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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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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N.K. bars lawmaker from Gaeseong
North Korea informed South Korea on Saturday that it will not permit a defector-turned-lawmaker to visit an inter-Korean industrial park on its soil this week, the Unification Ministry said.The notice came a day after the Seoul government provided North Korea with the list of 24 ruling and opposition lawmakers who plan to visit the joint factory zone in the North’s border city of Gaeseong on Wednesday.The visit is being arranged as part of the annual parliamentary inspection of President Park Ge
Oct. 27, 2013
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Seoul rescues, returns N. Korean fishing boat
Seoul returned four North Korean fishermen and their boat Sunday after it drifted into southern waters, military authorities said, two days after Pyongyang handed back six detained South Koreans. The vessel was picked up by a South Korean navy ship on Saturday after being spotted stranded off the country’s east coast following engine failure, officials said.The fishermen and their boat were handed over to North Korea Sunday in an operation along the sea border, they added.On Friday, in a move th
Oct. 27, 2013
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Troubled N. Korean fishing boat rescued in S. Korean waters
A drifting North Korean fishing boat was rescued by South Korea's Navy and Coast Guard in the East Sea on Saturday and sent back to the North the next day in accordance with the seamen's wishes, military and police officials here said."One North Korean fishing boat troubled by its mechanical failure was towed to the waters off the South Korean port of Geojin on Saturday. It was sent back to North Korea at 9:48 a.m. Sunday without repairs, after authorities found that its sailors have no intentio
Oct. 27, 2013
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N. Korea bars defector-turned lawmaker from visiting Kaesong complex
North Korea informed South Korea on Saturday that it will not permit a defector-turned South Korean lawmaker to visit an inter-Korean industrial park on its soil next week, the unification ministry said.The notice came a day after the Seoul government provided North Korea with the list of 24 ruling and opposition lawmakers who plan to visit the joint factory zone in the North's border city of Kaesong on Wednesday.The visit is being arranged as part of the annual parliamentary inspection of Presi
Oct. 27, 2013
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Allies reaffirm stance on North Korea
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had a "productive exchange" with a visiting top South Korean presidential aide Friday on North Korea and other pending issues, the department said.Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs, joined the meeting between Kerry and Kim Jang-soo, chief of Cheong Wa Dae's national security office, according to department spokeswoman Jen Psaki."Both sides reaffirmed our intention to coordinate and closely cooperate with re
Oct. 26, 2013
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N.K. denies alleged money laundering
North Korea said Thursday it is committed to joining global efforts to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism.The statement came in response to a recent report by the Financial Action Task Force that accuses Pyongyang of failing to address its "significant deficiencies" in those areas.In the report, issued at the plenary session in Paris in mid-October, the FATF, a sister organization of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, also called on the international co
Oct. 26, 2013
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N. Korea returns 6 S. Korean men, body of S. Korean woman
North Korea handed over six South Korean citizens and the body of a South Korean female at the neutral border village of Panmunjom Friday, a move that has raised speculation that the country may be trying to mend fences with its southern rival.The Ministry of Unification said that the six men crossed over into South Korea at 4:50 p.m. and will be questioned by authorities to determine how they entered the communist country.In addition, the North also handed over the body of a South Korean woman
Oct. 25, 2013
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N. Korea sends back six South Korean men
North Korea on Friday returned home six South Koreans, who had been held in the reclusive state apparently since early 2010, via the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom.The six men, aged between 27 and 67, walked past the military demarcation line running through the village at around 4:50 p.m., some 20 minutes later than they were set to return here.They are presumed to have been caught crossing the border between the North and China, Seoul officials believe.Investigators from the militar
Oct. 25, 2013
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N. Korean diplomat based in Ethiopia defects to S. Korea: sources
A North Korean diplomat based in Ethiopia defected to Seoul in August after seeking asylum at the South Korean Embassy in the African country, multiple sources said Friday.The North Korean man, whose identity is unknown, stormed into the South Korean embassy in Addis Ababa, asking for help for his defection to the South, they said."At that time, he worked for the North Korean office of the trade representative in Ethiopia ... I've learned that he is not a senior official, though," one source sai
Oct. 25, 2013
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N.K. to return six S. Koreans
North Korea said it would return home on Friday six South Koreans who have been in the communist country for as long as 44 months, the Unification Ministry said Thursday. In February 2010, the North revealed that it had four South Koreans in custody but kept mum about their identities. The other two went north some time after that date, a ministry official said. Pyongyang again raised the issue in June this year when state media accused Seoul of “abandoning and saying not a single word about sev
Oct. 24, 2013
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‘N.K. asked China for troops in 1965 for war’
North Korea asked Beijing in 1965 to send troops in preparation for another war on the Korean Peninsula, a Chinese scholar said Thursday, citing declassified diplomatic documents.Cheng Xiaohe, a professor of international studies at Renmin University, said in a paper released at an academic seminar hosted by the Institute for Peace Affairs in Seoul, that North Korean leader Kim Il-sung told China‘s envoy to Pyongyang that he wanted to start a second Korean War and that a conflict with South Kore
Oct. 24, 2013
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N.K. to return six S. Koreans
North Korea said it would return home on Friday six South Koreans who have been in the communist country for as long as 44 months, the Unification Ministry said Thursday. In February 2010, the North revealed that it had four South Koreans in custody but kept mum about their identities. The other two went north some time after that date, a ministry official said. Pyongyang again raised the issue in June this year when state media accused Seoul of “abandoning and saying not a single word about sev
Oct. 24, 2013
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Pyongyang accepts South lawmakers’ visit to Gaeseong
North Korea on Thursday accepted a request by South Korean lawmakers to visit Gaeseong, raising hopes that momentum will pick up for the joint factory park whose recently resumed operations are suffering after a five-month freeze.Twenty-four members of the National Assembly’s foreign affairs and unification committee have applied for a one-day trip to the border town industrial zone on Oct. 30 as part of an ongoing parliamentary audit. The acceptance was delivered to the newly launched permanent
Oct. 24, 2013
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Images show new work at N. Korea's nuclear test site
Satellite imagery shows North Korea has made new tunnel entrances at its nuclear test site in a sign it is preparing to conduct more underground explosions there in the future, a U.S. research institute said Wednesday.That's the latest indication that Pyongyang is pressing on with its nuclear weapons program, although the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says there's no sign another test explosion is coming soon.In February, North Korea conducted its
Oct. 24, 2013
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Gov't mulling support for Mt. Kumgang firms: unification minister
(Yonhap) -- The government is seeking to help alleviate the plight of companies that invested in the Mount Kumgang tours, South Korea's unification minister said Wednesday. In a meeting with representatives from the Mount Kumgang Entrepreneurs Association, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said Seoul will actively consider policy measures to help local businesses that were forced out of the resort for more than five years. The policymaker also expressed understanding for the hardships facin
Oct. 23, 2013
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Report: Mongolian president to visit N. Korea next week
Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj will visit Pyongyang next week for talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un, a news report said, as the two nations are endeavoring to deepen their strategic ties.Elbegdorj, who plans to arrive there on Monday, will become the first foreign head of state to meet the North's young leader since he formally took the helm of the reclusive communist nation last year, according to Japan's Kyodo News Service, which cited an unnamed Mongolian governm
Oct. 23, 2013
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U.N. team to hold hearings on N. Korean human rights in D.C.
A special U.N. panel looking into North Korea's human rights abuses said Monday it will hold public hearings here next week to be attended by several experts. The two-day session from Wednesday is part of efforts by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) to gather information from witnesses addressing human rights violations alleged to have occurred in the secretive North.The three-member body, led by retired Australian Judge Michael Kirby, conducted similar events in Seoul and Tokyo in August, followe
Oct. 23, 2013
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N. Korea could wage war if regime is threatened: top S.Korean commander
South Korea's top military commander said Tuesday North Korea could wage war if its regime is threatened or if it misjudges the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.Navy Adm. Choi Yun-hee, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), warned of the possibility that the North could make a bad decision when asked by lawmakers under what condition a war could occur on the peninsula.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could opt for war if his regime is threatened, the balance of military power chan
Oct. 22, 2013
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Indonesian president sends personal letter to N. Korean leader
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the North's official media said Tuesday. The personal letter was delivered to Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who is visiting North Korea, the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.However, the KCNA failed to reveal the contents of the personal letter. Last month, the Indonesian presiden
Oct. 22, 2013
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Spread of portable EVD players fueling 'Korean wave' in N. Korea: expert
The spread of enhanced versatile disc (EVD) players in North Korea is making it harder for authorities to crack down on citizens watching South Korean-made videos, and fueling the spread of the "Korean wave" in the communist country, a local scholar said Tuesday.Kang Dong-won, a professor of international relations at Dong-a University, said that the arrival of cheap, Chinese-made "portable TVs" that started reaching the isolated country in 2005 has made it possible for people to watch various m
Oct. 22, 2013