Most Popular
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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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 to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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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 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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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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N.K. issues death penalty for petty crimes
North Korea has meted out death penalties for a wide range of what it calls criminal acts, including watching and distributing films from the South, a South Korean government report said Wednesday, underscoring the ongoing human rights abuses in the reclusive state.In the annual Whitepaper on Human Rights in North Korea, the state-run Korean Institute for National Unification noted that in the North’s confinement facilities, or “correctional institutions,” torture, assault and other types of inh
July 1, 2015
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N.K. held almost 1,400 public executions since 2000: report
North Korea carried out public executions of nearly 1,400 people over 15 years since 2000, a report by a South Korean think tank showed Wednesday, pointing to the North's dismal human rights records. The number of North Koreans who were executed publicly reached a cumulative 1,382 between 2000 and 2014, according to the white paper on the North's human rights, released by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification. The institute said that such cases of public execution had been com
July 1, 2015
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Humanitarian aid to N. Korea almost flat on-year in H1
The growth of humanitarian aid sent to North Korea stayed almost flat in the first half from a year earlier, a U.N. agency said Wednesday, raising concerns about food shortages in the North. The global community's humanitarian assistance to the North amounted to a combined $21.3 million in the January-June period, compared to $20.6 million in the same period last year, according to data compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. But the figure in the fi
July 1, 2015
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Drought-hit North Korea seeks aid from ally Iran
Drought-hit North Korea on Tuesday asked for humanitarian aid from its historic ally Iran, Iranian state media reported. North Korean Ambassador Kang Sam-hyon delivered a request to the Iranian Red Crescent for urgent humanitarian aid to combat what Pyongyang has termed its worst drought in 100 years, aggravating dire food shortages, state news agency IRNA said. North Korea has suffered regular chronic food shortages -- hundreds of thousands are believed to have died during a famine in the mid
July 1, 2015
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Park calls for airtight defense readiness
President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called for top military commanders to maintain a watertight readiness posture against North Korea’s ongoing nuclear development and internal political uncertainties. In a lunch meeting with the military chiefs, she pointed to unabated cross-border tension on the back of Pyongyang’s ejection test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile last month and continuing reign of terror. Defense Minister Han Min-koo also recently raised the possibility for a “strategic
June 30, 2015
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Russia to build N. Korea wind farms: report
Pyongyang and Moscow appear to be stepping up cooperation with each other amid their international isolation, as a Russian firm is reportedly poised to build wind farms over the next two years to supply electricity to impoverished North Korea.Wind Power Monthly, a British magazine, reported Monday that RAO Energy System of East, the largest supplier of electricity and heating in the Russia’s Far East region, plans to build four wind farms, which total 40 megawatts, on both sides of the Russian-N
June 30, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Widow to restore DJ’s reconciliation legacy
For Lee Hee-ho, widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, cross-border tensions are a source of deep frustration as the deadlocked relationship has eclipsed the inter-Korean rapprochement Kim laboriously fostered under his signature “Sunshine Policy.” With a plan to visit the North soon, the 93-year-old former first lady hopes to restore Kim’s legacy of bilateral engagement and cooperation, which has faded amid Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear arms and provocative actions, and Seoul’s hard-line resp
June 30, 2015
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N. Korea patrol ship sent back after crossing inter-Korean
A North Korea patrol ship was forced back into Northern waters Tuesday after receiving warning shots from the South Korean Navy after the ship crossed the inter-Korean sea border, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The patrol ship came down about 1.5 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line at 10:22 a.m., the JCS said in a press release, adding that the Navy fired warning shots, along with a warning message before the North Korean ship retreated. North Korea often trespasses the de facto mar
June 30, 2015
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Seoul warns of stern retaliation against any N.K. provocation
Defense Minister Han Min-koo warned of stern retaliation against any provocation from North Korea as South Korea commemorated the 13rd anniversary of a deadly cross-border naval skirmish Monday. The Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, named after a frontline island in the West Sea, was initiated after two North Korean patrol vessels violated the Northern Limit Line, a de facto maritime frontier, on June 29, 2002. It killed six South Korean seamen and wounded 18 others aboard a warship that later sank a
June 29, 2015
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U.S. defense bill dubs N. Korea as strong cyber power
The U.S. defense budget bill for next year has singled out North Korea, along with China and Russia, as foreign powers with strong cyber capabilities. The bill (H.R.1735), which passed the Senate earlier this month and is awaiting approval from the House, calls for the government to assess its capabilities to defend against cyber attacks by foreign powers "with capabilities comparable to the capabilities of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia." The measure requires the principal cyber adviser
June 29, 2015
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N. Korea echoes threats of 'punishment' over U.N. rights office
North Korea reiterated its strong opposition against the opening of a U.N. human rights office in Seoul via its state-controlled media, warning that the move has made the possibility of improved bilateral ties "hardly imaginable." On Tuesday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights opened a field office in Seoul as a means to monitor the human rights situation in North Korea. The Rodong Sinmun, an official newspaper of the North's ruling Communist Party of Korea, slammed the South for
June 28, 2015
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N.K. ups rhetoric over U.N. rights office
North Korea ratcheted up its provocative rhetoric against South Korea and the U.S. over the weekend, warning of “ruthless punishments” for their role in establishing a U.N. field office in central Seoul to monitor its human rights situation.Mobilizing all state media outlets, the communist state berated Seoul and Washington for “bringing inter-Korean ties to the brink of a collapse,” and attempting to further isolate it and undermine its national dignity.“The inter-Korean relationship has been b
June 28, 2015
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N. Korea slams S. Korea over U.N. human rights office
North Korea threatened South Korea Sunday over the opening of a U.N. human rights office in Seoul, saying it would lead to war on the Korean Peninsula.The threat carried by the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper is the latest in a series of protests by North Korea over the establishment of the Seoul office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.The office was opened on Tuesday to monitor and document human rights violations in the communist country."With the opening of the North Korean huma
June 28, 2015
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S. Korea to make video messages for separated families
The Korean Red Cross said Sunday it will make this year video messages and conduct a DNA test of tens of thousands of people separated by the Korean War for possible video reunions and legal dispute settlement after their deaths.The move comes as nearly half of about 130,000 separated families in South Korea have died since 1988 when they applied for inter-Korean family reunion events, which have been on and off due to the North's inaction.Millions of Koreans remain separated by the 1950-53 Kore
June 28, 2015
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Defense minister to warn N. Korea on battle anniversary
Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Sunday he will attend a ceremony this week to commemorate those who were killed in an inter-Korean naval clash 13 years ago. The ceremony will be held Monday on the anniversary of the naval skirmish that broke out off South Korea's border island of Yeonpyeong, leaving six South Korean sailors dead and 18 others injured. "The greatest respectful treatment by a state is to remember and commemorate (the victims) at every opportunity," Han said during a lunch me
June 28, 2015
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N. Korea slams S. Korea over sanctions on foreigners
North Korea has blasted South Korea for imposing financial sanctions on seven foreign individuals and entities over their alleged arms trade with the communist country.The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea issued an "information bulletin" Saturday, accusing President Park Geun-hye's administration of heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula."On June 26 the Park Geun Hye group blustered that it would opt for 'stronger pressure' to 'allure the north to change
June 28, 2015
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N. Korea threatens 'tougher' actions against U.S. human rights report
North Korea's foreign ministry said Saturday it will take "tougher countermeasures" against the United States for an annual report in which the communist country's human rights situation was called one of the worst in the world. On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 that the record for the isolated communist nation "remained among the worst in the world" last year with public executions, political prison camps, torture and ot
June 27, 2015
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NK parliamentary speaker returns from trip to Russia
North Korea's parliamentary speaker returned home Friday from a trip to Russia to deepen bilateral ties, the North's media said. Choe Thae-bok, chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's rubber-stamp parliament, arrived in Pyongyang earlier in the day after wrapping up his five-day trip to Moscow, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The KCNA did not provide details.During his stay, Choe held talks with Sergey Naryshkin, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliam
June 26, 2015
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Ex-first lady seeks to visit N.K.
The widow of former President Kim Dae-jung is seeking to visit North Korea as early as next month and possibly meet with leader Kim Jong-un, Seoul officials said Friday. Lee Hee-ho, wife of the deceased president who took the reign from 1998 to 2003, has requested approval for her trip from the Unification Ministry, spokesperson Lim Byeong-cheol said. In line with Pyongyang’s proposal, five officials from each side have agreed to meet on June 30 in Gaeseong to discuss details of her visit, accor
June 26, 2015
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Syrian, Taiwanese groups sanctioned over N.K. trade
South Korea on Friday imposed financial sanctions on six Taiwanese individuals and entities and a Syrian institution over suspicions that they traded arms and gave support to North Korea. The Taiwanese people are Tsai Hsein Tai, Su Lu-Chi and Chang Wen-Fu and the organizations are Global Interface Company Inc., Trans Merits Co. and Trans Multi Mechanics Co., the Foreign and Finance Ministries said in a statement. Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center was also put on the list. Based on t
June 26, 2015