The South Korean authorities have confirmed that President Moon Jae-in will meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang later this month. Mr. Kim met officials from Seoul who've been in North Korea to arrange the talks. Lora Beca is in Seoul. President Moon will visit Pyongyang for 3 days. He'll become the first South Korean leader in more than a decade to visit Pyongyang later this month. That welcome by Kim Jong-un to the South Korean envoys was warm. It was friendly and it appears that 2 sides have managed to speak frankly. In a press conference, the South Korean envoys have said that Kim Jong-un has expressed his frustration with the world that they are not believing his will to denuclearize.
Dozens of people are missing after an earthquake in Northern Japan caused mudslides and mass power cuts. Officials say 5 people are dead, and at least 32 people are unaccounted for on the northern island of Hokkaido after a mountain side collapsed earlier on Thursday morning. Rescuers fear people have been trapped by the landslide inside their homes in the town of Atsuma. The country's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe explained what was being done to help. The number of self-defense forces troops responding to the aftermath of the quake will be increased to 25,000 from the current 4,000. The government will do all it can in search and rescue efforts by mobilizing members of the self-defense forces, police officers , firefighters and coast guard.
President Trump has urged the New York Times to unmask the senior administrationofficial who wrote an article for the newspaper, which said that the US government colleagues were working to frustrate parts of his agenda. Mr. Trump described the anonymous writer as gutless, and even implied the publication was treasonous in nature. The anonymous author praised some of the administration's achievements, but said Mr. Trump's impulsiveness has resulted in ill-informed and reckless decisions.
Expectations of a breakthrough are low ahead of today's round of peace talk in Geneva, which are aimed at building confidence between the warring parties in Yemen. The conflicts now in its 4th year has killed more than ten thousand people, and forced more than 3 million Yemenis from their homes.
