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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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Seoul to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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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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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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Seoul examining calls to lift N. Korea sanctions
The government is keeping tabs on demands to lift its three-year-old blanket sanctions that virtually halted all inter-Korean economic exchange, and weighing actions it can take, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said.Replying to questions raised by lawmakers on the ban that went into effect in 2010, he said Friday the government is aware of the conflicting views on this critical matter.“Seoul is looking into the issue carefully, but public opinion is clearly divided on sanctions,” he said. Fol
Nov. 3, 2013
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Panama ends probe into N.K. ship with Cuban arms
PANAMA CITY (AFP) ― The Panamanian prosecutor investigating the case of a North Korean ship loaded with Cuban weapons has finished his probe and will present his conclusions this week, officials said.Prosecutor Javier Caraballo will deliver his report this week, Panamanian Attorney General Ana Belfon said late Friday.Belfon gave no indication as to what would be in the report.A source close to the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the North Korean government will soon be se
Nov. 3, 2013
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U.N. panel told regime to blame for N.K. famine
WASHINGTON (AP) ― North Korea’s authoritarian leaders were to blame for the famine that killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s, experts told U.N. investigators probing possible crimes against humanity in the secretive nation.Speaking at a hearing in Washington, two American experts said former leader Kim Jong-il’s regime continued acquisitions of fighter jets and failed to increase food imports to make up for a shortfall in food.Andrew Natsios, a former administrator of the U.S. Agency for In
Nov. 3, 2013
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Park open to meeting N.K. leader
President Park Geun-hye said she was open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at any time if it is necessary for peace on the Korean Peninsula, indicating a softer approach to the belligerent regime that remains fickle with the South.Park, however, stressed that she was against holding the summit talks for the sake of talks, and that a meeting should come from sincerity, in an interview published in the French daily Le Figaro on Saturday ahead of her three-day visit to France this we
Nov. 3, 2013
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U.N. panel told N. Korea regime to blame for famine
North Korea's authoritarian leaders were to blame for the famine that killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s, experts told U.N. investigators probing possible crimes against humanity in the secretive nation. Speaking at a hearing in Washington, two American experts said former leader Kim Jong Il's regime continued acquisitions of fighter jets and failed to increase food imports to make up for a shortfall in food.Andrew Natsios, a former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Devel
Nov. 1, 2013
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North Korean defector testifies at U.N. rights probe in U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) ― Her father was tortured in detention in North Korea and died. Her elder sister went searching for food during the great famine of the 1990s, only to be trafficked to China. Her two younger brothers died of starvation: one of them a baby without milk, whose life ebbed away in her arms.North Korean defector Jo Jin-hye tearfully told her family’s story Wednesday to U.N. investigators holding a hearing in Washington. It’s the investigators’ latest stop in a globe-trotting effort to
Oct. 31, 2013
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N.K. population stands at 24.9m: report
North Korea‘s population stands at 24.9 million, the 49th-largest in the world, a report by a United Nations fund showed Thursday.According to “State of World Population 2013” published by the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the North Korean population is expected to grow 0.5 percent in the 2010-15 period.It said that boys born during this five-year period could expect to live an average of 66 years, while the female life expectancy was estimated at 73 years.The latest findings also said a woman i
Oct. 31, 2013
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U.N. panel begins D.C. hearings on N. Korean human rights
U.N. investigators began public hearings Wednesday in the U.S. capital aimed at gathering information on North Korea's human rights abuses.The two-day hearings are part of overseas activities by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) looking into whether there are crimes against humanity in the secretive communist nation.The three-member body, led by retired Australian Judge Michael Kirby, conducted similar events in Seoul and Tokyo in August, followed by a session in London this week.The COI's probe h
Oct. 31, 2013
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N.Korea revises law to boost international railway cooperation with foreign nations: report
North Korea has revised a law to help the isolated country expand railway cargo cooperation with foreign countries and attract investment, a report said Wednesday.According to the report by the Korea Transport Institute (KOTI), Pyongyang changed its international railroad cargo law in December 2011 that regulates contracts, damage claims, fares, restrictions and dispute settlements. The North had created its first railway law in 1987, but this revision marks the first related to cooperation with
Oct. 30, 2013
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S. Korean lawmakers visit inter-Korean factory park
A group of South Korean lawmakers crossed the border into North Korea Wednesday to visit an inter-Korean factory complex in the communist country that has recently resumed operations after a five-month hiatus.The 21 lawmakers from the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and their 26 support staff crossed the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas at 9:30 a.m. and are slated to return around 4 p.m., parliamentary and government sources said. The trip marks the
Oct. 30, 2013
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New work seen at N.K. missile site as powers discuss talks
New satellite images indicate that major construction work is underway at North Korea’s missile launch station, a U.S. think tank said Tuesday, while the U.S. and China discussed resuming multinational talks to denuclearize the communist state. In its analysis of commercial aerial photos taken Oct. 9, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said that a second flat mobile missile launch pad may be under development in the western town of Dongchang, where
Oct. 29, 2013
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‘Military supply train caught fire in N. Korea’
BEIJING (Yonhap News) ― A North Korean train carrying military supplies caught fire early this month, causing “significant damage,” a source with knowledge of the North said Tuesday. The incident occurred in the North’s Ryanggang province close to the Chinese border, the source said on the condition of anonymity, adding that he could not confirm whether there were any casualties. “I learned that a military supply train caught fire early this month in Ryanggang Province and it caused significant
Oct. 29, 2013
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Mongolia will work with N. Korea to promote NE Asia stability: president
Mongolia's president stressed that his country will work with Pyongyang to promote stability in Northeast Asia, the North's state media reported Tuesday. The (North) Korean Central Television (KCTV) said President Tsakhia Elbegdorj, who is visiting North Korea, emphasized the important role that can be played by Pyongyang and Ulaanbaatar in pushing forward peace and stability in the region.The broadcaster said the remark was made by the chief executive late Monday following talks with senior Nor
Oct. 29, 2013
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Wu Dawei in D.C. for talks on N. Korea
China's chief nuclear envoy arrived in Washington Monday to discuss ways to revive the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, a U.S. government official confirmed.Wu Dawei, special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs, began two-day consultations with Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, and other senior diplomats, the official told Yonhap News Agency on background.Wu rarely travels to the U.S. but the current trip is his second in half a year.His trip
Oct. 29, 2013
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South Korea returnees hoped for better lives in North Korea
Six South Koreans recently repatriated from North Korea had sneaked into the North in search of better lives but ended up detained for up to 45 months for illegal entry, Seoul officials said Monday.South Koreans defecting to impoverished, totalitarian North Korea are rare. In contrast, more than 25,000 North Koreans have fled to the South for political and economic reasons since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas bar ordinary citizens from freely traveling across their mutual bord
Oct. 28, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Mongolian leader heads to Pyongyang
Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj arrived in Pyongyang on Monday as the first foreign head of state to enter the isolated country since Kim Jong-un took power in December 2011.The Rodong Sinmun, an official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, expressed hopes that Elbegdorj’s trip would upgrade bilateral ties and boost cooperation in economy, culture and sports. He was officially invited not by Kim Jong-un, but by its titular head of state Kim Yong-nam, president of the Supreme Pe
Oct. 28, 2013
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N. Korea's Kim to hold talks with Mongolian president: source
North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un is set to hold talks with the visiting Mongolian president this week, a South Korean diplomatic source said Monday, in what would be his debut on the summit diplomacy stage since becoming the North's leader. Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj arrived in Pyongyang earlier in the day, marking the first visit by a head of state to North Korea since Kim took power in late 2011 upon the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. "We have been informed that First Secre
Oct. 28, 2013
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Vice unification minister to accompany lawmakers to Gaeseong complex
South Korea's vice unification minister will accompany lawmakers to an inter-Korean factory park in Gaeseong this week but will not meet with North Korean officials, the government said Monday.The South Korean lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee plan to travel to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North Korean border town of the same name on Wednesday on a fact-finding mission to see how South Korean businesses are coping with normalizing operations there."Vice Ministe
Oct. 28, 2013
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N. Korea hit by Chongryon's financial woes: WP
North Korea's efforts to earn hard currency have suffered a setback not only due to U.N.sanctions but also from the financial crisis of Chongryon, a group of pro-Pyongyang residents in Japan, a Washington Post column said Sunday.As a result, the status and influence of Chongryon, or the General Association of Korean residents in Japan, has markedly decreased in the communist nation, said Max Fisher, the Post's foreign affairs blogger."The hermit kingdom has a number of ways to bring in cold, har
Oct. 28, 2013
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Repatriated S. Koreans slipped into N. Korea via China: authorities
The six South Koreans who were recently returned home from North Korea were found to have entered the communist country illegally via China, public safety authorities here said Sunday.Last Friday, North Korea handed over the six men along with the body of a South Korean woman at the neutral border village of Panmunjom.The men were immediately taken into the custody of South Korean authorities for questioning on how they entered the North and details of their stay there.According to the authoriti
Oct. 27, 2013