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North Korea
Officials from North Korea and South Korea are holding talks on reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
The two sides sat down together on Saturday at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone.
Work at the Kaesong industrial park was halted in April amid high regional tensions.
Kaesong, a major source of income for North Korea, was seen as a symbol of inter-Korean ties, and correspondents say its closure showed how serious this year’s political tensions were.
Attempts to hold high-level talks last month failed on procedural grounds.
The meeting is being held on the North Korea side of Panmunjom, South Korean officials said.
Officials from North Korea and South Korea are holding talks on reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex
Seoul suggested the working-level talks on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang said South Korean businessmen could visit the closed complex to inspect and maintain equipment.
Late on Thursday, North Korea accepted the offer, South Korea said.
Prior to operations being suspended, there were around 120 South Korean businesses in the factory park. The companies have been unable to retrieve goods and materials for three months.
Some have since threatened to abandon the zone entirely and relocate their equipment.
Pyongyang withdrew its 53,000 workers from the complex in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test in February, and annual South Korea-US military drills.
North Korea also prevented South Korean workers from entering the joint commercial zone.
The last South Korean workers left the zone on May 3.
The talks are very limited but could pave the wave for discussion of bigger issues such as North Korea’s nuclear programme.
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South Korea has proposed working-level talks with North Korea on reopening the jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Seoul made the proposal a day after Pyongyang said South Korean officials could visit the closed complex to inspect and maintain equipment.
Work at the factory park, which was a rare symbol of North-South co-operation, was halted in April amid high regional tensions.
Attempts to hold high-level talks last month failed on procedural grounds.
“The government wants talks to be held at the truce village of Panmunjom,” South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said in a statement.
“Seoul’s stance remains consistent and centres on government authorities resolving all outstanding issues through dialogue.”
It said the offer of talks was made via a North-South hotline that was cut by Pyongyang in June but has now been restored.
North Korea has yet to respond to the offer.
South Korea has proposed working-level talks with North Korea on reopening the jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex
South Korea proposed that the talks take place on Saturday.
Prior to operations being suspended, there were around 120 South Korean businesses in the factory park, which had provided the North with a source of much-needed hard currency.
On Wednesday, North Korea said it would allow South Korean companies to enter the complex, which is located just inside the communist country, to protect their equipment from damage in the rainy season.
The offer came after some South Korean firms threatened to abandon the zone entirely and relocate their equipment.
A spokesman representing electronic and machinery makers in Kaesong had said: “Kaesong must be reopened or [the factories] have to move elsewhere.”
Pyongyang withdrew its 53,000 workers from the complex in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test in February, and annual South Korea-US military drills.
North Korea also prevented South Korean workers from entering the joint commercial zone.
The last South Korean workers left the zone on May 3.
In June, officials from North and South Korea agreed to hold their first high-level government meeting since 2007, focused on resuming operations at Kaesong industrial park.
However, the planned talks were suspended after the two sides disagreed on the composition of the delegations.
North Korea then proposed high-level talks with the US.
However, both Washington and Seoul responded coolly to the offer, with the US saying that Pyongyang would be judged “by its actions and not its words”.
Meanwhile, South Korea said that it would increase its cyber-security budget from 5 trillion won ($4.38 billion) to 10 trillion won ($8.76 billion), and train 5,000 cyber security experts.
North Korea has been blamed for previous cyber attacks on South Korea, including an attack on six South Korean banks and broadcasters in March that affected 32,000 computers.
Kaesong Industrial Zone:
- Launched in 2003, largely financed by the South to increase co-operation
- More than 120 factories employ North Koreans in manufacturing industries, with goods exported to the South
- Complex as a whole produced $470 million worth of goods in 2012 – the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade
- South Korean companies pay more than $80 million a year in wages to North Korean workers
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South Korea has issued a cyber alert after a hacking attack on government websites.
The website of the presidential office was one of several official and media sites hit by an apparently co-ordinated attack on Tuesday morning, reports said.
The identity of the hackers was not known, a government statement said.
The incident came on the anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War, which divided the Korean peninsula.
“The government can confirm a cyber attack by unidentified hackers that shut down several sites including the Blue House,” the Science Ministry said in a statement, referring to the presidential office.
The website for the office for Government Policy Co-ordination and some media servers were also said to be affected by the attack.
South Korea has issued a cyber alert after a hacking attack on government websites
Messages praising North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and claiming that hacking collective Anonymous was responsible were left on the hacked websites.
However, Anonymous denied any involvement in the South Korean cyber-attacks on its official Twitter account, AFP news agency reported.
Instead, the “hacktivist” group was said to have planned attacks against North Korean websites.
A number of North Korean websites went offline on Tuesday morning and appeared to have been targeted by hackers on Tuesday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.
These included the websites of North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency, newspaper Rodong Sinmun, and portal Naenara.
Anonymous has previously claimed to have hacked and vandalized social networking profiles linked to North Korea as part of its Operation Free Korea.
South Korea has raised its cyber-alert level, and asked citizens to review their internet security.
South Korean investigators say North Korea has frequently carried out cyber attacks in the South.
On March 20, cyber attacks on six South Korean banks and broadcasters affected 32,000 computers and disrupted banking services.
South Korea has blamed that incident – which came at a time of heightened tensions between the two Koreas following Pyongyang’s nuclear test on February 12 – on North Korea.
North Korea has also been blamed for previous cyber attacks in 2009 and 2011.
The United States and South Korea have responded coolly to North Korea’s offer of high-level talks with Washington.
North Korea will be judged “by its actions and not its words”, a US spokeswoman said.
The North proposed talks on “regional peace” with the US on Sunday, but said there should be no “preconditions”.
Last week, planned talks between Pyongyang and Seoul fell through following disagreement over which delegates should attend.
Regional tensions were raised earlier this year after Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test and threatened to attack South Korean and US targets in the region.
In recent weeks rhetoric from Pyongyang has softened, but US officials appeared skeptical of its offer.
The US and South Korea have responded coolly to North Korea’s offer of high-level talks with Washington
“Our desire is to have credible negotiations with the North Koreans, but those talks must involve North Korea living up to its obligations to the world, including compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, and ultimately result in denuclearization,” US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.
North Korea had to live up to its obligations on nuclear proliferation, Denis McDonough, chief of staff to the US president, told US broadcaster CBS news.
“We’ll judge them by their actions, not by the nice words that we heard yesterday,” Denis McDonough said.
“They’re not going to be able to talk their way out of very significant sanctions they’re under now,” he added.
North Korea’s powerful National Defense Commission had also suggested that any talks on reducing nuclear weapons would need to include American weapons as well as North Korean ones.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said its stance on talks was the same as the US.
“The window of dialogue is open but that the North should take concrete steps first,” ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-seok said.
North Korea has reneged on deals with the US on several occasions in the past. In February 2012, it agreed to a partial freeze in nuclear activities and a missile test moratorium in return for US food aid.
However, it announced plans for a rocket launch in March that year – something the US called a disguised test of banned missile technology – leading the US to suspend its plans for food aid.
The US, Japan and South Korea are scheduled to meet in Washington on Wednesday to discuss resuming six-party talks on nuclear disarmament with North Korea.
The six party talks are the agreed forum for discussing North Korean denuclearization, but have been stalled since 2009.
The US also wants a commitment to denuclearization to be a precursor to negotiations with North Korea.
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North Korea has proposed high-level talks with the United States, days after cancelling a meeting with South Korean officials.
The National Defense Commission said in a statement it wanted “serious discussions” with the US to “secure peace and stability in the region”.
US and North Korean officials meet periodically, but have not engaged in high-level talks since 2009.
Earlier this year Pyongyang threatened to launch a nuclear attack on both the US and South Korea.
For years the North has cajoled the US and regional neighbors with a mixture of dire threats and promises of co-operation.
Correspondents say Pyongyang is constantly trying to improve its bargaining position to extract more food aid or fuel.
However, the regime has conducted three nuclear-weapons tests in recent years that have even angered its only ally, China.
Beijing co-authored a Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions on the regime earlier this year in response to its latest nuclear test.
North Korea has proposed high-level talks with the United States
The North responded with increasingly hysterical threats, cut hotlines used for emergency communication with the South and withdrew workers from a joint industrial park near the border.
Pyongyang finally agreeing to open talks with the South earlier this week.
But on Thursday, the North cancelled the meeting, accusing the South of “deliberate disturbance” by changing the head of its delegation.
On Friday, Pyongyang issued an appeal calling on the South to change fundamentally its “policy of confrontation”.
The National Defense Commission on Sunday said that in the meantime it proposed “high-level talks between the North and the US to secure peace and stability in the region and ease tension on the Korean peninsula”.
The commission said it was willing to have “serious discussions on a wide range of issues, including the US goal to achieve the world free of nuclear arsenal”.
Washington could decide the time and venue, but there should be no preconditions, the statement said.
The National Defense Commission is headed by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, who succeeded his father in December 2011.
For years, delegates from North Korea engaged with the US, Russia, South Korea, Japan and China in talks over its nuclear programme.
The regime was rewarded with food and fuel aid when it gave concessions, such as destroying a cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear plant in 2008.
However, North Korea walked out of the talks in April 2009 after the UN criticized a rocket launch.
North Korea has blamed the South for “arrogant obstructions” that led high-level talks to be cancelled.
South Korea’s “deliberate disturbance” by changing the head of its delegation made “the talks between authorities abortive”, North Korea said.
The planned talks, which followed months of raised tensions, were aborted after the two sides failed to agree on the composition of the delegations.
Seoul said it was disappointed with North Korea’s response.
North Korea’s state-run news agency KCNA described the South’s nomination of Vice-Unification Minister Kim Nam-shik to lead the delegation as “the height of discourtesy and disrespect unprecedented in the history of the North-South dialogue”.
This, and the difficulty in agreeing an agenda for discussion, proved “that the South side had no intent to hold dialogue from the beginning and that it only sought to create an obstacle to the talks, [to] delay and torpedo them”, it said.
It added that this made the North question whether inter-Korean talks were possible.
The two Koreas have not held ministerial-level talks since 2007.
North Korea has accused South Korea of “arrogant obstructions” that led high-level talks to be cancelled
The agreement to hold the talks – seen by analysts as a major development in itself – came in the early hours of Monday after lengthy preliminary discussions in the truce village of Panmunjom.
It came after months of heightened tensions following North Korea’s third nuclear test in February.
After the UN tightened sanctions against the North as a result of the test, Pyongyang threatened to attack South Korea and US bases in the region, cut various hotlines used for intra-Korean communication, and withdrew its workers from a joint industrial park.
South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae was originally reported as the head of the South’s delegation for Wednesday’s planned talks.
However, when Seoul asked Pyongyang to send Kim Yang-gon, an adviser to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea refused. Seoul then named its vice-minister as its chief negotiator instead.
North Korea said the implication that Kim Yang-gon was not equal in rank to Ryoo Kihl-jae was “a revelation of its ignorance”, and “a manifestation of [South Korea’s] sinister intention” to abort the talks.
Speaking on Wednesday, South Korean PM Chung Hong-won said Seoul would no longer make “infinite concessions” to North Korea.
“In the past, we have made infinite concessions to the North, but the time has come to hold talks where both sides are represented by officials of the same level,” Chung Hong-won said.
Meanwhile, North Korea has not answered routine calls from South Korea via the Red Cross communications line linking the two countries, South Korea says.
North Korea cut the communications link in March amid rising regional tensions, but restored it last Friday.
South Korean media say the unanswered calls may suggest that Pyongyang has cut the hotline again.
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President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have ended a two-day summit in California, which was described by US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon as “unique, positive and constructive”.
Tom Donilon said Barack Obama had warned Xi Jinping that cyber-crime could be an “inhibitor” in US-China relations.
He also said that both countries had agreed that North Korea had to denuclearize.
The talks in California also touched on economic and environmental issues.
The two leaders spent nearly six hours together on Friday and another three hours on Saturday morning at the sprawling Sunnylands retreat in California.
While briefly appearing for a stroll together on Saturday, Barack Obama described their progress as “terrific”.
After the talks concluded, Tom Donilon told a press conference that President Barack Obama had described to Xi Jinping the types of problems the US has faced from cyber-intrusion and theft of intellectual property.
He gave no details but said Barack Obama underscored that Washington had no doubt that the intrusions were coming from inside China.
Earlier, Xi Jinping’s senior foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi told reporters that China wanted co-operation rather than friction with the US over cyber-security.
“Cyber-security should not become the root cause of mutual suspicion and friction, rather it should be a new bright spot in our co-operation,” he said.
On North Korea, Tom Donilon said the two leaders had achieved “quite a bit of alignment”.
President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have ended a two-day summit in California
“They agreed that North Korea has to denuclearize, that neither country will accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state and that we would work together to deepen co-operation and dialogue to achieve denuclearization,” he said.
Immediately after the summit ended, the White House issued a statement saying the two nations had agreed to work together for the first time to reduce hydrofluorocarbons – a potent greenhouse gas.
The White House appears to be delighted by the summit, with Tom Donilon repeatedly calling it “unique”.
The summit was the first meeting between the two leaders since Xi Jinping became China’ president in March.
It was billed as a chance for the two to get to know each other.
Speaking after his first session of talks with Xi Jinping on Friday, Barack Obama described cyber-security as “uncharted waters”.
On Friday, the Guardian newspaper published what it described as a US presidential order to national security and intelligence officials to draw up a list of potential overseas targets for US cyber-attacks.
The White House has not commented on the report.
The US and China are the world’s two largest economies. The US runs a huge trade deficit with China, which hit an all-time high of $315 billion last year.
Last week, the Chinese firm Shuanghui agreed to buy US pork producer Smithfield for $4.7 billion – the largest takeover of a US company by a Chinese rival.
The deal highlights the growing power of Chinese firms and their desire to secure global resources.
US producers want China to raise the value of its currency, the renminbi, which would make Chinese goods more expensive for foreign buyers and possibly hold back exports.
Beijing has responded with a gradual easing of restrictions on trading in the renminbi.
Intellectual property is also an area of concern for US firms.
A report last month by the independent Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property put losses to the US from IP theft at as much as $300 billion a year. It said 50-80% of the thefts were thought to be by China.
Ahead of the summit, White House officials told reporters hacking would be raised, amid growing concern in the US over alleged intrusions from China in recent months.
Last month the Washington Post, citing a confidential Pentagon report, reported that Chinese hackers had accessed designs for more than two dozen US weapons systems.
The US also directly accused Beijing of targeting US government computers as part of a cyber-espionage campaign in a report in early May.
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North Korean and South Korean officials are holding their first government-level talks in more than two years.
The talks are taking place at Panmunjom, a military compound in the demilitarized zone between the two countries.
The meeting comes after months of rising tension and war-like gestures from both sides.
They culminated in the suspension in April of all activity in the Kaesong joint commercial zone.
Kaesong Industrial Complex, which is seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation, had run successfully just inside North Korea for more than eight years.
With tensions between the two countries easing, South Korea invited the North to high level talks in Seoul, but Pyongyang said it wanted lower-level discussions first.
The South Korean delegation hopes to negotiate plans for ministerial-level talks later this week.
At the end of the morning session, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry said the two sides had discussed technical issues for the future ministerial meeting.
“The atmosphere of today’s meeting… was such that the talks have gone smoothly without any argument,” Kim Hyung-suk told reporters in Seoul.
North Korean and South Korean officials hold key talks at Panmunjom, a military compound in the demilitarized zone between the two countries
The South’s three-person delegation – led by the director of the Unification Ministry – left Seoul just before 08:00 for Panmunjom.
Ties between the two Koreas deteriorated earlier this year in the wake of the North’s nuclear test on February 12.
Pyongyang withdrew its workers from Kaesong in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of the nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills.
Around 53,000 North Korean workers are employed at the Kaesong factory complex by more than 120 South Korean factories.
The zone is a key source of revenue for the North and the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade.
Last Thursday the North offered talks with the South on the resumption of operations and said it would reconnect a Red Cross hotline if Seoul – which had been seeking such talks – agreed.
The talks closely follow a summit in California between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Both leaders agreed that North Korea had to denuclearize and that neither country would accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said on Saturday.
China is seen as a key ally of Pyongyang.
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China’s President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama have begun a two-day summit in Palm Springs, California.
The two leaders spoke of overcoming differences and forging a new relationship between their countries.
Barack Obama spoke of “areas of tension” and mentioned their rivalry in the Pacific, North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and cyber espionage.
The meeting is the first between the two since Xi Jinping became president in March.
The informal setting is seen as a chance for the leaders of the world’s largest economies to build a rapport amid a slew of high-stakes issues.
The two men – looking relaxed and informal – met and shook hands under a shaded walkway at the Sunnylands estate just outside Palm Springs.
“Our decision to meet so early [in Xi Jinping’s term] signifies the importance of the US-China relationship,” Barack Obama said.
He said the US welcomed the rise of a peaceful China and wanted “economic order where nations are playing by the same rules”.
He also called for both countries to work together to tackle cyber security.
“Inevitably there are areas of tension between our countries,” he added.
Xi Jinping said he and Barack Obama were meeting “to chart the future of China-US relations and draw a blueprint for this relationship”.
He added: “The vast Pacific Ocean has enough space for two large countries like the United States and China.”
China’s President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama have begun a two-day summit in Palm Springs
US lawmakers and human rights groups have also urged Barack Obama to call for the release of 16 high-profile prisoners, including jailed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo.
Xi Jinping’s US stop is the fourth leg of a trip that has taken him to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Accompanied by his wife – folk singer Peng Liyuan – President Xi Jinping arrived at California’s Ontario International Airport on Thursday.
The summit, at the sprawling estate in Rancho Mirage, begins with a bilateral meeting followed by a working dinner. Additional talks will take place on Saturday morning.
The meeting comes months earlier than expected – Barack Obama and Xi Jinping had been expected to meet at an economic summit in Russia in September.
“I have the impression that both sides are willing to re-examine their premises, and to see whether they can achieve a relationship based on some perspective that goes beyond the moment – in other words that goes beyond solving immediate problems,” said former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Ahead of the summit, White House officials told reporters hacking would be raised, amid growing concern in the US over alleged intrusions from China in recent months.
Last month the Washington Post reported that Chinese hackers had accessed designs for more than two dozen US weapons systems, citing a confidential Pentagon report. The US also directly accused Beijing of targeting US government computers as part of a cyber espionage campaign in a report in early May.
China denies any role in state-sponsored hacking – earlier this week its internet chief said China had “mountains of data” pointing to US-based cyber attacks.
Trade issues are also expected to be a priority, as is North Korea – which conducted its third nuclear test in February. Beijing – Pyongyang’s nominal ally – is seen as the only nation capable of bringing meaningful pressure to bear on the communist state.
Other topics up for discussion may include territorial disputes in Asia and human rights in China.
Activists and relatives have urged the US president to raise the issue of the “China 16” – a group of individuals detained on political or religious grounds.
Analysts see the informal talks as a welcome departure from the more formal protocol adopted in US talks with former Chinese leaders.
Xi Jinping is said to have developed a warm relationship with Vice-President Joe Biden after the latter’s China visit in 2011. He also has ties to the US, having spent time in an Iowa town in 1985 as a part of a Chinese farming delegation.
During his US visit in February last year, the then vice-president called for deeper “strategic trust” with the US in a speech.
Observers will be waiting to see whether the summit with Barack Obama will be a first step in that direction.
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North Korea has announced it will restore the key hotline with South Korea at Kaesong Industrial Complex, as the two countries discuss where to hold talks on the jointly-run industrial zone.
Pyongyang said it would reopen a Red Cross hotline which it cut in March.
It also invited officials to come to Kaesong for talks on Sunday on restarting operations at the factory zone, after the two sides agreed in principle to talks on Thursday.
Work at Kaesong has been halted since April, amid high regional tensions.
Ties between the two Koreas deteriorated earlier this year in the wake of the North’s 12 February nuclear test.
North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are expected to be on the table when the US and Chinese presidents meet in California later on Friday for an informal summit.
The Kaesong factory complex is seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation. Around 53,000 North Korean workers are employed there by more than 120 South Korean factories.
The zone is a key source of revenue for the North and the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade.
North Korea has announced it will restore the key hotline with South Korea at Kaesong Industrial Complex
However, Pyongyang withdrew its workers in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills.
It had already cut a military hotline with South Korea, and another line used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, in addition to the Red Cross hotline.
On Thursday, however, it offered talks with the South on the resumption of operations and said it would reconnect the Red Cross hotline if Seoul – which had been seeking such talks – agreed.
Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said the Red Cross link would be restored from 14:00 local time, AFP news agency said.
The two sides are still working out details of the talks on the industrial zone. The South suggested ministerial-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday, but North Korea has asked for lower-level talks on Sunday in Kaesong, which is located just inside North Korea.
In a statement, Pyongyang said that working-level talks were needed first, “in the light of the prevailing situation in which the bilateral relations have been stalemated for years and mistrust has reached the extremity”.
Kaesong Industrial Complex:
- Launched in 2003, largely financed by the South to increase co-operation
- More than 120 factories employ North Koreans in manufacturing industries, with goods exported to the South
- Complex as a whole produced $470 million worth of goods in 2012 – the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade
- South Korean companies pay more than $80 million a year in wages to North Korean workers
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North Korea has proposed official talks with South Korea on normalizing commercial projects, weeks after operations at the joint Kaesong industrial zone were suspended.
In a statement from state news agency KCNA, North Korea said the place and date could be “set by the South side”.
Kaesong Industrial Complex, just inside North Korea, is a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
But it pulled out its workers in April amid high tensions on the peninsula following its February 12 nuclear test.
Since then operations at the zone, where more than 100 South Korean manufacturers employ some 53,000 North Korea workers, have been halted for the first time since the project began a decade ago.
North Korea said late last month it would invite South Korean businessmen back to discuss the resumption of operations but Seoul ruled that out, saying working-level government talks should be held.
There was no immediate response from South Korea.
Mount Kumgang resort is a joint tourism project that has been suspended since a South Korean tourist was shot dead there by a North Korean guard in 2008
The KCNA statement, attributed to the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, said that hotlines cut during the period of high tension would be reconnected if South Korea agreed to the talks.
“We propose holding talks between authorities of the North and the South for the normalization of the operation in the KIZ [Kaesong Industrial Zone] and the resumption of tour of Mt Kumgang,” it said.
The Mount Kumgang resort is a joint tourism project that has been suspended since a South Korean tourist was shot dead there by a North Korean guard in 2008. North Korea has since seized assets of the resort’s South Korean operator.
Restarting reunions of separated families could also be discussed, the North Korea statement said, adding: “The venue of the talks and the date for their opening can be set to the convenience of the South side.”
While South Korea may want to discuss Kaesong, its government has made it clear in the past that more wide-ranging dialogue should be linked to progress on denuclearization.
The offer comes after several months of threats and rhetoric from the communist North Korea.
Apparently angered by the US sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills, it warned of attacks on regional targets and cut key economic and communications links with Seoul.
In recent weeks, however, tensions appear to have lessened somewhat. Late last month, North Korea sent an envoy to Beijing – seen as having the greatest degree of influence on Pyongyang – for talks, for the first time since its nuclear test.
North Korea is reactivating facilities at its moth-balled Yongbyon nuclear reactor, a US think-tank says.
Start-up could be one to two months away, it said, but there was uncertainty over the availability of fuel rods to power the reactor.
Pyongyang vowed to restart the reactor, which makes weapons-grade plutonium, in April amid severe regional tensions.
The Yongbyon reactor was shut down in July 2007 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
The cooling tower at the facility was later destroyed, but then the disarmament deal stalled.
North Korea’s decision to restart followed its third nuclear test on February 12, which led to expanded UN sanctions.
The information came from the 38 North website, which is part of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University in the US.
Its report said that recent satellite imagery showed that North Korea had “essentially finished repairing the cooling system necessary to restart and operate the reactor”.
North Korea is reactivating facilities at its moth-balled Yongbyon nuclear reactor
The cooling tower that was destroyed had not been repaired, but instead a secondary cooling system had been employed. Work was also ongoing at a spent fuel facility, it said.
Piles of construction materials were visible at the site and what could be a new drainage ditch for water from the reactor building was being dug, it said.
The reactor “may be one to two months from start-up. However, the availability of fresh fuel rods to power the reactor – a key factor that will determine when the North will restart the facility – remains unclear,” it said.
Once operational, the reactor could produce “approximately six kilograms of plutonium per year that can be used for manufacturing nuclear weapons”, it added.
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006. Analysts believe the first two tests used plutonium as the fissile material, but it is not known whether the third used plutonium or uranium.
While North Korea has depleted its stocks of “reactor-grade” plutonium needed to make the weapons-grade variety, it has plentiful reserves of uranium ore. It also has a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon which a US scientist said could be converted to produce highly enriched uranium bomb fuel.
After UN sanctions were expanded following the most recent nuclear test, in February, North Korea issued multiple threats against US and regional interests, vowed to reactivate Yongbyon and cut both official communications and key business ties with South Korea.
Operations at the jointly-run inter-Korean Kaesong industrial zone remain suspended – the first such stoppage since the project began.
But the threats have diminished in recent weeks and last month, North Korea sent a top envoy to Beijing – its first such move since its nuclear test.
Later this week, the US and Chinese presidents meet in California for their first summit, with North Korea likely to be high on the agenda.
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Pyongyang has announced it is willing to allow South Korean managers to visit the suspended jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex.
In a statement carried by state media, North Korea said it was prepared to discuss with the businessmen how normal operations could be resumed.
But South Korea expressed worry about its citizens’ safety and asked that government-level talks be held.
Operations at the joint industrial complex have been suspended since the North withdrew its workers in April.
North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), responsible for ties with South Korea, said it would guarantee the businessmen’s safety.
“We have given permission for the visit and can even discuss the shipment of products at the industrial complex,” Yonhap news agency quoted the committee as saying.
South Korea “may send with them members” of the governing body that oversees the complex, the committee added.
Pyongyang has announced it is willing to allow South Korean managers to visit the suspended jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex
But a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said what was needed at this stage was talks between both governments, which Seoul has been requesting.
Some 123 South Korean companies have factories inside the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which lies just across the border inside North Korea.
The firms employ some 53,000 North Koreans and the zone is a key revenue earner for the North.
But Pyongyang withdrew its workers two months ago as North-South tensions escalated following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February.
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Kim Jong-un has sent Choe Ryong-hae as special envoy to Beijing, North Korean state media has announced, amid cooling relations between the two neighbors.
Choe Ryong-hae, a top military official, flew to the Chinese capital on Wednesday, KCNA said.
The brief dispatch gave no details of the visit, which comes amid an apparent toughening of Beijing’s stance in the wake of Pyongyang’s third nuclear test.
Chinese media said Choe Ryong-hae met Wang Jiarui, a top foreign affairs official.
The visit – the duration of which remains unknown – follows weeks of high tension on the Korean peninsula.
China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner and closest ally. It has traditionally sought to maintain stability in North Korea, avoiding any crisis that could trigger the fall of the regime and propel a flow of refugees across the border.
In recent weeks, following Pyongyang’s February 12 nuclear test and amid strident rhetoric from its leaders, China has expressed frustration with North Korea, with state media openly debating the benefits of close ties.
Beijing supported expanded UN sanctions against Pyongyang after its nuclear test and some of its banks have recently suspended trading with North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank.
Kim Jong-un has sent Choe Ryong-hae as special envoy to Beijing
It is also under domestic pressure after unidentified North Koreans seized, and subsequently released two weeks later, a 16-strong Chinese crew who had been fishing in the Yellow Sea.
The KCNA report described Choe Ryong-hae as director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army.
He has risen quickly under North Korea’s young leader – last year he was promoted to vice-marshal and given senior positions within the party’s key organizations.
Kim Jong-un inherited the North Korean leadership in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. The late Kim Jong-il visited China in August 2011 and his brother-in-law, Jang Song-thaek, who is thought to be a key adviser of the younger Kim Jong-un, in August 2012.
Choe Ryong-hae is thought to be the most senior North Korean official to visit China since then.
He appears to be the first top-level envoy publicly dispatched by the North Korean leadership to the region since the recent tensions, which saw multiple threats of attacks from North Korea and a show by the US of high-profile military hardware in joint exercises with the South.
Japan, meanwhile, said on Wednesday it would be open to direct talks with North Korea if it would help resolve the issue of Japanese nationals kidnapped by the communist state in the 1970s and 1980s.
The comments, from Japan’s top government spokesman, followed a visit to Pyongyang by a special envoy of Japanese leader Shinzo Abe. South Korea and the US have criticized the visit as unhelpful and said they were not consulted.
In another development, a KCNA report named a hard-line general, Kim Kyok-sik, as North Korea’s army chief. Kim Kyok-sik was previously defense minister, a lower ranked position, until earlier this month.
Kim Kyok-sik was said to be responsible for the shelling of South Korea’s border island Yeonpyeong in 2010, which killed four South Koreans.
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The Chinese fishing crew seized by North Koreans two weeks ago has been freed along with their boat, reports say.
The 16-man crew was taken captive by unidentified North Koreans in the Yellow Sea on May 5.
China said on Monday it had been negotiating with Pyongyang for their release since May 10.
All were “safe on their way back”, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. Boat owner Yu Xuejun told Reuters news agency no ransom had been paid.
Yu Xuejun had earlier said that the North Koreans were demanding a 600,000 yuan ($100,000) ransom, and that he had received eight calls demanding payment.
“There were no conditions and they didn’t take any money,” he told Reuters.
“They just released them all. I received the call from the ship captain this morning at 03:50 telling me that they had already been released.”
The Chinese fishing crew seized by North Koreans two weeks ago has been freed along with their boat
Last year, in a similar incident, 29 Chinese fishermen and three vessels were seized by unidentified North Koreans.
They were freed after two weeks and it was not clear whether a ransom had been paid, nor whether the captors had been the North Korean authorities or autonomous kidnappers.
China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner and closest ally. But ties between the two have chilled in recent months, in the wake of North Korea’s third nuclear test on February 12.
Beijing backed expanded sanctions against Pyongyang in response to the underground test, and some of its banks have suspended trading with North Korea’s key foreign exchange bank.
Overall tensions on the peninsula remain high following the nuclear test, with operations at the joint inter-Korean Kaesong industrial complex suspended.
In recent days North Korea has fired six short range missiles off its east coast, as part of what it says are military exercises.
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China has called on North Korea to secure the release of a fishing boat and its crew seized earlier this month.
Owner Yu Xuejun said the vessel had been in Chinese waters when the 16-man crew were seized on May 5.
Yu Xuejun said the North Korean captors were demanding a 600,000 yuan ($100,000) ransom.
State-run Xinhua news agency said that diplomats in Pyongyang had been asked for help on May 10 and were working on the issue.
“Upon receiving the call, the Chinese embassy promptly made representations to the… DPRK [North Korean] Foreign Ministry, asking the DPRK side to release the boat and the fishermen as soon as possible,” the agency quoted Counsellor Jiang Yaxian of Beijing’s embassy in Pyongyang as saying.
It called for the crews’ “legitimate rights and interests” to be safeguarded, he added.
Boat-owner Yu Xuejun told Global Times newspaper he had received eight calls from the people holding his crew demanding the ransom.
There have been incidents in the past in the Yellow Sea, which lies between China and the Korean peninsula and has rich fishing grounds.
In May 2012, 29 Chinese fishermen and three vessels were seized by unidentified North Koreans.
China has called on North Korea to secure the release of Yu Xuejun’s fishing boat and its crew seized earlier this month
They were freed after two weeks and it was not clear whether a ransom had been paid, nor whether the captors had been the North Korean authorities or autonomous kidnappers.
China has traditionally been North Korea’s closest ally. But in the wake of Pyongyang’s third nuclear test, on February 12, ties between the two have chilled.
Beijing backed expanded sanctions on Pyongyang over the test and some of its banks have suspended transactions with North Korea’s main foreign exchange bank.
Chinese state press has also become more vocal on the issue, openly debating the merits of alliance with Pyongyang.
Since Saturday, North Korea has fired five short-range missiles off its coast: three on Saturday, and one on both Sunday and Monday.
“North Korea again launched what appears to be a KN-02 short-range missile,” a defense ministry official told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency on Monday.
“We are closely watching the movements of the North’s military in case of further launches.”
The tests also prompted a warning from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday.
“I hope that North Korea will refrain from such actions,” Ban ki-moon, who was visiting Moscow, told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
“It is time for them to resume dialogue and lower the tensions.”
North Korea routinely test-fires these kinds of missiles, but such a sustained launch period is unusual.
There is worry in South Korea that, after suspending the joint Korean economic zone Kaesong Industrial Complex, and restarting its mothballed nuclear facility, North Korea is planning further actions that may ignite an international response.
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North Korea has launched three short-range missiles from its east coast, South Korea’s defence ministry said.
Two missiles were fired on Saturday morning and one in the afternoon, the South Korean ministry said in a statement.
Officials at the ministry said they were “monitoring the situation and remain on alert”.
The launches come at a time of stalemate between the two neighbors following weeks of high tension earlier this year.
Saturday’s missiles were fired in a north-east direction, and did not pose the same threat as the intermediate-range missiles Pyongyang was believed to have deployed along its coastline last month.
It removed them from the launch site early in May, indicating a lowering of tension on the peninsula, a US official said.
North Korea has launched three short-range missiles from its east coast
Such launches are routinely carried out by North Korea.
Tensions were high last month amid threats from North Korea to attack Japanese, South Korean and US military targets in the region and restart a mothballed nuclear reactor that produced plutonium for its weapons programme.
Pyongyang also shut down an emergency military hotline with South Korea, and withdrew some 53,000 workers from the Kaesong factory zone on its border with South Korea.
The threats followed tough new UN sanctions imposed on North Korea in March after its third nuclear test, as well as annual US-South Korea military drills that saw nuclear-capable B2 and B52 bombers flown over the Korean peninsula.
Divided Korea’s fragile peace:
- Korea was occupied by the Allies after WWII ending decades of rule by Japan
- Soviets occupied the north and the US the south, but as allies became Cold War rivals, unification talks failed and separate regimes evolved
- In 1950, the Korean War saw Mao’s China back communist North Korea, while the US helped South Korea, fearing Asia would turn communist
- A 1953 armistice created a fragile peace, and border tensions have lasted ever since
North Korea will no longer be rewarded for provocative behavior, said President Barack Obama at a joint news conference with South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye.
Flanked by President Park Geun-hye, Barack Obama told a White House briefing North Korea was more isolated than ever.
Park Geun-hye is on her first foreign trip since taking office in February.
Ahead of their meeting, US officials said North Korea had moved two medium-range missiles from a coastal launch site, lowering tensions.
“The days when North Korea could create a crisis and elicit concessions, those days are over,” Barack Obama told Tuesday’s briefing after meeting privately with Park Geun-hye in the Oval Office.
He added: “President Park and myself very much share the view that we are going to maintain a strong deterrent, we’re not going to reward provocative behavior, but we remain open to the prospect of North Korea taking a peaceful path.”
“So far, at least, we haven’t seen actions on the part of the North Koreans that would indicate they’re prepared to move in a different direction,” he said.
North Korea will no longer be rewarded for provocative behavior, said President Barack Obama at a joint news conference with South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye
The visit by Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, came as the US and South Korea mark 60 years of their military alliance.
Park Geun-hye said South Korea would not tolerate what she called North Korean aggression and escalation.
“Instead of just hoping to see North Korea change, the international community must consistently send the message with one voice, to tell them and communicate to them that they have no choice but to change,” she said.
Pyongyang was believed to have been preparing for a missile launch last month, having threatened attacks in the region.
The threats followed tough new UN sanctions imposed on North Korea in March after its third nuclear test.
North Korea has also been angered by wide-ranging annual US-South Korea military drills, which ended a week ago.
Meanwhile, the state-owned Bank of China said it was halting transactions from North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank on Tuesday.
It is thought to be the first time that a Chinese entity has made a move against North Korean interests following the recent tension.
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The last seven South Koreans workers have left Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea, after the two Koreas resolved outstanding financial issues.
The workers had stayed behind after the other South Korean staff had left to negotiate wages demanded by North Korea.
Kaesong Industrial Complex has been at a standstill since North Korea withdrew its 50,000 workers in April.
North Korea has previously restricted entry to Kaesong joint industrial zone, but this is the first time all South Koreans have withdrawn.
The last seven South Koreans workers have left Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea, after the two Koreas resolved outstanding financial issues
Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was launched in 2003, was seen as one of the last remaining symbols of inter-Korean co-operation.
North-South tensions escalated following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February.
The last seven South Korean workers had been expected to cross the border at 17:30 local time on Friday.
“The return was delayed a little [today] due to some technical procedure issue,” said Hong Yang-Ho, head of the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee
“The North [Korea] fully co-operated during our returning process.”
Hong Yang-ho also said he believes there will be discussions about the future of the complex, but did not elaborate further.
South Korean vehicles loaded with outstanding North Korean wages and taxes worth $13 million crossed into the North at the same time the workers returned.
Those delivering the money have also returned to South Korea, reports say.
The zone is home to 123 South Korean companies which employ North Korean workers, and provides the North with badly-needed hard currency.
North Korea blocked South Korean workers from entering the zone in April, and withdrew its 53,000 workers from the industrial park a few days later.
After North Korea rejected Seoul’s calls for talks on resuming operations at the park, South Korea announced that it too would withdraw all its workers from the complex.
It pulled out 125 South Koreans last week and another 43 on Monday, leaving the final seven to “settle accounting and other unresolved matters”.
Pyongyang has been angered by tightened UN sanctions imposed after its February 12 nuclear test and by joint US-South Korea military drills, which it has described as “attack rehearsals”.
On Thursday, North Korea sentenced a US citizen to 15 years of hard labor for alleged anti-government crimes.
American citizen Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was detained last year after entering North Korea as a tourist. Analysts suggest Pyongyang could be using the jailed American as leverage.
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North Korea announces it has sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae, aka Pae Jun-ho, to 15 years of hard labor.
The announcement, from state news agency KCNA, said Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was tried on April 30.
Kenneth Bae was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist. Pyongyang said he was accused of anti-government crimes.
The move comes amid high tensions between North Korea and the US, after Pyongyang’s third nuclear test.
North Korean media said last week that Pae Jun-ho had admitted charges of crimes against North Korea, including attempting to overthrow the government.
“The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labor for this crime,” KCNA said.
Kenneth Bae was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist and he was accused of anti-government crimes
Kenneth Bae, 44, was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason, a special economic zone near North Korea’s border with China.
He is believed to be a tour operator of Korean descent. The Associated Press news agency also reports that he is described by friends as a devout Christian.
“We call on the DPRK [North Korea] to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds,” US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday.
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism.
They were released after intervention from high-profile American figures, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, both of whom went to Pyongyang.
In 2009, Bill Clinton negotiated the release of two US journalists accused of entering North Korea illegally, Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Held after North Korea’s second nuclear test, both had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor before they were released.
Observers suggest Pyongyang could be using the jailed American as leverage, amid a very tense situation on the Korean peninsula.
The UN expanded sanctions against the communist state in March, in the wake of its February 12 nuclear test and December long-range rocket launch.
Pyongyang reacted angrily both to the measures and annual US-South Korea military exercises which saw high-profile displays of US military hardware.
It threatened to attack US military bases around the region and cut key hotlines with South Korea.
It has also withdrawn its workers from the North-South joint industrial zone at Kaesong, prompting South Korea to pull its staff out for the first time since the project was launched a decade ago.
Only seven South Koreans remain at Kaesong, a complex just inside North Korea where more than 120 South Korean firms operate using North Korea workers.
Seoul says they are negotiating final wage payments and should be returning South Korea soon.
The South Korean government has pledged 300 billion won ($273 million) in emergency loans for firms hit by the suspension at Kaesong.
US detainees in North Korea:
- Eddie Jun Yong-su: Businessman detained for six months in 2011, freed after a visit led by US envoy Robert King
- Aijalon Mahli Gomes: Teacher and Christian jailed in 2010 for eight years over illegal entry via China – freed after Jimmy Carter visited Pyongyang
- Robert Park: US activist crossed into North Korea via China in late 2009 – freed in 2010 by North Korea
- Laura Ling/Euna Lee: Jailed in 2009 for 12 years over illegal entry via the Chinese border – freed after Bill Clinton met Kim Jong-il
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South Korea has decided to pull the last of its workers out of Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea, as Seoul announced moves to help affected firms.
A total of 125 South Koreans left the joint Kaesong complex on Saturday, and the remaining 50 were expected to leave on Monday, officials said.
They had been due out at 17:00 local time but were delayed by “details” that needed “ironing out”, officials said.
The move came after North Korea rejected talks on Kaesong industrial park.
Tensions are high following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February.
Pyongyang has been angered by tightened UN sanctions imposed after its February 12 nuclear test and by joint US-South Korea military drills, which are scheduled to end on Tuesday.
A total of 125 South Koreans left the joint Kaesong complex in North Korea on Saturday, and the remaining 50 were expected to leave on Monday
Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was launched in 2003 to boost inter-Korean ties, is a factory park situated just inside North Korea.
It is home to 123 South Korean companies which employ North Korean workers, and provides the North with much-needed hard currency.
Earlier this month, North Korea blocked South Korean workers from entering the zone. It withdrew its 53,000 workers from the industrial park a few days later.
Although the North has restricted entry to Kaesong Industrial Complex in the past, this would be the first time that all South Korean workers had withdrawn.
The remaining 50 workers had been expected to cross the border back into South Korea at 17:00.
“The two sides are currently in the process of ironing out some details, with most of the outstanding issues having been worked out,” a spokesman at South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
He still expected the workers to return on Monday, South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted him as saying.
Earlier on Monday, the Ministry told reporters that North Korea had not yet approved the passage of the workers across the border. Pyongyang said last week it would not hinder those leaving the Kaesong complex.
Some of the workers were reportedly reluctant to leave Kaesong, fearing that company assets would be seized.
Han Jae-kwon, chairman of the Association of Kaesong companies, said: “Those remaining workers are there to take charge of products owned by our customers and raw materials, so we want detailed measures to protect them after the workers have been pulled out.”
The South Korean government said it had set up a taskforce to help companies who had been forced to halt operations at Kaesong.
The taskforce would “assess damages suffered by the firms with factories at Kaesong and… devise comprehensive and practical supportive measures,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
The South Korean government had discussed a variety of support measures, including the possibility of offering businesses loans from the inter-Korean co-operation fund, the statement added.
Meanwhile, North Korea seems to be gearing up for a major land and air military exercise, Yonhap said on Sunday, citing a government source.
A US citizen is also due to be tried soon on charges of attempting to overthrow the North Korean government, according to the North’s official news agency KCNA.
Pae Jun-ho, who is known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist.
No date for the verdict has been confirmed, and it is not clear what sort of sanction Kenneth Bae might face, although North Korea’s criminal code provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty for similar offences.
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A blog dedicated to technology news in North Korea have reported that almost two million North Koreans now use the country’s only 3G network.
The figure has been confirmed by 3G provider Koryolink, a partnership between Egyptian telecoms firm Orascom and the North Korean government.
The service can only be used to make voice calls, and all international calls are banned.
At the start of 2012 Koryolink claimed to have one million 3G subscribers.
In January 2013 the government began allowing visitors to North Korea to bring in their mobile phones for the first time.
Almost two million North Koreans use the country’s only 3G network
Unlike residents, visitors to North Korea would now be able to use the 3G network for mobile internet access as well, by purchasing local SIM cards, the country said at the time.
However, last month, a China-based tour operator called Koryo Tours, which specializes in tourist visits to North Korea, posted a note on its website saying that 3G was no longer available for visitors.
North Koreans only have access to a very limited, state-run set of internet pages.
When Google Chair Eric Schmidt visited North Korea at the start of the year he urged the government to allow citizens access to the wider internet and said it would be “easy” for the 3G network to include data access.
“As the world becomes increasingly connected, the North Korean decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth,” Eric Schmidt wrote in a blog post.
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US citizen Pae Jun-Ho, aka Kenneth Bae, will be tried soon on charges including attempting to overthrow North Korea’s government, state news agency KCNA says.
According to KCNA, Pae Jun-Ho has admitted the charges, without specifying when the verdict will be handed down.
Pae Jun-Ho, who is known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist.
Kenneth Bae’s case comes at a time of high tension between Pyongyang and Washington.
This follows North Korea’s third nuclear test on February 12.
“The preliminary inquiry into crimes committed by American citizen Pae Jun-Ho closed,” the KCNA said in a report on Saturday.
“In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] with hostility toward it.”
“His crimes were proved by evidence,” the report added.
“He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgement.”
It is not clear what sort of sanction Pae Jun-Ho, 44, might face, although North Korea’s criminal code provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty for similar offences.
Pae Jun-Ho, who is known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism. They have been released after intervention by senior American public figures.
Pae Jun-Ho, believed to be a tour operator of Korean descent, is the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009.
Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter as well as former UN Ambassador Bill Richardson have all been involved in mediation efforts to gain the release of previous American detainees.
In one of the most high-profile cases, Bill Clinton negotiated the release in 2009 of two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been found guilty of entering North Korea illegally.
“For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the US,” Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul told Associated Press news agency.
“The North will use him in a way that helps bring the US to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue,” he said.
Pae Jun-Ho was reportedly arrested in November after arriving in Rason – a special economic zone in the north-east of the country near the Russian border.
Washington has so far not publicly commented on the latest development.
The US and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations. The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang represents the US.
In a further sign of the continuing tension on the Korean peninsula, South Korea has begun withdrawing its remaining workers from the Kaesong joint industrial zone in North Korea.
Kaesong Industrial Complex, once considered a symbol of reconciliation, lies just north of the military demarcation line dividing the two Koreas.
South Korean officials said 126 people had left, with the final 48 expected home by Monday.
North Korea has already withdrawn its 53,000 workers and blocked access to the zone in response to joint South Korean and US military exercises.
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North Korea has not responded to South Korea’s calls for formal talks on resuming operations at the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex, officials in Seoul say.
On Thursday, Seoul gave the North 24 hours to agree to talks on the Kaesong Industrial Complex, warning of “grave measures” if its offer was ignored.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has called a security meeting to discuss next steps, Yonhap news agency reported.
North-South tensions are high following Pyongyang’s nuclear test in February.
Pyongyang blocked South Korean access to the site and pulled out its 53,000 workers earlier this month.
North Korea has not responded to South Korea’s calls for formal talks on resuming operations at the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex
“We are keeping close tabs on all developments, but the North has not expressed its position so far,” South Korean Ministry of Unification spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said, shortly before the noon deadline.
“All that remains is for the North to make its decision to resolve the issue,” he added.
A report on South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing presidential palace spokesman Yoon Chang-jung, said President Park Geun-hye had scheduled a meeting with foreign affairs and security ministers at 15:00 local time on the matter.
The remaining 175 South Koreans still in the complex are believed to be running out of food and medicines, because the North has refused to allow fresh supplies from the South into the industrial park, which is located inside North Korea.
The South Korean government has refused to spell out what measures it may take, but there is speculation that it may be considering pulling out its remaining citizens from the complex.
However, that would leave South Korean assets open to seizure by the North Korean authorities, as happened before at a moth-balled tourism site run by the two countries.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was aware of the South’s call for talks, and “sincerely [hoped] the operation of the complex [could] return to normal as soon as possible through dialogue,” a UN spokesman said on Thursday.
Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was launched in 2003 as a sign of North-South co-operation, was the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade and provided the North with much-needed hard currency.
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North Korea has announced it is ready to talk if UN sanctions against it are withdrawn and if the US and South Korea put an end to joint military drills.
The conditions for dialogue were outlined in a statement from North Korea’s National Defence Commission and carried on official news agency KCNA.
The UN imposed sanctions on North Korea after the country conducted its third nuclear test on February 12.
The US and South Korea’s annual joint military drills began in March.
“If the US and the South enemies… genuinely want dialogue and negotiation, they should take these steps,” the defence commission said.
“The first step will be withdrawing the UN Security Council resolutions cooked up on ridiculous grounds,” the North Korea statement said.
“Second, you need to tell the whole world that you will not get involved in any rehearsal for a nuclear war that threatens our nation. Dialogues and war games can never go together,” it added.
North Korea has announced it is ready to talk if UN sanctions against it are withdrawn and if the US and South Korea put an end to joint military drills.
Tensions have been high on the Korean peninsula since North Korea conducted its third underground nuclear test, which resulted in sanctions from the UN.
In recent weeks, the North has threatened to attack South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region.
South Korean President Park Gyeun-hye has made conditional offers of talks with the North, but the North has said that it was merely a “crafty trick”.
The US had also said it was willing to hold talks with North Korea, but only if previous agreements on disarmament were upheld.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged North Korea to “seriously ” consider a dialogue with the South about Kaesong Industrial Complex.
“I firmly believe that the recent offer of dialogue by the Republic of Korea is genuine and hope that the DPRK takes it seriously,” Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.
Kaesong, located inside North Korea just across the demilitarized zone from South Korea, was largely financed by the South to increase co-operation.
North Korea has blocked access to Kaesong since April 3 amid rising tension on the Korean peninsula.
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