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SEOUL: Accounts by former US National Security Adviser John Bolton of discussions between leaders of the United States and the two Koreas in his upcoming book are inaccurate and distorted, South Korea said on Monday (Jun 22). Bolton gives details in the book of conversations before and after three meetings between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, including how their second summit in Vietnam fell apart. The book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, is scheduled for publication on Tuesday but media outlets have released excerpts. Reports have cited Bolton as writing that South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is keen to improve relations with North Korea, had raised unrealistic expectations with both Kim and Trump for his own "unification" agenda. "It does not reflect accurate facts and substantially distorts facts," South Korea's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said in a statement referring to Bolton's description of … [Read more...] about South Korea says Bolton’s memoir on Trump-Kim summit is distorted

SEOUL: North Korea sees little use in maintaining a personal relationship between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump if Washington sticks to hostile policies, state media reported on Friday (Jun 12) on the two-year anniversary of the leaders' first summit. US policies prove Washington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA. Trump and Kim sat down in Singapore on Jun 12, 2018 - the first summit between leaders of the two countries. READ: Highlights - Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's historic summit A second summit in February 2019 in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi , failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over US calls for North Korea to completely give up its nuclear weapons, and North Korean demands for sanctions relief. In a lengthy statement carried by the state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Foreign Minister Ri Son … [Read more...] about North Korea says little reason to maintain Kim-Trump ties on summit anniversary

SINGAPORE: A highly anticipated summit between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended on Tuesday afternoon (Jun 12). Both leaders emerged from a bilateral meeting and signed a joint statement . Among the key points in the document was North Korea's commitment to "work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula." President Trump said during the signing ceremony that they have "developed a special bond". Earlier in the day, in a historic moment, the two leaders walked across the aisles towards each other at the Capella Hotel in Singapore's Sentosa island and shook hands as the world watched. In a news conference later that day , Mr Trump said the two countries were "ready to write a new chapter" and called the day's talks "honest, direct and productive". WATCH IT LIVE on our website: channelnewsasia.com/trumpkimsummit CLICK HERE for our YouTube livestream Refresh for updates. … [Read more...] about Highlights: Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un’s historic summit

WASHINGTON: The United States formally concluded on Tuesday (Mar 6) that North Korea murdered Kim Jong Un's half-brother with the banned VX nerve agent, blasting Pyongyang for deploying a chemical weapon in a packed international airport. Kim Jong Nam died in February last year, shortly after two women sprayed his face with a liquid as he walked through Kuala Lumpur airport. The brazen daylight assassination unleashed diplomatic shockwaves and widespread condemnation of North Korea. The two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese national, are currently on trial in Malaysia where they are accused of using a nerve agent to murder Kim Jong Nam, who lived in exile in China and was seen as a potential rival to his younger half-brother. The two women say they were recruited to take part in what they thought were prank TV shows but were instead tricked into becoming inadvertent assassins, in an elaborate plot by a group of North Korean agents who then fled country. On Tuesday, … [Read more...] about US slaps new sanctions on North Korea over killing of Kim Jong Nam

SEOUL: North Korea has been ramping up tensions with South Korea in recent weeks, but the campaign seems aimed at making a renewed push for sanctions relief by recapturing the attention of a US administration that is distracted by domestic issues. North Korea blew up a joint liaison office on its side of the border last week, declared an end to dialogue with South Korea and threatened military action. After three historic meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to lead to a denuclearisation deal, US President Donald Trump's attention is fixed elsewhere, including the coronavirus epidemic, anti-racism protests and the November presidential election. Kim, however, is facing real-world consequences for the failed talks, with North Korea's sanctions-hit economy further strained by a border lockdown imposed to prevent a coronavirus outbreak, potentially threatening his support base among the elites and military. Analysts say one of Kim's goals in lashing out at … [Read more...] about North Korea’s Kim stokes tensions with eye on distracted Trump