(ATTN: UPDATES with daylong talks in first 6 paras; S. Korean envoy's comments, Japanese official's visit in paras 20-22; ADDS photo) HANOI/SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- Senior North Korean and U.S. envoys held hourslong talks in Hanoi on Friday as part of home-stretch preparations for another summit between the leaders of the Korean War foes. The negotiations on the summit agenda came as Washington said that freezing all of Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs and delivery systems will be a priority at the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, slated for Feb. 27-28. Kim Hyok-chol, Pyongyang's special representative for Washington, left the Vietnamese government's guesthouse at around 8:50 a.m. (local time). He was accompanied by two other officials: Kim Song-hye, director of the United Front Department's tactical office, and Choe Kang-il, acting director-general for the foreign ministry's North American affairs. Th

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Seoul, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton canceled his plan to visit South Korea ahead of next week's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a diplomatic source in Seoul said Saturday. "The White House has said that he will not visit Seoul due to the need to watch the Venezuelan situation," the source told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, CNN reported that he will visit South Korea this week for discussions about the upcoming summit between Trump and Kim set for Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam's Hanoi. It quoted two U.S. government officials as saying. sshluck@yna.co.kr

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SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- The culture ministry, and an affiliated government agency, said Friday they have unveiled a fashion collaboration between Korean designer brands and popular girl group Red Velvet at a showroom in New York City. "The Selects X Red Velvet," unveiled on Feb. 21 (U.S. time), is the first collaboration from The Selects, a Korean fashion showroom run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) in Manhattan. The collection consists of various casual fashion items created by five Korean designer brands in collaboration with five members of the group -- Yeri, Seulgi, Irene, Wendy and Joy. The five brands are Hidden Forest Market, Nohant, Lie, SWBD, Wnderkammer. "We unveiled samples of the designs this time, and if they are received well among local buyers (in New York) it will become possible to put them on sale at home," a KOCCA official said. The Red Velvet members visited the showroom on the sidelin

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STANFORD, California, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last year that he intends to abandon his nuclear weapons program for the sake of his children, a former U.S. intelligence official said Friday. Kim made the remark when Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang in April 2018 to confirm the regime's stated willingness to denuclearize, according to Andrew Kim, who retired at the end of last year as head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Korea Mission Center. "We asked, specifically, the director, Pompeo asked Chairman Kim: Do you really intend to denuclearize? And the way he replied was that, the chairman said: You know, I'm a father and I'm a husband and I have children and I don't want my children to carry the nuclear weapon in their bag to live through their entire life. That was his answer," Kim said during a talk at Stanford University. The revelation comes days before U.S. President Donald Trump is to meet with the N

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(ATTN: ADDS more info from 4th para, photo) SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un departed for Hanoi by train on Saturday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, a news report said. Kim's train left Pyongyang around 5 p.m. local time and is expected to travel through China all the way to Vietnam, Tass news agency reported from Pyongyang, citing an unidentified source. Kim and Trump are set to hold their second summit on Feb. 27-28. The report said that the train will travel around 4,500 kilometers to Hanoi, which will take over 48 hours. Earlier, the Vietnamese foreign ministry tweeted that Kim will make an "official friendly visit" to Vietnam "in the coming days." North Korean media have yet to report on Kim's departure. Nor they have reported on his upcoming summit with Trump. Speculation has been swirling about what transportation Kim will use in traveling to Hanoi. Flying on a state jet, codenamed "Chammae-1," was originally

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(ATTN: CHANGES number due to defense ministry's correction in 5th para) By Song Sang-ho SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- Japan will not send its warship to waters off the Korean Peninsula for a multinational maritime exercise this spring, a government source here said Friday, amid tensions over a military spat and historical issues. South Korea, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other partner countries plan to stage the maneuvers from April 29 to May 2 in waters off South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan and then from May 9 to May 13 in waters off Singapore. Japan will skip the drills near Busan, but take part in those around Singapore, the source said on condition of anonymity. The exercise will focus on enhancing multilateral cooperation in countering maritime crimes and protecting gas fields or other ocean-based facilities. The decision came at a meeting of the maritime security expert working group of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting

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(ATTN: REPLACES quotes in 2nd para) BEIJING/SHENYANG, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- A Chinese hotel near the border with North Korea stopped receiving reservations for this weekend, a source said Friday, in a sign that the North's leader Kim Jong-un could travel to Vietnam by train for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. "I heard that only Chinese guests were allowed to stay at the Zhonglian hotel tonight, and even they were told to check out by tomorrow morning," a source said. "The hotel says they need to do some repair work, but it seems to be related to Chairman Kim's special train." The hotel in the Chinese border city of Dandong is located near the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge that links the two countries. The move came amid speculation over whether the North Korean leader will fly or travel by train all the way to the Southeast Asian nation for the upcoming summit in Hanoi set for Feb. 27-28. The hotel has not received bookings in the past when the North

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STANFORD, California, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is likely to be more productive than the first because the sides have been working to narrow their differences, a former U.S. intelligence official said Friday. The projection by Andrew Kim, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Korea Mission Center, comes amid skepticism that the Feb. 27-28 summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, will lead to a concrete agreement to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program. "I think it's going to be much more, I can say personally, I can say it will be productive than the first one," Kim said during a talk at Stanford University. "After the first summit, we got to know each other. We're still getting to know each other. We're going to the second summit. So given this progress so far, I think we'll have a better outcome at the second summit." Kim was a key member of the U.S. team involved in preparations for

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(ATTN: CHANGES dateline; ADDS N. Korean train believed to have passed through Dandong in paras 7-9) SEOUL/BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un departed for Hanoi by train on Saturday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, a news report said. Kim's train left Pyongyang around 5 p.m. local time and is expected to travel through China all the way to Vietnam, Tass news agency reported from Pyongyang, citing an unidentified source. Kim and Trump are set to hold their second summit on Feb. 27-28. The report said that the train will travel around 4,500 kilometers to Hanoi, which will take over 48 hours. Earlier, the Vietnamese foreign ministry tweeted that Kim will make an "official friendly visit" to Vietnam "in the coming days." North Korean media have yet to report on Kim's departure. Nor they have reported on his upcoming summit with Trump. A North Korean train possibly carrying the North Korean leader crossed into China on Saturday

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(ATTN: ADDS more info from 9th para) SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has departed by train for Hanoi to hold a second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump later this week, Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday. Kim left Pyongyang Railway Station on Saturday afternoon and was accompanied by senior officials, including his sister Kim Yo-jong and top aide Kim Yong-chol, the Korean Central News Agency reported. But there was no mention of Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, in the list of those accompanying the leader. Kim is to hold his second summit with Trump from Feb. 27-28. The KCNA also reported that Kim will make an official goodwill visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong. It was the first time that North Korean state media have reported on Kim's second summit with Trump. Earlier, Russia's Tass news agency reported from Pyongyang that Kim's train departed for Hanoi at around 5 p.m Saturday. Sources later

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