US North Korea Tensions

Talks on denuclearising the Korean peninsula have been largely deadlocked since the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi at the start of this year

"The idea that we are somehow exerting maximum pressure on North Korea is just unfortunately not true," he said

The KCNA statement warned that if the United States dared to take issue with the North's system of government by citing human rights problems, it would "pay dearly"

South Korea has said the weapons tests don't help efforts to stabilise peace

The change will affect tens of thousands of people from visa waiver countries who have gone to the North as tourists or for other purposes in recent years

On Thursday, Trump announced in a tweet that the US should recognise the disputed Golan Heights as Israeli territory, surprising State Department officials

Pyongyang says the nuclear arsenal it has spent decades developing, suffering sanctions and isolation as a result, is to defend itself from a possible US invasion

Trump's remarks came a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Kim for a surprise two-hour meeting on their border in a bid to keep the Trump summit on track

He said a first step would be "talks about talks" to see if "conditions are right to even begin thinking about negotiations

Pence briefly encountered Kim but they tried to avoid directly facing each other

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated the "freeze-for-freeze" proposal for North Korea to suspend weapons tests while the US halts military drills in the area

This comes a day after US President Donald Trump re-designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism

Using the so-called 'New York channel,' Joseph Yun, US negotiator with North Korea, has been in contact with diplomats at Pyongyang's United Nations mission, the official said

North Korea has fired 22 missiles during 15 tests since February, drawing a sharp reaction from the US and its allies

A campaign by the US to close Pyongyang's embassies and curb its business activities world-wide has led more than 20 nations to restrict operations

The two countries have been trading public threats over North Korea's nuclear program with the North declaring that its missiles have the capacity to strike US and Trump vowing to totally destroy them

The joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against us: North Korea

American hardliners argue that only acceptable outcome with NKorea is complete nuclear disarmament

Sales of food supplies, survival gear shoot up after rise in US-N Korea tensions