North Korea to close nuclear test site
Lofty rhetoric and big promises by Kim Jong Un meet with scepticism in Seoul

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
28 March
Japan seeks summit with North Korea
Japan has contacted the North Korean government to suggest a bilateral summit, according to Japanese media reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The news comes days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un travelled to Beijing for surprise talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Japanese Foreign Ministry officials are said to be getting “increasingly worried about being left out of the loop” in negotiations with North Korea.
“We have been communicating with North Korea through various occasions and means such as a route via our embassy in Beijing, but I would like to refrain from going into specifics,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in response to the Asahi Shimbun report.
Japanese officials have reportedly expressed concern over Tokyo’s failure to gather intelligence about the possible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Following reports of the Kim-Xi meeting, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe told an Upper House Budget Committee session: “We are making every effort to gather and analyse intelligence while holding great interest. We also want to obtain a solid explanation from China.”
Kim is also due to hold a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on 27 April, the first talks between the two Koreas since 2007.
Officials from both countries will attend talks on 4 April to prepare security and media arrangements ahead of the summit, to be held at the Freedom House on the southern side of the Demilitarised Zone.
“There are stages and barriers,” the source said. “In particular, there’s no guarantee the Trump-Kim talks will go well.”
28 March
Kim Jong Un ‘pledges denuclearisation’ during surprise China visit
China has confirmed that Kim Jong Un has made an unannounced visit to Beijing this week, during which the North Korean leader reportedly pledged his commitment to denuclearising the Korean Peninsula.
The trip signals a “potential thaw” following seven years of tensions in inter-Korean relations over the North’s nuclear policy, says Nation Public Radio (NPR). According to the Washington DC-based news site, Kim reportedly told Chinese officials that North Korea would be willing to reduce the scale of its nuclear programme.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua says that Kim told Chinese leader Xi Jinping: “The issue of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace.”
However, not everyone is convinced by the North Korean dictator’s recent “charm offensive”. The leader of South Korea’s main opposition Liberty Korea Party, Hong Joon-pyo, has accused the North of “playing” the South and China, The Korea Herald reports.
“The Moon Jae-in administration... put Kim Jong Un behind the steering wheel and is claiming they are driving the car when they are just watching the nuclear weapon show from the back seat,” Hong said, before comparing this week’s talks with the ill-fated deal made by British PM Neville Chamberlain with Hitler shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.
“The Moon administration’s inter-Korean peace charade, which has loosened South Korea’s alliance with the US and made China walk away from international sanctions, reminds me of Chamberlain’s Munich Agreement in September 1938.”
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
6 vibrant homes with art studios
Feature Featuring a six-bedroom home in Vermont and a rustic-modern house in California
By The Week Staff Published
-
Experts are worried about tuberculosis again
Speed Read The deadly disease regained its crown as the world's biggest infectious killer in October 2022
By Devika Rao Published
-
The daily gossip: Beyoncé is bringing the 'Renaissance' tour to movie theaters, Taylor Swift attends another Chiefs game with famous pals, and more
Feature The daily gossip: October 2, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
Inside the luxury bulletproof train taking Kim Jong Un to Russia
The Explainer The North Korean leader has continued the tradition of train travel established by his father
By Rebekah Evans Published
-
North Korea says missile launches were not warnings, but practice for attack
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
South Korea deploys 80 fighter jets after spotting 180 North Korean warplanes
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
North Korea launches longest-range missile test yet
Speed Read Intermediate-range ballistic fired over Japan in ‘dramatic escalation’ of tensions
By Kate Samuelson Published
-
Russia is now buying artillery shells, rockets from North Korea, declassified U.S. intelligence says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea rejects aid-for-denuclearisation offer from Seoul
Speed Read Pyongyang dismisses South Korean proposal, describing it as ‘pipedream-like’
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
North Korea ‘ready to mobilise nuclear forces’
Speed Read Kim Jong Un uses ‘fiery’ rhetoric to warn South Korea against confrontation
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
Can anything stop a nuclear bomb?
In Depth Halting an atomic weapon is theoretically possible, say experts, but in reality is an enormous challenge
By The Week Published