Missile-savvy security minister replaces North Korea military head

But in Pyongyang, leader Kim Jong Un has called for launching more rockets. According to the John Kirby, a spokesperson for the State Department, “Our response to the North Korean proposal was consistent with our longstanding focus on denuclearization“.

“(The bank) had never told me why it was taking such measures, but it seems that they are related with the strained relations between North Korea and China”, the ICBC employee told the Dong-A Ilbo.

Yoo said that China, South Korea’s largest trading partner, is more important than any in restoring Seoul’s exports and added that an increase in exports to China will be very necessary for South Korea’s economy. However, it was not the United States but North Korea that proposed the negotiations in the first place. The Jan. 6 nuclear test terminated plans for peace and diplomacy. Gen Ri Myong-su had also appeared at a recent rally in Pyongyang and been mentioned in the slot normally reserved for the chief of staff.

North Korea successfully launched a “Kwangmyongsong”, or shining star, satellite into orbit this month.

Many analysts see North Korea’s peace talk proposal as an attempt to force the removal of the USA military in South Korea. In January, Pyongyang declared that it had successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test.

The talks, which the USA says North Korea requested, ended after North Korea rejected a US demand that denuclearization be a condition for the talks, Obama administration officials said.

The North Korea talks were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC.

The global reaction to North Korea’s January nuclear test and follow-up rocket launch this month was swift, with Japan imposing new penalties on Pyongyang, South Korea closing an inter-Korean industrial park that had filled the North’s coffers and American lawmakers passing a bill to tighten economic sanctions against the regime.

She did not use his official title, in the latest sign of her personal distrust of the young North Korean leader who pursues nuclear and missile programs.