Pyongyang said Ri Yong-ho’s trip was for “bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern”.

Sweden has a long history of mediating between Washington and Pyongyang.

So the visit has prompted speculation it might be part of preparations for the US-North Korea summit.

Donald Trump last week accepted an invitation for direct talks with Mr Kim, a shock announcement from the two leaders who have traded threats and insults for months.

There has been no official word from North Korea since the invitation was delivered via South Korean officials in Washington.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told his country’s news agency TT that “if the main actors want Sweden to play a role then we are ready to do that”.

“We are a country that is militarily non-aligned and have a longstanding presence in North Korea, and with the trust we enjoy we think we can play a role. But it has to be the main actors who decide which role Sweden will play.”

The US said it was aware of the meeting in Stockholm, but did not know whether it was related to any US-North Korean talks.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters in Washington that the US had yet to hear directly from Pyongyang on the planned summit.

No sitting US president has ever met a North Korean leader.

Such a summit, which Pyongyang has long wanted, has previously been seen as possible only after major concessions from the North Koreans.

North Korea’s defiant nuclear and missile programme has led to severe international sanctions against Pyongyang in the hope they would force the regime to abandon its military threats.

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Source: BBC

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Earlier, the White House said the meeting would not take place unless Pyongyang took “concrete actions”.

US media report that Mr Trump made the decision to meet without consulting key figures in his administration, who are now scrambling to catch up.

No sitting US president has ever met a North Korean leader.

Mixed messages

Mr Trump stunned observers when he agreed to the summit following an invitation delivered by South Korean envoys.

Confusion mounted when Mr Trump’s own press secretary, Sarah Sanders, told reporters that North Korea has “promised to denuclearise”. She added: “We’re not going to have this meeting take place until we see concrete actions.”

The top US diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was on his first official trip to Africa when the announcement was made.

He told reporters on Friday the decision to meet Mr Kim was one “the president took himself”.

“I spoke to him very early this morning about that decision and we had a very good conversation,” Mr Tillerson added.

On Saturday, Mr Tillerson cancelled all his official events in Kenya with aides saying the secretary was “not feeling well after a long couple days working on major issues back home such as North Korea”.

South Korean envoys – who recently met with Mr Kim in Pyongyang – have said North Korea is “committed to denuclearisation” as an end goal, but they have not said this would start before a meeting with the US.

Instead, North Korea is understood to have agreed to halt its testing programme as negotiations continue.

US Vice-President Mike Pence has pledged to maintain pressure on North Korea, and Mr Trump spoke with Chinese president Xi Jinping on Friday to agree to maintain sanctions for the time being.

Chinese state media said the meeting resulted from Chinese efforts, with the Communist Party’s newspaper the People’s Daily saying the US “profusely thanked and put high importance on China’s important role”.

There has been no mention of any meeting in North Korean media.

But on Friday the Washington Post reported a statement from the North Korean ambassador to the UN in New York, who credited the developments to the “great courageous decision of our Supreme Leader”. He added that “peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the East Asia region” could be secured.

An initial statement from the South Korean delegation said the meeting would take place by May – but no place or date has officially been set.

The Korean border’s demilitarised zone (DMZ) and Beijing are seen as possible venues.

How did we reach this point?

Kim Jong-un unexpectedly used his New Year’s message to reciprocate a offer of talks made by the South last year. This led to North Korea sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics in the South.

After the Games, Then, South Korean envoys met Mr Kim in Pyongyang this week. The envoys then travelled to Washington to brief Mr Trump.

The South’s Chung Eui-yong talks to reporters at the White House

Speaking outside the White House after the meeting, South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong said Mr Kim was prepared to sit down with the US president and was now “committed to denuclearisation”.

In a statement sent to the Washington Post, North Korea’s UN ambassador said the “courageous decision” of Mr Kim would help secure “peace and stabilityin the Korean peninsula and the East Asia region”.

However, the North has halted missile and nuclear tests during previous talks, only to resume them when it lost patience or felt it was not getting what it demanded, analysts say.

Some expressed concern the Trump regime could “fall into the North Korean trap” of granting concessions with nothing tangible in return.

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Source: BBC

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The South Korean president’s office confirmed the meeting shortly after the delegates’ arrival on Monday.

The 10-member team is in Pyongyang for talks partly aimed at restarting dialogue between the North and the US.

Relations between the Koreas have warmed following last month’s Olympics.

In an unprecedented move, the South Korean delegation includes two ministerial-level envoys – intelligence chief Suh Hoon and National Security adviser Chung Eui-yong.

North Korean state radio earlier said the delegation was met at the airport by Ri Son-gwon, North Korea’s reunification chief, who led talks in the weeks before the Winter Olympics.

During the two-day visit, the South Korean group will focus on establishing conditions for talks aimed at getting rid of the North’s nuclear weapons as well as dialogue between the US and Pyongyang.

Mr Chung had earlier told a press briefing he would deliver President Moon Jae-in’s “resolution to maintain the dialogue and improvement in relations between the South and the North… [and] to denuclearize the Korean peninsula”.

“I plan to hold in-depth discussions on various ways to continue talks between not only the South and the North, but also the North and the United States,” he added.

‘US is not interested in talks’

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the US would be prepared to meet North Korea, but reiterated that Pyongyang would first have to “denuke”.

However, North Korea – which has said it wants to talk to the US – said it was “preposterous” for the US to insist on preconditions.

“The US attitude shown after we clarified our intention for dialogue compels us to only think that the US is not interested in resuming… dialogue,” said the foreign ministry in a statement reported by state media.

It remains unclear who would represent the US in any such meeting.

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Source: BBC

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Some 40 previously unreported shipments were made between 2012 and 2017, the report found. Materials included acid-resistant tiles, valves and pipes.

The report – yet to be released – said N Korean missile specialists had been seen at Syrian weapon-making centres.

The allegations follow new reports of chlorine being used by Syrian forces, which the government denies.

Meanwhile, air strikes were heard in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus as a second daily pause in fighting was due to get under way to allow in relief aid.

Activists blame government air and artillery strikes, while Russia said rebels had shelled a “humanitarian corridor” meant to let civilians leave.

What are the allegations against North Korea?

North Korea is under international sanctions over its nuclear programme.

But a confidential report, compiled by a UN Panel of Experts which assesses North Korea’s compliance with UN resolutions, found evidence of illicit supplies sent to Syria.

Seen by the BBC, the report details the “innovative evasion techniques” used by North Korea to send items such high-heat, acid-resistant tiles, corrosion-resistant valves and thermometers.

The Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) – a Syrian government agency – is alleged to have paid North Korea for the equipment via a number of front companies.

The SSRC is promoted by the Syrian government as a civilian research institute but a Western intelligence agency told the BBC last year that chemical weapons were being manufactured at three SSRC sites – Masyaf, in Hama province, and at Dummar and Barzeh, both just outside Damascus.

Barzeh was named in the UN report as one of the chemical weapons and missile facilities North Korean technicians had been seen operating at.

The Syrian government told the UN panel that the only North Koreans present in Syria are sports coaches and athletes.

Among the alleged shipments from North Korea to Syria, at least five were sent via a Chinese trading firm, Cheng Tong Trading Co Ltd, the UN report says.

The shipments allegedly contained acid-resistant tiles – which can be used for activities conducted at high temperatures – at a quantity that would cover the area of a large scale industrial project.

While the seized items “do not appear on any control lists”, they included “materials that can be used to build bricks for the interior walls of [a] chemical factory”, the report noted.

China responded to the Panel’s findings, saying it had no “evidence demonstrating the Cheng Tong Trading Co has business with” any North Korean entities in violation of Security Council resolutions.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric did not say whether the leaked report would be published, but told the New York Times: “I think the overarching message is that all member states have a duty and responsibility to abide by the sanctions that are in place.”

The UN Panel, in a publicly available report last September, said it was “investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation” between Syria and North Korea.

What is Syria’s position on chemical weapons?

Syria signed up to the Chemical Weapons Convention and agreed to have its declared chemical weapons stock destroyed in 2013 after a Sarin nerve agent attack killed hundreds of people in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.

It has been accused of repeatedly using banned chemical weapons in the civil war since then.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded that Sarin was used in Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held town in Idlib province, last April in an incident that killed more than 80 people. OPCW and UN investigators are confident the Syrian air force was to blame.

Suspected chlorine attacks have been recently reported in Syria, including on Sunday in the Eastern Ghouta.

Why is North Korea’s involvement controversial?

Experts say North Korea has long offered military supplies and weapons know-how around the world in exchange for cash.

The UN report also highlights its efforts to illicitly trade with dozens of countries and groups in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.

Syria and North Korea have decades-old military ties.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said Washington was imposing a fresh set of sanctions on North Korea, targeting more than 50 ships and maritime transport companies in several countries.

North Korea is already under a range of international and US sanctions over its nuclear programme and missile tests.

But it continued tests last year, including tests of a nuclear weapon and a long-range ballistic missile capable of reaching the US.

The US says the new sanctions are designed to put a further squeeze on North Korea, cutting off sources of revenue and fuel for its nuclear programme and clamping down on evasion of already existing restrictions.

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Source: BBC

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The annual event is usually held in April, but Pyongyang hit back at US criticism of its decision to bring it forward.

State TV began showing patriotic films in what appeared to be a prelude to a live broadcast.

But reports later surfaced that it had already taken place.

“It seems that North Korea opened the parade at 10:30 a.m. (Seoul time),” anonymous government sources told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

On Thursday, North Korea said it has no intention of meeting US officials during the Games, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

South Korean government officials had said last month that some 13,000 troops and 200 pieces of equipment had been spotted near an airport in Pyongyang in what appeared to be a rehearsal for the parade.

Experts say North Korea was expected to showcase its long-range missiles.

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Source: BBC

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North Korea confirmed Kim Yong-nam’s attendance at the opening ceremony, set for Friday.

Both Koreas will march under one flag at the opening ceremony.

Although this signals a thaw in relations between the Koreas, experts say it unlikely to have any impact on the North’s nuclear ambitions.

Mr Kim will be in the South for a three-day visit and will lead a 22-member delegation.

Who is Kim Yong-nam?

The 90-year-old Kim Yong-nam has seen the rule of all three North Korean leaders in his career.

He is the ceremonial head of state who receives credentials from foreign diplomats in Pyongyang. As such, he is usually responsible for sending condolences or congratulatory messages to foreign leaders.

He has been the president of North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, since 1998.

Unlike the current leader Kim Jong-un, Kim Yong-nam has travelled abroad on official visits. In August 2017, he travelled to Iran to attend President Hassan Rouhani’s inauguration ceremony for his second term in office.

He also attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

Mr Kim is said to be a loyal follower of the top leadership. “As Kim is known to be acting and speaking under the country’s guidance, he makes no mistakes. That’s why he could keep his high-level post in a country where political purges are common,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted one North Korean defector as saying.

What is the significance of his visit?

An unnamed official from the South’s presidential Blue House told the BBC that they believed Mr Kim’s visit reflected a willingness on the part of North Korea to improve inter-Korean relations, and demonstrated the North’s sincerity.

Seoul has said it will seek high-level talks with the North Korean delegation during the visit, Yonhap reported.

Mr Kim’s attendance at the opening ceremony will also put him in the company of US Vice President Mike Pence, at a point of high tension with Washington over the North’s nuclear ambitions.

In another development on Sunday, the Washington Post reported that Fred Warmbier, whose son Otto Warmbier was jailed by North Korea and died days after returning to the US, would attend the opening ceremony as a guest of Mr Pence.

Mr Warmbier and his wife, Cindy, were guests of US President Donald Trump at last week’s State of the Union address.

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Source: BBC

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The report by a panel of experts said several countries including China, Russia and Malaysia had failed to stop the illegal exports.

It said there was evidence of military co-operation with Syria and Myanmar.

Pyongyang is subject to sanctions from the US, UN and EU over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

But the report, which was submitted to the UN Security Council, said the North “continued to export almost all the commodities prohibited in the resolutions… between January and September 2017”.

The report said several unnamed multinational oil companies were being investigated for their alleged role in supplying petroleum products to North Korea.

It said shipments of coal had been delivered to China, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and Vietnam in breach of sanctions using “a combination of multiple evasion techniques, routes and deceptive tactics”.

Monitors found that Myanmar and Syria continued to co-operate with North Korea’s main arms exporter, Komid, despite it being on a UN sanctions blacklist.

The report said there was evidence that the North was helping Syria to develop chemical weapons and providing ballistic missiles to Myanmar.

Syrian officials had told the monitors that the only North Korean experts on its territory were involved in sports.

Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN said the country had no arms relationship with North Korea.

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Source: BBC

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The breakthrough announcement came as the countries met for their first high-level talks in more than two years.

The delegation will include athletes, officials and supporters.

South Korea also proposed holding family reunions during the Winter Olympics for people separated by the Korean War.

The issue is a highly emotional one for both countries, and South Korea has constantly been pushing for more reunions to take place.

The reunions are expected to take place during the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls in the middle of the Pyeongchang Games.

Seoul also called for athletes from both Koreas to march together at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. It’s not yet known how North Korea responded to those offers.

The last time both countries marched together under the Korean Peninsula flag was more than 10 years ago, at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The talks began early Tuesday in the Panmunjom “peace village” in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) at the border.

Speaking afterwards, Seoul’s vice unification minster Chun Hae-Sung told journalists: “The North side proposed dispatching a high-level delegation, National Olympic Committee delegation, athletes, supporters, art performers, observers, a taekwondo demonstration team and journalists” to the Games.

Tense ties

Ties between both Koreas have become increasingly tense since the last talks in 2015.

Relations broke down after Seoul suspended a joint economic project at the Kaesong Industrial complex in North Korea following a rocket launch and nuclear test by the North.

The incident led to North Korea ending all communication with Seoul, including cutting off telephone lines.

Tensions have risen in the years since, as the North continues to rapidly advance its banned nuclear weapons programme.

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Source: BBC

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The North Korean leader struck an unusually conciliatory note in his annual New Year’s Day address Monday, declaring his wish “for a peaceful resolution with our southern border.”

In the televised address, Kim called for peace on the Korean peninsula and said North Korean representatives should start talks with their South Korean counterparts “as soon as possible” to discuss sending a delegation to the 2018 Winter Games, to be hosted in South Korea next month.

Moon, who has long advocated for closer relations with the North, described Kim’s remarks “as a response to our proposal to turn the Pyeongchang Olympic Games into an epoch-making opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations and establish peace.

“Moon said he would ask the Unification Ministry — the government department responsible for inter-Korean relations — and the Ministry of Culture and Sports “to quickly come up with follow-up measures for the speedy restoration of South-North Korean dialogue and realize the North Korean delegation’s participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics.”
The 2018 Winter Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on February 9, have been championed by Moon as an opportunity to open dialogue with Kim and help ease tensions on the Korean peninsula. In an interview with CNN in November, the South Korean president described the games as an opportunity for inter-Korean peace and reconciliation, and expressed his hope that North Korea would participate.

The games are due to take place 30 years after Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics, a turbulent era in which a number of nations — including North Korea — decided to boycott the games.

To date, only two North Korean athletes had qualified for the games, figure skaters Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, however, the country’s National Olympic Committee did not meet an October 30 deadline to accept their spot. There has been talk of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granting an additional quota, something previously proposed by Choi Moon-soon, governor of the Gangwon province that will host the Winter Games.

On Tuesday, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed high-level government talks with North Korea on January 9 at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

“The government proposes the North to hold high level inter-Korean government talks at the Peace House of Panmunjom in consideration that the Winter Olympics is about a month away and to discuss related matters such as the participation of North Korea’s delegation in the PyongChang Olympics,” Cho said during a press briefing in Seoul on Tuesday.

He also reaffirmed that the South Korean government is willing to have a dialogue with North Korea and is “open to suggestions for the timing, venue and format.”

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Source: CNN

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In a televised new year speech, he said the entire US was within range of North Korean nuclear weapons, adding: “This is reality, not a threat.”

But he also offered a potential olive branch to South Korea, suggesting he was “open to dialogue”.

North Korea may also send a team to the Winter Olympics in Seoul, he said.

What is President Trump’s reaction?

When asked by reporters to respond to Mr Kim’s latest threats, US President Donald Trump said, “We’ll see, we’ll see”.

He was speaking at the sidelines of New Year’s Eve celebrations at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

North Korea has come under increased criticism and sanctions over the past year because of its nuclear weapons programme and repeated testing of conventional missiles.

North Korea has come under increased criticism and sanctions over the past year because of its nuclear weapons programme and repeated testing of conventional missiles.

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