Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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N.K. idolization of former rulers seen reduced
North Korea’s efforts to idolize its late former leaders appear to have recently been reduced, an indication that current ruler Kim Jong-un is striving to wean himself from the influences of his predecessors and build his own leadership, analysts said Monday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears on the screen during a recent performance by the North’s Moranbong troupe. (Yonhap)The current leader has recently appeared in a series of public events without wearing a badge depicting the portraits
July 13, 2015
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S. Korea to hold forum on unification in October
The Unification Ministry said Monday it plans to hold a forum in October to discuss the unification of North and South Korea with Nobel Peace Prize laureates and experts from abroad as this year marks the 70th anniversary of inter-Korean division.South Korea plans to hold the conference, tentatively named the "Global Peace Forum," in Seoul in a bid to discuss how to prepare for unification with Nobel Peace Prize winners and experts on the Korean Peninsula, according to the ministry.The forum is
July 13, 2015
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Koreas in row over rescued sailor repatriation
South Korea voiced regret Monday that North Korea has demanded the South repatriate all five North Korean fishermen recently rescued in the South's waters, with Pyongyang refusing to only accept the two sailors who have expressed their desire to go home.Five North Korean sailors were rescued by the South's Coast Guard on July 4 while drifting on a vessel due to engine failure near the eastern island of Ulleung. Three fishermen have expressed their wish to defect to the South, while the two other
July 13, 2015
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‘N.K. offered flight for DJ widow visit’
North Korea offered to provide flights for Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, for her Pyongyang visit slated for next month, reports said Sunday.“During the working-level talks (last week), the North Korean side said they could provide the flights needed for the visit,” Kim Sung-jae, the director of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center and former culture minister, was quoted as telling Yonhap News. He elaborated that the offer was in line with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s orde
July 12, 2015
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10 N.K. soldiers breach border, return after warning shots
A group of 10 armed North Korean troops violated the inter-Korean border on Saturday apparently to inspect signposts around the area, and retreated after their Southern counterparts fired warning shots, the South Korean military said Sunday. North Korean soldiers leave after paying their respects to their late leader Kim Il-sung to mark the 21st anniversary of his death at Mansu Hill where a bronze statue of him and his son, Kim Jong-il stands, Wednesday, July 8. (AP-Yonhap)The North Korean sol
July 12, 2015
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N. Korean soldiers briefly violate border with S. Korea
A group of armed North Korean soldiers crossed the military border into the South and returned to the North instantly after receiving warning shots, a South Korean Army source said Sunday."The military sent a warning message and fired warning shots after some 10 North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line near Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, at about 8 to 9 a.m. on Saturday," the source said. "The North Korean soldiers were armed and retreated after the warning shots. They didn't fir
July 12, 2015
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N. Korean refinery remains operational despite China's alleged halt of crude exports: U.S. expert
North Korea's sole-operating oil refinery has been up and running despite a series of media reports that China halted crude exports to the impoverished communist neighbor amid strained relations last year, a U.S. expert said Friday.Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., chief analytics officer of AllSource Analysis, said in a report carried by the website 38 North of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies that the North's Ponghwa Chemical Factory would not have been running if Beijing had h
July 11, 2015
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Park floats N.K. medical aid
President Park Geun-hye on Friday stressed the need to provide medical assistance to North Korea to tackle infectious illnesses such as tuberculosis and rubella and map out a longer term disease management plan in cooperation with other neighbors. President Park Geun-hye meets with civilian members of the presidential committee on unification preparations at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. (Yonhap)She also said the two Koreas ought to work together to cope with climate change, natural disasters and other
July 10, 2015
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N.K. urges Seoul to reveal info about 3 hopefuls for defection
The Unification Ministry said Friday it has rejected North Korea's demand to reveal the identities of three North Korean fishermen who were rescued in the South's waters and voiced their wish to defect to Seoul. They are among five North Korean sailors who were rescued by the South's coast guard on Saturday while drifting on a vessel due to engine failure near the eastern island of Ulleung. Two others expressed their hope to return home. But the North has urged the South to repatriate all of
July 10, 2015
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North Korean drought seen as having eased
N. Korea's severe drought seen as having eased: SeoulThe Unification Ministry said Friday that a severe drought that hit North Korea appears to have considerably eased since June as rainfall has almost reached last year's level in many areas. North Korea has been grappling with what it called the worst drought in 100 years, sparking concerns about food shortages. South Korea earlier predicted that the North's crop production could fall by as much as 20 percent if the lack of rain continues int
July 10, 2015
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North Korea's pesticide institute capable of producing anthrax: U.S. expert
A bio-pesticides research center that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited last month is believed to be capable of producing military-sized batches of biological weapons, including anthrax, a U.S. expert said Thursday. Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said she reached the conclusion after analyzing photos the North's state media released of Kim's June 6 visit to the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute. Hanham also sai
July 10, 2015
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North Korea again releases nuke power plant data
North Korea is believed to have again released leaked data on South Korea's nuclear power plants on the Internet, Seoul investigators said Thursday.The confidential data of South Korea's nuclear power operator the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. and blueprints of several plants were posted on the U.S. Website on Wednesday, according to a special investigation team probing the case. In December, an unidentified hacker, claiming to be an activist against nuclear power, had posted data about loca
July 9, 2015
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Two Koreas to hold talks to negotiate Gaeseong wage issues
South and North Korea plan to hold talks on a joint industrial park in the North next week to discuss a prolonged dispute over the North's unilateral move to raise wages for its workers at the complex, Seoul officials said Thursday.North Korea has accepted the South's offer for holding the meeting at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex next Thursday at the border city of the same name, according to the unification ministry.The move raises hopes for resolving a months-long wage row between the two Ko
July 9, 2015
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Seoul reaffirms plan to repatriate only 2 N.K. fishermen
South Korea reiterated Thursday that it plans to repatriate two North Korean fishermen rescued in the South's waters last week while three others will not be sent back home in accordance with their wishes to defect to Seoul.Earlier in the day, the South's Red Cross sent a notice to the North's counterpart saying that Seoul plans to send the two fishermen back home on Friday through the truce village of Panmunjom, according to the Unification Ministry. It also called on the North to immediately t
July 9, 2015
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Kim Jong-un's reign of terror fazes N. Korean workers abroad
North Koreans staying abroad are increasingly swayed by leader Kim Jong-un's reign of terror in their homeland and some of them actually seek asylum, South Korea's top diplomat said Thursday.Three and a half years into power, the young North Korean leader has purged and executed more than 70 officials, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se noted."It is a sevenfold increase, compared with the first three years of Chairman Kim Jong-il's leadership. It's extremely unusual," he said at a forum hosted by a g
July 9, 2015
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S. Korea denies reports over N. Korean general's defection to Seoul
South Korea dismissed media reports on Thursday that a North Korean general has defected to the South amid speculation that the North's officials have sought asylum in fear of its leader's reign of terror.Local media outlets have reported that about 10 mid-ranking North Korean officials have sought to defect to South Korea or a third country not to be purged or punished amid North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's brutal rule.A ranking North Korean military officer, presumed to be Park Sung-won, a for
July 9, 2015
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Production at joint industrial park rises 26 pct in Jan.-April
The value of production made at an inter-Korean industrial park rose 26 percent in the January-April period from a year earlier despite a drawn-out row sparked by North Korea's unilateral wage hike, government data showed Thursday.The value of production at Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North reached a combined $186 million in the first four months of the year, compared with $148 million a year earlier, according to the Unification Ministry.In particular, the production at the park rose 21.8
July 9, 2015
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Instagram adds to trickle of info out of North Korea
Photo-sharing app Instagram has become a valuable source of insight into North Korea, as foreigners there with Internet access document everyday life as best they can within the rules that govern what visitors are allowed to see. Koryolink, North Korea’s tourist-only data service launched in 2013, the same year that the use of mobile phones by foreigners, was finally permitted within its borders. Internet access is not cheap: A prepaid 3G SIM card costs $80 and data costs extra, with some report
July 8, 2015
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Pyongyang threatens to cancel ex-S. Korean first lady's planned NK visit
North Korea sternly warned Wednesday that it might nullify a plan by the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung to visit the North in early August if South Korea continues to make provocations against Pyongyang.The warning by the North came just two days after civilian representatives from the two Koreas agreed on Lee Hee-ho's, 93, plans to fly to the communist country on Aug. 5 for a four-day trip. The Joseon Asia-Pacific Peace Committee involved in talks for Lee's visit said that conservative
July 8, 2015
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Alleged nephew of Kim Jong-un's top aide arrested for fraud in S. Korea
A presumed nephew of one of the top aides to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been arrested on charges of committing telephone-based financial scams, police said Wednesday.Oh Ki-beom, an alleged Korean-Chinese nephew of the North's Workers' Party secretary Choe Ryong-hae, and an accomplice are suspected of stealing money from a 27-year-old woman, identified as Shin. Last month they allegedly tricked her into logging into a fake website while posing as the prosecution office, then obtained her
July 8, 2015