Tag: North Korea

Vatican Denies Rumors Pope Will Visit North Korea

VATICAN CITY—The Holy See Press Office has denied a report that Pope Francis may be planning a trip to North Korea. The article, published yesterday by The Times, cited a report by Agenzia Fide, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Society. The report claimed Park Jie-won, head of South Korea’s intelligence services, is working…


Kim Berates North Korean Officials for ‘Crucial’ Virus Lapse

SEOUL, South Korea—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated top officials for failures in coronavirus prevention that caused a “great crisis,” using strong language that raised the specter of a mass outbreak in a country that would be scarcely able to handle it. The state media report Wednesday did not specify what “crucial” lapse had…


Kim Jong Un’s Sister Publicly Derides National Security Adviser’s Comment

Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, decried National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s recent comments, saying his expectation of resuming talks between the two countries “would plunge them into a greater disappointment.” In response to Kim Jong Un’s command last week ordering officials to prepare for both dialogue and confrontation, Sullivan told ABC News on Sunday…


Defund the Universities

Commentary The left’s slogan “Defund the police” makes no sense. It doesn’t follow from the injustice perpetrated on George Floyd. The natural inference from that incident is to hold accountable that particular policeman, together with any of his accomplices. But nothing more follows from that, least of all that all police departments are systematically bigoted…


Columbia University Graduate Who Fled North Korea Says She Sees Similarities in America

A North Korean defector who graduated from New York’s Columbia University drew an alarming similarity between what is being taught on the American campus and the propaganda of the Kim regime. In 2007, 13-year-old Yeonmi Park and her mother fled across the border to China, where they were sold into slavery by sex traffickers. Two…


Biden Appoints Special Envoy to North Korea, Commits to Diplomacy

President Joe Biden on Friday announced he will appoint career diplomat Ambassador Sung Kim as a special envoy to North Korea as the United States and South Korea affirmed their shared commitment to engage diplomatically with the rogue nation to end its nuclear program. Biden made the announcement at a joint press conference with South…


Moon Visits Washington: Caution Advised

Commentary South Korean President Moon Jae-in is coming to Washington and will meet President Joe Biden on May 21. Moon’s term in office ends next year, but he’s got a big objective: to ‘school’ Biden on North Korea and convince him to follow Moon’s own approach to dealing with Pyongyang and its dictator Kim Jong…


North Korea Says Biden ‘Made a Big Blunder’ in Calling It a Serious Threat

A senior official from the reclusive communist regime in North Korea issued a statement on Sunday saying that President Joe Biden “made a big blunder” in a recent speech to Congress by calling Pyongyang a security threat. In his first address to a joint session of Congress on April 28, Biden flagged the nuclear program in…


Many Key China Issues Still ‘Under Review’ at Biden’s First 100 Days

WASHINGTON—As President Joe Biden’s first 100 days come to a close this week, a number of key policy positions and contentious issues remain “under review,” to use the White House’s terminology. Many relate to China, the United States’ strategic competitor, a rivalry that Biden has starkly defined, most recently in a speech to Congress on…


China’s March Exports to North Korea 400 Times That of January-February Combined

China’s exports to North Korea reached a six-month high in March, and was over 398 times the total of the previous two months, China’s General Administration of Customs reported on April 18. China has been North Korea’s largest exporter and importer. The sharp increase in Chinese exports has caught people’s attention, with some saying it…