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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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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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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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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S. Korea blacklists foreigners with ties to N. Korea
South Korea imposed financial sanctions Friday on six Taiwanese individuals and entities for their alleged arms trade with North Korea.Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Center was also put on the blacklist, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.The Taiwanese organizations are Global Interface Company Inc., Trans Merits Co. and Trans Multi Mechanics Co., it said. The blacklisted figures are Tsai Hsein Tai, Su Lu-Chi and Chang Wen-Fu.Currently, they all are not affected by the U.N. sancti
June 26, 2015
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U.N. rights chief presses Japan over sex slavery
The U.N. human rights chief on Thursday stressed the need for a “satisfactory solution” to end the sufferings of the former so-called comfort women, taking a swipe at Japan, which has resisted their calls for a sincere apology and compensation. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein met with Kim Bok-dong, Gil Won-ok and Lee Yong-soo, who were forced by Japan into sex slavery in frontline brothels during World War II, during his visit a day earlier to a museum on women’s wartime
June 25, 2015
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N.K. escalates threats over Seoul rights office
North Korea declared Thursday that inter-Korean relations had “reached a point of no return” following the opening of a U.N. office in Seoul to monitor the human rights situation under the reclusive regime.“The South must be aware that it has now passed the point of words,” North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement, adding that “only the ultimate standoff” remains, indicating a possible provocation.The remarks followed a recent barrage of threats fr
June 25, 2015
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NK warns of 'catastrophic' fallout over U.N. rights office
North Korea ratcheted up its flak against South Korea Thursday over the opening in Seoul of a U.N. office on the North's human rights, warning of "catastrophic" consequences in bilateral ties.The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday opened a field office in Seoul aimed at monitoring North Korea's human rights.North Korea has threatened to retaliate against South Korea, saying it will "mercilessly punish" South Korea by mobilizing all means possible.North Korea raised the level of i
June 25, 2015
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N. Korea deploys buoys near inter-Korean sea border
North Korea has installed several buoys near the tensely guarded western maritime border, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, apparently to control fishing boats."North Korea has set up around 10 buoys near the Northern Limit Line," Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a regular briefing, referring to the de facto inter-Korean sea border in the Yellow Sea."We are analyzing the North's intention, and it appears to be out of necessity for its military," he said, without further elaborat
June 25, 2015
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N. Korea to open new airport terminal in July
North Korea said Thursday it plans to open a new airport terminal in Pyongyang in July that expresses the country's national identity.The Korean Central News Agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toured Terminal 2 of Pyongyang International Airport which will open on July 1. The dispatch did not give details about the date of his visit.The North began building the second terminal for the international airport, the main gateway to Pyongyang, in 2012. The new terminal is expected to be used
June 25, 2015
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[Graphic News] Fading hopes of separated families
Nearly half of the 129,688 South Koreans who had registered with the Korean Red Cross to have a chance to reunite with their loved ones in the North are deceased.The actual number of separated families is thought to be much higher when including those who did not report due to fears of any negative impact it would have on their families across the border.Of the 66,843 surviving families here, the majority, or 42.5 percent, are in their 80s, while 27.2 percent are in their 70s. Some 12.1 percent
June 24, 2015
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8 in 10 Korean men willing to fight in inter-Korean war
Eight out of 10 Korean men will “readily fight” in case of a war against North Korea, with those in their 20s showing the strongest willingness, a poll showed Monday. According to the survey by Gallup Korea of 537 male citizens aged 19 or older, 83 percent of the respondents stated that they would fight if a war, like the one in the 1950s, were to break out. Men in their 20s were most eager to participate at 91 percent, followed by those in their 50s at 88 percent, 40s at 84 percent and 60s or
June 24, 2015
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Gov't to host int'l forum on Korean reunification
The Unification Ministry said Wednesday it plans to hold a forum next week to win international support for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.The Korea Global Forum 2015 slated for next Tuesday in Seoul will be a venue for some 200 government officials, diplomatic delegations and experts from 10 countries, including the United States, Japan and China, to exchange views on the future of theKorean Peninsula, the ministry said in a release.Among the attendees are Sung Kim, the U.S.
June 24, 2015
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S. Korea ready to support N. Korea over drought: Seoul official
South Korea is ready to support North Korea as the North has been suffering from what Pyongyang called the worst drought in a century, Seoul's pointman on inter-Korean affairs has said.The Unification Ministry has said that North Korea is likely to see its crop production fall by up to 20 percent this year if the dry spell continues through early July.Minister Hong Yong-pyo said Seoul is willing to offer the necessary support to the North if the North's situation deteriorates, but added that the
June 24, 2015
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U.S. hails opening of U.N. human rights office in Seoul
The United States offered congratulations Tuesday on the opening in Seoul of a U.N. office aimed at monitoring human rights violations in North Korea, saying it will lay the groundwork for bringing those responsible to justice.The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights launched the field office earlier in the day to monitor and document human rights violations in the North. The office's establishment was one of the recommendations the U.N. Commission of Inquiry made in its landmar
June 24, 2015
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Obama extends executive orders imposing sanctions on N. Korea
U.S. President Barack Obama has extended executive orders imposing sanctions on North Korea, saying the communist nation still constitutes an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the U.S.In a letter sent Monday, Obama notified Congress of the continuation of North Korea's designation as a "national emergency," which serves as the basis for a series of executive orders calling for sanctions on Pyongyang for provocations, such as the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship.By law, such national em
June 24, 2015
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Park calls for increased civilian exchanges with N. Korea
President Park Geun-hye called Tuesday for increased civilian exchanges with North Korea as part of efforts to lay the groundwork for a peaceful unification with the North.She made the comment in a meeting with members of the National Unification Advisory Council, the presidential advisory body on unification.The comment came a week after civic groups from South and North Korea failed to hold a joint ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit.The leaders of the two Ko
June 23, 2015
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N. Korea sentences two Koreans to life imprisonment
North Korea has sentenced two South Korean nationals to life imprisonment on charges of espionage, its state media reported Tuesday, coinciding with the day the U.N. opened a field office in Seoul to monitor and study the repressive state’s human rights situation. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said that the North’s Supreme Court meted out life sentences to Kim Kuk-gi and Choi Chun-gil, who it said were arrested after spying on the regime “under the direction of the U.S. and Sou
June 23, 2015
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N. Korea sentences 2 S. Korean detainees to life terms
North Korea Tuesday sentenced two South Koreans detained there to hard labor for life for spying for the South's intelligence agency, the North's media said, in a move seen as dampening the strained inter-Korean ties.North Korea's Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported that it handed down life sentences to Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil on charges of espionage for the South's state spy agency."The North's supreme court held a court session for the two South Koreans who were arrested for susp
June 23, 2015
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CTBT advocates to send clear message against N.K. nuclear tests
High-profile advocates of an international nuclear-test-ban treaty will visit South Korea this week to send a clear message against North Korea's nuclear tests, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.The Group of Eminent Persons for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty will hold their third meeting in Seoul on Thursday and seek international support against North Korea's nuclear weapons program, ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said in a press briefing.The meeting will be attended by Hans Blix, f
June 23, 2015
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[NEWS ANALYSIS] U.N. human rights office ups pressure on Pyongyang
The U.N. opened a field office in Seoul on Tuesday to systematically monitor and record North Korea’s human rights situation, in a culmination of the international efforts to shed light on the North’s deep-seated inhumane practices and stop them.U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, Seoul’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo and other high-profile officials and politicians joined the opening event at the Seoul Global Center building in cent
June 23, 2015
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S. Korea regrets N. Korea's move to skip Universiade
The Unification Ministry voiced regret Tuesday over North Korea's boycott of the upcoming Summer Universiade on South Korean soil due to political reasons.The North has notified the South that it has withdrawn its earlier plan to send 75 athletes and 33 officials to the sports competition in the southern city of Gwangju in July in protest against the scheduled opening in Seoul of a U.N. field-office on North Korea's human rights conditions.The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights was set to o
June 23, 2015
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North Korea introduces first female supersonic jet pilots
North Korea introduced its first pair of female pilots of supersonic fighters during a flight drill attended by leader Kim Jong-un, state media reported Monday. Jo Kum-hyang and Rim Sol stepped into the limelight in November after respectively carrying out a solo take-off and landing exercise with the subsonic MiG-15 chasers, prompting the young ruler to laud them as “phoenixes,” the media said.Kim called for the cultivation of female aviators during a pilot rally in Pyongyang in April 2014, a r
June 22, 2015
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N.K. boycotts Gwangju Universiade
North Korea has retracted its planned participation in next month’s summer Universiade in Gwangju in protest against the upcoming launch of a U.N. human rights office in Seoul, the event’s organizers said Monday. Pyongyang announced the decision late Friday via email under the name of Jon Kuk-man, chairman of its university sports association. It had planned to dispatch 75 athletes and 33 officials to the competition set for a 12-day run from July 3. “The letter cited political reasons resulting
June 22, 2015