North Korea

North Korea's most prolific hacking group, broadly known within the security community under the name Lazarus, has over the last half-decade proven itself one of the world's most internationally aggressive teams of intruders. It has pulled off audacious attacks around the globe, from leaking and destroying Sony Pictures' data to siphoning of tens of millions of dollars from banks in Poland and Bangladesh. Now, security researchers have detailed the capabilities of a far more obscure North Korean group, with its own distinct and diverse hacking arsenal.

The Trump administration is considering how to respond to the North Korean offer of talks on its nuclear weapons programme at a time when its capacity to engage with Pyongyang has been hamstrung by the departure of its top Korea experts, according to former officials and analysts.

The White House has said its policy of “maximum pressure and engagement” was designed to use sanctions to push the regime of Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table to talk about the future of his nuclear weapons programme. But now that the North Korean leader has signalled a willingness to do that, it is unclear whether the administration has a plan for how to respond.

Former officials say that the administration has spent a lot of time preparing sanctions and contingency planning for military action, but little or no time planning a negotiating strategy for use if Pyongyang entered serious talks.

The last remaining US diplomat with experience of talking to the North Koreans, Joseph Yun, left his post on Friday, and the US currently has no ambassador in Seoul, since the White House withdrew the nomination of another experienced diplomat, Victor Cha. No replacement nominees have been announced.

Both Yun and Cha were advocates of engagement with North Korea and were viewed with suspicion by the White House, where senior officials have argued for a military solution to the challenge posed by Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programme.

Kim Jong Un wants to sign a peace treaty after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korean media reported, reviving a long-held goal of the North Korean regime.

Kim is likely to raise the possibility of a peace treaty, along with establishing diplomatic relations and nuclear disarmament, during a meeting with the U.S. leader, the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said Monday, citing an unidentified senior official in South Korea’s presidential office. Trump last week agreed to meet Kim, although key details of the summit have yet to be decided.

Koh Yu-hwan, who teaches North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the regime has long sought a peace treaty to end the more than 60-year-old ceasefire between the two sides and help guarantee its safety.

“There were agreements between the U.S. and North Korea to open up discussion on a peace treaty, but they never materialized,” Koh said, saying the conditions were key. “The U.S. wants a peace treaty at the end of the denuclearization process, while for the North, it’s the precondition for its denuclearization.”

Signing a peace treaty would require addressing issues regarding the U.S. military’s presence in South Korea and its transfer of wartime operational control to South Korea and United Nations forces in South Korea, Koh said.

Trump’s surprise decision Thursday to accept a meeting with Kim dispensed with decades of U.S. foreign policy by accepting the high-stakes invitation based on a vague offer by Kim to discuss giving up his nuclear weapons program. The decision drew both support from countries seeking to defuse tensions between North Korea and the U.S., and warnings that Kim could be seeking more time to develop his weapons and reduce pressure from international sanctions.

North Korea, the U.S., and South Korea will hold track 1.5 meetings in Finland on April 19 to discuss the conditions for denuclearization, two sources independently confirmed to NK News this week.

A report on Friday from South Korea’s TV Chosun added that one of the participants in the current talks in Sweden will travel to Finland after they wrap up their discussions in Stockholm.

The South Korean news outlet said that Choi Kang Il, the DPRK’s Vice Minister of North Korea – U.S. relations will travel to Finland on Sunday.

The DPRK contingent is expected to meet with the former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens, government officials from South Korea and several academics.

While the meeting is unlikely to be conducted in an official capacity, it may also represent the first face-to-face discussions between the U.S. and North Korea since Washington announced last week that it was willing to hold a summit with North Korea.

U.S. President Donald Trump made the surprise announcement that he would North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on March 8. But on Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said there were no updates on how the proposed summit was progressing.

Also on Friday, Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke over the phone and expressed “cautious optimism” about the current direction of the Korean Peninsula.

Moon also told his U.S. counterpart that he would not deviate or make concessions on North Korea’s denuclearization in Seoul’s upcoming summit with its northern neighbor.

Despite the positive developments, Washington remains committed to maintaining sanctions on the DPRK via its “maximum pressure” campaign and has said there will be no sanctions relief until North Korea demonstrates it’s serious about giving up its nuclear weapons.

Senior U.S. figures also remain skeptical of North Korea’s willingness to denuclearize. Speaking at a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, the head of Pacific Command Harry Harris said he hoped the negotiations would go well but warned that the U.S. “can’t be overly optimistic on the outcome.”

Moscow has set up a working group to draw up plans for a new bridge across the Tumen River on the DPRK-Russian border, the country’s Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East said on Wednesday.

The statement followed a meeting between DPRK chairman of the state planning mission Ro Tu Chol and a Russian government economic delegation led by Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East Alexander Galushka.

The Russian group arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday, returning home the following day.

“There are 23 automobile checkpoints between the DPRK and China, and not a single one with Russia,” DPRK minister Ro was quoted as having said in a statement released by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East on Wednesday.

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to denuclearize and meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after an historic meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold its friendship with its isolated neighbor.