Biegun said on Friday the United States was ready to hold constructive talks with North Korea to follow through on a denuclearisation agreement they reached last year, South Korea's foreign ministry said. Biegun told his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, that Washington wanted to make "simultaneous, parallel" progress on the agreement reached at Trump-Kim summit in Singapore a year ago, the ministry said in a statement. Both sides had agreed to rebuild relations and work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but talks stalled in February as they failed to narrow differences between US calls for denuclearisation and North Korean demands for sanctions relief. South Korea's presidential office said a Trump-Kim meeting had not been confirmed. It added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had told Moon at the G20 summit that Kim had told him in April security guarantees were key, and that corresponding measures were needed to realise denuclearisation. Trump had wanted to visit the DMZ on a 2017 visit to South Korea but bad weather prevented it. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week that a recent exchange of letters between Trump and Kim had made a restart of talks a "very real possibility". Trump told reporters on Saturday that Kim had sent him a birthday card and Trump wrote back. North Korea's official KCNA news agency said Trump's letter had "excellent content" and Kim would "seriously contemplate" it, without elaborating. Harry J. Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest said that "President Trump made his pitch for a short summit with Chairman Kim on Twitter as White House officials most likely have tried - and failed - to set up such a meeting through official diplomatic or South Korean channels". "While no major agreements will be signed, both sides can reaffirm their commitment to dialogue and diplomacy, essentially resetting the table for a future deal." But other analysts were more sceptical. "The fundamental problem - no working-level meetings and no basic change in at least the US negotiating position - means that any meeting right now is just pointless theatre," tweeted Vipin Narang, an MIT professor of political science.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday Canberra has yet to establish the whereabouts of an Australian man missing in North Korea for several days.  The family of Alek Sigley said on Thursday they had not heard from the 29-year-old university student in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, since Tuesday.  Sigley, who also runs a small tour company specialising in educational trips to North Korea, was an active social media user before abruptly ceasing all communication on Tuesday. “Our key focus is to ascertain precisely where Alek Sigley is and in what circumstances,” Morrison said in the western Japanese city of Osaka, where he is attending the G20 summit of world leaders.  “It’s very concerning, I’m very concerned,” he said. Sigley’s family said in a statement it was unusual not to have any digital contact from him. Australia has no diplomatic presence in North Korea and relies on third-party countries such as Sweden to act on its behalf.  Australia’s foreign affairs department said it has received a report that a citizen had been detained in North Korea.  Sigley, from the western Australian city of Perth, has been studying a postgraduate degree in modern Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University, according to his Twitter page, making him one of a handful of Western students there. The treatment of foreign citizens, most usually from the United States, by the secretive North has long been a contentious issue. Some have been held as prisoners for years. The death of American student Otto Warmbier in 2017 after he was detained in North Korea for 17 months sparked a long period of tension between Washington and Pyongyang, with the United States and North Korea even trading threats of war. Warmbier was detained in 2016 and sentenced to 15 years of forced labour for trying to steal a propaganda poster in his hotel. He was returned to the United States in a coma and died soon after.  Sigley has been an unusually active social media user for someone living in North Korea and regularly updates his social media accounts with photos and blog posts about seemingly benign subjects such as food and fashion. His Facebook and Instagram accounts have been suspended at his family’s request, although his Twitter profile remained open yesterday. Sigley was also a regular contributor to international media organisations about his time in North Korea, which he described in positive language. However, friends fear that his most recent article, an upbeat report about North Korea’s restaurants, may have caught the attention of Pyongyang authorities. “Alek published a short piece on NKNews.org, which was not critical but it is a website that is critical of North Korea and has many sources from North Korean defectors,” said Sigley’s friend Leonid Petrov, a professor of Asian Studies at the Australian National University.  “This may have convinced North Korea that Alek was a journalist,” he said. Chad O’Carroll, CEO of NKNews publisher the Korea Risk Group, said in a statement Sigley was a knowledgeable observer of North Korea and that the publication was surprised by reports of his sudden detention.  “We sincerely hope a rapid release can be secured by relevant authorities,” O’Carroll said.

Time is running out for the United States to formulate a new strategy to revive denuclearisation talks, a senior North Korean diplomat said yesterday, as a US envoy for North Korea is due to visit South Korea ahead of President Donald Trump’s trip.  Negotiations have been stalled since a second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in February collapsed over differences between US calls for complete denuclearisation and Kim’s demands for sanctions relief. Kim has said a third meeting would be possible only if Washington adopted a more flexible approach, setting a year-end deadline. The United States is in behind-the-scenes talks with North Korea over a possible third summit and has proposed reopening working-level negotiations, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday. Stephen Biegun, the US special envoy for North Korea who has led working-level talks, was scheduled to arrive in Seoul yesterday head of Trump, who is due in South Korea at the weekend after visiting Japan for the G20 summit. The United States and North Korea held working-level meetings in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas in the run-up to the Hanoi summit, but it was unclear whether Biegun will attend such talks this time. Kwon Jong-gun, director-general for US affairs at the North’s foreign ministry, said the United States continues to speak of dialogue while “becoming more and more desperate in its hostile acts”. He did not elaborate, but a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday that the recent US extension of sanctions against North Korea was an act of hostility and an outright challenge to the first summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore last year. “The dialogue would not open by itself though the United States repeatedly talks about resumption of dialogue like a parrot without considering any realistic proposal that would fully conform with the interests of both sides,” Kwon said in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency. “If the United States is to move towards producing a result, time will not be enough.” In contrast, US officials have raised hopes for a restart of official talks following a recent exchange of letters between Trump and Kim. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday called a fresh round of nuclear talks a “very real possibility,” following a letter sent to Kim by Trump. KCNA has said Trump’s letter had “excellent content” and Kim would “seriously contemplate” it, without elaborating. Trump is expected to send “some kind of message” to the North from the DMZ during his trip, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said yesterday. Trump tried to go to the DMZ, where Kim and Moon held a historic first summit last year, on a 2017 visit to South Korea, but heavy fog prevented it.  Trump said on Wednesday he would not meet Kim during his stay in the South and US officials have declined to comment on whether Trump will travel to the DMZ. Kwon said any new talks should be led by a “counterpart who has a good sense of communication”. The North has accused Pompeo of making “gangster-like” demands and urged a replacement with someone “more mature”, while lauding the rapport Kim has built with Trump. Wednesday’s statement by the North singled out his recent remarks that more than 80% of the North Korean economy had been affected by sanctions as “reckless” and “sophistry”. Biegun is scheduled to meet his counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, and other Seoul officials today to explore ways to reopen nuclear talks, a South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said. But there are few signs that the United States and North Korea are any closer to a deal, with both saying they are open to talks but calling for the other side to change policy. Reclusive North Korea has for years pursued missile and nuclear weapons programmes in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. Tension has mounted since the breakdown of the Hanoi summit. The North tested new short-range missiles in May and Washington imposed fresh sanctions and seized a North Korean ship suspected of illicit coal shipments. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Moon that Kim’s commitment to denuclearisation remained unchanged, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said. China is North Korea’s lone major ally. Xi also said the North Korean leader wants to resolve the issue through dialogue. Speaking at a regular monthly news briefing in Beijing, a spokesman for China’s Defence Ministry suggested - as China has done previously - that sanctions could be eased on North Korea if they follow UN resolutions. “The UN Security Council’s actions should support the current diplomatic efforts to promote the denuclearisation of and a political resolution for the peninsula,” spokesman Ren Guoqiang said. Seoul’s unification minister said that inter-Korea commercial projects that could channel millions of dollars a year to Pyongyang could be a leverage to boost nuclear talks. But the North said Seoul will never mediate between Washington and Pyongyang. “As is globally known, the DPRK-US relations are moving forward on the basis of the personal relations” between Kim and Trump, Kwon said, using the initials of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Therefore, there will be no such a happening where anything will go through the South Korean authorities.”

US President Donald Trump will visit South Korea this weekend after an exchange of letters with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boosted hopes for a resumption of talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear programme.  Trump is set to arrive in South Korea for a two-day visit on Saturday and will meet President Moon Jae-in on Sunday, following a summit of G20 leaders in Japan, Moon’s spokeswoman, Ko Min-jung, said on Monday. The announcement came hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped a letter Trump sent to Kim could pave the way for a revival of talks that have been stalled since a failed second summit between Trump and Kim in February. Trump and Moon would have “in-depth discussions on ways to work together to foster lasting peace,” Ko told a news briefing. Trump told reporters at the White House that Kim had sent him birthday wishes. “It was just a very friendly letter both ways. We have a very good relationship,” he said. Pompeo, who spoke of Trump’s letter to Kim before leaving Washington on Sunday for a trip to the Middle East and Asia, said Washington was ready to resume talks with North Korea immediately. “I’m hopeful that this will provide a good foundation for us to begin ... these important discussions with the North Koreans,” Pompeo told reporters. Trump is considering a visit to the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, a South Korean official said. A Trump administration official briefing reporters on a conference call said Trump had no plans to meet Kim during his visit to South Korea, and declined to comment when asked whether Trump would travel to the DMZ. Trump wanted to go to the DMZ on a 2017 trip to South Korea but heavy fog prevented it. Kim and Moon held their historic first summit in the DMZ last year. Trump and Kim held their first, groundbreaking summit in Singapore in June last year, agreeing to establish new relations and work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. But a second summit in Vietnam in February collapsed when the two sides were unable to bridge differences between US demands for denuclearisation and North Korean demands for sanctions relief. The director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, told Fox News on Monday that the intelligence community continued to assess that Kim Jong-un was not ready to give up his nuclear weapons. Stephen Biegun, the US special envoy for North Korea, said that Washington had no preconditions for talks but that progress would require meaningful and verifiable North Korean steps to denuclearise.  The State Department said Biegun, who led working-level talks with North Korea in the run-up to the Hanoi summit, would visit Seoul from tomorrow until Sunday for meetings with South Korean officials. Tension mounted last month when North Korea test-fired a series of short-range ballistic missiles, although Trump and South Korea both played down the tests.  One June 11, Trump said he had received a very warm, “beautiful” letter from Kim, adding he thought something positive would happen. North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, said on Sunday that Kim had received a letter from Trump, which he described as being “of excellent content”, but did not disclose any details. KCNA said Kim “would seriously contemplate the interesting content”. Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said Trump may have proposed a new round of working-level talks but that a major breakthrough was unlikely for now.  “North Korea has to show what the final state of denuclearisation would look like and what road map it has toward that end, but it’s not desirable to reopen talks just to manage the situation after recent weapons tests,” Shin told Reuters. Pompeo, who will also be in Seoul for Trump’s visit, did not discuss the contents of the president’s letter, but said Washington had been working to lay foundations for discussions.  “I think we’re in a better place,” he said. Asked if working-level discussions would begin soon, Pompeo said: “I think the remarks you saw out of North Korea this morning suggest that may well be a very good possibility. We’re ready to go, we’re literally prepared to go at a moment’s notice if the North Koreans indicate that they’re prepared for those discussions.” Joseph Yun, Biegun’s predecessor as special envoy for North Korea, told a panel discussion at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies that he expected there to be a third summit between Trump and Kim and it would probably take place “sooner rather than later.”  Victor Cha, a former White House official involved in past negotiations with North Korea, told the same event he expected Trump to go to the DMZ and noted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea last week. “Whenever you see high-level letter and then the Chinese and North Koreans meeting, that’s kind of like the set-up for a third meeting,” he said. “The question is, is he going to make a big statement at the DMZ ... is he going to do it with President Moon. Are there going to be other surprises? This president likes surprises.”

North Korea lauded its ties with historic ally China yesterday as Xi Jinping wrapped up a highly symbolic two-day visit to his nuclear-armed neighbour, with both countries facing deadlock in their negotiations with US President Donald Trump.  Kim Jong-un told the Chinese president that his visit was an opportunity to demonstrate “the immutability and invincibility of the DPRK-China friendship before the world”, the KCNA news agency reported, using the abbreviation of North Korea’s official name.  At a time when “serious and complicated changes are happening in international and regional situations”, KCNA said, the two leaders agreed to “promote close strategic communication” and develop their “common interests”.   Pyongyang pulled out all the stops to welcome Xi, the first Chinese president to visit in 14 years — a period in which Pyongyang has carried out five nuclear tests and launched missiles capable of reaching the entire US mainland.   China always prefers stability in its neighbourhood and the North’s nuclear provocations strained the relationship between the Cold War allies, with Beijing backing UN sanctions on Pyongyang and Kim not visiting to pay his respects for more than six years after inheriting power.  But as he embarked on a flurry of diplomacy last year, Kim ensured that Xi — whose country is the North’s key diplomatic supporter and main provider of trade and aid — was the first head of state he met.  Kim travelled to China three more times to meet Xi, and Pyongyang has been increasingly keen for the Chinese president to reciprocate.  Analysts say Xi, who flew back to China yesterday, intended to use the trip as a way of signalling to Trump his influence with Kim, a week before the G20 summit in Japan.  The world’s top two economies are embroiled in protracted trade war and their leaders are expected to meet in Osaka.  Similarly, nuclear negotiations between the North and the US are also deadlocked, after the second summit between Kim and Trump broke up in Hanoi in February with the two unable to reach a deal on sanctions relief and what the North might give up in return.  But North Korean media did not carry comments by Kim reported by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, which quoted him as saying that he was “willing to be patient” in the talks with the US, but wanted “the parties concerned” to meet him halfway. Xi told him that China “positively evaluated” the North’s efforts, CCTV said.  Jeung Young-tae, director of the Institute of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the summit amounted to China giving Kim strong backing in the process.   “Xi is saying that he will help Kim resist pressure from the US and calling on Kim to stick to his demands,” he told AFP.  Pyongyang has repeatedly called for Washington to adopt “a new method of calculation” for the negotiations, and Hong Min, a senior researcher at the South’s state-run Korea Institute for National Unification said Xi’s support gave Kim a “political and diplomatic opening to resume talks with the US again”. North Korean authorities deployed tens of thousands of citizens to line the streets to welcome Xi, with KCNA saying they expressed their “friendly affection” for Chinese citizens who have “shared joys and sorrows” with them in the pursuit of socialism.  Kim and Xi rode together through the streets of Pyongyang in an open-topped limousine, and on Thursday evening Xi and his entourage were treated to a special performance of the North’s Mass Games. It featured several scenes of Chinese-Korean history, including their soldiers fighting together in the Korean War, while the ever-changing backdrop – made up of thousands of children turning the pages of coloured books – displayed slogans of friendship and thanks, and portraits of both Xi and Kim.   Songs in the show included “I love thee, China”, and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the North’s ruling party, carried front-page pictures of Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju welcoming Xi.  Beijing sent millions of troops known as “Chinese People’s Volunteers” to save the North from defeat during the Korean War, and Mao Zedong described their relations as “close as lips and teeth”.   Nowadays Beijing sees the North as a strategic buffer, preventing the possibility of US troops on its borders — 28,500 are stationed in the South.

North Korea lauded its ties with historic ally China on Friday as Xi Jinping wrapped up a highly symbolic two-day visit to his nuclear-armed neighbour, with both countries facing deadlock in their negotiations with US President Donald Trump. Kim Jong Un told the Chinese president that his visit was an opportunity to demonstrate "the immutability and invincibility of the DPRK-China friendship before the world", the KCNA news agency reported, using the abbreviation of North Korea's official name. At a time when "serious and complicated changes are happening in international and regional situations", KCNA said, the two leaders agreed to "promote close strategic communication" and develop their "common interests". Pyongyang pulled out all the stops to welcome Xi, the first Chinese president to visit in 14 years -- a period in which Pyongyang has carried out five nuclear tests and launched missiles capable of reaching the entire US mainland.  China always prefers stability in its neighbourhood and the North's nuclear provocations strained the relationship between the Cold War allies, with Beijing backing UN sanctions on Pyongyang and Kim not visiting to pay his respects for more than six years after inheriting power. But as he embarked on a flurry of diplomacy last year, Kim ensured that Xi -- whose country is the North's key diplomatic supporter and main provider of trade and aid -- was the first head of state he met. Kim travelled to China three more times to meet Xi, and Pyongyang has been increasingly keen for the Chinese president to reciprocate. Analysts say Xi, who flew back to China on Friday, intended to use the trip as a way of signalling to Trump his influence with Kim, a week before the G20 summit in Japan. The world's top two economies are embroiled in protracted trade war and their leaders are expected to meet in Osaka. Similarly, nuclear negotiations between the North and the US are also deadlocked, after the second summit between Kim and Trump broke up in Hanoi in February with the two unable to reach a deal on sanctions relief and what the North might give up in return. But North Korean media did not carry comments by Kim reported by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, which quoted him as saying that he was "willing to be patient" in the talks with the US, but wanted "the parties concerned" to meet him halfway. Xi told him that China "positively evaluated" the North's efforts, CCTV said.  Jeung Young-tae, director of the Institute of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the summit amounted to China giving Kim strong backing in the process. "Xi is saying that he will help Kim resist pressure from the US and calling on Kim to stick to his demands," he told AFP. Pyongyang has repeatedly called for Washington to adopt "a new method of calculation" for the negotiations, and Hong Min, a senior researcher at the South's state-run Korea Institute for National Unification said Xi's support gave Kim a "political and diplomatic opening to resume talks with the US again". North Korean authorities deployed tens of thousands of citizens to line the streets to welcome Xi, with KCNA saying they expressed their "friendly affection" for Chinese citizens who have "shared joys and sorrows" with them in the pursuit of socialism. Kim and Xi rode together through the streets of Pyongyang in an open-topped limousine, and on Thursday evening Xi and his entourage were treated to a special performance of the North's Mass Games. It featured several scenes of Chinese-Korean history, including their soldiers fighting together in the Korean War, while the ever-changing backdrop -- made up of thousands of children turning the pages of coloured books -- displayed slogans of friendship and thanks, and portraits of both Xi and Kim. Songs in the show included "I love thee, China", and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling party, carried front-page pictures of Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju welcoming Xi. Beijing sent millions of troops known as "Chinese People's Volunteers" to save the North from defeat during the Korean War, and Mao Zedong described their relations as "close as lips and teeth". Nowadays Beijing sees the North as a strategic buffer, preventing the possibility of US troops on its borders -- 28,500 are stationed in the South. Before leaving on Friday, Xi paid tribute to the Chinese dead in the conflict at the Friendship Tower monument in Pyongyang, which hundreds of workers and soldiers renovated ahead of his trip. "To remember the martyrs," he wrote in the visitors' book, Xinhua news agency reported. "The China-DPRK friendship lasts from generation to generation."

The world hopes North Korea and the United States can talk to each other and for those talks to be successful, Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korean leader Kim Jong-un yesterday, praising Pyongyang’s efforts towards denuclearisation.  Xi is visiting China’s reclusive neighbour North Korea, seeking to bolster a longtime ally hit by UN sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes, a week before Xi and US President Donald Trump meet amid a bitter trade dispute. Xi, whose entourage includes the head of China’s state economic planner, will be in North Korea for two days, the first Chinese leader to visit in 14 years, and could bring fresh support measures for its floundering, sanctions-bound economy. Kim Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, greeted Xi at the airport, Chinese state TV said. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, and officials who played prominent roles in recent nuclear talks with the United States were also on hand. Xi was driven through Pyongyang in a convertible car, standing with Kim at his side, and greeted warmly by massed, cheering crowds on his way to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a complex that serves as the mausoleum for North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, the report said. Xi told Kim he had come to consolidate a traditional friendship and to promote the political process for a resolution of the Korean peninsula issue, it added. Xi “positively appraised” North Korea’s efforts to safeguard peace and stability on the peninsula and promote denuclearisation, state television said. “The situation on the Korean peninsula concerns regional peace and stability,” the report paraphrased Xi as telling Kim at their formal meeting. “The international community hopes that North Korea and the United States can talk and for the talks to get results.” Since a failed summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim in Hanoi earlier this year, Pyongyang has resumed some weapons tests and warned of “truly undesired consequences” if the United States is not more flexible. China is willing to provide what help it can to resolve North Korea’s reasonable security and development concerns, Xi said. Kim told Xi that in the last year or so North Korea had taken many positive steps to avoid tensions. “But these didn’t get a positive response from the relevant side. This is not something North Korea wished to see,” Chinese television cited Kim as saying. North Korea is willing to exercise patience, and at the same time hopes the relevant side can meet North Korea halfway, seek a solution that accords with both sides’ reasonable concerns, and promote results for the talks process of the peninsula issue.” China is the North’s only major ally and the visit comes amid renewed tension on the Korean peninsula as the United States seeks to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons, which it pursued for years in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. The trip is also an assertion of a key leverage point that China has in its deteriorating relationship with the United States, diplomats say. “Comrade Xi Jinping is visiting...in the face of crucial and grave tasks due to complex international relations, which clearly shows the Chinese party and the government place high significance on the friendship,” the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said. The trip highlights two-way ties that “never waver despite any headwinds,” and strengthens “blood ties” between the two peoples, it added in a front page commentary. Xi is also expected to pay tribute at the Friendship Tower, which commemorates Chinese troops who fought together with North Koreans during the 1950-53 Korean War. The conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, leaving the North technically still at war with South Korea. Xi and Kim will meet just a week before a G20 summit in Osaka where Xi and Trump are due to meet in a bid to reset ties poisoned by a bitter trade dispute. The timing of Xi’s visit to North Korea was no accident, said Li Zhonglin, a North Korea expert at China’s Yanbian University. China could be hoping to play a role in coaxing the North and the United States to resume denuclearisation talks after this year’s failed Kim-Trump summit in Hanoi, he added. “President Xi’s visit to North Korea can play a positive role in bringing about a third U.S.-North Korea summit,” Li said. “China wants a breakthrough.” Kim has visited Xi in China four times since last year, and China has praised North Korea and the United States for trying to resolve their issues through dialogue rather than threats of force or military posturing. While China has signed up to UN sanctions for the North’s repeated nuclear and missile tests, saying it is enforcing them fully, despite some US doubts, it has also suggested sanctions relief. China has also defended its “normal” trade and business ties with North Korea. This week, in a rare honour afforded a foreign leader, Xi wrote in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper that China supported North Korea’s “correct direction” in politically resolving issues on the Korean peninsula. China has also suggested the tough sanctions on the North could be eased if it abides by UN resolutions. With fuel imports limited and most major exports banned, the sanctions appear to be hurting the North’s economy. State media say drought has hit North Korea, with international aid groups reporting food production dropping dramatically amid poor harvests.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged neighbouring North Korea to engage in dialogue and show "its commitment to completely dismantling its nuclear weapons" in a speech Friday at the Swedish parliament. "Dialogues with the outside world, whether they may be bilateral or multilateral, must go on until North Korea earns the trust of the international community," Moon said. Moon said that sanctions against North Korea would be lifted in return for "sincere efforts." He pledged that peaceful dialogue would also mean that "no one would threaten the political system or safety of North Korea." Taking questions after his speech, Moon told a Swedish lawmaker that the two Korean states would also work to reduce conventional weapons once the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was achieved. Informal contacts continue "beneath the surface" between North Korea and South Korea, as well as between the US and North Korea, he said. Moon earlier this week said he hoped to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before welcoming US President Donald Trump to Seoul at the end of June. Sweden is celebrating 60 years of diplomatic ties with South Korea this year. It has also had an embassy in North Korea since the early 1970s and represents US diplomatic interests in Pyongyang. The Scandinavian nation has also contributed observers to the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas. Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom attended the speech. Moon earlier rode with the king to the Royal Palace in Stockholm in an open horse-drawn carriage for a formal welcoming ceremony. Sweden is the final stop on Moon's week-long tour of the Nordic region that included visits in Finland and Norway.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister met South Korean officials on their heavily defended border yesterday to deliver flowers and her brother’s condolences over the death of a former South Korean first lady.  The sister, Kim Yo-jong, visited the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas to pay her respects to Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean official said. Lee died in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Monday. Kim Dae-jung tried to promote better ties on the divided Korean peninsula and became the first South Korean leader to meet North Korea’s then-leader, Kim Jong-il, in 2000.  South Korean officials said Kim Yo-jong, who has emerged over the past 18 months as a top aide to her brother, did not have any particular message or letter for South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The two sides talked for about 15 minutes. “She said she hopes the South and the North will continue cooperation, upholding Ms Lee Hee-ho’s resolve for reconciliation and co-operation between the people,” South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters.  “Today, she focused on cherishing the deceased and sharing condolences.” Moon’s press secretary told a separate briefing that Kim Yo-jong also said her brother had a “special feeling” towards Lee. Kim Yo-jong’s visit came exactly a year after her brother and US President Donald Trump agreed at the first US-North Korea summit in Singapore to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, easing fears of war. Those talks have since stalled and inter-Korean engagement has dwindled. Kim Dae-jung, president from 1998 to 2003, is known for championing a so-called Sunshine policy of engagement with North Korea. Last year’s detente between the two Koreas was seen as a revival of that policy. Reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace.  Last year saw a number of high-level meetings between South and North, including three summits between Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Moon.

A senior North Korean official appeared at an arts performance with the country’s top brass, official media reported yesterday, just three days after he was said to have been purged following the collapse of nuclear talks between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.  Kim Yong-chol, the North’s counterpart to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the nuclear negotiations, was sent to a labour camp after the Kim-Trump summit in Hanoi in February, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper had reported Friday.  The paper had also made worldwide headlines by saying that Kim Hyok-chol, North Korea’s special envoy to the United States, had been executed by firing squad in March, after the two leaders failed to come to a deal over sanctions relief and the North’s nuclear programme. Kim Hyok-chol was Pyongyang’s counterpart to US special representative Stephen Biegun in the run-up to Hanoi, and the Choson Ilbo said he had been put to death for “betraying the Supreme Leader” after he was “won over to the US” during pre-summit negotiations. But the North is difficult to report on as one of the world’s most isolated nations and some previous Southern reports of purges and executions by Pyongyang have later proved inaccurate. Yesterday, the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a picture showing Kim Yong-chol sitting five seats down from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, with both his hands covering his face, at a “performance given by amateur art groups of the wives” of military officers.  The South’s Munhwa Ilbo afternoon paper carried the photo on the front page of its yesterday edition, with the headline: “Kim Yong-chol, rumoured to be purged, affirms his position next to Kim Jong-un”.  But there was no sign of Kim Hyok-chol, the official said to have been executed, in the Rodong Sinmun picture, nor was he mentioned in the official Korean Central News Agency’s report on the event. Chung Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute, said Pyongyang had probably issued the report and pictures in response to the Choson Ilbo report. Kim Yong-chol had not been seen in public for some time, but rather than being purged he had undergone surgery to remove a malignant tumour, Chung said, adding he obtained the information from a person who regularly contacts North Koreans. South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee in April said Kim Yong-chol had been censured over his handling of the Hanoi summit, despite the fact he had recently been named a member of the State Affairs Commission, a supreme governing body chaired by Kim Jong-un.  The report of Kim Hyok-chol’s execution was “likely to be false”, Chung said, citing information he had received that Kim was seen in mid-April – although he declined to disclose his source. “No one would dare to take part in nuclear talks if Kim Jong-un sends officials to hard labour, political prison camp or executes them if talks fail,” he said.

The leader of North Korea ordered its military to boost its strike capability as he directed another missile firing, state media said yesterday, as tensions grew over tests that appeared to show development of a new advanced missile system. Kim Jong-un’s call for a “full combat posture” follows the US seizure of a large North Korean cargo ship accused of illicit coal shipments in violation of UN sanctions. The increased tensions come amid a gridlock in dialogue after the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed over US demands for Pyongyang’s nuclear disarmament and Kim’s demands for relief from sanctions.  “(Kim) stressed the need to further increase the capability of the defence units in the forefront area and on the western front to carry out combat tasks and keep full combat posture to cope with any emergency,” KCNA news agency reported. He noted “genuine peace and security of the country are guaranteed only by the strong physical force capable of defending its sovereignty,” KCNA said, adding he “set forth important tasks for further increasing the strike ability.” The test of two short-range missiles on Thursday and the firing of a series of projectiles on Saturday were the first missile launches by the North since an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November 2017. Kim later declared the building of its nuclear force was complete and went on to hold three summit meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and two with Trump. Both Trump and Moon said the latest missile tests were not helpful but suggested they would not scupper dialogue. “I know they want to negotiate, they’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they’re ready to negotiate,” Trump told reporters. “They were smaller missiles, they were short-range missiles,” he said. “Nobody’s happy about it but we’re taking a good look and we’ll see.” South Korea’s Moon said on Thursday the tests were likely a reaction to the failed second summit with Trump in Hanoi in February, but he thought North Korea remained hopeful of continuing negotiations.  The latest tests were swiftly followed by US test-launches of the intercontinental ballistic missile Minuteman III over the Pacific and the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) off Florida. They also coincided with a visit to the South by US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun, who met his South Korean counterpart and was scheduled to hold talks with presidential Blue House and Unification Ministry officials. During his meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha yesterday, Biegun said “the door is still open for North Korea to return to the negotiating table,” and that it is very important for South Korea and the United States to continue communication and co-operation, the ministry said in a statement. Thursday’s missiles were fired from Kusong, northwest of the capital Pyongyang. One missile flew 420km and the other 270km, both reaching an altitude of about 50km before falling into the sea, South Korea’s military said. North Korean state media did not give details of the missiles. South Korean and US military analysts will try to determine if the Russian-development Iskander short-range ballistic missile system was used, Ahn Gyu-baek, the defence committee chairman in South Korea’s parliament, told reporters. Japan, which is also in striking distance of North Korean missiles and saw them fly over its territory before Kim’s self-declared moratorium on long-range missile launches in April 2018, said the latest missile tests violated UN resolutions. China, the North’s main diplomatic backer, said it had no firm information on the tests. State Councillor and senior diplomat Wang Yi said Korean peninsula issues should be resolved through dialogue with the goal of denuclearisation.  Analysts said the multiple tests signalled that North Korea is serious about deploying an operational fleet of the missiles, which could be used in the opening hours of any war with the United States and South Korea.  Washington has given no sign it will budge on the North’s demand to lift some sanctions as it announced on Thursday the seizure of a North Korean cargo vessel that it said was involved in the illicit shipping of coal.  The Justice Department said the 17,061-tonne Wise Honest is one of the North’s largest cargo ships and it was first detained by Indonesia in April 2018 but is now in the possession of the United States. The announcement has no connection with the North’s missile activities, a US official said.

North Korea welcomed a US envoy’s visit to Seoul by firing two missiles yesterday, the South’s military said, in Pyongyang’s second launch in less than a week as it seeks to up the ante in deadlocked nuclear negotiations with Washington. It came after North Korea carried out a military drill and fired multiple projectiles on Saturday, with at least one believed to be a short-range missile.  The North had not previously fired a missile since November 2017, shortly before a rapid diplomatic thaw eased high tensions on the peninsula and paved the way for a historic first meeting between its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.  But their second summit in Vietnam in February broke up without an agreement rolling back Pyongyang’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief or even a joint statement, leaving the North frustrated.  Yesterday’s launch came hours after the US Special Representative on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, arrived in Seoul late Wednesday for talks with South Korean officials, in his first visit since the Hanoi summit. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Pyongyang’s latest move had “an element of protest and is a pressuring action to steer the nuclear talks in a direction it desires”. “It appears the North is highly displeased that the Hanoi summit ended without agreement,” he said in an interview marking his first two years in office.   But he added: “Whatever North Korea’s intentions might have been, we warn that it could make negotiations more difficult.” The North “fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles” from Kusong in North Pyongan province, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement, updating its earlier assessment that the launch was from Sino-ri in the same province.   The JCS added the missiles flew eastwards for 270 and 420km and the South Korean and US militaries were jointly analysing them.  Biegun met his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon for breakfast yesterday and is due to hold discussions with the South’s foreign and unification ministers today as the security allies — Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its neighbour — work on their approach towards Pyongyang.  With yesterday’s launch, said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, “North Korea is sending a clear message that it will not be satisfied with humanitarian aid” being considered by Seoul. “It is saying, ‘We want security guarantees in return for the denuclearisation process’,” he added. “Kim could have felt he needed to show a strong military posture ... following a joint South-US military drill last month.”  Harry Kazianis of the Centre for the National Interest added that the North had “once again chosen a course of action today that can only worsen already growing tensions.  “Kim’s goal, beyond ensuring his weapons programmes are becoming more powerful, is quite clear: to show America and its allies that if they aren’t willing to compromise on the terms of denuclearisation that Pyongyang will indeed go its own way.” Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington had all refrained from explicitly calling Saturday’s launch a missile — the South used the term “projectile” — which could jeopardise the ongoing diplomacy if it violated UN Security Council resolutions against ballistic technology as well as Kim’s announcement of an end to long-range missile tests.  If yesterday’s launch proved to be a ballistic missile, Moon said, even if it was short-range, “it has a possibility of running foul of UN resolutions”. Experts said at least one short-range ballistic missile was involved on Saturday, with a report on the respected 38 North website suggesting that it was a “direct import” of a Russian-produced Iskander.   “The debris generated by the launch in North Korea is a virtual match of a launch of Iskander conducted by Russia,” it said. If North Korea had imported Iskanders from Russia, the report added, “it has an existing capacity to deliver warheads to targets in South Korea with great precision”.  Pyongyang insisted earlier that Saturday’s “routine drill” was conducted within its own waters and added the “flying objects” did not pose any threat to the US, South Korea and Japan. “The firing of the intermediate- and long-range missile and the ICBM was not involved in it,” a spokesman for the North’s delegation for military talks with the South said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, condemning Seoul’s criticism.  A summit between Moon and Kim a year ago was instrumental in lowering the temperature, but since the Hanoi summit the North has blamed Seoul for siding with Washington, leaving inter-Korean relations in limbo.

* Launches come days after North Korea fired missile, rockets * South calls launches worrisome and unhelpful * US envoy in Seoul over stalled denuclearisation talks North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles on Thursday in a likely protest by leader Kim Jong Un at the United States after he and President Donald Trump failed to reach agreement on nuclear weapons and missiles at a February summit, South Korea said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who earlier cut short a European trip to return to Washington for meetings on Iran, would also have discussions on North Korea after learning of the launches, a senior US State Department official said. The launches came less than a week after Kim oversaw the test-firing of multiple rockets and a missile and coincided with a visit to the South Korean capital by US special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun. The two missiles fired on Thursday went in an easterly direction from the northwestern area of Kusong, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. They covered distances of 420 km (260 miles) and 270 km (168 miles) and reached an altitude of about 50 km (30 miles) before falling into the sea, they said. Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said: ‘We're aware of the reports and monitoring.’ ‘North Korea seemed to be discontented it could not reach a deal in Hanoi,’ South Korea's President Moon Jae-in told South Korean broadcaster KBS, referring to a summit in Hanoi in February with Trump. North Korea has effectively pulled back from engagement with Washington since the summit, which fell apart without any agreement on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programme. South Korea's Moon said that even if the missiles fired on Thursday were short range, they could still violate UN resolutions barring North Korea from developing its ballistic missile force. Even so, Moon said he saw the tests as a sign that North Korea wanted to negotiate, and said he planned to push for a fourth inter-Korean summit with Kim. Pompeo was due to meet Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday afternoon in Washington. WEEKEND TESTS Analysts said it was too soon to say exactly what kind of missiles were involved in the latest launches, but the range would probably exceed that of most of the rockets North Korea fired on Saturday from its east coast into the ocean, ‘You don't know what missile it is just from how far it flew,’ said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defence and Security Forum. ‘North Korea has returned to its classic escalation tactics from before,’ Yang added. ‘I believe they will keep escalating by using what appear to be short-range missiles, something that will not cause the US to react right away.’ Harry Kazianis, of Washington's Center for the National Interest think tank, said the new launches could only worsen already growing tensions. ‘While this recent launch of short-range missiles does not violate Pyongyang’s promise to halt longer-range tests, North Korea has now made it clear it will not halt developing other parts of its military capabilities that threaten the region,’ he said. ‘Kim’s goal, beyond ensuring his weapons programs are becoming more powerful, is quite clear: to show America and its allies that if they aren’t willing to compromise on the terms of denuclearization.’ On Saturday, North Korea also launched multiple rockets and at least one short-range ballistic missile. That launch was the North's first test of a ballistic missile since launching an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017 and sharply raising tension at a time of stalemate in its talks with the United States. This week, North Korea lashed out at the United States and South Korea, saying the launches at the weekend were ‘regular and self-defensive’ and rejecting the notion that they were provocative. Trump and his administration nevertheless played down the weekend tests, and in a Twitter message on Saturday, the US president said he was still confident he could reach a deal with Kim. In 2017, the North Korean leader declared the country's nuclear force was complete and extended an olive branch to the South and the United States, holding two summits with Trump and three with the South Korean president. But the second summit with Trump broke down, with the United States insisting the North give up its nuclear programme, which it pursued for years in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, and the North seeking sanctions relief. South Korea's military said it had stepped up monitoring and security in case of another launch, and was working with the United States to get additional information on the missiles involved. Japan's defence ministry said it had not detected any ballistic missile in its territorial waters or exclusive economic zone and saw no direct impact on security. North Korea has test-fired rockets over Japanese territory in the past.