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North Korea says no U.S. talks planned at Olympics, Pence vows continued pressure

in ASIA/POLITICS by

North Korea says it has no intention of meeting U.S. officials during the Winter Olympics that start in South Korea on Friday turning off hopes the Games will help resolve a tense standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons program. However, the North’s high-ranking delegation, including the younger sister of its leader Kim Jong Un, will meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in and have lunch with him on Saturday.

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‘Let’s talk’: Japan hopes low-key strategy averts U.S. trade flare-up

in AMERICAS/ECONOMY/ENERGY/POLITICS by

Economic talks between the United States and Japan, tackling topics from persimmons and potatoes to energy and infrastructure, have helped keep Tokyo clear of protectionist moves such as those that recently hit Chinese solar panels and South Korean washers. Japan hopes that “let’s talk” approach – plus warm personal ties between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump – will keep friction in check. But officials and lawmakers say the outlook could change if the unpredictable U.S. leader turns his attention to Tokyo’s 7 trillion yen ($63.62 billion)trade surplus ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November. Also efforts to showcase the U.S.-Japan security alliance in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats will probably take precedence over trade when U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visits Japan from Tuesday, officials on both sides said.

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Pence leaves for Asia, focused on increasing pressure on North Korea

in AMERICAS/POLITICS by

Vice President Pence departs Monday for a five-day trip to Japan and South Korea, a visit to Asia intended to focus almost entirely on rallying allies to ratchet up their pressure on Kim Jong Un’s repressive regime, as well as directly pressing North Korea to stop its nuclear ambitions. Even his final stop — leading the U.S. delegation at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea, on Friday night, and attending an Olympic event Saturday morning — has a clear geopolitical undertone: to combat North Korean propaganda amid the Olympic festivities, White House officials said.

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Winter Olympics: North Korea presses ahead with military parade

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North Korea has defended plans for a large-scale military parade scheduled for the day before the Winter Olympics in South Korea. Pyongyang’s annual military parade to mark the founding of its armed forces has taken place in April for 40 years. From 2018, however, it has been changed to 8 February – when athletes will gather in Pyeongchang for the opening ceremony the following day. North Korea said that no-one had the right to take issue with its plans, rejecting views that the event is provocative.

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North Korea earned $200 million from banned exports, sends arms to Syria, Myanmar – U.N. report

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A UN report said North Korea violated United Nations sanctions in 2017 earning nearly $200 million with banned commodity exportation, in particular coal to Russia, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam and weapons to Syria and Myanmar.

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Abe to meet Moon on Feb.9 in South Korea

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae In will hold a meeting on Feb. 9 at a site near the venue of the opening ceremony for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea, Japanese government sources said Friday. At the meeting, Abe is expected to call on South Korea to steadily implement the December 2015 bilateral agreement to “finally and irreversibly” resolve the issue of so-called comfort women, the sources said.Abe also hopes to confirm with Moon the policy of continuing to apply pressure on North Korea over the reclusive country’s nuclear and missile programs, according to the sources. It will be the first time for the prime minister to visit South Korea since 2015.

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S. Korean authorities warned not to put out hardly-kindled spark for improved North-South relations

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North Korea is now making all sincerity and efforts for the successful holding of the Winter Olympics due in south Korea in line with the unanimous expectation and wish of all Koreans. But South Korea conservative media and persons, adverse to this, said some dishonest things that seriously chilling the atmosphere for the north-south reconciliation created by the great magnanimity and the initiative steps taken by the DPRK. There were some comments calling the technical issues regarding the DPRK’s participation in the Olympics a “violation of sanctions on the north”. This obviously represents the unpleasant and uneasy mind of the U.S. and the south Korean conservative forces displeased with the trend for the improvement of the north-south relations created after entering the new year.

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China’s Xi tells Trump hard-earned easing of tensions on Korean peninsula must continue

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China’s President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call on Tuesday that the hard-earned easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula must continue with the hope that the resumption of dialogue between North Korea and South Korea might prompt change in Pyongyang’s “destructive behavior”.

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South Korea and North Korea to hold working-level talks on January 15

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North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold working-level talks at the Tongil Pavilion on the North Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom on January 15. South Korea had also said that it is seeking to form a combined women’s hockey team with the North. The North Korea’s International Olympics Committee (IOC) official said the committee is considering the proposal, while the two sides will also have talks hosted by IOC on Jan. 20. This is the third round of bilateral talks between the two Koreas, signalling a further thaw in their strained relations. Officials from North and South earlier this week said they had agreed to hold negotiations to resolve problems and avert accidental conflict, after their first official dialogue in more than two years amid high tension over the North’s weapons program.

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North Korea: the challenge of turning inter-Korean thaw into longer-term detente

in ASIA/TECHNOLOGY by

The peaceful climate in which yesterday’s meeting between South and North Korea took place quickly evaporate when the North’s chief negotiator threatened to walk out after the South Korean side raised the question Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes. “We had started in a good spirit but this came to an icky mood”, North Korea’s lead delegate Ri Son Gwon complained in closing remarks. Ri also said he would not discuss North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme with the South because its nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles are aimed “thoroughly” at the United States, not at its “brethren” in the South. This reaction shows how, although talks yielded agreements to hold military talks and facilitate North Korea’s participation in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, turning this loosening of tensions into a longer-term detente will be very difficult. North Korea in fact does not intend to negotiate its nuclear arsenal while on the other side Washington insist that complete denuclearisation is the only acceptable outcome.

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