President Trump floats sanctions relief for North Korea denuclearization as Secretary of State Marco Rubio maintains focus on nuclear disarmament policy.

North Korea test-fired sea-to-surface cruise missiles to the west of the Korean peninsula on Tuesday, state media KCNA said on Wednesday,

For the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago, this week is perhaps the best shot they’ve had in years of substantive progress.

Trump told reporters on Friday he would be open to a last-minute meeting with Kim Jong Un, citing their "very good relationship."

In 1977, Sakie Yokota’s then-13-year-old daughter Megumi was abducted to North Korea from Japan’s northern coast on her way home from school. Yokota said she hopes for progress on the issue and thanked Trump for pledging his support.

North Korea test launched sea-to-surface cruise missiles off its western coast on Tuesday, state media said, a day before US President Donald Trump is set to begin a visit to South Korea.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung sits down with U.S. President Donald Trump for the second time in two months on Wednesday, with crucial trade and security issues that could chart the future of their 72-year alliance at stake.

This includes the US imposing a 15% tariff on nearly all imports from Japan, including its massive car industry - down from the 25% that Trump had initially threatened. In exchange, Japan has pledged to invest $550bn in the US and buy more US goods, including in key sectors like cars, planes, agriculture and energy.

Trump met Kim, 41, three times in his first term—Singapore in 2018, Hanoi in 2019, and a hastily arranged photo-op at the DMZ, also in 2019, where Trump stepped a few paces into North Korea, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.