North Korea has conducted an artillery fire competition to boost the country's defense capabilities as set forth by the "militant policy" of the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported Sunday. The competition was held Saturday to inspect "how the mechanized troops of the KPA have conducted drills in order to increase their mobile artillery combat capabilities," according to the Korean Centra...

The US said it remains committed to imposing UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea aimed at limiting its nuclear and ballistic missile program, amid Beijing and Moscow’s push to ease sanctions on the regime. “We do remain committed to the sanctions regime,” Ned Price, the spokesperson for the US State Department, said during a daily press briefing on Thursday (US time). “We call on all ...

Around 42 percent of North Koreans have suffered from undernourishment over the past three years, a UN report said Friday, as the impoverished nation grapples with acute food insecurity amid the prolonged pandemic and severe weather conditions, compounded by international sanctions. As many as 10.9 million people in North Korea, or 42.4 percent of the population, were undernourished from 2018 to...

South Korea will continue close communications with key UN Security Council (UNSC) members, the unification ministry said Friday, after China and Russia again proposed easing sanctions against North Korea. Deputy ministry spokesman Cha Duck-chul said South Korea was aware that the two countries have circulated such a draft resolution to UNSC members, and that it will closely monitor related move...

Six municipalities, including Seoul, called upon the central government on Thursday to provide support to make up for their losses incurred by the free subway ride policy for the elderly and other people. The Seoul city government said the capital and five other cities -- Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju and Daejeon -- issued a joint statement calling for state compensation for financial losses ca...

South Korea’s Unification Minister Lee In-young on Thursday said the envisioned papal visit to North Korea is a real possibilty, and that it hinges on Pyongyang’s determination. The minister accompanied President Moon Jae-in to his meeting with Pope Francis last week at the Vatican. During their talks, Moon asked the pope to visit the North to help build “momentum for peace” on the Korean Penins...

North Korea is in the final stage of preparations to reopen its train routes with China following prolonged border controls to stave off the coronavirus, a unification ministry official said Thursday. The North is expected to first resume cargo transportation via land routes, the official said, though adding it's hard to tell exactly when the operations would begin. "Our assessment is that vari...

North Korea called Thursday for thorough preventive measures against COVID-19 for the winter season. The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the North's Workers' Party, highlighted the importance of remaining vigilant against the pandemic, saying the virus can be transmitted even through falling snow. "In the winter season, it is important to be aware as ever to make thorough anti-virus measures," it sa...

Pope Francis' visit to North Korea is "definitely possible" and is up to Pyongyang's "determination," South Korea's top government official in charge of inter-Korean ties said Thursday, a week after President Moon Jae-in again formally proposed the papal visit at the Vatican. Unification Minister Lee In-young accompanied Moon on his visit to the Vatican last week, during which the president met ...

North Korea is nearing the completion of a major housing project to construct 10,000 high-rise apartment units in its capital eight months after breaking ground, state media said Wednesday. Cabinet Premier Kim Tok-hun visited the construction site, according to the Korean Central News Agency, which reported the construction work is "in the final stage." During the North's eighth party congress ...

North Korea may launch a space rocket next year as part of the regime’s program to enhance weapons capabilities amid long-stalled denuclearization talks with the US, a state-run think tank report says. Ko Jae-hong, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s spy agency, released a report Tuesday examining the North’s weapons expo held last mont...

Pope Francis is unlikely to visit North Korea in the winter, although it is difficult to predict when the trip will happen, the Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson said Tuesday. President Moon Jae-in asked the pope during their meeting at the Vatican last week to visit North Korea to help foster peace on the Korean Peninsula. The pope responded that he would do so if he received an invitation from the No...

It remains to be seen how North Korea will respond to the renewed offers of forestry cooperation. The North has been lukewarm on a series of proposals made by Moon, such as humanitarian aid and a COVIID-19 partnership. South Korea and the US are pinning hopes on less sensitive issues to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table, while North Korea has said sanctions relief as a precondition...

Unification Minister Lee In-young has held talks with the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva and agreed to strengthen cooperation on North Korea's public health issues, his office said Tuesday. Lee's meeting with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took place Monday (local time) after the minister accompanied President Moon Jae-in on his latest Vatican visit. "(Th...

Senior officials from South Korea and the United States held talks in Washington on Monday on ways to restart dialogue with North Korea, the State Department said. US Deputy Special Representative for the DPRK Jung Pak hosted a "deputy-level consultation meeting" with her South Korean counterpart, Rim Kap-soo, according to the department. "The two sides discussed the current situation on the Ko...