South Korea

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) - Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, arrived in South Korea on Sunday as Pyongyang stepped up pressure on Washington to make concessions to revive stalled denuclearization talks ahead of a year-end deadline.

Biegun’s arrival came a day after North Korea said it made another “crucial test” at a rocket launch site to develop a strategic weapon to deter U.S. nuclear threats.

Analysts said such tests could help North Korea build more reliable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the United States.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said it successfully performed another “crucial test” at its long-range rocket launch site that will further strengthen its nuclear deterrent.

The test — the second at the facility in a week, according to North Korea’s Academy of Defense Science — possibly involved technologies to improve intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the continental United States.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday it successfully performed another “crucial test” at its long-range rocket launch site that would further strengthen its “reliable strategic nuclear deterrent.”

The announcement comes as North Korea continues to pressure the Trump administration over an end-of-year deadline set by leader Kim Jong Un to salvage faltering nuclear negotiations.

SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Negotiators from South Korea and the United States will hold talks in Seoul next week over the sharing of the upkeep cost for the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), South Korea's foreign ministry said Friday.

The fifth round of negotiations for the 11th Special Measures Agreement (SMA), a South Korea-U.S. accord to share defense cost for about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed here, was scheduled to be held in Seoul from Dec. 17 to Dec. 18.

The latest negotiation was held in Washington earlier this month.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit China next week for a trilateral summit with Japan amid rising tension over stalled denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States, Moon’s office said on Tuesday.

Moon is scheduled to arrive in China on Dec. 23, one day before the planned trilateral meeting in the southwestern city of Chengdu with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his spokeswoman Ko Min-jung told a briefing.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s defense minister said Tuesday that North Korea’s recent unspecified test at a rocket liftoff site was of a rocket engine, amid speculation the North was making preliminary steps toward a prohibited long-range rocket launch.

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said during a visit to Sydney that Seoul expressed its “deep concerns” over the engine test and North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches into the sea, according to his office in Seoul.

SEOUL, Dec 9 (NNN-YONHAP) — South Korea will take every possible measure to keep the dialogue momentum between North Korea and the United States alive, the unification ministry said Monday, noting a “grave” situation following Pyongyang’s recent unspecified test at its satellite launching site.

On Sunday, North Korea said it successfully conducted a “very important test” a day earlier at the Sohae satellite launching site, also known as the Dongchang-ri site on its west coast, saying the test results will alter its “strategic position” in the near future.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Sunday it carried out a “very important test” at its long-range rocket launch site that it reportedly rebuilt after having partially dismantled it when it entered denuclearization talks with the United States last year.

The announcement comes amid dimming prospects for a resumption of negotiations, with the North warning it would seek “a new way” if it fails to get major U.S. concessions by year’s end. North Korea has said its resumption of nuclear and long-range missile tests depends on the United States.

SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States seemed to still have differences in negotiations for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's unification ministry said Friday.

Kim Eun-han, a deputy spokesperson of the unification ministry, told a press briefing that it seemed that the DPRK and the United States still had differences in positions for denuclearization negotiations, considering the statements recently announced by the DPRK.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea threatened Thursday to resume insults of U.S. President Donald Trump and consider him a “dotard” if he keeps using provocative language, such as referring to its leader as “rocket man.”

Choe Son Hui, the first vice foreign minister, issued the warning via state media days after Trump spoke of possible military action toward the North and revived his “rocket man” nickname for North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.