North Korea

South Korea Says Talks With The North Are Off

Korva Coleman — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Delicate preparations for talks between North and South Korea collapsed like a souffle Tuesday, after both sides objected over who was going to show up to do the talking.

The working negotiating teams exchanged proposed delegate lists Tuesday in advance of formal talks Wednesday in the South's capital city of Seoul.

Delegations From Rival Koreas Meet At Panmunjom

Scott Neuman — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 14:30:00 +0000

For the first time in two years, delegations from North and South Korea sat down for talks aimed at ratcheting down escalating tensions on the peninsula.

The meeting took place at the symbolically significant border village of Panmunjom, where nearly 60 years ago the two sides signed an armistice ending the Korean War.

As NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports, the discussions were focused on procedural issues in advance of a planned ministerial-level meeting, as well as discussions on reviving a joint industrial zone and facilitating reunions of families separated by the Korean War; both of these hav

Koreas Agree To Talks, But Can't Decide What Kind Or Where

Scott Neuman — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:21:00 +0000

The two Koreas have agreed in principle to talks aimed at mending their almost nonexistent relations, but they are stalled on the question of where to meet.

South Korea has suggested that high-level talks take place in its capital, Seoul, but North Korea has countered that only lower-level negotiations should take place and they should be held in its border city of Kaesong.

The rival Koreas have not met face to face for such negotiations since February 2011.

Pyongyang on Friday says that's because "relations have been stalemated for years and mistrust has reached the extremity."

South

Koreas Agree To First High-Level Talks In Years

Scott Neuman — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:20:00 +0000

It's too early to tell whether North Korea's offer on Thursday of talks with the South — potentially the first such dialogue in years — is more than just another negotiating tactic.

But Seoul readily accepted the offer, and though Pyongyang said the agenda should be discussing the reopening of the jointly run Kaesong factory complex inside North Korea, it left the door open for the possibility of broader negotiations.

"We call for meeting between authorities to n

Sushi Chef Was Confidant To North Korea's Kim Jong Il

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:54:00 +0000

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

When the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il died two years ago, his son Kim Jong Un rose to power. The world knew practically nothing about the young and untested leader. In fact, nobody knew exactly how young he was until his birth date was revealed by a man who goes by the pseudonym Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong Il's former sushi chef and longtime confidante.

Writer Adam Johnson won a Pulitzer this year for his novel set in North Korea. And he recently conducted a series of interviews with the chef, who now lives in Japan.