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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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[KH Explains] Will alternative trading platform shake up Korean stock market?
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Presidential security official sacked one week after appointment
A senior security official at the presidential office has been sacked only a week after his appointment, an official said Wednesday, a highly unusual decision that has sparked speculation that he had conflicts with other officials over how to deal with North Korea.Chun Hae-sung, a senior unification ministry official who was named last week as the presidential secretary for security strategy under the office of national security, has been sent back to his ministry, presidential spokesman Min Kyu
Feb. 12, 2014
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Koreas to hold high-level talks
The two Koreas will hold their first high-level talks in seven years on Wednesday, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday, as the North ramps up efforts to put their strained relations back on track. The meeting will open at the truce village of Panmunjeom at 10:00 a.m. led by Kim Kyou-hyun, vice chief of the presidential National Security Office, and Won Dong-yon, deputy head of the United Front Department in the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. The vice ministerial contact will mark the first hig
Feb. 11, 2014
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‘North Korea, Japan held secret meeting’
An adviser to Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe held a meeting with North Korean officials in China in October, a news report said Tuesday, kindling speculation that Tokyo is seeking to reopen talks with Pyongyang over the issue of Japanese abductees. In response to the Kyodo News report, South Korea cautioned against any unilateral move by Japan regarding Pyongyang. “Japan’s talks with North Korea should be conducted in close communication and coordination with South Korea and the United States,” For
Feb. 11, 2014
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Koreas to hold high-level talks this week
South and North Korea will hold high-level talks this week, an official said Tuesday, a sign of thawing ties amid Pyongyang's conciliatory overture toward Seoul.The two Koreas will meet at the border village of Panmunjom at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, said an official of the unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.The talks came three days after North Korea made the proposal to discuss overall inter-Korean affairs, the official said.He said the two sides are expected to discuss ways t
Feb. 11, 2014
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S. Korean officials visit N. Korea over heavy snowfall
President Park Geun-hye ordered welfare officials Tuesday to make sure that state subsidies and other welfare benefits won't fall into the wrong hands, saying plugging such leaks in the welfare budget is a priority if the government is to better service the people.Park issued the order during a joint policy briefing by the ministry of health and welfare, the labor ministry and the gender equality ministry, pointing out that about 550 billion won ($513 million) is wasted a year due to the budget
Feb. 11, 2014
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N. Korea likely to stick to reunions of war-torn families: China experts
North Korea is expected to follow through on a new round of scheduled reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, despite Pyongyang's threat to cancel the event if Seoul and Washington go ahead with their joint military drills, two Chinese experts said Tuesday.North Korea warned last week that it would reconsider holding the reunion event with South Korea, set for Feb. 20-25 at the North's Mount Kumgang resort, citing the annual military drills between Seoul and Washington that wil
Feb. 11, 2014
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White House urges NK to de-link Bae with politics
The White House called Monday on North Korea to stop seeking to exploit its detention of an American man for political and diplomatic gains.Pyongyang announced last year that it "would not use the fate of Kenneth Bae as a political bargaining chip," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters here.His comments came after North Korea again canceled its invitation for Amb. Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, to visit Pyongyang for talks on the Bae issue.Bae,
Feb. 11, 2014
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North Korea rescinds invitation to US envoy
North Korea has canceled for a second time its invitation for a senior U.S. envoy to visit the country to discuss a long-detained American's possible release, the State Department said Monday. The cancellation comes only days after detained American missionary Kenneth Bae told a pro-Pyongyang newspaper that he expected to meet this month with the envoy. It signals an apparent protest of upcoming annual military drills between Washington and Seoul and an alleged mobilization of U.S. nuclear-capab
Feb. 10, 2014
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Former U.S. envoy to Seoul visits Pyongyang
A former U.S. ambassador to South Korea on Monday visited Pyongyang, apparently to try to secure the release of an American detained there, AP Television reported. Donald Gregg, a former Central Intelligence Agency official who served as Washington’s ambassador to Seoul from 1989-93, was leading a four-member delegation of the Pacific Century Institute, a non-governmental organization based in the Los Angeles area. The goal of his mission remains unclear, as it coincides with Pyongyang’s cancell
Feb. 10, 2014
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S. Korea, U.S. to stage military drills despite N. Korea protest
South Korea and the U.S. plan to undertake their annual military drills starting later this month despite North Korea’s threats to renege on a planned reunion of separated families. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises will begin on Feb. 24 and run through Mar. 6 and April 18, respectively, with the aim of ensuring the allies’ joint combat readiness, Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said. The announcement came days after Pyongyang threatened to “reconsider” the agreement to hold the f
Feb. 10, 2014
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Sino-North Korea fraternal bond erodes
North Korea’s traditional fraternal relationship with China appears to have further eroded in recent years with a recalcitrant Pyongyang seen as a strategic liability for the emerging global power.Once called “as close as lips and teeth,” the bilateral ties are being reshaped into a normal state-to-state relationship amid Beijing’s growing discontent over the North’s nuclear adventurism and provocative moves, observers said.“China-DPRK relations are, in the final analysis, state-to-state relatio
Feb. 10, 2014
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Internet services to be available in Gaeseong
South and North Korea will open a small business center with Internet connectivity in the joint industrial park of Gaeseong as a first step in bringing the complex online, officials here said Sunday.“We are planning to launch the basic level of Internet services at the Gaeseong industrial complex starting in the first half of this year,” an official of Seoul’s Ministry of Unification said.“Officials and employees in the North’s border city will be able to use most of online services now availabl
Feb. 10, 2014
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Ex-U.S. envoy visits Pyongyang: report
Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, arrived in North Korea, APTN reported Monday, a trip seen to help facilitate the release of a Korean-American man detained there. Gregg was accompanied by a group of four representatives of the Pacific Century Institute, a U.S civic group, it showed. His visit comes as the reclusive country revoked its invitation for a U.S. special envoy to visit Pyongyang for talks on Kenneth Bae. Amb. Robert King, special envoy for North Korean
Feb. 10, 2014
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S. Korea calls on N. Korea to take steps to lift sanctions
South Korea's point man on North Korea said Monday that Pyongyang should take steps to have Seoul's sanctions lifted.South Korea slapped sanctions on the North in 2010 in retaliation for the sinking of a warship near their western sea border that killed 46 South Korean sailors.South Korea has suspended inter-Korean projects and banned its new investment in the North, except for their joint factory park in the North's western city of Gaeseong.Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said in a parliamen
Feb. 10, 2014
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N. Korea's crude oil imports from China rise 11.2 pct in 2013
Shipments of crude oil to North Korea from China increased 11.2 percent on-year in 2013, a South Korean government report showed Monday, the latest sign that Beijing still gives Pyongyang access to the vital commodity despite its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons.North Korea imported a total of 578,000 tons of crude oil from China last year, compared with 520,000 tons in 2012, according to the report based on China's customs data.Monthly shipments of crude oil from China to North Korea were abs
Feb. 10, 2014
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N. Korea ready for atomic test, yet no imminent sign: Seoul's defense chief
North Korea appears ready to conduct its fourth nuclear test, but no imminent signs have been detected at its main site on its northeastern tip, South Korea's defense chief said Monday.During a parliamentary interpellation session, Kim Kwan-jin said Pyongyang has prepared for an underground nuclear test at the Punggye-ri site, which was used for the third atomic test a year ago, and has taken "initial steps" for a missile launch at its northwest test site in Tongchang-ri."These things (the nucle
Feb. 10, 2014
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N. Korean nuke not acceptable for Asian peace: ex-U.S. envoy
North Korea's development of nuclear weapons is not acceptable for pursuing peace and security in Asia, a former U.S. point man on Asian affairs said Monday.The remarks by Christopher Hill, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, came amid international efforts to resume the long-stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear arms program.The multilateral disarmament forum, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, has been suspended si
Feb. 10, 2014
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S. Korea says family reunions should go ahead as planned
South Korea said Monday the two Koreas should hold the family reunions later this month as planned, after Pyongyang threatened to backpedal from their agreement to hold the event citing the upcoming Seoul-Washington military exercises.The two Koreas agreed last week to stage the reunions for families separated in the 1950-53 Korean War at Mount Kumgang, a North Korean scenic resort on the east coast, from Feb. 20-25. The prospect of the reunions was quickly thrown into doubt as the North threat
Feb. 10, 2014
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N. Korea scraps U.S. envoy's invite as tensions mount
Tensions tightened on the Korean peninsula Monday, as North Korea cancelled a US envoy's visit over a jailed Korean American, and Seoul and Washington set dates for military drills denounced by Pyongyang.Frictions with Pyongyang will dominate the agenda when US Secretary of State John Kerry makes a brief visit to Seoul later this week as part of an Asia tour.The US State Department said it was "deeply disappointed" by the North's decision to rescind its invitation to Robert King, the US special
Feb. 10, 2014
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S. Korea, U.S. to conduct joint drills despite potential North backlash
South Korea and the United States will begin their annual joint drills in late February as planned to improve their joint combat readiness, the Combined Forces Command said Monday, a move that could affect upcoming cross-border events aimed at improving ties with North Korea.The allies will hold the computer-based command post exercise, called Key Resolve, from Feb. 24 to March 6, involving about 10,000 South Korean and 5,200 American forces, with 1,100 coming from overseas U.S. bases."Key Resol
Feb. 10, 2014