North Korea yesterday demanded compensation from the US for freezing its nuclear-weapons programs as a first step in resolving a 15-month standoff, as preparations got underway for critical nuclear negotiations later this month in Beijing.
The comments came during high-level talks in Seoul between North and South Korean officials.
"The United States has not at all changed its demand that we first give up our nuclear programs," the North's chief negotiator Kim Ryong Song said, according to pool reports.
"What is important is resolving the issue through our proposal of simultaneous action."
A South Korean delegate at the Cabinet-level inter-Korean talks in Seoul said North Korea's offers didn't go far enough and asked North Korea to be more flexible.
"We urged North Korea to take a more progressive position on the dismantlement of the nuclear programs in general because it will be difficult to resolve the nuclear issue in the near future just with North Korea's offer of a freeze in exchange for compensation," delegate Shin Eon-sang said during a break in the meetings.
Outside the venue, Seoul's Shilla Hotel, about 20 South Korean protesters shouted slogans such as "Stop all South-North Korean exchanges until North Korea dismantles its nuclear programs!" One banner read: "We call on the international community to work to topple the dictatorship of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il."
About 50 police officers were on hand, but no clashes were reported.
Six-nations talks on settling the issue had faltered for months over disagreements on the ground rules for negotiations. A first round between the US, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas ended in August in Beijing without much progress.
North Korea agreed Tuesday to hold a second round Feb. 25.
North Korea has insisted it needs a nuclear "deterrent" against a possible US attack. But it has said it would suspend its nuclear programs as a first step in easing tensions if Washington lifts sanctions, resumes oil shipments and removes North Korea from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,