WASHINGTON -- The United States reaffirmed Monday that inter-Korean cooperation should proceed "in lockstep" with progress in North Korea's denuclearization, as Seoul continued to push for individual tours to the North.Earlier, Seoul's unification ministry said it is looking at ways to hold talks with Pyongyang on allowing tours to North Korea on an individual basis. The push has gained traction after President Moon Jae-in cited it last week as a way to expand inter-Korean exchanges wi

South Korea should take an active stance in dealing with North Korea amid stalled inter-Korean ties, such as by showing its resolve to halt joint military exercises with the US, a former unification minister said Monday. “For the past 1 1/2 years since the Singapore summit, Seoul’s stance was that inter-Korean relations need to adjust to the speed of US-North Korea dialogue. But with the deadlocked denuclearization talks, inter-Korean relations are reaching their worst state,&r

South Korea is moving forward with its controversial plan to allow individual trips to North Korea by its own citizens, Seoul’s Unification Ministry confirmed Monday, reiterating that the US-led international sanctions in place against the communist state do not apply to tourism.  “We are reviewing options on individual travel to North Korea, including how we will consult with Pyongyang over the issue,” a senior official at the ministry told reporters on customary conditio

A hit drama reflects South Koreans’ deep-rooted interest in North Koreans, despite military hostility

North Korea has held a state funeral for a former female anti-Japanese fighter considered close to late founding leader Kim Il-sung, according to Pyongyang's state media on Monday. The memorial service for Hwang Sun-hui, deputy to the North's rubber-stamp parliament and curator of the Korean Revolution Museum, was held in Pyongyang on Sunday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.Hwang, called by state media a "veteran fighter of the first generation of the Korean revolution," di

North Korea held an agricultural conference to discuss ways to increase food production, state media said Monday, amid Pyongyang's intensifying "self-reliance" efforts in various areas in the face of crippling global sanctions. During the three-day conference until Sunday, participants reviewed "their work with main emphasis on positively exchanging and sharing the high-yield experience of the agricultural front on which the best achievements were made even under the worst conditi

Ri Su-yong, former North Korean foreign minister and vice chairman of the ruling party's Central Committee, and four others seem to have been replaced in a recent plenary party meeting, according to a North Korean report on Sunday.On Jan. 1, North Korea announced a major party personnel reshuffle, disclosing the results of a four-day plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party.  But the list of those who were dismissed in the reshuffle was not released at that time

BEIJING -- North Korea's top envoys to China and the United Nations returned to Pyongyang on Saturday, a source in Beijing said, spurring speculation the North could review its nuclear negotiating strategy with the United States. Pyongyang's Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong and Ambassador to the UN Kim Song left the Chinese capital on an Air Koryo flight from the Beijing international airport in the morning, the source said.  North Korean ambassadors to Angola and Singapore were also seen a

North Korea on Saturday slammed Tokyo's plan to establish a military space unit, saying the plan is a dangerous and reckless move to make Japan a "military giant.""Japan is madly keen on exploiting even the outer space for its sinister purpose of building up 'defense capacity,'" the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang's official mouthpiece, said in its editorial. "The outer space can never be reduced to a theatre for the state of aggression, the war-thirsty stat

South Korea's push for inter-Korean cooperation will be done in a way that can facilitate the denuclearization negotiations between the United States and North Korea, a senior presidential official said Saturday. The official made the remark one day after the office of President Moon Jae-in openly reproached US Ambassador Harry Harris for his remarks on Moon's plans to resume inter-Korean cooperation, calling them "very inappropriate."Amid concerns about the allies' friction over a pos

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that he has "100 percent confidence" in the US ability to defend itself from new North Korean missiles.Air Force Gen. John Hyten made the remark during a seminar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noting that North Korea has made significant strides in its missile development. "I don't say 100 percent very often. I have 100 percent confidence in those capabilities against North

The US State Department said it supports inter-Korean cooperation, Voice of America reported Friday.　“The United States supports inter-Korean cooperation and coordinates with our ROK ally to ensure inter-Korean cooperation proceeds in lockstep with progress on denuclearization,” an official at the State Department spokesperson’s office said, when asked to comment on recent remarks by the South Korean foreign minister, according to the US broadcaster.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-

North Korea asked the South through the inter-Korean liaison office in December to tear down buildings at the North’s Kumgangsan mountain resort, government sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.  Pyongyang requested Seoul do so by February this year. The northern neighbor had also asked South Korea in November to dismantle facilities at the resort by the month’s end.“I can’t confirm anything at the moment because the matter is under consultation between Seo

South Korea is a sovereign country that dictates its own North Korean policies, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said Friday, in a reference to remarks by US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris that Washington should be consulted on potential cross-border tourism to the North. “The United States has made it clear through many channels that it respects the sovereignty of South Korea, and our policies on North Korea fall under that description,” Spokesperson Lee Sang-min said at a

South Korea's policy on North Korea is a matter of sovereignty, the unification ministry said Friday, after US Ambassador Harry Harris called for Seoul to make sure to consult closely with Washington about its engagement plans with the North.On Thursday, Ambassador Harris told foreign media reporters that South Korea should consult with Washington about its plans to engage with North Korea in order to "avoid a misunderstanding later that could trigger sanctions."His remarks came as Sou