MONTREAL/SEOUL (REUTERS) - The United States has blocked efforts by a US agency to improve civil aviation in North Korea at a time when Pyongyang is trying to reopen part of its airspace to foreign flights, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The US move is part of a negotiating tactic to maintain sanctions pressure on North Korea, one of the sources said, ahead of a second summit between President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam in late February.

Washington is seeking concrete commitments from Pyongyang at the summit to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes.

The United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with 192 member countries, has been working with Pyongyang to open a new air route that would pass through North and South Korean airspace.

Airlines currently take indirect routings to avoid North Korea due to the threat of unannounced missile launches, which have been witnessed by some passengers on commercial flights.

If the space was deemed safe, international airlines could save fuel and time on some routes between Asia and Europe and North America, and North Korea could begin reviving its own commercial aviation industry.

The cash-strapped country has a population of more than 25 million but its economy has been squeezed by a series of sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Montreal-based ICAO was prepared to help improve North Korea's aviation system by leading training sessions between its military and civil aviation staff, two sources said.

North Korea also asked ICAO for access to US-produced aeronautical charts, they said.

But the United States discouraged the UN agency from helping North Korea with its air programme as Washington wanted to "pool all the leverages and incentives" until Pyongyang makes substantial progress on denuclearisation, a third source said.

"They would keep tight hold of all available leverage to make sure there is no loophole until the North Koreans take action that deserves a reward," the source said.

All sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

ICAO cannot impose binding rules on governments, but wields clout through its safety and security standards which are approved by its member states.

Asked for comment, a US State Department official said it does not publicly discuss details of diplomatic conversations. An ICAO spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request for comment and there was no immediate reaction from South Korea's foreign ministry.

In 2017, the United States proposed the UN Security Council freeze the assets of state-carrier Air Koryo, which flies to a handful of cities in China and Russia, as part of new sanctions on Pyongyang. The measure was dropped during negotiations between the 15 members.

Airlines including Air Koryo and Air China Ltd offer less than 200,000 available seats a year in the North Korean market, according to a January note from independent research firm CAPA Centre for Aviation.

That compares with over 13 million seats available in the South Korean market, which has roughly double the population, CAPA said.

The biggest beneficiaries of lifting air restrictions over North Korea would be South Korean carriers including Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines Inc, according to CAPA.

The United States has doubled down on sanctions enforcement ahead of the planned second summit amid concerns Pyongyang is not committed to denuclearisation, though Washington promised to relax some rules on humanitarian aid.

South and North Korea, meanwhile, have rapidly advanced relations, which prompted US officials to openly warn against moving too quickly without sufficient progress on denuclearisation.

A fourth source told Reuters that the US move to facilitate humanitarian aid was intended to appease South Korea, facing some complaints that Washington is not willing to make any concessions.

"But they made it clear that there will be no relief of economic sanctions until they see substantial progress," said the source who also spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. </s> Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping urged "restraint" over North Korea in a phone call with Donald Trump yesterday, even as Trump criticised Korea's "continued belligerence". Meanwhile, Japan joined exercises with an American supercarrier currently heading to the Korean peninsula.

"(China) hopes that the relevant parties can maintain restraint and avoid actions that would increase tensions," Xi said.

The conversation — the second since their summit this month - highlights rising concern in Beijing that tensions between Washington and Pyongyang could spiral into military conflict. </s> BEIJING (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met with China’s ambassador and visited a hospital where Chinese tourists were being treated after a deadly bus crash.

The crash Sunday evening killed 32 Chinese and four North Koreans, and two Chinese were seriously injured. China’s official Xinhua News Agency said late Monday that the tourist bus fell from a bridge in North Hwanghae province in southern North Korea.

Photos provided by the North Korean government on Tuesday showed Kim meeting with Ambassador Li Jinjun at the hospital and at the Chinese Embassy.

China’s Foreign Ministry said a medical team and diplomats were sent to help. It described the North Korean casualties as “workers.” All visitors to North Korea must be accompanied by minders.

Chinese tourists make up the vast majority of visitors to North Korea, where they often pay homage at sites related to China’s participation in the 1950-53 Korean War.

China and North Korea share a lengthy border and a traditional friendship. China remains Pyongyang’s largest trading partner, although commerce has dropped off by about 90 percent under United Nations sanctions.

Only about 5,000 Westerners visit the isolated, hard-line communist state each year. Americans have been banned from traveling to North Korea without special permission from the U.S. State Department since September amid concerns about the fate of those detained there in the past.

The cause of the crash wasn’t mentioned. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed the mangled wreckage in the dark with rain falling and rescue vehicles on the scene.

North Korean roads are often bumpy and poorly maintained. There is usually no lighting other than headlights at night, even on major roads outside of the cities. Drivers tend to travel at whatever speed they feel is safe, making the roads even more dangerous, particularly when the weather is bad. </s> North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a hospital where people are being treated after a bus crash killed 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans.

Two other Chinese were seriously injured following the crash on Sunday evening when a tourist bus fell from a bridge in North Hwanghae province in southern North Korea.

Photos provided by the North Korean government on Tuesday showed Kim meeting with Ambassador Li Jinjun at the hospital and at the Chinese Embassy.

China’s Foreign Ministry said a medical team and diplomats were sent to help. It described the North Korean casualties as “workers”. All visitors to North Korea must be accompanied by minders.

Chinese tourists make up the vast majority of visitors to North Korea, where they often pay homage at sites related to China’s participation in the 1950-53 Korean War.

China and North Korea share a lengthy border and a traditional friendship. China remains Pyongyang’s largest trading partner, although commerce has dropped off by about 90% under United Nations sanctions.

Only about 5,000 Westerners visit the isolated, hard-line communist state each year. Americans have been banned from travelling to North Korea without special permission from the US State Department since September amid concerns about the fate of those detained there in the past.

The cause of the crash was not mentioned. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed the mangled wreckage in the dark with rain falling and rescue vehicles on the scene.

North Korean roads are often bumpy and poorly maintained. There is usually no lighting other than headlights at night, even on major roads outside of the cities. Drivers tend to travel at whatever speed they feel is safe, making the roads even more dangerous, particularly when the weather is bad. </s> Dec 1 U.S. airlines United , American and Delta, have notified Chinese authorities of flight plans when traveling through an air defense zone Beijing has declared over the East China Sea, following U.S. government advice.

The zone has raised tensions, particularly with Japan and South Korea, and is likely to dominate the agenda of a visit to Asia this week of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. He will travel to Japan, China, and South Korea and try to ease tensions, senior American officials said.

However, China's declaration of the zone also represents a historic challenge by the emerging world power to the United States, which has dominated the region for decades.

China published co-ordinates for the zone last weekend. The area, about two-thirds the size of the United Kingdom, covers most of the East China Sea and the skies over a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.

Beijing wants all foreign aircraft passing through the zone, including passenger planes, to identify themselves to Chinese authorities.

On Friday, the United States said it expected U.S. carriers to operate in line with so-called notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, although it added that the decision did "not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements."

A spokesman for Delta Airlines said it had been complying with the Chinese requests for flight plans for the past week. American and United said separately that they were complying, but did not say for how long they had been doing so.

Airline industry officials said the U.S. government generally expected U.S. carriers operating internationally to comply with notices issued by foreign countries.

In contrast, Japanese carriers ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines have flown through the zone without informing China, under an agreement with the Tokyo government. Neither airline has experienced problems.

The airlines said they were sticking with the policy even after Washington's advice to its carriers.

Any sign that the United States was even tacitly giving a nod to China's air defense zone would disturb Tokyo, which is hoping for a display of solidarity when Biden visits Japan starting on Monday.

"We will have in-depth talks about it," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quoted as saying by Japan's Kyodo news agency. "Japan and the United States will address it in close co-ordination with each other."

However, he also insisted that the United States had not advised its airlines to comply with Chinese demands for prior notice before their planes enter the new air defense zone.

"We have confirmed through diplomatic channels that the U.S. government didn't request commercial carriers to submit flight plans," he was quoted as saying in the Kyodo report.

And Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera insisted the allies were working in lockstep.

"I believe the U.S. government is taking the same stance as the Japanese government," he said in an interview with public broadcaster NHK.

Separately, Japan's foreign affairs ministry said it had raised China's declaration of the air defense zone with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the international aviation regulatory body and an agency of the United Nations.

It wasn't immediately clear what Japan wanted the agency to do, since it can make no more than non-binding recommendations. But Japan's action puts the issue before a global and multi-lateral body.

Since the zone came into force there has been no impact on the safe operation of international civilian flights, China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Still, China "hoped" airlines would co-operate, the ministry said.

The United States, Japan and South Korea have defied the Chinese move by flying military aircraft, including giant U.S. B-52 bombers, through the zone without informing Beijing.

A U.S. official said China's action appeared to be a unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea, which could "increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents".

"We urge the Chinese to exercise caution and restraint, and we are consulting with Japan and other affected parties throughout the region," the official said.

China scrambled jets on Friday after two U.S. spy planes and 10 Japanese aircraft, including F-15 fighters, entered the zone, China's state news agency Xinhua said. The jets were scrambled for effective monitoring, it quoted air force spokesman Shen Jinke as saying.

The Chinese patrol mission, conducted on Thursday, was "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices," Shen said, according to Xinhua.

"China's air force is on high alert and will take measures to deal with diverse air threats to firmly protect the security of the country's airspace," he said.

However, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said it was "incorrect" to suggest China would shoot down aircraft which entered the zone without first identifying themselves.

U.S. flights were "routinely" transiting the zone, U.S. officials said on Friday.

"These flights are consistent with long standing and well known U.S. freedom of navigation policies," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said. "I can confirm that the U.S. has and will continue to operate in the area as normal."

A U.S. defense official said routine operations included reconnaissance and surveillance flights.

Underlining concern in Seoul over China's move, a defense spokesman said officials were reviewing the country's existing air defense zone, but there was no set plan on whether or not to expand it. It already overlaps with China's new zone in a block 20 km by 115 km, the spokesman said.

Ties between China and Japan have been strained for months by the dispute over the islands, called the Diaoyu by China and the Senkaku by Japan.

Mutual mistrust over military intentions and what China feels is Japan's lack of contrition over its brutal occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two have added to tension.

Although Washington takes no position on the sovereignty of the islands, it recognises Tokyo's administrative control and says the U.S.-Japan security pact applies to them. </s> SEOUL, March 7 (Reuters) - South Korea's government will consider filing a complaint to the World Trade Organization against what they described as China's trade retaliation after Seoul agreed to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system, the ruling party said on Tuesday.

Beijing is widely believed in South Korea to be retaliating against some of its companies and cancelling performances by Korean artists after South Korea's decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

"We will actively consider whether China's action is in violation of the South Korea-China free trade deal, while stepping up efforts to minimise damage on South Korean industries," Lee Hyun-jae, chairman of the Liberty Korea Party's policy committee, said after meeting senior government officials.

China rejected applications by some Korean carriers, including Jeju Air, to add charter flights between the two countries in March, Yonhap News Agency said on Tuesday, in what is seen as China's latest retaliation against South Korean firms. Their applications for charter flights to China were rejected for January and February, with no reason given, Yonhap said.

The Chinese government last week ordered tour operators in China to stop selling trips to South Korea, days after the Seoul government secured land for the THAAD system from Lotte Group.

Lee said on Tuesday the government had since agreed to provide an additional 50 billion won ($43.3 million) worth of "special loans" to tourism companies that are experiencing business difficulties.

Chinese authorities have also closed nearly two dozen of Lotte Group's retail stores following inspections, Lotte said on Monday.

China objects to the THAAD deployment, saying its territory is the target of the system's far-reaching radar. South Korea and the United States have said the missile system is aimed only at curbing North Korean provocations. ($1 = 1,155.5000 won) (Reporting by Daewoung Kim and Hyunjoo Jin, Additional reporting by Joyce Lee; Writing by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Paul Tait) </s> China’s largest supplier of fuel to North Korea has halted sales amid growing pressure on Pyongyang, according to Reuters.

State-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) reportedly suspended exports, citing worries that agents will not be able to provide the up-front payments it requires. Banks and companies involved with North Korean trade are now under increased scrutiny, though it is not clear if sanctions are related to CNPC’s decision.

The isolated northeast Asian country imports almost of its oil and gas from China; most of that comes through CNPC. The risks of doing business with North Korea have grown steadily in recent months as the United States has ratcheted up pressure in response to Pyongyang’s frequent missile launches. CNPC’s move to stop fuel sales results from business risk, according to the Reuters report, rather than from a change in official Chinese policy.

Frequent missile tests and advances in North Korea’s nuclear capabilities have put regional states on edge and created a major foreign policy test for U.S. President Donald Trump. U.N. sanctions forbid the sale of rocket, jet, and certain kinds of aviation fuel, though oil and gas for civilian purposes has not faced restrictions. U.S. officials have floated the idea of an oil embargo as one possible measure to force the rogue regime to roll back its nuclear program.

Without Chinese oil, “North Korea would not survive on its own for three months and everything in North Korea would be paralysed,” Cho Bong-hyun, a specialist on the North Korean economy at Seoul’s IB Bank, told Reuters in April.

The United States might hope to bring Pyongyang to its knees, but for China that would be a nightmare scenario. The last thing Beijing wants is a destabilized nuclear-armed North Korea and millions of destitute refugees pouring over its northern border.

Still, temporary cuts to fuel exports is one way for Beijing to send a clear message to its neighbor. China has previously used such messages to pressure Pyongyang.

In 2003, China closed an oil pipeline supplying North Korea for three days. Chinese officials said the closure was due to technical problems, but diplomats said that the true intent was to put pressure on Pyongyang amid heightened tensions with the United States over its nuclear program. A few months later, North Korea joined six-party talks with the United States.

Beijing has worked to bring its coal-hungry importers in line with U.N. sanctions, essentially banning the import of North Korea coal in February.

But overall trade between China and its northern neighbor actually grew in the first quarter of 2017 despite U.S. pressure. Trump, who had made China the center of his approach to pressuring North Korea, has reportedly grown frustrated with Beijing’s refusal to wield its full influence over Pyongyang. </s> North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a hospital where people are being treated after a bus crash killed 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a hospital where people are being treated after a bus crash killed 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans.

Two other Chinese were seriously injured following the crash on Sunday evening when a tourist bus fell from a bridge in North Hwanghae province in southern North Korea.

Photos provided by the North Korean government on Tuesday showed Kim meeting with Ambassador Li Jinjun at the hospital and at the Chinese Embassy. Kim Jong-un, left, meets China's ambassador to North Korea Li Jinjun, second from right (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) China’s Foreign Ministry said a medical team and diplomats were sent to help. It described the North Korean casualties as “workers”. All visitors to North Korea must be accompanied by minders.

Chinese tourists make up the vast majority of visitors to North Korea, where they often pay homage at sites related to China’s participation in the 1950-53 Korean War. China and North Korea share a lengthy border and a traditional friendship. China remains Pyongyang’s largest trading partner, although commerce has dropped off by about 90% under United Nations sanctions.

The bus overturned after an accident in North Hwanghae province (CCTV via AP Video) Only about 5,000 Westerners visit the isolated, hard-line communist state each year. Americans have been banned from travelling to North Korea without special permission from the US State Department since September amid concerns about the fate of those detained there in the past. The cause of the crash was not mentioned. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed the mangled wreckage in the dark with rain falling and rescue vehicles on the scene.

North Korean roads are often bumpy and poorly maintained. There is usually no lighting other than headlights at night, even on major roads outside of the cities. Drivers tend to travel at whatever speed they feel is safe, making the roads even more dangerous, particularly when the weather is bad. </s> BEIJING: China's commerce ministry late on Friday banned North Korean individuals and enterprises from doing new business in China, in line with United Nations Security Council sanctions passed earlier this month.

New joint venture enterprises, new wholly owned businesses and the expansion of existing entities involving North Korean individuals or companies are prohibited in China, according to a notice released on the ministry's website.

Applications for Chinese new or expanded investment in North Korea by Chinese companies would not be approved, the ministry said. The new measures take effect immediately.

New sanctions by China, Japan, the United States and the United Nations are aimed at pressuring Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons programme.
Air China suspends all flights to North Korea's capital Pyongyang amid rising tensions between North Korea and the United States.