China\'s Wang meets Kim Jong Il, conveys Hu\'s personal message

Senior Chinese Communist Party official Wang Jiarui met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on Monday and conveyed a \'\'verbal personal message\'\' from Chinese President Hu Jintao, the North\'s official media said early Tuesday. Korean Central News Agency did not report the contents of Hu\'s message, but it may include a call on North Korea to rejoin the stalled six-party denuclearization talks and an invitation for Kim to visit China, as diplomatic sources suggested earlier.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-08 18:03:02 GMT
Chinese, N. Korean officials discuss \'matters of mutual concern\'

Wang Jiarui, a senior Chinese Communist Party official, met with Kim Yong Il, head of the International Department of North Korea\'s Workers Party, in Pyongyang on Sunday and discussed \'\'matters of mutual concern,\'\' North Korea\'s official media said. Neither the Korean Central News Agency nor the official Chinese news agency Xinhua gave further details about the content of the talks.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-07 14:03:31 GMT
U.N. envoy meets with S. Korean officials ahead of N. Korea trip

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon\'s special envoy Lynn Pascoe met with South Korea\'s foreign minister and other senior officials on Saturday prior to heading for a visit to North Korea next week. Pascoe, U.N. undersecretary general for political affairs, said he will address ways to resume six-nation talks on ending North Korea\'s nuclear programs in talks with North Korean officials during his visit, according to South Korea\'s Yonhap news agency.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-06 11:57:24 GMT
Senior Chinese official Wang arrives in N. Korea

A delegation led by senior Chinese Communist Party official Wang Jiarui arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday, in what is seen as a mission to try to resume stalled six-party denuclearization talks. Wang, head of the party\'s International Department, is expected to hand a New Year message from Chinese President Hu Jintao to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and to urge Pyongyang to return to the six-way talks on ending its nuclear ambitions, according to diplomatic sources in Beijing.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-06 10:16:11 GMT
N., S. Korea to hold talks on cross-border tours Monday: Seoul

North and South Korean officials will meet in the North Korean border city of Kaesong on Monday to discuss the resumption of cross-border tours in North Korea, the South\'s Unification Ministry said Saturday. North Korea has accepted South Korea\'s proposal to meet in Kaesong next Monday, but the fate of the talks has been left in the air after Seoul demanded Wednesday that the North send \'\'officials with responsibility\'\' to the meeting to discuss security issues.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-06 09:58:35 GMT
U.S. missionary arrives in Beijing after release by N. Korea

U.S. missionary Robert Park who has been detained in North Korea since December arrived in Beijing from Pyongyang on Saturday en route back to the United States. Park, a South Korean-American Christian missionary, made no comment as he arrived at Beijing\'s international airport. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said Park is scheduled to leave for the United States later in the day.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-06 08:07:36 GMT
Senior Chinese official to visit N. Korea

A delegation led by Wang Jiarui, a senior official of China\'s Communist Party, is flying Saturday to Pyongyang for a visit, Xinhua News Agency said. Wang, the head of the party\'s international department, is to visit the North ahead of the lunar New Year vacation with a New Year message from Chinese President Hu Jintao to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as well as to urge Pyongyang to return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program, diplomatic sources in Beijing said.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-06 06:19:24 GMT
American missionary travels to China after release by N. Korea

U.S. missionary Robert Park who has been detained in North Korea since December arrived in Beijing from Pyongyang on Saturday. According to the U.S. Embassy, Park will be leaving for the United States later in the day.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-06 04:17:08 GMT
American missionary to travel to Beijing after release by N. Korea

U.S. missionary Robert Park who has been detained in North Korea since December will be released and will travel to Beijing from Pyongyang on Saturday, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Friday. \'\'North Korean authorities have informed both us and the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which serves as our protecting power, that they plan to release him,\'\' Assistant Secretary of Sate for Public Affairs Philip Crowley told reporters. \'\'We welcome the decision to release him.\'\'

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-06 02:56:45 GMT
N. Korea says it will release detained U.S. missionary

North Korea has decided to release U.S. missionary Robert Park, who was detained in December for illegally entering the country, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday. \'\'The relevant organ of the DPRK decided to leniently forgive and release him, taking his admission and sincere repentance of his wrong doings into consideration,\'\' the KCNA report said. DPRK is the acronym for North Korea\'s official name, the Democratic People\'s Republic of Korea.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-05 02:00:20 GMT
Chinese official to visit N. Korea in bid to resume nuclear talks

A senior official of China\'s Communist Party is set to visit North Korea next week apparently on a mission to help resume the stalled six-way talks on ending Pyongyang\'s nuclear weapons program, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday, citing informed sources in Beijing. Wang Jiarui, the head of the party\'s international department, is expected to visit Pyongyang and meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il next week, the sources said.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-05 02:00:20 GMT
Obama decides not to designate again N. Korea terrorism sponsor

President Barack Obama has decided to keep North Korea off the list of states that sponsor terrorism. North Korea \'\'does not meet the statutory criteria\'\' for being designated again as a state sponsor of terrorism based on its examination of the North\'s conduct between June 2008 and November 2009, Obama said in a letter to congressional leaders.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-04 17:27:05 GMT
N. Korea eases control over traders, use of foreign currencies

North Korea has eased control over market trading and use of foreign currencies in an apparent reversal of a tighter economy-control policy adopted in line with currency reform last November, diplomatic sources said Thursday. Relaxing control over the economy is aimed at curbing the sharp increase in prices and social unrest that followed redenomination of the country\'s currency, the won, the sources said.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-04 15:25:39 GMT
Obama says U.S. not to designate N. Korea terrorism sponsor

The United States does not plan to designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. The North, which was dropped from the list in October 2008, does not meet the criteria to again be designated in terms of actions from June 2008 to November 2009, the president said in a letter to congressional leaders. ==Kyodo

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-04 03:22:11 GMT
Special U.N. envoy to discuss nuke issue in Pyongyang: Ban

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Wednesday his special envoy will address the nuclear issue during her visit to North Korea next week. \'\'The visit is meant to reestablish the high-level policy dialogue between the United Nations and the DPRK,\'\' Ban told reporters, referring to North Korea\'s official name, the Democratic People\'s Republic of Korea. \'\'We intend to raise all matters of mutual concern, including the nuclear issue.\'\'

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-04 00:27:31 GMT
N. Korea accepts S. Korean offer for tourism talks

North Korea on Tuesday accepted a South Korean offer to hold talks next Monday on resuming cross-border tours, the South\'s Unification Ministry said Wednesday. In response, South Korea sent a message Wednesday afternoon to the North, demanding the North send \'\'authoritative\'\' officials to the talks on tours by South Koreans to the North\'s scenic Mt. Kumgang resort and also to the North Korean border city of Kaesong, the ministry\'s spokesman Chun Hae Sung told reporters.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-03 08:22:02 GMT
N. Korea finance chief sacked over currency debacle: report

North Korea has apparently sacked Pak Nam Gi, the finance director of the ruling Workers\' Party of Korea, letting him take the fall for last November\'s failed currency reform, a South Korean daily reported Wednesday. \'\'Right now, North Korean officials are busy blaming each other for the failed currency reform and Pak, who spearheaded the revaluation, is believed to have been sacked,\'\' the Chosun Ilbo quoted a diplomatic source in Beijing as saying.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-03 03:21:56 GMT
N. Korea declares 2 Yellow Sea areas as 4-day firing zones from Fri.

North Korea has declared two areas in the area of the western sea border with South Korea as temporary \'\'firing zones\'\' for four days from Friday, an official from the South\'s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. The official said the Defense Ministry informed lawmakers from the ruling party about the North\'s declaration during a briefing at the National Assembly.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-03 03:21:56 GMT
N. Korea celebrates 60 years of diplomatic ties with Vietnam

North Korea sent messages to Vietnam on Sunday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the North\'s Korean Central News Agency reported Monday. Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People\'s Assembly, North Korea\'s parliament, sent a message to Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet, wishing him and Vietnamese people \'\'greater success in their efforts to build a rich and powerful country,\'\' KCNA said.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-01 23:08:38 GMT
2 Koreas begin working-level talks on joint industrial complex

Working-level officials from North and South Korea began talks Monday on the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex, the South\'s Unification Ministry said. At the one-day talks at the North\'s border city of Kaesong, the South expected to bring up the subject of border restrictions that have slowed its transportation and communications in and out of the complex.

kyodo.co.jp - 2010-02-01 23:08:38 GMT