North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in yesterday visited the spiritual birthplace of the Korean nation for a show of unity after their summit gave new momentum to Pyongyang’s negotiations with Washington.
Kim on Wednesday agreed to shutter the Tongchang-ri missile-testing site in the presence of international observers, a move the US welcomed by saying it was ready for immediate talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea.
Pyongyang also said it could dismantle its best-known nuclear facility at Yongbyon if the US takes “corresponding measures.”
Photo: AFP / Pyeongyang Press Corps
There was an important caveat — Moon told reporters on his return to Seoul that the US would need to “end hostile relations with North Korea and provide security guarantees for the regime.”
However, the declaration appeared to break the North’s logjam with Washington.
US President Donald Trump welcomed the move, tweeting that Kim had “agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also praised the “important commitments,” saying he had invited his North Korean counterpart for talks next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and representatives of both sides to meet “at the earliest opportunity” in Vienna — home of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Washington was ready to “engage immediately in negotiations” to achieve the North’s denuclearization by January 2021, Pompeo added.
Kim was hoping for a second summit with Trump “at an early date,” Moon said, adding that he would take Trump a message from Kim when he meets him next week.
Experts remain skeptical, saying that closing Tongchang-ri would have no effect on the North’s ability to manufacture rockets.
Pyongyang has used several other locations for missile launches. Many also believe the North has other covert nuclear facilities.
“The North Koreans are offering gestures that mimic disarmament,” arms control expert Jeffrey Lewis tweeted. “They don’t meaningfully constrain North Korea’s nuclear program.”
Their main purpose was “to appease Trump, so that Moon and Kim can keep their engagement alive,” he added.
Yesterday, Moon and Kim, accompanied by their wives, visited Mount Paektu on the Chinese border.
The 2,744m peak is considered sacred by all Koreans as the birthplace of Dangun, the legendary founder of the first Korean kingdom.
According to Pyongyang’s narrative, it is also where Kim Jong-un’s father, former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was born, at a secret camp where his own father, state founder Kim Il-sung, was fighting Korea’s Japanese colonial occupiers.
However, historians say that Kim Jong-il was born in the Soviet Union, where his father was in exile.
South Korean tourists flock to see the mountain via China, but only a handful have been granted access from the North Korean side, mostly for research purposes.
Kim and Moon raised their clasped hands aloft on the crater rim as Moon said he hopes many of his compatriots would follow in his footsteps.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
RSS