Tag: Kim Jung Un

South Korean military: North Korea fired unidentified projectiles

The Hill logoNorth Korea’s military launched three unidentified projectiles, South Korea’s military said early Monday morning local time.

CNBC first reported the statement from South Korea’s military. It was unclear where the launches occurred, but a statement from South Korea’s defense ministry obtained by CNN stated that three projectiles had been fired towards the Sea of Japan, where previous weapons tests have occurred.

“Our military detected three unidentified projectiles fired this morning from the Sondok area in Hamgyong Province, North Korea, toward northeast, toward the East Sea,” the South Korea Defense Ministry said, according to CNN. Continue reading.

North Korea fires short-range projectiles, South says

North Korea fired multiple short-range projectiles off its east coast on Saturday morning, South Korea’s military announced.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North fired a barrage of short-range projectiles from the town of Wonsan, according to South Korea’sYonhap News Agency.

The South Korean military had said earlier that the North fired multiple short-range “missiles” before saying that they fired “projectiles.”

View the complete May 3 article by Tal Axelroad on The Hill website here.

It’s Jamal Khashoggi all over again with Trump and Otto Warmbier

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified March 27, answering questions from Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) about the death of U.S. student Otto Warmbier. (C-Span)

Pompeo has now repeatedly declined to blame Kim Jong Un personally for human rights abuses

When the president you serve speaks glowingly about strongmen, it makes your job as his chief diplomat more difficult. Yes, sometimes you have to deal with such leaders, but you also need to avoid legitimizing them. You may be on the verge of cutting a deal, but does that mean you give the autocrat a pass on humanitarian abuses — even ones directly involving the United States?

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been through this already with Jamal Khashoggi. Now he’s going through it with Otto Warmbier.

And on Wednesday, he got testy over it.

View the complete March 27 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Trump blames Cohen testimony in part for failed deal with North Korea

On Feb. 28, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended their Hanoi summit, aimed at negotiating North Korea’s denuclearization, without a deal. Credit: Jason Aldag, The Washington Post

President Trump said Sunday that the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer, was in part responsible for the collapse in negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program last week — continuing to vent about the investigations encircling him and his associates.

During seven hours of testimony Wednesday, Cohen said that Trump manipulated financial records and that Trump knew in advance about WikiLeaks’ efforts to release damaging information about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 campaign, among other allegations.

The testimony unfolded as Trump had traveled to Hanoi to try to forge a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over curbing the North Korean nuclear program.

View the complete March 3 article by Seung Min Kim on The Washington Post website here.

How the Trump-Kim Summit Failed: Big Threats, Big Egos, Bad Bets

HANOI, Vietnam — As President Trump settled into the dining room of a French-colonial hotel in Hanoi on Thursday morning, the conversation with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader with whom he had struck up the oddest of friendships, was already turning tense.

In a dinner at the Metropole Hotel the evening before, mere feet from the bomb shelter where guests took cover during the Vietnam War, Mr. Kim had resisted what Mr. Trump presented as a grand bargain: North Korea would trade all its nuclear weapons, material and facilities for an end to the American-led sanctions squeezing its economy.

An American official later described this as “a proposal to go big,” a bet by Mr. Trump that his force of personality, and view of himself as a consummate dealmaker, would succeed where three previous presidents had failed.

View the complete March 2 article by David E. Sanger and Edward Wong on The New York Times website here.

Otto Warmbier’s parents slam ‘Kim and his evil regime’ after Trump comments

The parents of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died in 2017 after being returned from his detention in North Korea, spoke out on Friday following President Trump’s apparent defense of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over their son’s death.

“We have been respectful during this summit process,” Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement. “Now we must speak out.”

“Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuses or lavish praise can change that,” they said.

View the complete March 1 article by Morgan Gstalter on The Hill website here.

Questions swirl around Trump’s North Korea summit

Questions are swirling about what, if anything, will be accomplished when President Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week in Vietnam.

Senior administration officials have done little to clear up the questions, demurring on several specifics they said were still under negotiation with Pyongyang during a call with reporters to discuss the second summit between Trump and Kim.

The officials did indicate a priority for the summit is reaching an agreed definition of denuclearization, something that has thus far eluded negotiators.

View the complete February 23 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.

Want to Know More About: North Korea

Martha Raddatz: “The Secretary Of State Did Issue A Statement Saying That America Stands Ready To Engage With North Korea Once Again, But Only When Chairman Kim Is Ready To Deliver On His Commitment To Completely Denuclearize, And It Is Unclear, George, When Or If That Will Happen.” [Good Morning America, ABC, 8/29/18; VIDEO]

Weijia Jiang: “President Trump Acknowledged For The First Time That Little Progress Has Been Made, After Declaring Back In June There Was No Longer A Nuclear Threat From North Korea.” WEIJIA JIANG: “President Trump acknowledged for the first time that little progress has been made, after declaring back in June there was no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. UN ambassador Nikki Haley acknowledged its possible North Korea may be having second thoughts about giving up its nuclear weapons. Yesterday, defense secretary James Mattis announced joint military exercises with South Korea would resume after Mr. Trump earlier agreed to suspend those exercises, as long as the north was negotiating in good faith. Sources tell CBS news a setback unfolded after the national security team met at the white house last Friday, and reviewed that letter from North Korea which reportedly said the north wanted the U.S. to sign a peace treaty to formally end the Korean war. Secretary Pompeo still remained optimistic after that, but it’s unclear when negotiations will resume.” [This Morning, CBS, 8/29/18; VIDEO] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: North Korea”

Trump calls off high-level North Korea visit by Pompeo

The following article by Jordan Fabian and Ellen Mitchell was posted on the Hill website August 24, 2018:

President Trump on Friday said he has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to put off his planned visit to North Korea and accused Pyongyang of slow-walking efforts to dismantle its nuclear program.

Trump wrote in a tweet that a high-level visit is not appropriate at “this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Pompeo was scheduled to make his fourth visit to North Korea next week to follow up on a framework agreement Trump reached with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

View the complete article here.

North Korea has not taken steps to denuclearize, John Bolton says

The following article by Felicia Sonmez was posted on the Washington Post website August 7, 2018:

National security adviser Bolton briefs the media on election interference at the White House. Credit: Mark Wilson, Getty Images

National security adviser John Bolton said Tuesday that North Korea has not made progress toward denuclearization in a dismal acknowledgment that comes nearly two months after President Trump held a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

“The United States has lived up to the Singapore declaration. It’s just North Korea that has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize,” Bolton said in an interview on Fox News Channel on Tuesday morning.

He added the United States will continue to apply pressure until Pyongyang produces results.

View the complete article here.