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In 1973, to aid in a surprise attack on Israel, North Korea reportedly sent hundreds of troops to Syria. The conflict, which became known as the Yom Kippur War, was an embarrassing defeat for Syria — Israeli troops made it within dozens of miles of Damascus. Like so many dictatorships, the Syrian government tried to fashion a triumph out of a loss. On the outskirts of Damascus, the October War Panorama museum, a castle-like structure built with the help of North Koreans, memorializes Syria’s "victory" over Israel. If there’s anywhere that shares Syria’s sense of insecurity right now, it’s North...

Evidence gathered by South Korea’s military suggests Pyongyang is working on the submarine on its east coast, said Kim Hack-yong, who chaired the legislature’s defense committee until his term ended a few weeks ago. Satellite imagery reviewed by South Korean intelligence officials showed the movement of laborers and materials at the port of Sinpo, where the submarine appears to be under construction at an indoor facility, an aide to Mr. Kim said. U.S. officials consider the program a threat because such missiles are harder to identify and destroy before launch, potentially giving North Korea a greater element of surprise in...

The State Department said Saturday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not gift North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a copy of Elton John's "Rocket Man" signed by the president despite reports from South Korean media. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told NBC News that Pompeo did not deliver the CD, despite a report from South Korean media outlet The Chosun Ilbo stating that Pompeo was delivering the CD after Trump learned Kim was unaware of the hit song. "The 'Rocket Man' CD was the subject of discussion during Trump's lunch with Kim. Kim mentioned that Trump referred to...

North Korea on Saturday accused the U.S. of undermining the spirit of last month’s summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un after what it says were “regrettable” talks with a delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry, accusing the U.S. of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning its nuclear weapons, came shortly after Pompeo’s delegation left the country. "We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders' summit ... we were also thinking about...

Looks like the two sides of the North Korean nuclear crisis have their wires crossed. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo led two days of talks with the Kim regime and offered a positive take on progress as he left Pyongyang. The North Koreans disagreed: BREAKING: North Korea Foreign Ministry says talks with Pompeo 'regrettable,' accuses US of unilateral demands for denuclearization.— The Associated Press (@AP) July 7, 2018 North Korea says high-level talks with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were “regrettable” and has accused Washington of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning...

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sees a different future for his country, as America’s top diplomat heads to Pyongyang for talks on denuclearization. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Montana, Trump said: “I really believe that he sees a different future for the North Koreans. I hope that’s true.”(continued)

A SENIOR Republican figure has given an extraordinary insight into the complicated mind of Donald Trump and his daily battles with the media and detractors — as well as the clever way he is playing them to his advantage. Dr Jan Halper-Hayes, a former Vice President of Republicans Overseas, and a member of Mr Trump’s transition team, believes people weren’t “connecting the dots” around his presidency. “First you have to listen to him. People take him literally and then they pounce on the moment [of controversy] … But Mr Trump is consistently inconsistent and predictably unpredictable and he told us,...

The US government sent a letter to North Korea from “President of the United States Donald Trump” via Panmunjeom on July 1 ahead of a scheduled third visit to the North by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on July 6, sources reported. A foreign affairs source informed on developments in the Korean Peninsula political situation said on July 2 that the US had apparently sent Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim and CIA Korea Mission Center Chief Andrew Kim to Panmunjeom to deliver an “important letter” to Workers’ Party of Korea vice chairman and United Front Department director Kim Yong-chol....

The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, a state-run research institute, held a symposium on June 14 where experts in geology and natural resources gathered to talk about how they could further their research on the natural resources in North Korea. The symposium took place amid growing interest from South Korea and abroad on the potential of the mineral deposits buried in the North. After the historic summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April, high-ranking officials from the two Koreas met multiple times over the past few months to discuss how...

Less than a month after President Donald Trump’s historic meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the White House is reportedly already laying the ground work for a possible second meeting between the two leaders – this time on US soil. On June 12th, Trump and Kim met for 45 minutes – the first time a sitting US president has met with a North Korean leader since the Korean War erupted in 1950, leaving the peninsula divided between a communist regime centered around Pyongyang in the north, and a liberal-democratic government in the south. he meeting between...

North Korea has continued to produce support equipment and launchers for one of its newer ballistic missiles through the first half of 2018, according to a recent U.S. military intelligence assessment described to The Diplomat by U.S. government officials. According to a recent assessment released by the U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), which analyzes intelligence regarding ballistic missile threats for the U.S. Air Force, North Korea has continued to produce vehicles and support equipment for its Pukguksong-2/KN15 medium-range ballistic missile in 2018. While production of launch vehicles—known as transporter-erector-launchers, or TELs—and support equipment has continued through the...

South Korea's government said Thursday it will change the definition of its national and political system from "free democracy" to simply "democracy" in its new guidance for secondary school history textbooks. In its revised guidance for history textbooks to be used by middle and high school students from 2020, the Ministry of Education also changed 1948 from being the founding year of the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) to being the founding year of the government of the Republic of Korea. So far, domestic history textbooks have used both "free democracy" and "democracy" as terms defining the identity...

White House national security adviser John Bolton offered up new details on Sunday about the path toward the nuclear disarmament of North Korea and addressed a recent Washington Post report suggesting that the country plans to deceive the United States about its nuclear stockpile. On CBS's "Face the Nation," Bolton said North Korea's nuclear arsenal could be dismantled in a year if Pyongyang cooperates, adding that the program would require "full disclosure of all [of North Korea's] chemical and biological, nuclear programs, ballistic missile sites." "We have developed a program. I am sure that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will...

Even as North Korea engages in diplomacy with the US for denuclearization, US intelligence officials have spotted evidence that points to the communist nation’s unwillingness to fully dismantle its nuclear program while concealing key parts, the Washington Post said Sunday. The assessment contradicts US President Donald Trump’s remarks that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,” following a landmark summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore. The evidence collected aims to deceive the United States about the number of nuclear warheads in North Korea’s arsenal as well as the existence of undisclosed...

North Korea has increased its production of enriched uranium for nuclear weapons at secret sites in recent months, contrary to Donald Trump’s claims that it was “no longer a nuclear threat”, according to a new report. NBC News quoted more than a dozen US officials familiar with the intelligence assessments. Coming soon after satellite images showed rapid improvements being made to a North Korean nuclear research facility at Yongbyon, the developments will make it harder for Trump to claim that his summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore this month was a success. Neither of the concessions the US president claimed...

Former President Jimmy Carter believes that President Donald Trump has a legitimate case to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize if he brokers a denuclearization deal with North Korea. Carter won the award in 2002. “If President Trump is successful in getting a peace treaty that’s acceptable to both sides with North Korea, I think he certainly ought to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize,” said Carter to Politico Magazine’s “Off Message” Podcast. “I think it would be a worthy and a momentous accomplishment that no previous president has been able to realize.” Trump is set to meet with...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly ordered a high ranking army officer to be executed after he was accused of giving extra food and fuel rations to troops and their families. Daily NK reported that Hyon Ju Song, the lieutenant general of the Korean People’s Army in the country’s capital, Pyongyang, was executed by a firing squad for “charges of abusing authority and engaging in anti-Party acts.” Hyon was reportedly a rising star in the army before his death. He served as a member of the Workers' Party of Korea's Central Committee and battalion commander under the Supreme Guard...

That rebuilding North Korea’s economy could cost billions of dollars won’t come as much of a surprise to observers of the reclusive state, but just how much South Korea is willing to invest in, and benefit from, the economic potential of its unpredictable neighbor is yet to be seen. In the afterglow of the historic meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, attention has turned toward the possible rebuilding the rogue state’s isolated economy. But the reconstruction of the country hit by sanctions and heavily reliant on China won’t be easy, or cheap. In fact,...

North Korea is upgrading its only known nuclear research facility, satellite imagery has shown, despite ongoing negotiations with multiple world leaders and a pledge to abandon its weapons program. The satellite photos, obtained by North Korea analysis outlet 38 North, indicate that the isolated regime is making numerous improvements to its Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center “at a rapid pace.” The report comes just over two weeks after President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement that called for a denuclearized Korean peninsula. 38 North is a U.S.-based project that looks to gather the insight...

North Koreans for years have dug up the remains of U.S. soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, hiding them away in the hope they may someday bring a cash reward when relations between the two countries improve, North Korean sources say. Expectations have recently been raised again following the June 12 meeting between North Korea’s national leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. president Donald Trump, a source in North Hamgyong province told RFA’s Korean Service. “Residents are now paying closer attention to this issue following the announcement in Singapore that North Korea is thinking of sending the remains of...