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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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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S. Korea discussed possible participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 with Australia: defense minister
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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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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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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[KH Explains] Will alternative trading platform shake up Korean stock market?
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S. Korean Embassy issues warning on N. Korean 'old bank notes' scam
The South Korean Embassy in Beijing has warned its nationals to be wary of a scam involving North Korea's "old bank notes," which had been issued before the North's botched currency reform in 2009, an embassy official said Thursday.Some foreign scammers, mostly Indonesians posing as businessmen, have recently approached South Korean nationals living in Beijing and tricked them into buying the North Korean bank notes by offering significantly lower prices than market value."The North Korean curre
Feb. 20, 2014
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Over 100 S. Koreans leave for N. Korea for family reunions
More than 100 South Koreans left for North Korea on Thursday for their first reunions with relatives they haven't seen for six decades amid lingering tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.A total of 82 elderly South Koreans, accompanied by 58 family members, were to arrive on Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast, later in the day for the reunions with 180 North Korean relatives that will last until Saturday.Their bus trip across the heavily fortified border comes four days
Feb. 20, 2014
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Separated families from two Koreas to meet in North
Some 140 South Koreans gathered at a resort on the country’s east coast on Wednesday, gearing up to reunite with loved ones they were separated from during the Korean War at the North’s Mount Geumgangsan resort. Eighty-two participants and 58 people accompanying them will meet with about 180 separated family members for a first round of the event, from Thursday to Saturday. From Sunday to Tuesday, an additional 360 South Koreans will gather with 88 North Korean relatives for a second round. The
Feb. 19, 2014
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Over 100 S. Koreans prep for reunions with N. Korean relatives
More than 100 South Koreans will gather at a resort on the country's east coast on Wednesday as part of preparations for their first reunions with their North Korean relatives since the 1950-53 Korean War, officials said.The move comes days after the rival Koreas held rare high-level talks and agreed to hold the reunions at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast, from Feb. 20-25.The upcoming reunions, the first since late 2010, come amid lingering tensions over South Korea's up
Feb. 19, 2014
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White House 'extremely critical' of N. Korea's human rights abuse
The White House said Tuesday it has strongly and consistently condemned North Korea's human rights violations, which were highlighted by a new U.N. panel report. "We are extremely vocal and critical about the appalling conduct of the North Korean regime," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at a press briefing. He was asked about the presidential office's view on a Commission of Inquiry (COI) report about human rights situations in the secretive communist nation. After a year of in
Feb. 19, 2014
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Calls grow to protect human rights in N.K.
Calls are growing for the international community to act to stop human rights abuses in North Korea under the “Responsibility to Protect” norm, after a U.N. panel accused the dictatorial regime of crimes against humanity this week.Talk of the need to apply the R2P has long persisted. But skepticism still lingers over its viability, given differences among major powers about its implementation.On Monday, the U.N. commission on human rights in North Korea revealed the outcome of its yearlong inqui
Feb. 18, 2014
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Cutting off access to hard currency best way to end N. Korean nukes: U.S. lawmaker
Cutting off North Korea's access to hard currency is the best strategy to slow down the communist country's nuclear weapons development, a visiting U.S. Republican lawmaker said Tuesday.Ed Royce, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also said the recent United Nations' report accusing the North Korean regime of severe human rights violations will add pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program."It seems that the strategy that slows down North Korea the mo
Feb. 18, 2014
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Seoul to launch int'l diplomatic council on N. Korean issues
South Korea will form a consultative body with 21 foreign diplomatic missions here to boost coordination in dealing with North Korea, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.The Korean Peninsula Club, to be comprised of 21 foreign diplomatic missions stationed here but in charge of both Koreas, will officially be launched later in the day whey they hold their first gathering.The countries include Australia, Canada, the European Union, Finland, Italy, Mexico and Turkey.Diverse inter-Korean issues a
Feb. 18, 2014
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N.K. should face ICC over crimes against humanity: U.N. probe
North Korea's leaders should be brought before an international court for a litany of crimes against humanity that include exterminating, starving and enslaving its population, a U.N. team said Monday.A hard-hitting report on the nuclear-armed totalitarian state also strongly criticised its denial of basic freedoms of thought, expression and religion, and its abduction of citizens of neighbouring South Korea and Japan."Systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are bein
Feb. 17, 2014
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China's Vice FM begins 4-day visit to N. Korea
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin began a four-day visit to North Korea on Monday, an official said, days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked China to exert more pressure on the North to get it to give up its nuclear program.Liu and North Korean officials "will exchange views on China-DPRK (North Korea) relations, regional situations as well as other issues of common interest," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.The visit by Liu to North Korea cam
Feb. 17, 2014
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China to oppose referral of U.N. report on N. Korea to ICC
China said Monday it would not back a reported recommendation by U.N. investigators to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, adding that such a move would not help improve the human rights situation in the country.Wrapping up a year-long investigation, the three-member U.N. Commission of Inquiry is set to release the results of their investigation into North Korea's human rights situation in Geneva on Monday, with leaked versions of the report indicat
Feb. 17, 2014
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[Graphic News] Participants in reunions of separated families
The issue of separated families is becoming ever more pressing due to the old age and waning health of the candidates for the upcoming reunions. One has recently died, while some others have passed up their chance. As of the end of 2013, only 71,480 of the 129,264 South Korean members of separated families registered since 1988 are still alive, according to the Unification Ministry. Of the survivors, more than 11 percent are in their 90s, 42 percent in their 80s and 29 percent in their 70s.Since
Feb. 17, 2014
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North Korea promotes military chiefs
North Korea celebrated the birthday of late leader Kim Jong-il Sunday after promoting key military officials including the chief of its rocket unit, state media said.Kim Rak-gyom, the commander of the Korean People’s Army Strategic Rocket Force Command, was promoted to colonel general at the order of leader Kim Jong-un, the Korean Central News Agency reported late Saturday.The unit is in charge of the country’s mid- and long-range missiles program. Dozens of other senior military officials were
Feb. 17, 2014
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Conducting public inquiry on N.K. ‘terrific idea’: Hawk
The new U.N. report on human rights violations in North Korea, to be officially released late Monday, is drawing keen media spotlight around the world as the panel has found crimes against humanity committed in the North and will call for an international criminal investigation.What’s little known is that the U.N. took unprecedented methods of inquiry this time to compile these findings. The inquiry conducted a range of public hearings in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington after North Korea ref
Feb. 17, 2014
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Seoul rules out immediate aid to North
South Korea has no immediate plan to provide food and fertilizer aid to North Korea in connection with their upcoming reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, an official said Monday.Still, South Korea dangled the possibility of the aid to the North by taking into account inter-Korean relations, unification ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do said in a regular briefing.South Korea gave food aid worth 872.8 billion won ($822 million) to North Korea between 1995 and 2007, according to d
Feb. 17, 2014
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Defectors’ jobless rate rises in 2013
North Korean defectors’ jobless rate rose in 2013 from a year earlier, government data showed, in the latest sign that underscores the challenges defectors face in finding jobs in South Korea.The jobless rate of North Korean defectors stood at 9.7 percent in 2013, up from 7.5 percent a year earlier, according to a poll released by the North Korean Refugees Foundation, which is controlled by the Unification Ministry.In comparison, the jobless rate of South Koreans stood at 2.7 percent in Septembe
Feb. 17, 2014
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S. Korea says no immediate plan for food, fertilizer aid to North
South Korea has no immediate plan to provide food and fertilizer aid to North Korea in connection with their upcoming reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, an official said Monday.Still, South Korea dangled the possibility of the aid to the North by taking into account inter-Korean relations, unification ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do said in a regular briefing.South Korea gave food aid worth 872.8 billion won ($823 million) to North Korea between 1995 and 2007, according to d
Feb. 17, 2014
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China 'pleased' as Koreas agree to hold family reunions as scheduled
China said Monday it has been "pleased" by last week's rare agreement by the two Koreas to halt harsh rhetoric toward each other and proceed with scheduled reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.South and North Korea held rare high-level meetings last week and agreed on the reunions, despite forthcoming South Korea-U.S. joint military drills. Such conciliatory steps were a stark contrast to last year's heightened tension triggered by the North's bellicose rhetoric against the a
Feb. 17, 2014
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U.N. panel finds crimes against humanity in North Korea
A U.N. panel has found crimes against humanity have been committed in North Korea and will call for an international criminal investigation, The Associated Press has learned.The report, to be released Monday, is the most authoritative account yet of rights violations by North Korean authorities, and is bound to infuriate its unpredictable leader. But justice remains a distant prospect, not least as North Korea’s ally, China, would be likely to block any referral to the International Criminal Cou
Feb. 16, 2014
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Cautious optimism rise for inter-Korean relations
Cautious optimism for enhanced inter-Korean ties is growing after Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold reunions of separated families as scheduled and stop mutual slander during their high-level talks last week.The South seeks to use the rare signs of a thaw in the cross-border relations to invigorate its trust-building drive, while Pyongyang appears intent on easing its diplomatic isolation and economic hardships through peace gestures.Analysts said that for the time being, the two sides might ma
Feb. 16, 2014