Most Popular
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Seoul to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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Seoul alerts overseas missions to NK terror threats
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Over 60% of S. Koreans support W100m childbirth incentive: survey
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‘Inside Out 2’ adds four new emotions, explores teenage life
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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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Pyongyang rejects Seoul’s offer of dialogue 3 times
North Korea has repeatedly rejected South Korea’s offer for preliminary talks to arrange senior government-level dialogue, which the two sides agreed in August to hold, despite signs of a thaw in the frosty relations.North Korean troops stand at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom on Sunday. (Yonhap)An official at Seoul’s Unification Ministry said that Pyongyang rejected the proposals for the talks, which were made on Sept. 21 and 24, and Oct. 30. Under a comprehensive Aug. 25 deal to
Nov. 6, 2015
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Pyongyang lifts ban on entry of South Koreans into Gaesong zone
North Korea has averted its ban on the entry of two South Korean officials into the Gaesong Industrial Complex, the Unification Ministry said Friday. Just days ago, the North notified the South of its sudden decision to deny access to the two, including a vice chairman of the South's committee on the inter-Korean facilities near the border. The reclusive North did not clarify the reason for the measure amid speculation that it may be trying to gain leverage in the upcoming talks on the land u
Nov. 6, 2015
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Kenneth Bae to release book about ordeal in North Korea
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary freed last year from two years of detention in North Korea, will release a book detailing his ordeal in the communist nation, the publisher said Thursday. The book, titled "Not Forgotten: The True Story of My Imprisonment in North Korea," is scheduled for publication in May, W Publishing Group said in a release. "Next spring he will break his silence surrounding his life-changing ordeal, from his surprise arrest to a U.S. government negotiated release
Nov. 6, 2015
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Pyongyang calls on Japan to resolve sex slave issue
North Korea urged Japan on Friday to recognize its state responsibility for Tokyo's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, claiming that there are victims in the North as well. Pyongyang's call came as the leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed to spur efforts for an early resolution of the issue of the so-called comfort women during their first summit held in Seoul on Monday. The North's Korean Central News Agency said that Japan should admit its state accountability for the
Nov. 6, 2015
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Foreign tour agencies promote Pyongyang Marathon
For foreign travel agencies, the annual Pyongyang Marathon is apparently a good business opportunity. They are promoting a variety of tour programs to the secretive communist nation in connection with the event. The next one will be held on April 10 next year. Young Pioneer Tours, based in China, carried a related ad on its website. "This very special Marathon tour offers tourists (the option) to not only spectate or compete in the marathon, but to also join in on the nation's biggest celebra
Nov. 5, 2015
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N. Korea denies 2 S. Koreans access to Kaesong complex
North Korea has denied the entry of two South Koreans to the joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, a unification ministry official here said Wednesday.The North verbally notified its decision on Tuesday to deny the two, including a vice chairman of the South Korea's management committee for the complex, the access, claiming that they oppose its stance and only represent the South Korean side, according to the official. The official said that the North's decision is in v
Nov. 4, 2015
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Korean defense minister to call for North Korea's denuclearization in forum
Defense Minister Han Min-koo plans to call for efforts to denuclearize North Korea during regional defense talks being held in Malaysia on Wednesday. The general session for the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus kicked off Tuesday for a three-day run in Kuala Lumpur, involving the 10 ASEAN nations plus eight dialogue partners including South Korea, Japan, China Russia and the United States. During his planned speech to the ADMM-Plus general meeting, Han will urge participating countries to
Nov. 4, 2015
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Buddhists from two Koreas meet in North
Buddhist leaders of the two Koreas gathered in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, joining voices for reconciliation and peaceful reunification.The representatives from South Korea's Cheontae Order and the North's Buddhist federation held a joint ceremony in Kaeseong to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the reconstruction of Ryongtong Temple.Believed to have been the first Cheontae temple in Korea, Ryongtong Temple was destroyed by fire in the 16th century and damaged further by the 1950-
Nov. 3, 2015
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North Korean computers can use new time zone: ex-Google employee
North Korean computers can use the country's newly established time zone, according to a former Google employee. Will Scott, who bought a copy of North Korea's "Red Star 3" computer operating system during a visit to Pyongyang, captured images of its on-screen appearance and posted them in an article dated Nov. 1 in Business Insider. "When installing Red Star 3, you're prompted to select a city for your time zone," reads the article. "Interestingly enough, Seoul, South Korea, isn't an option."
Nov. 3, 2015
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North Korean leader calls for more precise rockets
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered a further development of "modern and precise" anti-aircraft rockets as he watched a firing drill in a western front-line area, Pyongyang's state media reported Tuesday. "He underlined the need for the field of national defense science to more dynamically develop various types of new anti-aircraft rockets suited to the demand of a modern war so as to firmly defend the blue sky of the homeland from any air strike of enemies," said the North's state-run Kore
Nov. 3, 2015
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S. Korean lawmakers visits N. Korea for ancient palace site
More than a dozen South Korean lawmakers traveled to North Korea on Monday to inspect an ancient palace site, where an inter-Korean excavation project is under way, an official here said. The bipartisan group of 16 members of the National Assembly's foreign affairs and unification committee made the one-day tour of the site of Manwoldae, a Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) palace in Kaesong, just north of the border. "Ruling and opposition lawmakers shared the understanding on the need for the natio
Nov. 2, 2015
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Pyongyang seldom adopts policies of closing down markets: U.S. expert
North Korea's policy on marketplaces has swung between suppression and accommodation, but the regime has seldom cracked down on markets with the intention of permanently closing them down, a U.S. researcher said. Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, a non-resident Kelly fellow at the Pacific Forum CSIS, said he reached the assessment after analyzing satellite photos taken of a dozen major cities in North Korea since the early 2000s. "Government repression of the markets usually does not translate int
Nov. 2, 2015
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North Korea's income from tourism half of that from Gaeseong complex
North Korea earned tens of millions of dollars from foreign tourists in 2014, around half of the hard currency it won from the lucrative inter-Korean industrial park, a researcher said Sunday.North Korea's income from foreign tourists is estimated at $30.6 million to $43.6 million last year, considering about 95,000 Chinese tourists and 5,000 tourists from Western countries visited the country, Yoon In-ju of the Korea Maritime Institute said in a paper.North Korea's annual income from the Gaeseo
Nov. 1, 2015
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‘N. Korea building new tunnel at nuke test site’
North Korea is excavating a new tunnel at its nuclear test site in the country’s northeast, a Seoul official said Friday, fanning concerns over another possible provocation ahead of a series of summits and high-level diplomatic events here. Increased movement of people and vehicles has recently been spotted at the Punggye site, along with hints of construction work for a new tunnel, the official said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. No signs of an immediate blast were
Oct. 30, 2015
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N. Korea digging new tunnel at its nuke test site: official
North Korea has been excavating a new tunnel at its nuclear test site in the country's northeastern tip, an official said Friday, in what may be a show of its nuclear capability.The North has so far conducted three nuclear tests in tunnels at Punggye-ri, in 2006, 2009 and 2013."An increased movement of people and cars has been spotted at the nuclear site," said the official, asking not to be named."North Korea appears to be in the process of digging another tunnel."Another source said that the N
Oct. 30, 2015
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N. Korea's ruling party to hold 1st congress in 36 years in 2016
North Korea's ruling party plans to convene the congress for the first time in more than three decades in early May, Pyongyang's state media said Friday, in what could be the latest move to strengthen leader Kim Jong-un's grip on power.The political bureau of the central committee of Workers' Party of Korea has decided to hold the seventh congress of the party in May, the Korean Central News Agency said, without providing a specific date or agenda.It marks the first party congress since October
Oct. 30, 2015
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New U.N. resolution submitted over N.K. human rights abuses
The European Union and Japan proposed a new U.N. resolution Thursday that calls for referring the highest official responsible for North Korea's human rights violations to the International Criminal Court, a diplomatic source said.Last year the U.N. General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution that calls for the U.N. Security Council to refer North's human rights abuses to the ICC. The resolution led to the Security Council adopting the issue as an official agenda item for the first time.The n
Oct. 30, 2015
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Seoul voices regret over Pyongyang's rebukes of history textbook row
South Korea expressed deep regret Thursday that North Korea has lashed out at Seoul for hurting the North's dignity over the South's move to publish state history textbooks.South Korea has recently unveiled its plan to reintroduce state history textbooks for middle and high school students starting in 2017, to address what it calls left-leaning content in the current books.The North has voiced up its criticism against the South's move, claiming that conservative forces in South Korea are maligna
Oct. 29, 2015
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N.K. may suffer severe food shortage next year: S. Korean expert
North Korea may see the volume of its food shortage reach around 1 million tons next year due mainly to a serious drought that hit the North earlier this year, a South Korean expert said Thursday.Next year, North Korea's food shortage may reach the largest since the North's leader Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011, according to Kwon Tae-jin, an expert on the North's agriculture at the GS&J Institute. North Korea needs a minimum of 5.4 million tons of food to feed its people.The average food sh
Oct. 29, 2015
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Red Cross to film video messages for separated families
The Korean Red Cross said Thursday it is seeking to make video messages of about 10,000 South Koreans who's families were separated by the 1950-53 Korean War by year-end to deliver to their relatives in North Korea next year.Since August, the Red Cross has been making 10 to 13-minute-long video messages containing greetings from South Korean separated families, and expectations for reunions with their kin in the North and their personal stories.More than 66,000 South Koreans, mostly in their 80s
Oct. 29, 2015