Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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[Herald Interview] Son Suk-ku chooses to be swayed by others in navigating life
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U.S. says N. Korea should first demonstrate denuclearization commitment before talks
The United States is prepared to engage with North Korea if Pyongyang demonstrates its denuclearization commitment, the White House said Wednesday, after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed his willingness to speak to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."The United States has worked effectively with the international community, including countries like Russia and China, to isolate North Korea because of their failure to abide by their international obligations when it comes to t
May 19, 2016
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Now is the time to focus on pressuring N.K. with sanctions: unification minister
SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's point man on unification said Wednesday that now is the time to focus on punishing North Korea with sanctions for its nuclear and missile provocations amid the possibility of the North's fifth nuclear test.Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo told a forum that seeking dialogue with Pyongyang is needed down the road, but it is also not a panacea.“Dialogue is necessary, but it is not a cure-all,” Hong said.“There is the need to prod North Korea into changing i
May 18, 2016
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China expresses support for direct talks between U.S., N. Korea
China on Wednesday expressed its support for direct talks between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, responding to remarks by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he is open to speaking with the leader of the reclusive country. "China supports direct negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea," China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, told Reuters in an interview that he
May 18, 2016
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Cautious hopes, skepticism for new N.K. foreign minister
The official appointment of Ri Yong-ho as North Korea’s new foreign minister has given rise to a blend of cautious hopes and skepticism over cross-border ties. Pyongyang on Monday informed the British government that it has appointed the former vice foreign minister as the successor of Ri Su-yong through a diplomatic letter to its embassy in London, according to the Associated Press. Ri, 60, is a career diplomat with extensive experience in negotiations with Seoul and Washington, having served a
May 18, 2016
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North Korea built up personality cult of Kim Jong-un ahead of key congress
North Korea made a concerted effort to build up the personality cult of its leader Kim Jong-un through literary and artistic works ahead of the recently closed congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, an examination of North Korean media reports showed Tuesday.In media reports released last week, the North's Korean Central News Agency said the country's youth and students created some 1,200 literary works during the 70-day campaign of loyalty that preceded the four-day party congress that ended
May 17, 2016
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North Korea's ceremonial head in Beijing en route to Africa
North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, apparently en route to some African nations, a diplomatic source said. Kim, the head of North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, was seen arriving at the Beijing airport earlier in the day, and left the airport escorted by North Korean Embassy cars. The diplomatic source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Kim made a stopover in Beijing before heading for some African nations. The source declined to say
May 17, 2016
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Court upholds jail term for man over assassination plot against late defector
An appeals court handed down a three-year jail term to a South Korean man Tuesday for attempting to assassinate the highest North Korean official to have ever defected here.Upholding a lower court's decision, the Seoul High Court found the man, identified only by his surname Park, guilty of collaborating with another South Korean who said he was ordered by "a group associated with China" to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop.Hwang, known as the main architect of the North's "juche," or self-reliance ide
May 17, 2016
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State Department issues latest travel warning for North Korea
The U.S. State Department on Monday issued the latest warning against traveling to North Korea, saying foreign visitors to the communist nation could end up behind bars for actions not considered crimes elsewhere."The State Department strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to North Korea due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement, which imposes unduly harsh sentences, including for actions that in the United States would not
May 17, 2016
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N.K. uses party congress to declare nukes its priority: report
North Korea used its latest party congress as a venue to show its will to give priority to developing nuclear weapons before it moves to bolster its fragile economy, a report showed Monday.North Korea concluded a four-day run of the congress by the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) last Monday, where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was elected as chairman of the ruling party.Kim Kap-sik, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), said in a report that the North formall
May 16, 2016
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U.S. lawmakers introduce bill calling for North Korea's designation as terror sponsor
U.S. House lawmakers have introduced a bill requiring the government to re-examine whether North Korea should be put back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying they believe the communist nation merits redesignation.The bill (H.R.5208), submitted last week with Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) joining as a co-sponsor, listed about 20 cases involving North Korea, including its 1987 bombing of a South Korean jetliner and the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures.It requires the president to review
May 16, 2016
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North Korea releases Russian yacht and its crew
North Korea has freed a Russian yacht and its five crewmembers after North Korean fishermen mistakenly detained the vessel, a news report said Sunday.The Elfin yacht with five crewmembers onboard was detained in waters some 130 kilometers away from the North Korean port of Kosong on Friday, Russia's Tass news agency said.The yacht, belonging to the Primorye Sailing Association, was on the way from the South Korean port of Busan to Vladivostok after an international regatta, according to the news
May 16, 2016
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North Korea urges U.N. to take steps to repatriate its people from South Korea
North Korea urged U.N. agencies Sunday to take steps to ensure that a group of North Korean defectors in South Korea will be returned to the North in the latest push by the reclusive country.Thirteen North Koreans -- 12 female waitresses and one male manager -- defected from a North Korea-run restaurant in China to South Korea in early April.North Korea has since claimed they were abducted by South Korea, demanding they be returned immediately.South Korea has dismissed North Korea's accusation,
May 16, 2016
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Power shortage results in North Korea's protracted economic recession: think tank
Severe power shortages have driven North Korea into a protracted economic slump for the past decade amid the reclusive country's focus on building up its nuclear weapons program, a state-run think tank said Sunday."North Korea's decadeslong economic slump is apparently due to the regime's inefficiency and military tensions stemming from Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions," the Korea Development Institute said in its latest report. "But power shortages are the main cause of the economic recession."Nor
May 15, 2016
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North Korean leader puts off mock attack on South Korea's presidential office
North Korea's leader may have put off carrying out a mock attack on South Korea's presidential office, right after the country concluded its rare ruling party congress, intelligence sources here said Sunday.Seoul had warned ahead of the four daylong Workers' Party of Korea event that ended Monday that there was a chance that North Korea could show off an artillery attack on a mock-up of Cheong Wa Dae.South Korean intelligence confirmed that the North built a scaled-down replica of the presidenti
May 15, 2016
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North Korea's Kim visits tree nursery in 2nd public appearance since congress
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a tree nursery in his second public field inspection since he was appointed the chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea last week, according to the country's state news outlet on Sunday.The North's Korean Central News Agency said in a report that Kim made a field guidance to the Tree Nursery No. 122 of the Korean People's Army near Pyongyang that recently upgraded its facilities. The newswire did not date Kim's visit, but this was Kim's second p
May 15, 2016
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N. Korea's Kim visits machinery exhibition in 1st public appearance since congress
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a machinery exhibition in his first public field inspection since he was appointed the chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea earlier this week, according to the country's state news outlet on Friday."Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, went around the exhibition of machinery and equipment manufactured as labor gifts of loyalty to be presented to the congress of the motherly party," the North's Korean Central News Agency said
May 13, 2016
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N. Korea won't test nukes if peace treaty talks open: experts
North Korea will refrain from testing nuclear weapons if China and the United States engage Pyongyang in talks to improve ties and ultimately sign a peace treaty, experts said Thursday.Speculation has been rife over when North Korea will carry out another nuclear test following the fourth one in January that prompted stronger international sanctions against the regime.Many observers expected the fifth test to come ahead of this month's congress of the ruling Workers' Party, which was used as a v
May 12, 2016
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N. Korea appoint foreigner to lead nat'l football team: report
North Korea have reportedly appointed former Bundesliga top scorer Jorn Andersen to lead their national football team, Norwegian media reported on Wednesday (local time).According to Norway's state broadcaster NRK, Andersen signed a one-year contract with North Korea. His family told NRK that the 53-year-old coach had been in the communist state for two weeks.They said that North Korea had been looking for a German coach.Andersen, who was born in Fredrikstad, southern Norway, became a German cit
May 12, 2016
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Kenneth Bae calls for greater international attention to suffering of N.K. people
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American man who spent two years at a North Korean labor camp, called Wednesday for greater attention to the people of the communist nation, saying he had a first-hand look at how they are suffering in "darkness."Bae was detained in the North from 2012 to 2014 after being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for carrying a hard drive with anti-North Korean material. In November 2014, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made a secret trip to Pyongyang and bro
May 12, 2016
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N. Korea may be trying to entice Obama or successor into bogus nuclear negotiations: ex-U.S. ambassador
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's call for global denuclearization could be part of a ploy to entice either the fading administration of President Barack Obama or his successor into negotiations over its nuclear weapons program, a former U.S. ambassador said Wednesday.John Bolton, who served as top U.S. envoy to the U.N. in 2005-2006, made the point in an article contributed to the Boston Herald, calling for caution in dealing with a regime that has a track record of violating a series of agreem
May 12, 2016