SEOUL - South Korean officials began preparations on Friday for a summit next month with North Korea aimed at reducing tensions on the peninsula, as a report showed the North had probably begun testing a nuclear reactor as recently as late February.

The report by intelligence analysts at Jane’s by IHS Markit said satellite imagery from 25 February showed emissions of non-condensable gases from a stack at the North’s experimental light water reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon Atomic Energy Research Center, suggesting preliminary testing had likely begun.

The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but North Korea is believed to already have enough fissile material for multiple nuclear bombs, according to Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Meantime, South Korean officials were set to convene their first meeting at the presidential Blue House to prepare for a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un late next month.

Headed by Moon’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok, former prominent democracy activist, the team will hammer out plans for the summit, including when to contact the North and what will be discussed between Kim and Moon.

US President Donald Trump also accepted a summit invitation from Kim Jong Un, after a South Korean envoy told him earlier this month that the North’s leader was prepared to discuss denuclearization. Trump and Kim are expected to meet sometime in May although a location has not been set yet.

Although North Korea’s state media has yet to comment on the pending summits with Moon and Trump, its foreign minister Ri Yong Ho is visiting Sweden for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom. Ri’s trip prompted speculation it could lay the groundwork for the summit in Sweden between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

The push for these summits came after the North Korean leader said in a New Year’s address that he wanted to improve relations with the South following a year of heightened tensions brought on by the North’s nuclear and missile tests.

North Korea completed construction of the Yongbyon ELWR in 2013. It was optimized for civilian electricity production, and although it is not yet operational, it could start running with “little warning” later in 2018 or 2019, the Jane’s report said.

The experimental reactor is likely too small to provide much in the way of electricity, but is part of a “long-running effort” to develop a light-water reactor after a deal by an international consortium, including the United States, to provide two such nuclear power reactors in the 1990s fell apart, Pollack said.

“It’s their way of saying, ‘see, since you won’t give us what you promised, we’ll do it ourselves’,” Pollack said. “They haven’t made any agreements lately with the US, so the work goes on.”

An official at the South’s defense ministry said authorities were aware of the Jane’s report, which follows a similar one released on the 38 North website earlier this month that said a nearby reactor had also continued to show signs of operation.

The isolated state has maintained it will continue developing its nuclear program but later added it was open to abandoning the program if the security of its regime was guaranteed, according to South Korea.</s>SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korea said on Friday it was seeking high-level talks this month with North Korea to prepare for a summit and that South Korean President Moon Jae-in may meet Donald Trump before the U.S. president’s planned meeting with the North Korean leader.

Amid a flurry of diplomacy from Asia to Europe to Washington, Trump reaffirmed his plan to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un by the end of May during a phone call on Friday with Moon and both voiced “cautious optimism” about efforts to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

A White House statement said Trump and Moon discussed preparations for their upcoming engagements with Pyongyang and agreed that “concrete actions,” not words, were the key to denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

They “emphasised that a brighter future is available for North Korea, if it chooses the correct path,” it said.

Earlier, Moon’s chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, said proposed North-South talks in late March would cover key agenda topics and other details of the pending summit between Moon and Kim.

If North Korea agrees to the talks, they would offer an opportunity for Pyongyang to break its silence on what Seoul says is Kim’s desire to meet Trump and Moon and his willingness to freeze his country’s nuclear and missile programs.

“We’ve decided to narrow down the agenda topics to denuclearising the Korean peninsula, securing permanent peace to ease military tension and new, bold ways to take inter-Korean relations forward,” Im, the head of South Korea’s summit preparation team, told reporters.

Im said Moon may meet Trump after an inter-Korean summit but before Trump’s planned summit with Kim in May.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Moon pledged in the call with Trump to cooperate closely with Washington on summit diplomacy. Trump asked South Korean officials to show flexibility in trade negotiations with the United States in the call, the South Korean presidency said.

Even amid North Korea tensions, Trump has repeatedly denounced a U.S. free trade deal with ally South Korea as “unfair” and threatened many times to scrap it.

Senior South Korean officials met Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang this month and told Washington the North Korean leader was open to giving up his nuclear weapons if North Korea’s security was guaranteed.

Trump responded with a surprise announcement that he was willing to meet Kim in a bid to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.

North Korea’s state media has yet to comment on the content of Kim’s meeting with the South Koreans, but North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho arrived in Sweden this week for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom, prompting speculation that he could lay the groundwork for a Trump-Kim summit.

Wallstrom’s press secretary Pezhman Fivrin said the talks, which had been due to end late on Friday, would continue on Saturday. He declined to give further information.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Friday that Sweden, whose embassy represents U.S. interests in Pyongyang, was ready to act as a facilitator to help resolve tensions.

“If we can act as a facilitator such that something comes out of this, then we will of course do so,” he told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha was in Washington on Friday for talks expected to focus on North Korea and trade, as was Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who met U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan in the morning.

The U.S. State Department said the two sides called the announcement of a meeting between Trump and Kim a “historic opportunity,” while stressing that the U.S.-led campaign to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons through sanctions must continue until Pyongyang “takes credible, verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearisation.”

Kang was expected to hold talks later on Friday with Sullivan, who is standing in after Trump fired Rex Tillerson as U.S. secretary of state this week. It was not known whether the two Asian ministers would meet CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who Trump has tapped to replace Tillerson.

The Japanese and South Korean ministers were expected to meet in Washington on Saturday.

In a phone call with South Korean President Moon on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed a wish for talks with North Korea following Pyongyang’s planned summits with South Korea and the United States, South Korea’s presidential spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom said.

On Thursday, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, cautioned the United States could not be overly optimistic about the outcome of any summit between Trump and Kim and must go into it with “eyes wide open”.

A report on Friday by intelligence analysts at Jane’s by IHS Markit said satellite imagery from Feb. 25 showed gas emissions at the North’s experimental light water reactor, suggesting preliminary testing had likely begun.

The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but North Korea is believed to already have enough fissile material for multiple nuclear bombs, according to Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

An official at South Korea’s defence ministry said authorities were aware of the Jane’s report, which follows a similar one on the 38 North website this month that said a nearby reactor had also continued to show signs of operation.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the Jane’s report, calling it an intelligence issue.</s>SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korea said on Friday it was seeking high-level talks this month with North Korea to prepare for a summit and that South Korean President Moon Jae-in may meet Donald Trump before the U.S. president’s planned meeting with the North Korean leader.

Amid a flurry of diplomacy from Asia to Europe to Washington, Trump reaffirmed his plan to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un by the end of May during a phone call on Friday with Moon and both voiced “cautious optimism” about efforts to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

A White House statement said Trump and Moon discussed preparations for their upcoming engagements with Pyongyang and agreed that “concrete actions,” not words, were the key to denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

They “emphasized that a brighter future is available for North Korea, if it chooses the correct path,” it said.

Earlier, Moon’s chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, said proposed North-South talks in late March would cover key agenda topics and other details of the pending summit between Moon and Kim.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Central Intelligence Agency chief Mike Pompeo, whom Trump nominated this week to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, has been playing a lead role in planning the talks and has been conducting back-channel communications with North Korean representatives.

Pompeo has engaged with counterparts through a channel that runs between the CIA. and North Korean counterpart, the Reconnaissance General Bureau. He remains in close touch with the director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon, said a U.S. official familiar with the preparations.

For many years, the main and often only channels of official communication between Washington and Pyongyang have been South Korea’s intelligence service and North Korea’s UN Mission in the United States, the official added.

The official confirmed that Pompeo has taken the lead on planning because after the departure of Joe Yun, the State Department’s point person on North Korea, intelligence agencies are the main source of expertise on the country.

The planning is at “a very early stage,” the official said.

If North Korea agrees to the talks, they would offer an opportunity for Pyongyang to break its silence on what Seoul says is Kim’s desire to meet Trump and Moon and his willingness to freeze his country’s nuclear and missile programs.

“We’ve decided to narrow down the agenda topics to denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, securing permanent peace to ease military tension and new, bold ways to take inter-Korean relations forward,” Im, the head of South Korea’s summit preparation team, told reporters.

Im said Moon may meet Trump after an inter-Korean summit but before Trump’s planned summit with Kim in May.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Moon pledged in the call with Trump to cooperate closely with Washington on summit diplomacy. Trump asked South Korean officials to show flexibility in trade negotiations with the United States in the call, the South Korean presidency said.

Even amid North Korea tensions, Trump has repeatedly denounced a U.S. free trade deal with ally South Korea as “unfair” and threatened many times to scrap it.

Senior South Korean officials met Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang this month and told Washington the North Korean leader was open to giving up his nuclear weapons if North Korea’s security was guaranteed.

Trump responded with a surprise announcement that he was willing to meet Kim in a bid to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.

TALKS IN SWEDEN

North Korea’s state media has yet to comment on the content of Kim’s meeting with the South Koreans, but North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho arrived in Sweden this week for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom, prompting speculation he could lay the groundwork for a Trump-Kim summit.

Wallstrom’s press secretary, Pezhman Fivrin, said the talks, which had been due to end late on Friday, would continue on Saturday. He declined to give further information.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers a speech during a ceremony celebrating the 99th anniversary of the March First Independence Movement against Japanese colonial rule, at Seodaemun Prison History Hall in Seoul, South Korea, March 1, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday that Sweden, whose embassy represents U.S. interests in Pyongyang, was ready to act as a facilitator to help resolve tensions.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha was in Washington on Friday for talks on North Korea and trade, as was Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who met U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan in the morning.

The U.S. State Department said the two sides called the announcement of a meeting between Trump and Kim a “historic opportunity,” while stressing that the U.S.-led campaign to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons through sanctions must continue until Pyongyang “takes credible, verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearization.”

Kang held talks later on Friday with Sullivan, who is standing in after Trump fired Tillerson. It was not known whether the two Asian ministers would meet Pompeo.

Kang told PBS NewsHour she was “cautiously optimistic” denuclearization talks would happen between the United States and North Korea and that these would lead to “a breakthrough for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.”

She stressed though that full denuclearization would “take a long while because the (North Korean nuclear) program is very advanced.”

The Japanese and South Korean ministers were expected to meet in Washington on Saturday.

In a phone call with South Korean President Moon on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed a wish for talks with North Korea following Pyongyang’s planned summits with South Korea and the United States, South Korea’s presidential spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom said.

On Thursday, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, cautioned the United States could not be overly optimistic about the outcome of any summit between Trump and Kim and must go into it with “eyes wide open”.

A report on Friday by intelligence analysts at Jane’s by IHS Markit said satellite imagery from Feb. 25 showed gas emissions at the North’s experimental light water reactor, suggesting preliminary testing had likely begun.

The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but North Korea is believed to already have enough fissile material for multiple nuclear bombs, according to Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Slideshow (2 Images)

An official at South Korea’s defense ministry said authorities were aware of the Jane’s report, which follows a similar one on the 38 North website this month that said a nearby reactor had also continued to show signs of operation.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the Jane’s report, calling it an intelligence issue.</s>South Korea’s National Security Adviser, Chung Eui-yong, says North Korean President, Kim Jong Un, has agreed to halt nuclear and ballistic missile testing while dialogue is ongoing between North Korea and the US.

Eui-yong who met with President Donald Trump for a briefing on his recent trip to Pyongyang says President Jong Un has announced his commitment to denuclearization and understands that the routine military exercises between South Korea and the US must continue.

Commending President Trump’s ‘maximum pressure policy’ alongside the international community’s solidarity had led to the present juncture of events.

“We are optimistic about continuing a diplomatic process to test the possibility of a peaceful resolution. South Korea, the US and other partners will ensure continued pressure until the North Korea matches words to actions,” Eui-yong avers.

Towards assuring permanent denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at the impending meeting of the Presidents Jong Un and Donald Trump in May, North Korea agreed to hold a candid talk with the US to denuclearize and normalize relationship between both countries.

President Jong Un further agreed not to deploy nuclear or conventional weapons against South Korea in the cause of the upcoming dialogue.

In a bid to maintain the reconciliation atmosphere at the recently concluded Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Games, the north has extended an invite to south’s Taekwondo team and performing arts group to Pyongyang.</s>SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean officials began preparations on Friday for a summit next month with North Korea aimed at reducing tensions on the peninsula, as a report showed the North had probably begun testing a nuclear reactor as recently as late February.

 The report by intelligence analysts at Jane's by IHS Markit said satellite imagery from Feb. 25 showed emissions of non-condensable gases from a stack at the North's experimental light water reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon Atomic Energy Research Center, suggesting preliminary testing had likely begun.

 The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but North Korea is believed to already have enough fissile material for multiple nuclear bombs, according to Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

 Meantime, South Korean officials were set to convene their first meeting at the presidential Blue House to prepare for a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un late next month.

 Headed by Moon's chief of staff Im Jong-seok, former prominent democracy activist, the team will hammer out plans for the summit, including when to contact the North and what will be discussed between Kim and Moon.

 U.S. President Donald Trump also accepted a summit invitation from Kim Jong Un, after a South Korean envoy told him earlier this month that the North's leader was prepared to discuss denuclearization. Trump and Kim are expected to meet sometime in May although a location has not been set yet.

 Although North Korea's state media has yet to comment on the pending summits with Moon and Trump, its foreign minister Ri Yong Ho is visiting Sweden for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom. Ri's trip prompted speculation it could lay the groundwork for the summit in Sweden between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

 The push for these summits came after the North Korean leader said in a New Year's address that he wanted to improve relations with the South following a year of heightened tensions brought on by the North's nuclear and missile tests. 

 

 "WORK GOES ON" 

 North Korea completed construction of the Yongbyon ELWR in 2013. It was optimized for civilian electricity production, and although it is not yet operational, it could start running with "little warning" later in 2018 or 2019, the Jane's report said.

 The experimental reactor is likely too small to provide much in the way of electricity, but is part of a “long-running effort” to develop a light-water reactor after a deal by an international consortium, including the United States, to provide two such nuclear power reactors in the 1990s fell apart, Pollack said.

 "It’s their way of saying, ‘see, since you won’t give us what you promised, we’ll do it ourselves’," Pollack said. "They haven’t made any agreements lately with the U.S., so the work goes on."

 An official at the South's defense ministry said authorities were aware of the Jane's report, which follows a similar one released on the 38 North website earlier this month that said a nearby reactor had also continued to show signs of operation. 

 The isolated state has maintained it will continue developing its nuclear program but later added it was open to abandoning the program if the security of its regime was guaranteed, according to South Korea.

 

 (Reporting by Christine Kim; Additional reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)</s>SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will seek high-level talks with North Korea this month as preparations for a summit began on Friday, the presidential chief of staff said, while officials in the South expressed interest in a separate summit with the United States.</s>SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean officials began preparations on Friday for a summit next month with North Korea aimed at reducing tensions on the peninsula, as a report showed the North had probably begun testing a nuclear reactor as recently as late February.

The report by intelligence analysts at Jane’s by IHS Markit said satellite imagery from Feb. 25 showed emissions of non-condensable gases from a stack at the North’s experimental light water reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon Atomic Energy Research Center, suggesting preliminary testing had likely begun.

The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but North Korea is believed to already have enough fissile material for multiple nuclear bombs, according to Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Meantime, South Korean officials were set to convene their first meeting at the presidential Blue House to prepare for a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un late next month.

Headed by Moon’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok, former prominent democracy activist, the team will hammer out plans for the summit, including when to contact the North and what will be discussed between Kim and Moon.

U.S. President Donald Trump also accepted a summit invitation from Kim Jong Un, after a South Korean envoy told him earlier this month that the North’s leader was prepared to discuss denuclearisation. Trump and Kim are expected to meet sometime in May although a location has not been set yet.

Although North Korea’s state media has yet to comment on the pending summits with Moon and Trump, its foreign minister Ri Yong Ho is visiting Sweden for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom. Ri’s trip prompted speculation it could lay the groundwork for the summit in Sweden between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

The push for these summits came after the North Korean leader said in a New Year’s address that he wanted to improve relations with the South following a year of heightened tensions brought on by the North’s nuclear and missile tests.

North Korea completed construction of the Yongbyon ELWR in 2013. It was optimised for civilian electricity production, and although it is not yet operational, it could start running with “little warning” later in 2018 or 2019, the Jane’s report said.

The experimental reactor is likely too small to provide much in the way of electricity, but is part of a “long-running effort” to develop a light-water reactor after a deal by an international consortium, including the United States, to provide two such nuclear power reactors in the 1990s fell apart, Pollack said.

“It’s their way of saying, ‘see, since you won’t give us what you promised, we’ll do it ourselves’,” Pollack said. “They haven’t made any agreements lately with the U.S., so the work goes on.”

An official at the South’s defence ministry said authorities were aware of the Jane’s report, which follows a similar one released on the 38 North website earlier this month that said a nearby reactor had also continued to show signs of operation.

The isolated state has maintained it will continue developing its nuclear programme but later added it was open to abandoning the programme if the security of its regime was guaranteed, according to South Korea.</s>SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean officials began preparations on Friday for a summit next month with North Korea aimed at reducing tensions on the peninsula, as a report showed the North had probably begun testing a nuclear reactor as recently as late February.

The report by intelligence analysts at Jane’s by IHS Markit said satellite imagery from Feb. 25 showed emissions of non-condensable gases from a stack at the North’s experimental light water reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon Atomic Energy Research Center, suggesting preliminary testing had likely begun.

The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but North Korea is believed to already have enough fissile material for multiple nuclear bombs, according to Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Meantime, South Korean officials were set to convene their first meeting at the presidential Blue House to prepare for a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un late next month.

Headed by Moon’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok, former prominent democracy activist, the team will hammer out plans for the summit, including when to contact the North and what will be discussed between Kim and Moon.

U.S. President Donald Trump also accepted a summit invitation from Kim Jong Un, after a South Korean envoy told him earlier this month that the North’s leader was prepared to discuss denuclearisation. Trump and Kim are expected to meet sometime in May although a location has not been set yet.

Although North Korea’s state media has yet to comment on the pending summits with Moon and Trump, its foreign minister Ri Yong Ho is visiting Sweden for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom. Ri’s trip prompted speculation it could lay the groundwork for the summit in Sweden between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

The push for these summits came after the North Korean leader said in a New Year’s address that he wanted to improve relations with the South following a year of heightened tensions brought on by the North’s nuclear and missile tests.

North Korea completed construction of the Yongbyon ELWR in 2013. It was optimised for civilian electricity production, and although it is not yet operational, it could start running with “little warning” later in 2018 or 2019, the Jane’s report said.

The experimental reactor is likely too small to provide much in the way of electricity, but is part of a “long-running effort” to develop a light-water reactor after a deal by an international consortium, including the United States, to provide two such nuclear power reactors in the 1990s fell apart, Pollack said.

“It’s their way of saying, ‘see, since you won’t give us what you promised, we’ll do it ourselves’,” Pollack said. “They haven’t made any agreements lately with the U.S., so the work goes on.”

An official at the South’s defence ministry said authorities were aware of the Jane’s report, which follows a similar one released on the 38 North website earlier this month that said a nearby reactor had also continued to show signs of operation.

The isolated state has maintained it will continue developing its nuclear programme but later added it was open to abandoning the programme if the security of its regime was guaranteed, according to South Korea.</s>Says Sean Hannity said in 2008 that Obama’s willingness to meet with North Korea was "disturbing" while Trump’s "willingness to meet with North Korea is a huge foreign policy win."

An image shared widely on Facebook and Reddit chides Fox News host Sean Hannity for having a double standard on presidents talking to North Korea.

It says that in 2008 Hannity said that President Barack Obama’s "willingness to meet with North Korea is one of the most disturbing displays of Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience." But in 2018, Hannity said President Donald Trump’s "willingness to meet with North Korea is a huge foreign policy win."

We hit the transcripts and video files. For the most part, those words accurately reflect what Hannity said.

A week before Election Day 2008, Hannity gave 10 reasons not to vote for Obama. No. 2 on his list concerned talking to unfriendly regimes.

"One of the most disturbing displays of Obama's lack of foreign policy expertise came during last year's YouTube debate," Hannity said Oct. 26, 2008. "The junior senator from Illinois gave what many called a naive answer for a question from the audience about whether he would meet with the leaders of Syria, Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea without preconditions."

Asked during that debate if he would be willing to meet with those leaders without preconditions, Obama said "I would," and compared that to previous presidents.

"Ronald Reagan and Democratic presidents like JFK constantly spoke to the Soviet Union at a time when Ronald Reagan called them an evil empire," Obama said. "And the reason is because they understood that we may not trust them and they may pose an extraordinary danger to this country, but we had the obligation to find areas where we can potentially move forward."

The image mentioned only North Korea, while Hannity listed several countries.

When news broke that Trump was open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Hannity voiced support.

"A huge foreign policy win for President Trump," Hannity said March 8. "Little Rocket Man blinks. Now, the president’s tough rhetoric, his bold action, his severe sanctions, they appear to be working tonight. President Trump is accepting an invitation to meet with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un by May, and Pyongyang is agreeing to stop all nuclear and missile tests while these talks are underway. And the sanctions? They will continue."

So the text in the image matches what Hannity said.

But his criticism of Obama and his praise for Trump came in the context of different policies.

Obama’s policy on North Korea grew more complicated over time. But initially, it was fairly simple, said Penn State international affairs professor Joseph DeThomas.

Preconditions meant that in order for talks to happen, North Korea had to agree that the purpose was the complete denuclearization of North Korea.

"During the campaign and early in his term Obama was very open to talks without preconditions," DeThomas said.

For Trump, the picture is murkier.

When Trump tweeted that he would meet with Kim Jong Un, North Korea had not taken any steps toward denuclearization. He said they had "talked" about it.

"Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean representatives, not just a freeze," Trump wrote. "Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time."

But for North Korea, denuclearization applies to the entire peninsula, which has implications for the American presence and military posture in South Korea. That is not the same as simply agreeing to a North Korea without nukes.

DeThomas said testing halts are customary during talks with North Korea. Beyond that, North Korea made no concessions or took any steps toward ending its nuclear program.

Trump has imposed stricter sanctions and has been more ready to hint at using military force against North Korea. But in terms of having direct talks between the leaders of both nations, DeThomas said this administration set a lower bar than what previous presidents have demanded.

"The Trump precondition for talks was that North Korea had to halt nuclear and missile testing for some unspecified period of time prior to commencement of talks," DeThomas said. "

In February, Vice President Mike Pence drew headlines when he said sanctions and direct talks could happen at the same time.

To some observers, that meant the administration was willing to talk without the precondition of North Korea agreeing to a future free of nukes. DeThomas characterized such words as "loosey goosey," but not indicative of a major change.

In that regard, when Hannity praised Trump, the administration’s overall policy was tougher than what Obama had articulated when he ran for president. But the fact remains that Trump had agreed to a meeting before North Korea had taken any concrete steps toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons.

The side-by-side quotes cast Hannity as criticizing Obama for being willing to talk to North Korea while praising Trump for his willingness to do the same thing. The quotations are pretty much accurate.

But the image glosses over the different policy preferences of each man at the time Hannity spoke. In 2008, Obama said simply there were no preconditions for a meeting with the leader. In 2018, Trump’s administration voiced some relaxation on preconditions, but not a full rejection of them.

At the same time, Trump agreed to a meeting before North Korea had done more than agree to hold off on testing during any talks.

The image leaves out some context, but overall, we rate it Mostly True.</s>SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will seek high-level talks with North Korea this month as preparations for a summit began on Friday, the presidential chief of staff said, while officials in the South expressed interest in a separate summit with the United States.

If North Korea agrees to the talks, they would be the first North-South contact since a South Korean delegation returned from a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this month and a chance for North Korea to break its silence on promised engagements with the South and the United States.

The talks about talks come after the head of the U.S. Pacific Command said the United States could not be overly optimistic about the outcome of any summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim, aimed at ending the North’s nuclear and missile programs, and must go into it with “eyes wide open”.

Admiral Harry Harris told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee he believed the United States would stick to its demand for the “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula.

Officials of the two Koreas will discuss key agenda topics and other matters related to the pending summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim, Moon’s presidential chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, told a media briefing.

“We’ve decided to narrow down the agenda topics to denuclearising the Korean peninsula, securing permanent peace to ease military tension and new, bold ways to take inter-Korean relations forward,” said Im, who is head of the preparation team.

The isolated state has always maintained it will continue to develop its nuclear weapons as a deterrent against U.S. aggression but, according to South Korea, it later said it was open to abandoning the program if the security of its regime was guaranteed.

Im added Moon may meet Trump after the inter-Korean summit but before Trump’s planned summit with Kim in May.

An exact time and location for the Trump-Kim meeting have not been set.

North Korea’s state media has yet to comment on the pending summits with Moon and Trump, but Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is visiting Sweden for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom. Ri’s trip prompted speculation it could lay the groundwork for the summit in Sweden between Trump and Kim.

Chinese state councilor Yang Jiechi is also due to visit South Korea this month to discuss North Korea-related matters.

The push for the two summits came after the North Korean leader said in a New Year’s address that he wanted to improve relations with the South following a year of heightened tension.

A report on Friday by intelligence analysts at Jane’s by IHS Markit said satellite imagery from Feb. 25 showed gas emissions from a stack at the North’s experimental light water reactor (ELWR), suggesting preliminary testing had likely begun.

The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but North Korea is believed to already have enough fissile material for multiple nuclear bombs, according to Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

An official at the South’s defense ministry said authorities were aware of the Jane’s report, which follows a similar one released on the 38 North website earlier this month that said a nearby reactor had also continued to show signs of operation.
South Korea states that they want high-level talks with North Korea before the summit.