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. 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
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Kerry due in Seoul, Beijing this week
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit South Korea this week for discussions on North Korea and pending Seoul-Washington issues, his department announced Sunday.In Seoul, the secretary will "reaffirm the strength of the U.S.-ROK alliance, discuss ways to expand our cooperation on regional and global issues, and continue our close coordination with the ROK on North Korea," it said in a press release.The ROK is the acronym for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.The departmen
Feb. 10, 2014
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U.S. 'disappointed' by Pyongyang's cancellation of envoy invitation
North Korea has revoked its invitation again for a U.S. special envoy to visit Pyongyang for talks on Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American man detained there, a U.S. official confirmed Sunday.Amb. Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, had planned to travel to the reclusive nation within this month."This is the second time (this has happened) ... We are deeply disappointed," the official told Yonhap News Agency over the phone.The State Department official, speaking on backgro
Feb. 10, 2014
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Internet services to be available in inter-Korean park this year
South and North Korea will open a small business center with Internet connectivity in the joint industrial park of Kaesong 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 Kaesong 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 available
Feb. 9, 2014
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Park grappling with elusive goal of building trust with N.K.
One year into office, President Park Geun-hye faces the daunting task of building genuine trust with North Korea, a goal that has eluded her predecessors amid mutual antagonism fueled by an ideological and military standoff.The bilateral agreement last week to hold cross-border reunions of separated families later this month is expected to offer a much-needed boost to Park’s “trustpolitik” drive. Yet, her initiative is still fraught with uncertainties given the opaque nature of the communist reg
Feb. 9, 2014
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S. Korean business delegates to inspect N.K.-Russia venture
Officials from South Korean companies set to participate in an economic project between Pyongyang and Moscow will visit North Korea this week for an on-site inspection, the government said Sunday.The unification ministry said 18 officials from three South Korean firms will visit North Korea’s northeastern port of Rajin from Tuesday to Thursday. The companies are state-run Korea Railroad Corp., top steelmaker POSCO and No. 2 shipper Hyundai Merchant Marine. No government official will join the tr
Feb. 9, 2014
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Korean-American man pleads guilty on secret leak charge
A former U.S. State Department arms expert, Stephen Kim, on Friday pleaded guilty to leaking secret information on North Korea to the media.Kim, a Korean-American, is charged with revealing classified information about the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test to a Fox News reporter in 2009.At a U.S. federal court hearing here, Kim pleaded to "one count of making an unauthorized disclosure of national defense information," the Justice Department said.The information concerned the military c
Feb. 8, 2014
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N. Korean leader revs up agricultural reform
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is revving up his agricultural reform drive as he moves to eschew the equal distribution of farmers’ harvests and expand incentives for productive workers.In a letter to agricultural leaders, Kim indicated his intention to accelerate the overhaul of the farm sector, a core element of the so-called “June 28 economic reform measures” that the North introduced in 2012 to shore up its moribund economy.“The agricultural front is the principal direction which we should
Feb. 7, 2014
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Norea Korea launch pad work almost completed: U.S. think tank
North Korea has almost completed enlargement of its main satellite launch pad, allowing the launch of rockets up to 50 meters in length as early as next month, a U.S. think-tank said Friday.The closely-followed 38 North website of the Johns Hopkins University’s U.S.-Korea Institute said recent satellite imagery showed gantry modifications at the Sohae launch site in northwest North Korea were almost finished.The images revealed a new level had been added to handle rockets up to 50 meters (165 fe
Feb. 7, 2014
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Son of top N. Korean official treated in Singapore: report
The son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's key confidant has received medical treatment in Singapore to restore hearing, a news report said Friday. Choe Hyon-chol, son of North Korean military's top political officer Choe Ryong-hae, underwent treatment in the city state last month, Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported from Beijing, without identifying a source. The newspaper also reported that Kim has given US$100,000 to help cover the costs. The junior Choe, an official of the
Feb. 7, 2014
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Park urges N. Korea not to hurt separated families
South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged North Korea Friday not to hurt the feelings of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, after the communist country threatened to backtrack on its agreement to hold reunions later this month. The two Koreas agreed Wednesday to stage a new round of reunions at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort on North Korea's east coast, from Feb. 20-25. A day later, however, North Korea demanded Seoul cancel its annual military drills with Washington, warning it
Feb. 7, 2014
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S. Korean team heads to North to arrange family reunions
A group of South Korean officials crossed the border into North Korea Friday to check facilities for the reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War later this month.The two Koreas agreed Wednesday to hold the reunions at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort on North Korea's east coast, from Feb.20-25. The following day, they exchanged the lists of families set to meet with their long-lost relatives, with 85 from Seoul and 95 from Pyongyang. If the reunions take place, they will be the fi
Feb. 7, 2014
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Obama vows every effort for American man jailed in N. Korea
U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday his administration will make every effort to win the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American man imprisoned in North Korea.Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Obama noted Bae, a Christian missionary, has been held for 15 months."His family wants him home, and the United States will continue to do everything in our power to secure his release, because Kenneth Bae deserves to be free," Obama said.It is the first time that the preside
Feb. 7, 2014
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Work nearly complete at N. Korea rocket launch pad
A U.S. research institute says an upgrade of North Korea's main rocket launch pad could be complete by April meaning it would be ready for new launches.The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says new satellite imagery shows modifications underway at the west coast site of Sohae mean it could eventually accommodate rockets up to 50 meters long. The analysis was published Thursday on the institute's website, 38 North.North Korea is not thought to have su
Feb. 7, 2014
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[Photo News] A new hope
Feb. 6, 2014
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Koreas to hold family reunions Feb. 20-25
The two Koreas on Wednesday agreed to hold reunions of families displaced by the 1950-53 Korean War from Feb. 20-25 at Mount Geumgangsan, the Unification Ministry said. The decision was made at working-level talks at the North’s side of the border village of Panmunjeom. Three officials from each side took part in the meeting, which followed the North’s offer two days ago. The reunion would be the first such event in more than three years. About 100 families from each side would reunite with thei
Feb. 5, 2014
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North Korea denies professors visa renewals for U.S.
North Korea denied visa renewals for two American professors, who believe that their denial resulted from encouraging students to think critically, according to Wednesday’s Voice of America radio broadcast. Sandralee and Robert Moynihan, former professors at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, were denied reentry to North Korea at the end of last year, when the couple tried to return for the new semester as associate professors. The couple received no definite answer as to the re
Feb. 5, 2014
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Pyongyang tech school offers all classes in English, BBC reports
The elite Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea offers all classes in English and has many American lecturers, seen as “remarkable” considering that the U.S. is North Korea’s longtime enemy, according to the BBC.After 18 months of negotiations with Pyongyang authorities, the British broadcaster was given a chance to have a quick glimpse into the lives of students at the first private university offering a Western education in the reclusive state.The BBC reported that the
Feb. 5, 2014
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N. Korea bashes U.S. for worsening inter-Korean ties
North Korea again slammed the United States Wednesday for hindering the improvement of inter-Korean relations and escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.Pyongyang's fresh invective against Washington strikes a sharp contrast to a series of reconciliatory gestures toward Seoul and comes weeks before a couple of South Korea-U.S. joint military drills set to start in late February."The U.S. has employed every manner to impede the improvement of the inter-Korean relations," the North's state-ru
Feb. 5, 2014