Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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N.K. replaces vice minister of defense
North Korea has appointed a new vice defense minister, a report showed Friday, in what appeared to be an ongoing reshuffle of the communist country’s military personnel.Jon Chang-bok, who was promoted to colonel general in 2010, accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on a field guidance trip to a food processing plant as the first vice minister of the People’s Armed Forces, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said in the report, monitored in Seoul.The People’s Armed Forces is the equival
May 19, 2013
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‘U.S. envoy on N.K. human rights cancels trip to Seoul’
Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, has canceled his trip to South Korea, diplomatic sources said Sunday.Multiple sources said King, who had been scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Sunday, has abruptly called off his trip without giving a reason.King had been set to spend five days in South Korea and meet with officials from the foreign ministry and other government agencies for talks on North Korean human rights issues. King had also been slated to give speeches at c
May 19, 2013
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U.N. probe into N.K human rights first of its kind
An independent U.N. body’s investigation into North Korea’s human rights abuses will provide the first look into problems in a country during peacetime, rather than during conflict, a senior South Korean diplomat said Sunday.Choi Seok-young, South Korean ambassador to Geneva, said the Commission of Inquiry by the U.N. Human Rights Council will investigate “grave, organized and systematic human rights violations” and will hold the leadership in the violating country accountable for such abuses.Th
May 19, 2013
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N.K. ratchets up tension again
North Korea fired what appeared to be four short-range guided missiles into the East Sea over the weekend, ratcheting up tension that had seemed to have deescalated amid South Korea’s repeated overtures for dialogue.Experts said the surprise launches appeared intended to show Pyongyang’s discontent over the recent Korea-U.S. summit during which Presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama repeated their resolve not to tolerate the North’s provocations.The North fired one device between 3 p.m. and 4
May 19, 2013
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N. Korea fires short-range missile into sea for 2nd day: official
North Korea on Sunday fired a short-range missile into the East Sea, a Seoul military official said, a day after firing three short-range guided missiles off the Korean Peninsula's east coast. North Korea fired the missile Sunday afternoon, the official said on the condition of anonymity, adding that the missile was fired in a northeasterly direction, away from South Korea. "Following yesterday, North Korea launched one short-range missile into the East Sea this afternoon," the official said.Sho
May 19, 2013
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S. Korea condemns N.K. run of provocations, urges dialogue
South Korea on Sunday condemned North Korea's recent series of provocations and urged the communist state to engage in dialogue to resolve a standoff over an inter-Korean industrial zone.In a statement, Kim Hyung-suk, spokesman for the unification ministry, defined Pyongyang's provocative actions as "deplorable" and called on the North to "act responsibly" in the international community.The ministry's statement came one day after the North fired three short-range missiles into the sea off its ea
May 19, 2013
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N.Korea bashes Seoul for negative comments on Japan official's Pyongyang visit
North Korea slammed South Korea on Saturday for making critical comments on a Japanese official’s recent visit to Pyongyang, calling it an “unprecedented precipitancy.” Isao Lijima, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, returned to Tokyo Friday after a surprise four-day visit to North Korea. In Pyongyang, he met with high-ranking officials, including Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People‘s Assembly. Little has been known about the purpose of Lijima’s trip, b
May 19, 2013
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N. Korea launches three short-range missiles
North Korea on Saturday launched three short-range guided missiles into the sea off the Korean Peninsula's east coast, the South Korea's Ministry of Defense confirmed.The ministry said it detected two launches fired in the morning, followed by another in the afternoon. South Korea and its allies have been expecting some sort of North Korean missile launch during months of heightened hostility on the Korean peninsula. It has been reported that the North moved two mid-range Musudan missiles in ea
May 18, 2013
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N. Korea denounces U.S. ICBM test plan as military provocation
North Korea on Saturday denounced a possible move by the United States to test fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) later in the month, calling it a serious military provocation.The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea said in a article monitored in Seoul, the launch, if it takes place, will be an insult to the international community and a direct threat to Pyongyang. The daily, which effectively reflects the views of the communist country, said the ICBM tes
May 18, 2013
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N. Korea thought to have 200 mobile missile launchers
North Korea could have as many as 200 mobile missile launchers, a report showed Friday, nearly double the number previously estimated by Seoul authorities.According to the report submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Pentagon, North Korea appears to have accumulated up to 200 so-called transporter erector launchers, including up to 100 for short-range Scud missiles, 50 for medium-range Nodong missiles and 50 for long-range Musudan missiles, the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said
May 17, 2013
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U.S. stresses unity with S. Korea, Japan in diplomacy on N. Korea
Faced with Japan's unexpected move to engage North Korea this week, U.S. officials have notably emphasized the importance of staying close with regional powers in dealing with the nuclear-armed communist nation.The U.S. has also been cautious in characterizing the ongoing trip by a top Japanese official to Pyongyang, while South Korea publicly disapproved."I should say (it's) impossible for me to speak to that without knowing the specifics on the purpose of the visit," State Department spokeswom
May 17, 2013
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Seoul regrets N.K.’s rejection of dialogue offer
South Korea on Thursday expressed regret over the North’s reproach of its offer of talks but remained steadfast in prioritizing dialogue as the means to resolve their dispute over the stalled Gaeseong industrial park. Pyongyang dismissed as a “crafty ploy” President Park Geun-hye’s third proposal Wednesday to discuss how to ship out raw and subsidiary materials and finished products of the companies. It demanded Seoul first resolve “fundamental problems,” urging an end to “provocative, reckless
May 16, 2013
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Kim Jong-un has two daughters: report
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has two daughters, a Korean newspaper claimed on Thursday, citing an unnamed source. Ri Sol-ju, Kim’s wife, gave birth to his second child last December, according to the source, Hankook Ilbo said.The paper said that it remains unknown whether his first daughter, born in late 2010, is also from Ri Sol-ju, because she appeared on stage as a singer of Unhasu Orchestra that year. The sources said “it is unimaginable for the pregnant ‘princess’ to perform on stage in
May 16, 2013
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Ministry assesses conditions of non-Gaeseong firms forced to withdraw from N.K.
The government is assessing the conditions of local companies involved in North Korean ventures outside of an inter-Korean industrial complex that were forced to pull out of the country due to strained cross-border relations, an official source said Thursday.The unification ministry insider said the review is part of Seoul's efforts to limit the fallout to the business sector and reflect rising demands from entrepreneurs who had invested in North Korea in such projects as the Mount Kumgang resor
May 16, 2013
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N.Korea berates Seoul for talks over Gaesong
North Korea on Wednesday virtually turned down a South Korean proposal for talks to return raw materials and finished products from a suspended inter-Korean industrial complex to South Korea, criticizing the proposal as a "crafty ploy" to evade domestic criticism over the complex's halt and mislead public opinion. "Availing ourselves of this opportunity, we (North Korea) remind the south Korean authorities once again that the prospect of the Gaeseong complex and the future orientation of the nor
May 15, 2013
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U.S. envoy for N.K. to visit Seoul next week
The U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights will visit Seoul early next week for a four-day trip that includes talks with South Korean officials, a diplomatic source said Wednesday. Ambassador Robert King will arrive in Seoul on Sunday and meet with officials of the foreign ministry and other government agencies related to the North’s human rights issues, the source said on condition of anonymity. It will be King’s first visit to South Korea this year. “Ambassador King is scheduled to a
May 15, 2013
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Court rejects arrest warrant for journalist
A Seoul district court on Wednesday dismissed the prosecution’s request to arrest a well-known reporter who had claimed that a younger brother of President Park Geun-hye was behind a murder case.Joo Jin-woo, a reporter of the monthly news magazine Sisa IN, is accused of spreading false and defamatory information in his article that the president’s younger brother, Park Ji-man, was involved in the killing of his relative.“There is not enough reason to detain Joo at the present stage after reviewi
May 15, 2013
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N.K. urged to accept Gaeseong talks
South Korea urged North Korea Wednesday to accept talks to arrange the return of production materials and finished goods from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.The call comes a day after the Ministry of Unification officially proposed working level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom, aimed at alleviating the plight of the 123 South Korean companies that were forced out of the inter-Korean joint venture complex. Operations of the companies came to a halt early last month after Pyongyang ordere
May 15, 2013
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Seoul offers talks with North on Gaeseong
South Korea offered working-level talks with North Korea on raw materials and finished products in a joint industrial complex closed by military tensions, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry proposed that the two sides meet at the truce village of Panmunjeom.In a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day President Park Geun-hye instructed the ministry to propose talks with the North about bringing South Korean items out of the suspended factory complex.Established in 2004 as a rare symb
May 14, 2013
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Ruling party pushes to curb unfair business practices
The ruling Saenuri Party will seek to rewrite the nation’s fair trade law to prevent large companies from bullying their suppliers and distributors as part of efforts to level the playing field for all businesses, a lawmaker said Tuesday.Under the envisioned revision bill to the Fair Trade Act, companies that engage in unfair business practices will have to pay punitive damages to the victims, Rep. Rhee Chong-hoon of the ruling party said.Meant to punish the offending party for its reckless or u
May 14, 2013