North Korea rejects U.S. goal to resume denuclearization talks, as Pyogyang and Moscow strengthen ties
SEOUL, South Korea — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dismissed the U.S.'s intent to resume diplomacy on North Korea's denuclearization, saying Tuesday the North flatly opposes any attempt to deny its position as a nuclear weapons state.
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In his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump has bragged of his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and expressed hopes of restarting nuclear diplomacy between them. Their high-stakes diplomacy in 2018-19 unraveled due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea. Kim has since executed weapons tests to modernize and expand his nuclear arsenal.
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In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong said she doesn't deny the personal relationship between her brother and Trump 'is not bad.' But she said if their personal relations are to serve the purpose of North Korea's denuclearization, North Korea would view it as 'nothing but a mockery.'
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She said it was worth considering that the year is 2025, not 2018 or 2019 — which was during Trump's first term — and any attempt to deny North Korea as a nuclear weapons state would be rejected.
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'If the U.S. fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK- U.S. meeting will remain as a 'hope' of the U.S. side,' Kim Yo Jong said, referring to her country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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She said she was responding to reported comments by a U.S. official that Trump is open to talks on denuclearization. She likely was referring to a Saturday article by Yonhap news agency that cited an unidentified White House official as saying Trump 'remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearized North Korea.'
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Meanwhile, on Sunday a regular air link between Moscow and Pyogyang started, a move reflecting increasingly close ties between the two countries.
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The first flight operated by Russian carrier Nordwind took off from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport carrying over 400 passengers. Russia's Transport Ministry said there will be one flight a month to meet demand.
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North Korea has been slowly easing the curbs imposed during the pandemic and reopening its borders in phases. But the country hasn't said if it would fully resume international tourism.
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Winnipeg Free Press
24 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
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Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Wall Street gains as investors eye US trade talks with China, Fed rate decision and earnings reports
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Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
Russian strike on Ukraine prison kills 17, Kyiv says
Published Jul 29, 2025 • 3 minute read Four bombs hit the prison, Ukraine's justice ministry said Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Justice Ministry/AFP Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) — A Russian airstrike on a prison in southeastern Ukraine overnight killed 17 inmates and wounded dozens of others, Kyiv said on Tuesday, after Washington pressured Russia to end its invasion. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The strike came hours after US President Donald Trump issued Moscow with a new deadline to end its grinding invasion of Ukraine — now in its fourth year — or face tough new sanctions. And it also comes on the three-year anniversary of a strike on another detention facility in occupied Ukrainian territory that Kyiv blamed on Moscow and that was reported to have killed dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers. 'It was a deliberate strike, intentional, not accidental. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians in that facility,' Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said, reacting on social media. Russia carried out eight strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region overnight, hitting the prison, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the military administration. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Ukraine's justice ministry said Moscow's forces hit the prison with four glide bombs, killing 17 inmates and wounding another 42, including one of the detention centre's employees. Bricks and debris were strewn on the ground around buildings with blown-out windows, according to images released by the ministry. The facility's perimeter was intact and there was no threat that inmates would escape, it added. Rescue workers were seen searching for survivors in pictures released by the region's emergency services. 'War crimes' A senior Ukrainian source said that 274 people were serving sentences in the Bilenkivska facility, where 30 people worked. The source added there were no Russian war prisoners being held at the centre. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets meanwhile said the Zaporizhzhia attack was further evidence of Russian 'war crimes.' 'People held in places of detention do not lose their right to life and protection,' he wrote on social media. Russia has been ramping up its air attacks against Ukraine. (Roman PILIPEY/AFP/File) Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP/File In addition to the glide bomb attack, the Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight, adding that its air defence systems had downed 32 of the drones only. People were also killed and more wounded in attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to regional government officials. A missile strike on the town of Kamyanske killed two people, wounded five and damaged a hospital, Sergiy Lysak, head of the regional military administration said on Telegram. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Another person was killed and several wounded in an attack on the region's Synelnykivsky district, he said. In a separate attack on Velykomykhaylivska, Monday night, a '75-year-old woman was killed. A 68-year-old man was wounded. A private house was damaged,' he posted on Telegram. In southern Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, the region's acting governor said Tuesday. 'A car was damaged on Ostrovsky Street. Unfortunately, the driver who was in it died,' Yuri Slyusar, acting governor of the Rostov region, said in a post on Telegram. Kyiv has been trying to repel Russia's summer offensive, which has made fresh advances into areas largely spared since the start of the invasion in 2022. Over the weekend, the Russian army said its forces had captured a small settlement in the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, weeks after it seized the first village in the territory. Kyiv has contested those claimed Russian advances. Both Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the strike over the night of July 29 three years ago on the detention in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, which the Kremlin says is part of Russia. Ukraine says that dozens of its soldiers who laid down their arms after a long Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol were killed in that attack on the Olenivka detention facility. MLB Sunshine Girls Opinion Toronto & GTA Toronto & GTA
