Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
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Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
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S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
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Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
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Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
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[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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[Herald Interview] 'Amid aging population, Korea to invite more young professionals from overseas'
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Over-50s, men, single-person households take up majority of those filing for bankruptcy
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Aging population to drive down Korea's housing prices from 2040: experts
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North Korean leader inspects firing test by military units
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a firing test by the military's artillery units as his first "field guidance" of the new year, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday.Kim observed the artillery contest by combined units under the Korean People's Army (KPA), according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). As usual, it did not reveal the date of his public activity.The KCNA said that "all the contestants hit every target with perfect marksmanship they acquired in routine drills."Kim
Jan. 5, 2016
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Trump expresses concern about possibility of North Korea using nuclear weapons
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has expressed concern about the possibility of countries like North Korea using nuclear weapons."Nuclear is a major problem. And we have major problems, because you have other people that would be very fast on that. You look at North Korea, you look at some of these countries, I don't think they would hesitate to use it if they really had it in a proper manner," Trump said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.Trump has repeatedly called North Kore
Jan. 5, 2016
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U.S. says North Korea will be judged by 'actions,' not 'words'
The United States said Monday it will judge North Korea "by its actions, not its words" after the communist nation's leader, Kim Jong-un, pledged efforts to improve inter-Korean ties in his New Year's message.Kim said in the Jan. 1 address that the North will "make aggressive efforts to hold talks and improve relations" with South Korea, saying the country is willing to have talks in an open-minded manner with anyone who wants peace and unification."As we have long said, we support improved inte
Jan. 5, 2016
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N.K. top diplomat may attend Davos forum after 18 years of no-show: sources
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong may attend this year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, the first move in 18 years by a North Korean top diplomat, sources said Monday.A North Korean delegation to be headed by Ri may attend the so-called Davos forum to be held in Switzerland from Jan. 20-23, according to sources. The North is discussing the details over with the host, they said.If confirmed, it would be the first time in 18 years that a North Korean foreign minister was to joi
Jan. 4, 2016
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Number of North Korean defectors halves after Kim Jong-un assumes power
The number of North Korean defectors to South Korea has halved since the launch of the Kim Jong-un regime, apparently attributable to the communist nation's tougher border control, the Unification Ministry said Monday.A total of 1,277 North Koreans entered South Korea via China and other countries in 2015, down 52.8 percent from 2,706 recorded in 2011.Kim took the helm of the North in late 2011 soon after the death of his father Kim Jong-il.The number of North Korean defectors settling in the So
Jan. 4, 2016
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Top Chinese official due in Pyongyang: report
A top Chinese communist party official is expected to visit Pyongyang this month amid the possibility of Kim Jong-un's first trip to Beijing as North Korea's leader, a Japanese newspaper reported Monday.North Korea and China are in consultations over the visit by Song Tao, head of the Chinese Communist Party's international department, to Pyongyang, according to the Tokyo Shimbun. Song became the powerful Chinese party's point man on North Korea and other diplomatic affairs in late 2015, succeed
Jan. 4, 2016
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North Korea spends quarter of GDP on military from 2002-2012: U.S. data
North Korea spent nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product on the military on average between 2002-2012, making the communist nation the world's No. 1 in terms of military expenditures relative to its GDP, according to U.S. data.According to the State Department's World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers 2015 report, the North's military expenditures averaged about US$4 billion a year. That accounts for 23.8 percent of the country's average GDP of $17 billion during the period.Oman w
Jan. 4, 2016
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Uncertainties remain over inter-Korean relations
Uncertainties hang over inter-Korean relations, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sharpened his criticism against South Korea while expressing his will for bilateral dialogue to enhance cross-border ties during his New Year’s address on Friday.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers his New Year`s speech on Friday. (Yonhap)During the 29-minute address, broadcast by the North’s official Korean Central Television, Kim blasted Seoul’s unification policy, arguing that Seoul “begged foreign forces”
Jan. 3, 2016
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N. Korea's Kim opens sci-tech complex
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the opening ceremony of a science technology complex on the first day of the new year, the North's state media said Saturday.The "Sci-Tech Complex" opened Friday to help spread the latest science and technology developed by the North's ruling Workers' Party, according to the Korean Central News Agency."Going round the interior of the complex, (Kim) said this is a great center for all-people study and one for disseminating latest science and technology in
Jan. 2, 2016
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U.S. asked N. Korea's chief nuclear envoy to meet S. Korean counterpart after 2012 deal: Clinton email
Shortly after a 2012 nuclear deal with Pyongyang, the United States had asked North Korea's chief nuclear envoy to meet bilaterally with his South Korean counterpart, according to a newly released email of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Clifford Hart, then U.S. special envoy for six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, made the request during a phone call with North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador Han Song-ryol, days after the two sides reached a food aid-for-denuclearization
Jan. 2, 2016
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First batch of Chinese tourists visit new tour zone in N. Korea
About 300 Chinese tourists have visited a new tourism zone in North Korea's border city of Sinuiju this week for the first time, according to Chinese media reports on Friday, in another push by Pyongyang to boost its tourism sector. North Korea's border city of Sinuiju (Yonhap) The new North Korean tourism zone, jointly developed by the North's Korea Myohyangsan Travel Company and the Dandong International Travel Agency of China, was officially opened for visitors on Dec. 20 last year. Nor
Jan. 1, 2016
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N.K. leader vows to improve ties with S. Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed efforts Friday to improve ties with South Korea, saying that he is open to talks with Seoul in an open-minded manner for unification. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers his New Year`s message live on the North`s television on Friday. (Yonhap) In his New Year's message delivered live on the North's television, Kim said North Korea is open to having candid dialogue with the South. He did not mention the North's nuclear weapons program. "We will make
Jan. 1, 2016
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[Photo News] N.K. leader visits the mortuary of Kim Yang-gon to pay homage
A handout picture provided by North Korea`s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on 31 December 2015 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, touching the body of Kim Yang-gon, a secretary of the ruling Workers` Party of Korea and one of his key aides handling inter-Korean affairs, as he visits the mortuary of Kim to pay homage in Pyongyang, North Korea, 30 December 2015. Kim, one of the two ranking North Korean officials who attended the rare inter-Korean high-level talks in August, died in a car ac
Jan. 1, 2016
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North Korean leader to deliver New Year’s address in the afternoon
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un plans to deliver his New Year’s address at 12:30 p.m., later than in previous years, Pyongyang's state media said Friday. Kim's New Year’s message will be announced at noon (Pyongyang Time), the North's Korean Central Television said without elaborating. Usually, the North’s leader delivers his message early in the morning on the first day of the new year. It also did not clarify whether Kim will deliver a verbal message. Since 2013, Kim has issued a verbal
Jan. 1, 2016
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Inter-Korean ties face rocky road
Relations between the two Koreas are expected to continue to face a rocky road this year as they failed to build on rare momentum in recent months and the North could still stage major provocations.Cross-border ties have quickly turned frosty since their first formal meeting in years broke down early last month due to irreconcilable differences in their positions on stalled tours to a North Korean mountain resort, reunions of separated families and other issues. Soldiers patrol the border area i
Dec. 31, 2015
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Kim Jong-un offers condolences to his key aide's death
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has offered "profound" condolences over the death of his key aide who handled inter-Korean affairs, Pyongyang's state media said Thursday.On Wednesday, Kim visited the mortuary of Kim Yang-gon, a secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, who died on Tuesday in a car accident, according to the Korean Central News Agency.North Korea held a state funeral for Kim, who is called "the closest comrade-in-arms" of the North Korean leader, earlier in the day.The KC
Dec. 31, 2015
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North Korea forging ahead with excavation of new nuclear test tunnel: 38 North
North Korea is forging ahead with excavation of a new tunnel at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, a U.S. research institute said Wednesday.New high-resolution commercial satellite imagery shows a canopy set up at the entrance of the new tunnel to shield against falling debris as well as mining cart tracks used to transport spoil from excavation, 38 North said in a report."The presence of the mining cart tracks shows that excavation is continuing with no indication of when it will be completed,"
Dec. 31, 2015
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North Korea's senior official handling inter-Korean affairs dies
North Korea's top party official handling inter-Korean affairs has been killed in a traffic accident, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday. He was 73.Kim Yang-gon, the head of the United Front Department at the ruling Workers' Party, died in car accident at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency.The KCNA called Kim "the closest comrade-in-arms" of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying that North Korea will hold a state funeral for Kim on Thursday, to be headed
Dec. 30, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Top N.K. official in charge of Seoul ties dies
Kim Yang-gon, a top North Korean official in charge of cross-border affairs, was killed in a car accident, the North’s state media reported Wednesday, drawing attention to the impact of his death on inter-Korean relations. He was 73.Kim Yang-gon (Yonhap)The North’s Korea Central News Agency said that Kim, a secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party and director of the party’s United Front Department, died at 6:15 a.m. on Tuesday following the accident, without elaborating.T
Dec. 30, 2015
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Korea says up to 1.8 mln North Koreans use markets per day
South Korea's intelligence authorities said Sunday they estimate that up to 1.8 million North Koreans use markets a day, in the latest sign that North Koreans rely on markets for survival despite crackdowns. It means more than seven percent of North Korea's 24 million people use markets in a country where a decades-old food rationing system for ordinary people has collapsed. The authorities said the number of markets has grown to about 306 across the country, providing North Koreans access to
Dec. 27, 2015