VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson huddles Tuesday with nations that fought on America's side in the Korean War, looking to tighten the economic noose around North Korea over its nuclear weapons even as hopes rise for diplomacy.

The 20-nation gathering on Canada's western coast comes days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North after a year of escalating tension.

The meeting in Vancouver, hosted by Tillerson and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland, was called before the recent start of talks between North and South Korea, the first in two years. The North restored a military hotline and agreed to participate in the Winter Olympics being hosted in February by the South, a close U.S. ally.

President Donald Trump has also signaled openness to talks with North Korea under the right circumstances. Despite the insults and blood-curdling threats he's traded with its leader Kim Jong Un, he suggested in an interview that the two leaders could have a positive relationship.

But Kim, widely viewed as seeking to drive a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea, shows no sign of making concessions toward Washington as his totalitarian government comes close to perfecting a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the United States.

The Vancouver meeting is intended to boost the campaign of "maximum pressure" that the Trump administration has championed to deprive the North of revenue for weapons development. Officials will discuss cooperation on sanctions, preventing the spread of weapons by North Korea, and diplomacy.

Brian Hook, Tillerson's senior policy adviser, said more needs to be done to interdict ships conducting illicit trade with North Korea. He said the U.S. wants the United Nations to mandate a port entry ban for such vessels.

The meeting is being attended by foreign ministers and senior diplomats of nations that sent troops or humanitarian aid to the U.N. Command that supported South Korea in the fight against the communist North and its allies during the 1950-53 Korean War. It's a diverse gathering of mostly European and Asian nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Columbia. Japan and South Korea are also taking part.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was to join a welcoming dinner for the delegates on Monday night.

China and Russia, which fought on the communist side in the war, oppose the meeting. They were not invited although they have the closest economic and diplomatic ties to North Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that a meeting that "doesn't include important parties to the Korean peninsula nuclear issue" cannot help resolve it.

Hook said China and Russia would be briefed afterward, and said the inter-Korean talks won't change Tuesday's agenda.

"We believe that this pressure campaign remains the best avenue to force change in Kim Jong Un's behavior and to get him to the negotiating table for meaningful discussions," he said.

The latest U.N. Security Council resolution against North Korea, adopted in December in response to an intercontinental ballistic missile test, calls on member states to impound vessels suspected of illicit trade with the North, and authorizes interdictions in a member state's territorial waters.

It also restricts North Korean imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products, and further cuts into its ability to raise revenue for its weapons programs. Combined with previous U.N resolutions, more than 90 percent of North Korea's publicly reported exports as of 2016 are now banned.

Tillerson told The Associated Press in a recent interview that convening the so-called "sending states" to the U.N. Command in the Korean War was done deliberately to show that diplomacy "has to be backed up by a strong military alternative."

"It's just part of the necessity of impressing upon all parties the serious nature of this and the resolve of the United States and others that we are not going to accept a nuclear North Korea," Tillerson said.

US allies from Korean War meet on North Korean nuke threat

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson huddles Tuesday with nations that fought on America's side in the Korean War, looking to tighten the economic noose around North Korea over its nuclear weapons even as hopes rise for diplomacy.

The 20-nation gathering on Canada's western coast comes days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North after a year of escalating tension.

The meeting in Vancouver, hosted by Tillerson and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland, was called before the recent start of talks between North and South Korea, the first in two years. The North restored a military hotline and agreed to participate in the Winter Olympics being hosted in February by the South, a close U.S. ally.

President Donald Trump has also signaled openness to talks with North Korea under the right circumstances. Despite the insults and blood-curdling threats he's traded with its leader Kim Jong Un, he suggested in an interview that the two leaders could have a positive relationship.

But Kim, widely viewed as seeking to drive a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea, shows no sign of making concessions toward Washington as his totalitarian government comes close to perfecting a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the United States.

The Vancouver meeting is intended to boost the campaign of "maximum pressure" that the Trump administration has championed to deprive the North of revenue for weapons development. Officials will discuss cooperation on sanctions, preventing the spread of weapons by North Korea, and diplomacy.

Brian Hook, Tillerson's senior policy adviser, said more needs to be done to interdict ships conducting illicit trade with North Korea. He said the U.S. wants the United Nations to mandate a port entry ban for such vessels.

The meeting is being attended by foreign ministers and senior diplomats of nations that sent troops or humanitarian aid to the U.N. Command that supported South Korea in the fight against the communist North and its allies during the 1950-53 Korean War. It's a diverse gathering of mostly European and Asian nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Columbia. Japan and South Korea are also taking part.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was to join a welcoming dinner for the delegates on Monday night.

China and Russia, which fought on the communist side in the war, oppose the meeting. They were not invited although they have the closest economic and diplomatic ties to North Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that a meeting that "doesn't include important parties to the Korean peninsula nuclear issue" cannot help resolve it.

Hook said China and Russia would be briefed afterward, and said the inter-Korean talks won't change Tuesday's agenda.

"We believe that this pressure campaign remains the best avenue to force change in Kim Jong Un's behavior and to get him to the negotiating table for meaningful discussions," he said.

The latest U.N. Security Council resolution against North Korea, adopted in December in response to an intercontinental ballistic missile test, calls on member states to impound vessels suspected of illicit trade with the North, and authorizes interdictions in a member state's territorial waters.

It also restricts North Korean imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products, and further cuts into its ability to raise revenue for its weapons programs. Combined with previous U.N resolutions, more than 90 percent of North Korea's publicly reported exports as of 2016 are now banned.

Tillerson told The Associated Press in a recent interview that convening the so-called "sending states" to the U.N. Command in the Korean War was done deliberately to show that diplomacy "has to be backed up by a strong military alternative."

"It's just part of the necessity of impressing upon all parties the serious nature of this and the resolve of the United States and others that we are not going to accept a nuclear North Korea," Tillerson said.</s>Seoul (CNN) North and South Korean athletes will march together at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony under a unified flag, the South said Wednesday, in a diplomatic breakthrough following days of talks between the two countries.

The nations have also agreed to form a joint North and South Korean women's ice hockey team for the Games in Pyeongchang, which begin early next month, South Korea's unification ministry said.

The unification ministry announced a range of joint activities between the countries for the Games, following talks Wednesday at the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

North and South Korean skiers will train together at a resort in North Korea before the Olympics start, and performers from the two countries will also hold a joint cultural event at Mount Kumgang.

North Korea will also send around 230 supporters to cheer on its athletes. A smaller delegation of North Korean athletes and supporters will attend the Paralympics, the ministry said.

The Korean Unification Flag features a blue silhouette of the peninsula and outlying islands. The two countries have marched under the flag before, in rare shows of unity, first at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships, and at a number of sporting events since. It was most recently used at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) would need to approve the countries' agreements, and those that affect competition, such as the joint hockey team, could be more complicated than the ceremonial proposals.

The committee said Wednesday it had received a number of "interesting proposals" that it would discuss with delegates from both countries in Switzerland on Saturday.

"We are sure that the two Korean delegations will present their ideas and proposals at the meeting on Saturday in Lausanne. This will then enable the IOC to carefully evaluate the consequences and the potential impact on the Olympic Games and the Olympic competitions," it said in a statement.

Diplomatic thaw

Wednesday's announcement is the latest breakthrough since talks began between the two Koreas earlier this month, after years of broken communications.

While the two sides have earned praise for ratcheting down military tensions in recent weeks, some of Seoul's allies voiced concern Wednesday that Pyongyang may be using the talks to buy time to pursue its weapons program.

The US military has moved more firepower to the region and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned of complacency at a Tuesday summit in Vancouver where the top diplomats from the United States, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom were in town to discuss North Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called on the international community to be clear-eyed about North Korea's motivations for participating in the talks, which have been hailed by some as the most significant thaw in ties in years.

"I believe that North Korea wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs," Kono said at the meeting. "It's not the time to ease pressure towards North Korea."

China denounced the Vancouver talks, and the United Nations Command, under whose framework they are being held, as demonstrating "Cold War mentality."

"(Such thinking) will only lead to split in the international community and harm the joint efforts that could properly solve the nuclear issue on Korea peninsula," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday.

JUST WATCHED Talks keep N. Korean skaters' dream alive Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Talks keep N. Korean skaters' dream alive 02:41

Limited progress

It remains to be seen how much progress achieved before the Olympics will be retained after the games are over, or if tensions will again worsen.

John Park, director of the Korea Working Group at the Harvard Kennedy School, warned against viewing the talks as a major breakthrough.

"Both Koreas are primarily utilizing the talks for a limited objective -- arranging the participation of a North Korean delegation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics," Park said.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the talks were a "significant step" but acknowledged the serious challenges ahead: "Despite these overtures to improve relations with the South, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfill its international obligations regarding denuclearization."

North Korea has remained adamant throughout this month's thaw in relations with South Korea that its nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles are here to stay.

Joint US-South Korea military drills -- which always infuriate Pyongyang and raise tensions on the peninsula -- have been suspended for the duration of the upcoming Olympics as a show of good faith, but they are likely resume following the competition.</s>Foreign ministers from 20 countries are meeting Tuesday to discuss security and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Protesters carry a banner while marching outside the site of a summit on North Korea being hosted by Canada and the U.S., in Vancouver, B.C., on Monday January 15, 2018. Foreign ministers from 20 countries are meeting Tuesday to discuss security and stability on the Korean Peninsula. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A gathering of foreign ministers in Vancouver today to discuss the perils posed by North Korea is expected to focus on sanctions, non-proliferation and diplomacy.

Eric Walsh, Canada’s ambassador to Korea, says ministers will aim to identify which sanctions are being evaded and how to improve enforcement, while also discussing possible diplomatic solutions.

He says non-proliferation is also a key topic, and participants will look at recent developments in North Korea’s nuclear program and what they mean for the region and the international community.

The federal government has faced criticism for not inviting Russia and China to the summit, which instead brings together ministers from countries that supported the United Nations force in the Korean War.

Walsh says the conference is not meant to replace other discussions that are taking place, including at the UN Security Council, and instead it is meant to complement those talks.

He says there’s “no question” that China and Russia have critical roles to play in North Korea and the summit, co-hosted by Canada and the U.S., was not intended to exclude them.

“We very much hope we’ll be able to dialogue with them at a later date about what we’re able to do here and find ways to stay engaged with them,” he said.

Related: North Korea to join Olympics in South Korea as tensions ease

Walsh made the comments at a panel discussion convened by the University of British Columbia on Monday, ahead of the conference that begins today.

Brian Gold, a University of Alberta history professor, said the summit is less about North Korea, to some degree, and more about Canada and South Korea as middle powers promoting a multilateral approach.

He said multilateralism was the intent of the United Nations alliance during the Korean War.

“I think it’s a great success in just that it’s happening,” he said of the conference.

“But true, yes, a greater success if it provides a rationale for an ongoing existence (of the alliance) and helps with some of these problems which have been identified.”

However, political science Prof. Brian Job of the University of British Columbia said the meeting puts Canada in a “delicate tension.”

“On the one hand, we’re onside with concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons, we back the sanction regime, we support Secretary of State (Rex) Tillerson’s … diplomatic approach in Washington,” Job said.

“But on the other hand … our interests in being seen as a middle power in this circumstance is not advanced by being seen as an instrument of U.S. agenda, advocating a one-note, hard line extreme pressure strategy, and I think particularly in convening meetings in which key players are not involved.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau conceded Monday that both China and Russia will be integral to securing peace on the Korean peninsula, even as he defended the decision to leave the two countries out of the gathering.

Trudeau made the remarks after Russia became the latest to slam the meeting as a threat to peace efforts.

China, meanwhile, has already derided as “Cold War thinking” the involvement of only those allies that supported South Korea during the Korean War.

— With files from Lee Berthiaume in Ottawa

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>Foreign ministers from 20 countries are meeting Tuesday to discuss security and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Protesters carry a banner while marching outside the site of a summit on North Korea being hosted by Canada and the U.S., in Vancouver, B.C., on Monday January 15, 2018. Foreign ministers from 20 countries are meeting Tuesday to discuss security and stability on the Korean Peninsula. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A gathering of foreign ministers in Vancouver today to discuss the perils posed by North Korea is expected to focus on sanctions, non-proliferation and diplomacy.

Eric Walsh, Canada’s ambassador to Korea, says ministers will aim to identify which sanctions are being evaded and how to improve enforcement, while also discussing possible diplomatic solutions.

He says non-proliferation is also a key topic, and participants will look at recent developments in North Korea’s nuclear program and what they mean for the region and the international community.

The federal government has faced criticism for not inviting Russia and China to the summit, which instead brings together ministers from countries that supported the United Nations force in the Korean War.

Walsh says the conference is not meant to replace other discussions that are taking place, including at the UN Security Council, and instead it is meant to complement those talks.

He says there’s “no question” that China and Russia have critical roles to play in North Korea and the summit, co-hosted by Canada and the U.S., was not intended to exclude them.

“We very much hope we’ll be able to dialogue with them at a later date about what we’re able to do here and find ways to stay engaged with them,” he said.

Related: North Korea to join Olympics in South Korea as tensions ease

Walsh made the comments at a panel discussion convened by the University of British Columbia on Monday, ahead of the conference that begins today.

Brian Gold, a University of Alberta history professor, said the summit is less about North Korea, to some degree, and more about Canada and South Korea as middle powers promoting a multilateral approach.

He said multilateralism was the intent of the United Nations alliance during the Korean War.

“I think it’s a great success in just that it’s happening,” he said of the conference.

“But true, yes, a greater success if it provides a rationale for an ongoing existence (of the alliance) and helps with some of these problems which have been identified.”

However, political science Prof. Brian Job of the University of British Columbia said the meeting puts Canada in a “delicate tension.”

“On the one hand, we’re onside with concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons, we back the sanction regime, we support Secretary of State (Rex) Tillerson’s … diplomatic approach in Washington,” Job said.

“But on the other hand … our interests in being seen as a middle power in this circumstance is not advanced by being seen as an instrument of U.S. agenda, advocating a one-note, hard line extreme pressure strategy, and I think particularly in convening meetings in which key players are not involved.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau conceded Monday that both China and Russia will be integral to securing peace on the Korean peninsula, even as he defended the decision to leave the two countries out of the gathering.

Trudeau made the remarks after Russia became the latest to slam the meeting as a threat to peace efforts.

China, meanwhile, has already derided as “Cold War thinking” the involvement of only those allies that supported South Korea during the Korean War.

— With files from Lee Berthiaume in Ottawa

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>Possibly you were unnerved by the weekend’s events in Hawaii, though not half as much as Hawaiians, who for about 40 minutes were convinced they were all about to die, thanks to an errant alert of an inbound ballistic missile.

North Korea’s bold dash for nuclear status; its provocative missile launches in recent months, and the crazed exchange of threats that followed between North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and President Trump; the alarming inconsistency of the statements coming out of a U.S. administration seemingly at war with itself, the president at one point even seeming ready to fire his secretary of state: the whole world is on edge these days. As it happens the president was golfing when the mistaken alert was sent out. Imagine if he had not been.

But fear not. The major parties to the Korean conflict are meeting in Vancouver this week to sort things out. All the big players are there: Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Norway … Oh sorry. When I said “the Korean conflict,” you naturally thought I meant the one I was just describing. Whereas the guest list for the Vancouver conference is made up of the countries who fought on the United Nations side of the Korean War 65 years ago. So Colombia and the Netherlands are in, while China and Russia, which fought on the other side, are out.

If that seems strange, consider that one of the aims of the conference — it is more or less openly acknowledged — is to bolster the position of the U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, within the Trump administration. Tillerson has been publicly championing a diplomatic solution to the crisis, in contrast to the numerous hawks in the White House who are quite visibly preparing for war.
• Madman or Madman Strategy? What’s really going on with North Korea?
• Canada’s bid to play North Korea mediator will ‘harm’ efforts for peace, China says
• Canada and U.S. touting Vancouver meeting on North Korea, but key ally Japan is reluctant

The consensus among military analysts is that a military strike offers no solution, or not at an acceptable cost. Unless it were possible to take out substantially all of the North Korean missile arsenal, together with its entire command structure — and it is not — no one seriously doubts the North Korean response: an all-out attack on neighbouring South Korea, notably its capital city, Seoul, just 35 miles from the border. The death toll, within minutes, would be in the tens of thousands — and that’s assuming only conventional weapons are deployed. If in fact North Korea has the capacity to make good on its leader’s threats to go nuclear, who knows what armageddon could follow.

And yet the logic of the two countries’ positions leaves little room for alternatives. It is absolutely unacceptable to the U.S. that North Korea should have nuclear missiles. It is equally unacceptable to the North Korean regime that it should give them up. Against a far larger and more powerful adversary, nukes are the ultimate leveller.

However unthinkable the military option may seem, moreover, it is far from clear what the alternative is. As usual, much has been invested in the idea that sanctions are the solution: hence the series of unanimous resolutions of the UN Security Council in recent months, backing its oft-stated ban on North Korea’s nuclear program with tough-sounding new sanctions. But not only do sanctions have at best a spotty record in reining in international scofflaws, it’s not even clear what they hope to achieve.

As with the military option, the intent is presumably to force the Kim regime to give up its nuclear weapons. But the regime is no less adamant in its response: it would sooner die. So to be effective, sanctions would have to lead to regime change. And regime change is not only anathema to Kim, but to China, its historic benefactors. Were Kim to fall, the resulting power vacuum and collapse of order would send millions of refugees streaming across the Chinese border. Or so China fears.

Sanctions, then, will only be as effective as China allows them to be. And while the Chinese have tightened the screws to some degree, they are also likely to oppose any serious attempt to enforce them: for example, by means of “maritime interdiction,” the multinational quasi-blockade that is also up for discussion in Vancouver. North Korea has already denounced the idea as an “act of war,” but China is unlikely to be much happier.

Realists, then, counsel us to accept the inevitable: a nuclear-armed North Korea, for the foreseeable future. Surely deterrence can be made to work on the Korean peninsular, as it has these past seven decades in Europe. But to live with a nuclear-armed North Korea is essentially to live with what Hawaii has just endured, in perpetuity. Much effort has been expended to suggest the Kim regime is “rational,” as in non-suicidal. But non-suicidal is not the same as stable, predictable, responsible, prudent or wise. The possibility of error is ever-present. And the consequences of error are catastrophic.

That leaves but one option: ballistic missile defence (BMD). And here we come to Canada’s particular role in all this. Canada is as much within the range of North Korean missiles as the U.S. is. Until now our defence against this has amounted to a hope that we might nestle under the protective umbrella of the U.S. BMD system without contributing anything to it or even endorsing it: an expectation of which American officials have lately been trying to disabuse us.

This is what makes our involvement as co-hosts of the conference so intriguing. Perhaps it is only our usual quest for significance in a part of the world where we have none. If, on the other hand, it signals a willingness to work more closely with the U.S. on defence issues — yes, even the Trump administration — that is surely progress.</s>VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson huddles Tuesday with nations that fought on America’s side in the Korean War, looking to increase economic pressure on North Korea over its nuclear weapons even as hopes rise for diplomacy.

The 20-nation gathering in Vancouver comes days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North.

The meeting is hosted by Tillerson and his Canadian counterpart, Chrystia Freeland.

It was called before the recent start of talks between North and South Korea, the first in two years. President Donald Trump has also signaled openness to talks under the right circumstances.

Officials will discuss sanctions, preventing the spread of weapons by North Korea, and diplomatic options.</s>U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Tuesday for nations to step up the U.S.-led "maximum pressure" campaign against North Korea by thwarting sanctions evasion and interdicting ships conducting illicit trade with the pariah nation.

The uncompromising message delivered to a gathering of 20 nations that were on America's side during the Korean War came despite the recent diplomatic opening between the rival Koreas after a year of escalating tension.

"We must increase the costs of the regime's behavior to the point that North Korea must come to the table for credible negotiations," Tillerson said in his opening remarks at the meeting on Canada's western coast. The meeting convened days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said its talks with North Korea, leading to its participation in next month's Olympics being hosted by the South, are a "significant first step toward restoring inter-Korean relations."

But she conceded that despite the overtures, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfill its obligations on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono was blunter. He said the North "wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters that in spite of the inter-Korean talks, "the North Korean regime is still going down the path of the acquisition of an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) tipped with a nuclear device that could have incalculable geostrategic consequences."

The meeting is being attended by foreign ministers and senior diplomats of nations that sent troops or humanitarian aid to the U.N. Command that supported South Korea in the fight against the communist North and its allies during the 1950-53 Korean War. It's a diverse gathering of mostly European and Asian nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Columbia.

Officials are discussing sanctions, preventing the spread of weapons by North Korea, and diplomacy.

The gathering, co-hosted by Canada and the U.S., is strongly opposed by China and Russia, which fought on the communist side in the war. It appears primarily symbolic and unlikely to break much new ground.

Although Tillerson said the meeting sends North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a unified message that a nuclear-armed North is unacceptable, it risks alienating Beijing and Moscow. They are Pyongyang's main trading and diplomatic partners, but have nevertheless supported U.N. Security Council resolutions to restrict revenue for North Korean nuclear and missile development.

Tillerson called for China and Russia to fully implement the sanctions. He reiterated U.S. opposition to their idea of a "freeze-for-freeze," whereby the U.S.-South Korea military exercises would halt in exchange for suspension of the North's nuclear programs.

According to the news agency Tass, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called the Vancouver meeting "unacceptable" and "destructive." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters a meeting that "doesn't include important parties to the Korean peninsula nuclear issue" cannot help resolve it.

Tillerson said all nations must work together to improve maritime interdiction operations and stop illicit ship-to-ship transfers that violate U.N. sanctions. The U.S. has previously highlighted efforts by North Korea to circumvent restrictions on supplies of oil and petroleum products, most of which are supplied by China.

The latest U.N. Security Council resolution, adopted in December in response to an intercontinental ballistic missile test, calls on member states to impound vessels in their ports if there are reasonable grounds to suspect illicit trade with North Korea. It authorizes interdictions in a member state's territorial waters.

Tillerson also highlighted how North Korean missile tests pose a threat to civilian air traffic in the busy skies above East Asia.

"North Korea's willingness to launch missiles at any time presents a threat to people of all nationalities in the region's airspace each day," he said.

Despite Washington's tough stance and determination to keep up the pressure on North Korea, President Donald Trump has signaled openness to talks with North under the right circumstances. After months of insults and blood-curdling threats he's traded with Kim, Trump suggested in an interview last week that the two leaders could have a positive relationship.

The White House said Trump spoke Monday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and they were hopeful that the inter-Korean talks "might prompt a change in North Korea's destructive behavior."

But Kim, widely viewed as seeking to drive a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea, shows no sign of making concessions toward Washington as his totalitarian government comes close to perfecting a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the United States.

© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>North Korea and South Korea will match together with their combined women’s ice hockey team under one flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony scheduled on February. The two Koreas have been in talks about the Olympics since earlier this year for the first time in over two years.

Seoul confirmed on Wednesday that North Korea will be aligning with South Korea for the Winter Olympics, which will be held in the South, Seoul. The agreement to walk under one flag appears to suggest that sport could help push for the ultimate diplomatic breakthrough following tensions over the North’s nuclear escalation.

They have combined forces at other international sports events in the past. But it would be the very first time North Korea and South Korea will fight as a unified team in the Olympics.

A joint press statement released by Seoul’s Unification Ministry has revealed that the North will be represented by a delegation of over 400. These include 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players.

The statement added that the exact number of athletes will be hammered out after discussions with the IOC slated for later this week. North Korea’s delegation will start to arrive in South Korea on January 25.

But North Korea aligning with the South for the Winter Olympics is already causing some controversy. The majority or more than 70 percent of South Koreans oppose combining a team with North Korea.

This is according to a January 11 poll the office of the South’s National Assembly Speaker and television network SBS released. South Korean players were said to be “furious.”

North Korea’s participation in the upcoming Olympics seems to get some surprised. “Under the circumstances where inter-Korean (relations) are extremely strained, in fact just some 20 days ago we weren’t expecting North Korea would participate in the Olympics,” the South’s chief negotiator and vice unification minister Chun Hae-sung said, according to Huffington Post.

Chun said it would have a significant meaning if the two Koreas show reconciliation and unity, citing a joint march. He added that the North Korea will separately send a 150-strong delegation to the Paralympics.

Meanwhile, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said the world must not be naive about North Korea’s “charm offensive” over the upcoming Winter Olympics. Several nations meeting in Vancouver, Canada, agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.</s>North and South Korean athletes will march together at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony under a unified flag, the South said Wednesday, in a diplomatic breakthrough following days of talks between the two countries.

They will also field a joint North and South Korean women’s ice hockey team for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which begin early next month, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.

North and South Korean skiers will train together at a resort in North Korea before the Olympics start, and performers from the two countries will also hold a joint cultural event there.

North Korea will also send around 230 supporters to cheer on its athletes. A smaller delegation of North Korean athletes and supporters will attend the Paralympics, the unification ministry said.

The developments were announced following North-South talks on Wednesday at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two countries.

The Korean Unification Flag features a blue silhouette of the peninsula and outlying islands. It was first used in 1991 at the World Table Tennis Championships and has been used at a number of sporting events since, most recently at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

Wednesday’s announcement is the latest breakthrough since talks began between the two Koreas earlier this month, after years of broken communications.

While the two sides have earned praise for ratcheting down military tensions in recent weeks, some of Seoul’s allies voiced concern Wednesday that Pyongyang may be using the talks to buy time to pursue its weapons program.

The US military has moved more firepower to the region and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned of complacency at a Tuesday summit in Vancouver where the top diplomats from the United States, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom were in town to discuss North Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called on the international community to be clear-eyed about North Korea’s motivations for participating in the talks, which have been hailed by some as the most significant thaw in ties in years.

“I believe that North Korea wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs,” Kono said at the meeting. “It’s not the time to ease pressure towards North Korea.”

China denounced the Vancouver talks, and the United Nations Command, under whose framework they are being held, as demonstrating “Cold War mentality.”

“(Such thinking) will only lead to split in the international community and harm the joint efforts that could properly solve the nuclear issue on Korea peninsula,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday.

It remains to be seen how much progress achieved before the Olympics will be retained after the games are over, or if tensions will again worsen.

John Park, director of the Korea Working Group at the Harvard Kennedy School, warned against viewing the talks as a major breakthrough.

“Both Koreas are primarily utilizing the talks for a limited objective — arranging the participation of a North Korean delegation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics,” Park said.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the talks were a “significant step” but acknowledged the serious challenges ahead: “Despite these overtures to improve relations with the South, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfill its international obligations regarding denuclearization.”

North Korea has remained adamant throughout this month’s thaw in relations with South Korea that its nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles are here to stay.

Joint US-South Korea military drills — which always infuriate Pyongyang and raise tensions on the peninsula — have been suspended for the duration of the upcoming Olympics as a show of good faith, but they are likely resume following the competition.</s>Share this article with Google Plus

Athletes from North and South Korea will march together under a ‘unification’ flag after the bitterly divided countries agreed to form their first joint Olympic team.

Seoul’s unification ministry said the Koreas reached the agreement over the games in the South next month, during talks on Wednesday at the border village of Panmunjom.

Athletes from the two Koreas will march together under a ‘unification flag’ depicting the whole peninsula during the opening ceremony.

The two countries have remained divided since the Korean War of 1950, when North Korea was backed by communist states, and South Korea by the West.

The two countries will field a single women’s ice hockey team.

The measures require approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The South Korean ministry said the two Koreas will consult with the IOC this weekend.
The South Korean Ministry of Unification announces that both North Korea and South Korea will march together under the Korean Unification Flag during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics.