North Korea appears to have started dismantling facilities at a rocket launch test site known as Sohae, according to new satellite imagery (38 North)
It remains unclear whether Pyongyang plans to raze the whole site, which U.S. President Donald J. Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had told him he would dismantle (New York Times)
North Korea Should Forge U.S. Ties, Pompeo Says
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a visit to Hanoi, urged North Korea to follow the same path Vietnam has taken in recent decades and seek improved U.S. relations (Voice of America)
Over the weekend, following two days of talks in Pyongyang, the North Korean Foreign Ministry accused the United States of making “gangster-like” demands, and called the talks “deeply regrettable” (New York Times)
Pompeo Returns to North Korea Amid Nuclear Doubts
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is traveling today to Pyongyang, his third such trip, to follow up on North Korea’s pledge to dismantle its nuclear program. Pompeo is expected to press Pyongyang to give Washington a list of nuclear facilities it plans to dismantle (Nikkei)
The visit comes amid growing doubts about the country’s intention to follow through on denuclearization, as a U.S.-based monitoring group reported that North Korea continues to upgrade its Yongbyon nuclear complex (Guardian)
South Korea Suspends Military Drill
The defense ministry announced the suspension of the Taegeuk drills, held annually since 1995, to promote the United States’ nuclear negotiations with North Korea. The announcement follows the suspension of an August joint drill with the United States (Korea Times)
Kim Meets Xi as U.S. Suspends Military Drills
Kim Jong-un met with Chinese President Xi Jinping today, the North Korean leader’s third visit to China in three months; Kim was expected to discuss his recent summit with U.S. President Donald J. Trump over nuclear arms (Washington Post)
Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokeswoman announced yesterday that the United States has suspended planning for joint military exercises with South Korea that were to be held in August, a concession Trump offered Kim at the summit (Associated Press)
U.S. Outlines North Korean Sanctions Relief Conditions
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul, said North Korea will not receive sanctions relief until it demonstrates it has achieved “complete denuclearization” (New York Times)
Separately, a senior U.S. official said today that major military exercises between the United States and South Korea have been suspended indefinitely (Agence France-Presse)
Trump, Kim Sign Joint Declaration
U.S. President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a joint agreement during a historic meeting in Singapore in which Pyongyang committed to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (White House)
Trump announced the United States would no longer hold war games with South Korea, calling such military exercises provocative and inappropriate in light of diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang, and the joint statement does not lay out a timetable or next steps for the dismantling of North Korea’s weapons programs (New York Times)
Trump Announces Summit with Kim Back On
U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced today that a proposed summit with Kim Jong-un will happen as originally scheduled on June 12 in Singapore. The announcement was made following an Oval Office meeting with North Korean envoy with General Kim Yong-chol, the highest ranking North Korean official to visit the United States since 2000 (New York Times)
Trump Cancels June 12 Summit with Kim
U.S. President Donald J. Trump sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un today cancelling a summit planned for next month in Singapore, citing “tremendous anger and open hostility” from the country (Washington Post)
North Korea Demolishes Only Known Nuclear Test Site
North Korea destroyed its nuclear facility at Punggye-ri, beneath the remote Mount Mantap in the country’s northeast, in a detonation witnessed by foreign journalists (Associated Press)
North Korea Threatens to Cancel Kim-Trump Summit
Pyongyang canceled high-level talks with Seoul scheduled for today in protest of ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills and said it would reconsider a June summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald J. Trump (Korea Times)
A North Korean vice minister of foreign affairs accused top U.S. officials of contradicting intentions for dialogue by asserting that the country abandon its nuclear weapons ahead of any sanctions relief (New York Times)
North Korea Appears to Begin Dismantling Nuclear Site
Satellite imagery shows several buildings at the nuclear test site in Punggye-ri have been razed, according to 38 North, a U.S. website that monitors North Korean affairs. Pyongyang is expected to show the dismantled nuclear site to journalists (Korea Times)
North Korea Says It Will Dismantle Test Site, End Missile Tests
North Korea will dismantle its nuclear testing site later this month, outlining steps and confirming that international journalists will be invited to observe the ceremony in a statement made on Saturday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (CNN)
The announcement came the day after North Korea told the UN aviation agency that it will no longer conduct unannounced ballistic missile tests, saying that tests are no longer needed now that its nuclear weapons program is complete (Associated Press)
Trump, Kim Set to Meet in Singapore in June
U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced via Twitter today that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet on June 12 in Singapore (Washington Post)
The announcement came hours after Trump welcomed home three American prisoners released by North Korean yesterday (New York Times)
Pompeo, in Pyongyang, Secures Prisoner Release
North Korea released three American prisoners today, U.S. President Donald J. Trump said, as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned from a meeting with Kim Yong-chol, the head of North Korea’s department for inter-Korean relations, in Pyongyang (Reuters)
Kim, Xi Meet Again in China
Kim Jong-un traveled to the Chinese city of Dalian earlier this week for two days of talks, his second summit with President Xi Jinping in just over a month (Yonhap)
Chinese Foreign Minister, in Pyongyang, Backs Denuclearization
The trip by Wang Yi is the first by a Chinese foreign minister to North Korea since 2007. Wang commended the country for a recent inter-Korean summit and said he hopes for “substantial progress” in a planned meeting between the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and U.S. President Donald J. Trump (Korea Times)
Kim, Moon Pledge Peace and Denuclearization
Leaders from North and South Korea, meeting in the border village of Panmunjom, pledged to replace the 1953 Korean War armistice with a peace treaty and work toward denuclearizing the peninsula by the end of the year (Washington Post)
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un concluded the landmark summit, which marked the first entry by a North Korean leader into South Korean territory since the war’s end, with a declaration that called for the countries to “completely cease all hostile acts” (Korea Times)
North Korea’s Kim to Enter South on Foot
The Friday summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be the first time a North Korean leader has stepped on South Korean soil since the 1950–53 Korean War (Korea Times)
Separately, Chinese researchers found that a nuclear facility Kim Jong-un pledged last week to close has been unusable since a blast there last year (Wall Street Journal)
CIA Director Met With North Korea’s Kim Jong-un
CIA Director Mike Pompeo, awaiting confirmation as U.S. secretary of state, traveled in secret to North Korea to meet Kim Jong-un to discuss an upcoming summit between the U.S. president and the North’s leader. The meeting between Pompeo and Kim was the highest-level contact between the United States and North Korea since Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with Kim’s father in 2000 (Washington Post)
U.S. President Donald J. Trump said yesterday that he would back talks between North and South Korea to formally end hostilities on the peninsula (New York Times)
Pyongyang Said to Confirm Denuclearization Talks
North Korea offered to discuss denuclearization during talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald J. Trump next month, according to U.S. media reports citing unnamed administration officials. North Korean and U.S. officials will reportedly hold secret meetings ahead of the summit (New York Times)
Kim and Moon to Meet in April
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to meet April 27 in what will be the first inter-Korean summit in eleven years, and just the third meeting ever between leaders from the North and South. The announcement comes days after Kim Jong-un traveled to Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (Reuters)
North Korea Open to Talks With U.S., Says China
Chinese state media confirmed that Kim Jong-un visited Beijing earlier this week in the North Korean leader’s first foreign trip since taking office in 2011 (Bloomberg)
Reports quoted Kim as saying that Pyongyang is “committed to denuclearization” on the Korean Peninsula (Xinhua)
Unofficial U.S.-North Korea Meeting Concludes
The unofficial diplomatic talks that included six delegates from North Korea, South Korea, and the U.S. respectively were “constructive,” said the Finnish foreign ministry. The talks are believed to have been geared towards preparing for a possible summit between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Associated Press)
Trilateral Talks on Denuclearization
Ahead of upcoming summits, U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster met his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Chung Eui-yong and Shotaro Yachi, in San Francisco over the weekend for talks on denuclearization and maintaining trilateral cooperation (Associated Press)
Separately, Stockholm, acting as an intermediary for Washington, has “engaged heavily” in talks regarding the release of three U.S. prisoners in North Korea said sources with knowledge of negotiations between North Korean and Swedish officials (CNN)