Jessica Dsilva - News Affairs: NORTH KOREA

Showing posts with label NORTH KOREA. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 May 2018

Kim-Trump Summit: United Nations to lift travel ban for North Korean officials

Trump earlier said the fate of the summit will be decided next week as his aides travelled to Singapore to prepare the meeting and push for certain conditions to be met.

International News : A UN Security Council committee has agreed to lift a travel ban on North Korean officials heading to Singapore for the planned summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un next month, diplomats said.

Singapore last week asked the sanctions committee to grant an exemption to the North Korean delegation attending the June 12 summit and taking part in preparatory meetings, according to the request seen by AFP.

“This summit will serve as an opportunity to advance the objective of a peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue and the establishment of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region,” wrote Singapore’s UN Ambassador Burhan Gafoor to the committee.

The letter did not specify the size of the delegation from Pyongyang. The UN sanctions blacklist for North Korea has 80 individuals and 75 entities which are subject to a global travel ban and an assets freeze. The request for the blanket exemption to the global travel plan was approved on Thursday after none of the council members raised objections.

Trump earlier said the fate of the summit will be decided next week as his aides travelled to Singapore to prepare the meeting and push for certain conditions to be met.

“There are certain conditions we want to happen. I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we won’t have the meeting,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. The Security Council has imposed tough sanctions on North Korea that ban trade in commodities and severely restrict deliveries of oil vital to Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programme.

Thursday, 26 April 2018

Kim Jong-Un to visit South Korea: What to expect when the two leaders meet

Kim’s decision to meet on Moon’s side of the military demarcation line – making him the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea – reflects new confidence in his country’s bargaining power.

International News : When Kim Jong Un crosses the border dividing the two Koreas to shake hands with southern counterpart Moon Jae-in on Friday, his footsteps will be laden with symbolism.

Kim’s decision to meet on Moon’s side of the military demarcation line – making him the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea – reflects new confidence in his country’s bargaining power. He’s showing that he feels secure enough to leave his isolated capital after developing a nuclear arsenal capable of threatening Moon’s protectors in Washington, as well as Seoul.

“This is major,” said David Kang, director of the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California. “He is losing all the optics that others accuse him of – wanting to pretend that he is at the center of the world and that whoever is visiting is a dignitary coming to kowtow.”

The venue – at the “Truce Village” of Panmunjom where the armistice was signed – is only one change from the previous inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007 that were held in Pyongyang. This meeting is intended to facilitate negotiations over Kim’s nuclear weapons program, rather than reward their results.

Kim Jong Un is expected to cross the border around 9:30 a.m., Seoul time, when he’ll be welcomed by Moon and an honor guard, Soutisorea said Thursday. The pair are expected to begin their summit around 10:30 a.m. and announce any agreements in the afternoon before jointly attending a banquet.

The event will set up a historic meeting between the North Korean leader and US President Donald Trump some time by early June. The unprecedented encounter, which observers say could either finally resolve the 68-year-old Korean War or create conditions for a new one, has infused every gesture and remark between Kim and Moon with gravity.

In recent weeks, Kim, whose government has often derided the South Koreans as US “vassals,’’ has emphasized reconciliation and flexibility. On Friday, he extended his freeze on nuclear weapons testing as part of a shift toward greater emphasis on the economy.

The moves have raised expectations that the two sides could announce some breakthrough, such as declaring an end to their enduring war. That could open the door for formal peace talks and a security guarantee from the US – a crucial step to convincing Kim to disarm.

Wednesday, 28 March 2018

Kim Jong-un meets Xi, says he is committed to de-nuked Korean peninsula

Kim Jong-Un is understood to have reiterated his commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

International News : China confirmed Wednesday that Kim Jong Un met with President Xi Jinping on a surprise visit to Beijing, and said the North Korean leader would be willing to give up his nuclear weapons and hold a summit with the US.

“The issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realization of peace,” Kim said during the four-day visit, according to Xinhua. Xi said that China continues to push for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and made four proposals to improve relations with North Korea, including maintaining frequent contact with Kim. Xi said China will continue to share friendship with North Korea as a “strategic choice” that “will not change because of any single event at a particular time.”

“We speak highly of this visit,” Xi told Kim, according the Xinhua story that repeatedly referred to the two leaders as comrades.

“We are willing to work together with DPRK comrades, remain true to our original aspiration and jointly move forward, to promote long-term healthy and stable development of China-DPRK relations, benefit the two countries and two peoples, and make new contribution to regional peace, stability and development,” Xi said.

The visit comes amid a diplomatic flurry in Asia as leaders jockey for face time with Kim and seek to defuse tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

Key Points:

Xi hosted a grand banquet for Kim at the Great Hall of the People

Kim reiterated his commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula