Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has sent condolences for the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and expressed a wish to visit the communist country, the North’s state media said Thursday. “In the message Jimmy Carter extended condolences to Kim Jong-un and the Korean people over the demise of leader Kim Jong-il,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. It said the message was s...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- The U.S. government said Wednesday that it is willing to have a continued dialogue with North Korea on possible food aid and the resumption of the six-way nuclear talks even after the death of the communist nation‘s leader last week. North Korea and the U.S. had working-level discussions through the New York channel, which refers to Pyongyang’s mission to the United N...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The U.S. military has detected no unusual movements by the North Korean military after the death of the country‘s leader Kim Jong-il and the situation on the peninsula remains “calm,” the Pentagon said Wednesday. “We’ve not seen any unusual movements by the North Korean military. This appears to be a relatively smooth transition on the peninsula and we hope it stays that way,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The failure of foreign intelligence to detect Kim Jong-il’s death shows just how little is known about nuclear-armed North Korea, but moves by the outside world to gain influence are also fraught with risk. All countries including China, North Korea’s primary ally, appeared to have been in the dark until a tearful television presenter made the announcement on Monday, two days ...

Spy agency says N.K. leader’s train was not moving at time of death Doubts about the location and time of Kim Jong-il’s death continued Wednesday with intelligence gathered by South Korea supporting theories that the North Korean leader died under circumstances different from those described by Pyongyang. On Tuesday, it was revealed that the National Intelligence Service had evidence that Kim’s...

Kim Jong-il’s father Kim Il-sung and mother Kim Jong-suk established North Korea’s ruling ideology “Juche” (self-reliance) and played a leading role in shaping Kim Jong-il’s military-first policy. Kim Il-sung, born in 1912, fought against the Japanese forces in China and Russia in the 1930s. He was installed by the Soviets in 1945 as head of the Provisional People’s Committee and ruled North Kor...

LONDON (Yonhap News) ― A group of North Korean defectors tried unsuccessfully to enter the country’s London embassy following news reports of the death of the North’s leader Kim Jong-il. The incident occurred when four North Korean residents in London went to the embassy in western London late Tuesday, local time, in a bid to protest the former leader’s brutal rule. After ringing the doorbell s...

A caretaker leadership led by a Workers’ Party commission under the control of the chosen son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is expected to handle pressing issues in the communist nation until the successor takes full control, South Korea’s main spy agency has forecast. The National Intelligence Service made the forecast in a report to parliament Tuesday, saying Pyongyang is expected to...

Kim Yu-sik fled North Korea for the South some 60 years ago during the war that divided the peninsula. The 75-year-old now hopes Kim Jong-il’s death will finally allow him to live a dream and return to his hometown. “What I miss ― and what I still vividly remember ― is when I got together with my friends on my way to school in the morning and the shouting and fun we had as we walked to class,’’ ...