The United States and North Korea plan to hold high-level talks in Washington this week to discuss the second summit of their leaders after a prolonged stalemate in nuclear talks, according to South Korean media.

The meeting, led by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean Official Kim Yong-chol, will take place either on Thursday or Friday, the Chosun Ilbo said on Tuesday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source familiar with the talks.

The paper said both sides are expected to finalise the date and location of a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who first met in Singapore in June last year.

It added that the North's envoy is likely to also meet Trump.

South Korean news agency Yonhap also quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol could meet this week.

A CNN reporter, meanwhile, citing an unnamed source, tweeted that the North Korean delegation could visit the US "as soon as this week" but plans had not been finalised.

Ahead of the possible meetings, a letter Trump sent to Kim was flown to Pyongyang and hand-delivered over the weekend, the CNN reporter added, citing the source.

The White House and the US embassy in South Korea's capital, Seoul, did not immediately comment on the reports.

Months-long impasse

If confirmed, the meeting could mean the two sides are inching closer to a compromise after a months-long impasse over how to move forward in ending North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

In Singapore, Trump and Kim signed a vaguely-worded pledge on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, but progress has since stalled with Pyongyang and Washington arguing over their agreement's interpretation.

Pompeo, who made several trips to Pyongyang last year, planned to meet his counterpart last November, but the talks were called off at the last minute.

Contact was resumed after a New Year's speech by Kim, in which he said he was willing to meet Trump "at any time", Cho Yoon-je, the South Korean ambassador to the US, told reporters last week.

Washington and Seoul have been discussing potential US measures to reciprocate North Korea's possible steps towards denuclearisation, such as dismantling the Yongbyon main nuclear complex or intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) aimed at the US, South Korean officials told Reuters news agency.

The US is considering partially easing sanctions in exchange for the North discarding and sending abroad its ICBMs, in addition to a freeze in its nuclear programme, the Chosun Ilbo said, citing the source.

Potential US actions could include exemptions from sanctions for inter-Korean business and tour ventures and opening a liaison office ahead of a formal launch of diplomatic relations, Seoul officials said.

"Those ideas are being discussed as interim measures, not as an end state, in order to expedite the denuclearisation process because the North wouldn't respond to any demand for a declaration of facilities and weapons," a senior South Korean official said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

"The end goal remains unchanged, whether it be complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation, or final, fully verified denuclearisation."

'Enemy' dropped

As part of an apparent effort to continue reconciliation with its neighbour, South Korea on Tuesday stopped calling North Korea an "enemy" in its biennial defence document.

The white paper that was published and posted on the defence ministry's website did not include the usual terms labelling North Korea as its "enemy, "present enemy" or "main enemy", The Associated Press news agency reported.

The use of the terminology has been a source of animosity between the Koreas for a number of years, with the North claiming they were a provocation that demonstrated the South's hostility.

The change is likely to draw harsh criticism from conservatives in South Korea, who argue President Moon Jae-in's engagement strategy, including reductions in conventional arms, has undermined the South's security because of the lack of a breakthrough on the North's nuclear programme.

Kim reiterated his resolve to meet Trump again during a meeting last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Trump also said this month he had received a "great" letter from Kim and would probably meet him again in the not-too-distant future.

"At the second summit, they'll probably focus on reaching a possible interim deal, rather than a comprehensive roadmap for denuclearisation," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at South Korea's Sejong Institute.

"Whether Pyongyang is willing to abolish ICBMs, in addition to disabling the Yongbyon complex, would be key, and if so, the North will likely demand sanctions relief in return."</s>The United States and North Korea plan to hold high-level talks in Washington as soon as this week to discuss a second summit of their leaders, following a prolonged stalemate in nuclear talks, South Korean media said on Tuesday.

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▶ View Transcript</s>Senior North Korean and United States officials are expected to meet in Washington at the end of this week to discuss a second summit between the countries' leaders, South Korean media reported on Tuesday.

A diplomatic source in Seoul cited by Chosun Ilbo newspaper and Yonhap news agency indicated that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to meet with Kim Yong-chol on Thursday or Friday to discuss details of a second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.</s>Three North Korean officials, including the top envoy involved in talks with the United States, are booked on a flight to Washington, South Korean media reported on Wednesday, suggesting possible movement toward a second summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

US and South Korean media quoted sources as saying that the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and senior North Korean official Kim Yong-chol were expected to meet on Friday in the US capital to discuss the summit.

The White House and the US state department declined to confirm the reports, perhaps wary of another last-minute cancellation. Pompeo planned to meet his counterpart to discuss a second summit last November, but the state department had to postpone the meeting the day after announcing it.

While Trump has been eager to hold a second summit with Kim, on Wednesday the US vice-president, Mike Pence, acknowledged that efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal had not made headway.

“While the president is promising dialogue with Chairman Kim, we still await concrete steps by North Korea to dismantle the nuclear weapons that threaten our people and our allies in the region,” Pence said in an address at the state department.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing an unidentified Chinese airport official, said Kim Yong-chol, along with North Korea’s vice foreign minister, Choe Son-hui, and a third official, would leave Beijing on Thursday for Washington.

Kim Yong-chol was last in Washington in June, when he delivered a letter from Kim Jong-un to Trump that opened the way for an unprecedented meeting between leaders of the two countries in Singapore on 12 June 2018.

CNN quoted a source familiar with US-North Korea talks as saying that Kim Yong-chol would be carrying a new letter from Kim Jong-un to Trump in Washington.

If he stays overnight in Washington, Kim Yong-chol would be the first top North Korean to do so since the late vice-marshal Jo Myong-rok did so ahead of talks with then president Bill Clinton and secretary of state Madeleine Albright in 2000.

In Singapore, the North Korean leader pledged to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but there has been little significant progress since.

Contact was resumed after Kim Jong-un delivered a New Year speech in which he said he was willing to meet Trump “at any time”, South Korea’s ambassador to the US, Cho Yoon-je, told reporters last week.

The two sides would seek “interim” measures to revitalize the denuclearization process, South Korea officials told Reuters, but North Korea has demanded a lifting of US sanctions and dismissed US demands it declare all its nuclear weapons and facilities.

In spite of Pence’s remarks, a White House official referred to past comments by Trump that “a lot of positive things are happening” with North Korea.

“He and Chairman Kim have established a good relationship, and conversations between the United States and North Korea continue,” said the official.

“We are working to make progress on our goal of achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, and the president looks forward to meeting Chairman Kim again at their second summit at a place and time yet to be determined.“</s>Seoul: The United States and North Korea plan to hold high-level talks in Washington this week to discuss a second summit of their leaders, following a prolonged stalemate in nuclear talks, according to an unnamed diplomatic source.

The meeting, led by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, would happen on Thursday or Friday, Washington time, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said, citing an unnamed source.

Both sides are expected to finalise the date and location of a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the North's envoy is likely to meet Trump, the paper said.

Asked about the report, a State Department official said: "We don't have any meetings to announce."</s>SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is about to hold high-level talks in Washington D.C. with North Korean senior official Kim Yong Chol on Thursday or Friday, and both sides are fine-tuning details, a South Korean newspaper said.

The North Korean official is likely to meet President Donald Trump as well, the Chosun Ilbo said on Tuesday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source familiar with the talks between the United States and North Korea.

Asked about the South Korean newspaper report, a State Department official said, “We don’t have any meetings to announce.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States is considering partially easing sanctions on North Korea in exchange for the isolated nation discarding, or sending abroad, its ICBMs, in addition to the adoption of a “nuclear freeze,” the U.S. talks with the South Korean government have shown, the Chosun Ilbo said, citing the source.

“If North Korea accepts, it’s a realizable scenario,” it quoted the source as saying.

South Korea’s presidential office directed questions to the foreign ministry, which did not have immediate comment.

This month, Trump said he had received a “great” letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and would probably meet him again in the not-too-distant future, as part of efforts to persuade him to give up his nuclear weapons.

Pompeo made several trips to Pyongyang last year, but the two sides have not rescheduled an abruptly cancelled November meeting between him and Kim Yong Chol that aimed at paving the way for a second summit.</s>Seoul: Three North Korean officials, including its top envoy involved in negotiations with the United States, are booked on a flight to Washington from Beijing on Thursday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean official Kim Yong-chol are expected to meet on Thursday or Friday, Washington time, in the US capital to discuss a second summit between their leaders, CNN and South Korean media reported citing sources familiar with the issue.

A meeting could mean the two sides are nearing a compromise after months of standoff over how to move forward in ending North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

Kim Yong-chol, along with North Korea's vice foreign minister Choe Son-hui, and a third official, have reservations on a United Airlines flight leaving Beijing on Thursday evening for Washington, Yonhap said on Wednesday, citing an unidentified Chinese airport official.</s>SEOUL (Reuters) - Three North Korean officials, including its top envoy involved in negotiations with the United States, are booked on a flight to Washington from Beijing on Thursday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol are expected to meet on Thursday or Friday in the U.S. capital to discuss a second summit between their leaders, CNN and South Korean media reported citing sources familiar with the issue.

A meeting could mean the two sides are nearing a compromise after months of standoff over how to move forward in ending North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Kim Yong Chol, along with North Korea’s vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui, and a third official, have reservations on a United Airlines flight leaving Beijing on Thursday evening for Washington, Yonhap said on Wednesday, citing an unidentified Chinese airport official.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department, asked earlier about the possibility of the top officials from the two sides getting together, said: “We have no meetings to announce.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to work towards denuclearization at a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, but there has been little significant progress since.

Pompeo planned to meet his counterpart last November, but the talks were called off at the last minute.

Contact was resumed after Kim Jong Un delivered a New Year speech in which he said he was willing to meet Trump “at any time,” South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, Cho Yoon-je, told reporters last week.</s>SEOUL, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- South Korea's Defense Ministry has crossed out its definition of North Korea as an enemy in the 2018 defense white paper, released on Tuesday.

For the South Korean military, North Korea has long been an enemy whose nuclear weapons and missiles pose major threats to the security of the country.

However, the 2018 defense white paper describes "enemy" in a broader term that includes "any potential or transnational and nonmilitary threats," according to the Defense Ministry.

The toned down statement came in light of the fast-improving relationship between North Korea and South Korea after three summits between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year.

The two leaders agreed to take steps to ease military tension between the two countries, such as closing front-line guard posts on the border.

"The tensions on the Korean Peninsula surged after North Korea conducted its 6th nuclear test in 2017, but a new security environment is shaping with the (South Korean) government's effort for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and settlement for peace," the 2018 defense white paper said.

The previous 2016 white paper states that North Korea's nuclear weapons, cyber-attacks and terrorism pose major threats to South Korea's security and the regime remains an "enemy insofar as they are the agents carrying out these threats."

South Korea publishes its defense white paper every other year.

The Defense Ministry has stated North Korea as an enemy in white papers since 2010 when North Korea attacked the South's westernmost border island of Yeonpyeong. North Korea fired artillery shells and rockets to the island, killing four and injuring 19.

According to the paper, North Korea has recently created a special forces team in charge of assassination missions.

The South Korean Defense Ministry also estimates that North Korea has some 50 kilograms of plutonium enough to create nuclear weapons through the reprocessing of spent fuel rods from its nuclear plants.

It also has a considerable amount of enriched uranium and is capable of reducing the size of nuclear weapons.

Bloomberg reported Monday that North Korea continues to develop its nuclear weapons and missiles as opposed to the pledge by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to denuclearize, based on its analysis on satellite imageries and intelligence information.

Last week, the United States Forces Japan released a video, in which it defines North Korea as one of the "three declared nuclear states" in the Northeast Asian region, along with Russia and China. The video describes North Korea a state with 15 nuclear weapons.</s>SEOUL (AFP) - A top North Korean diplomat was travelling to Sweden on Tuesday (Jan 15), she told reporters, as speculation mounts over the next summit between the isolated state's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

Ms Choe Son Hui, a North Korean Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, landed in Beijing on a flight from the North Korean capital Pyongyang.

"I am going to an international conference in Sweden," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted her as saying on arrival at the airport.

Ms Choe's trip comes as expectations grow for a second meeting between Mr Kim and Mr Trump - despite a lack of progress in denuclearisation negotiations - after the North Korean leader went to Beijing, long Pyongyang's key ally, last week for talks with President Xi Jinping.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Mr Kim's trip to Beijing was a sign that a second US-North Korean summit was imminent, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo adding at the weekend that "we're working out the details".

Suggestions circulating among Korea-watchers for possible venues include Vietnam and Thailand, among others.

Stockholm has a long history of mediating between Washington and Pyongyang. While the two do not have diplomatic relations, Sweden is the protecting power for US citizens in the Asian country, and Ms Choe has been intimately involved in the US-North Korean relationship.

Before she assumed her current position, she was director-general of the Foreign Ministry's North American department.

She was also among the officials who accompanied Mr Kim to Singapore for his first summit with Mr Trump in June last year.

The meeting, held in a blaze of publicity, saw the two men sign a vaguely worded document in which Mr Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".

But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.

Pyongyang is seeking sanctions relief and rejects demands for what it calls its unilateral disarmament, while Washington insists that the punitive measures must stay in place until it gives up its nuclear arsenal.

Citing a diplomatic source, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported on Tuesday that Mr Kim Yong Chol, Mr Pompeo's counterpart in the discussion process, was expected to visit Washington later this week for talks.

There were no reports that he had passed through Beijing.
South Korean media reports that North Korean officials are expected to visit the United States to discuss a second summit between the two countries at an unspecified date.