Most Popular
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Medical profs at top hospitals suspend surgeries, clinics
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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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Samsung chip business back on track, logs W1.9tr operating profit in Q1
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Shinsegae faces showdown with investors over SSG.com's delayed IPO
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Hopes rise for possible Gaza truce deal
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Ex-pro baseball player who killed debtor appeals sentence
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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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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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North Korea looks to Africa to ease isolation
North Korea is markedly increasing diplomatic overtures to Africa amid tighter UN sanctions that are further isolating the country.North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs head Park Ui-chun is leading a delegation to Africa, and arrives in Benin on Thursday. Park’s visit to the resource-rich continent is the fifth from North Korea this year, with propaganda secretary and member of the Political Bureau Kim Ki-nam visiting Equatorial Guinea earlier this month. This year’s visiting parties have co
Aug. 18, 2013
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Hints N.K. seeking more butter, fewer guns
Just in time for the 68th Liberation Day celebrations, North and South shook hands on Wednesday, agreeing to end a 133-day suspension of the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex. The North’s promise of unfettered business operations at the Gaeseong complex indirectly acknowledged its responsibility for the park’s initial closure, according to sources. But whether this landmark compromise means the coming of a North Korea that is more trustworthy and open to economic development remains unclear, des
Aug. 18, 2013
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Seoul sticks with Panmunjeom for reunion talks
The Seoul government on Sunday stuck with Panmunjeom as the venue for the talks on separated family reunions, following North Korea’s acceptance of the South’s proposal to hold discussions on Friday.The Unification Ministry also held off on a response to the North’s proposal to discuss the resumption of Mount Geumgang tours, in an apparent attempt to separate the issues of family reunions and the tour project suspended since 2008.North Korea on Sunday accepted South Korea’s proposal for talks on
Aug. 18, 2013
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Kim Jong-un inspects construction site for ski resort
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the construction site for the country's project to build a world-class ski resort, the state-run news agency said Sunday. The latest visit, reported by the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), marks the leader's first inspection of the ski resort construction site in about 80 days.Since taking office in December 2011, Kim has highlighted the need to prop up the welfare and the livelihoods of North Koreans.The ski report construction in the Masik m
Aug. 18, 2013
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S. Korean officials visit Kaesong Industrial Complex to inspect facilities
A delegation of 30 South Korean officials made a cross-border trip to inspect facilities at a shuttered inter-Korean industrial park on Saturday, following a recent agreement between the two Koreas to resume its operations.The officials' trip to the Kaesong Industrial Complex comes three days after the Koreas agreed to reopen the troubled factory park that had been closed since early April. According to the unification ministry here, the 30-person delegation is made of up officials from the Kaes
Aug. 17, 2013
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China touts role in easing tensions on Korean Peninsula
A senior Chinese official on Friday touted his country's diplomatic efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, while reaffirming its pledge to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.State Councilor Yang Jiechi, a senior foreign policy adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping, also hailed the June summit talks between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Xi as having "consolidated our good-neighborly friendship and cooperation."Yang made the remarks in his eight-page a
Aug. 16, 2013
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N. Korea seeks to join U.N. event in Gwangju
Three North Korean youths have submitted requests to take part in a United Nations program slated to start in the southern city of Gwangju, the local organizer of the event said Friday.The United Nations Office Sport for Development and Peace received notification that the three youths and one leader of the small group expressed a desire to take part in the Youth Leadership Programme, the 2015 Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee said. The gathering that aims to educate youths in such fields
Aug. 16, 2013
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Seoul offers Aug. 23 talks on family reunions with North Korea
South Korea on Friday proposed holding talks with the North next week to arrange the first reunions of separated families in nearly three years in September. The offer delivered through the border communication channel was a follow-up to President Park Geun-hye’s Liberation Day address one day before, in which she suggested resuming family reunions and establishing a peace park inside the Demilitarized Zone. On Wednesday, the two Koreas agreed to take steps to reactivate the factory complex in G
Aug. 16, 2013
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Seoul's Red Cross to provide US$100,000 for flood-hit N. Korea
The Korean Red Cross plans to provide North Korea with an emergency fund of US$100,000 to help flood victims in the communist country, an official from the organization said Friday. "The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has asked for our participation in supporting the flood-hit North Korea," the official said. "In accordance, we've decided in humanitarian terms to send $100,000 to the IFRC to provide the victims there with relief goods." he added. The mon
Aug. 16, 2013
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Report: N. Korea showed off bogus missiles in parade
North Korea displayed fake missiles in its recent street parade in an apparent bid to exaggerate its military prowess, a U.S. news report said Thursday, citing analysis by government and civilian experts here.A set of North Korean weaponry rolled through the streets of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, in a July 26 ceremony to mark the Korean War Armistice anniversary.It included a purported road-mobile Musudan medium-range missile and a Hwasong-13 intercontinental ballistic missile."Our asse
Aug. 16, 2013
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Park proposes family reunions with N.K., DMZ peace park
President Park Geun-hye on Thursday proposed to North Korea reunions of separated families and joint development of a peace park in the heavily fortified border, raising the prospect of reviving lackluster inter-Korean projects. The offer came a day after the two sides agreed to take steps to reopen the Gaeseong industrial park following a 133-day freeze. In her first Liberation Day address as president, Park also called on the communist neighbor to “abandon its nuclear ambition and joint the in
Aug. 15, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Gaeseong accord not entirely promising
By Shin Hyon-hee Despite the breakthrough in Gaeseong, the two Koreas faced a series of tough talks to sort out differences over the industrial park’s globalization, compensation for businesses and other thorny issues. At the core of the consultations will be an envisioned joint committee to run the factory zone based on consensus, designed to block the North from making unilateral decisions such as its April entry ban and pullout of workers. During the seventh meeting in Gaeseong on Wednesday,
Aug. 15, 2013
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Castro says N.K. supplied free weapons to Cuba
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro praised North Korea for providing free weapons at the end of the Cold War.In an article published to mark Castro’s 87th birthday on Tuesday, he thanks late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung for the military support when the Soviet Union withdrew from the communist state’s territory, saying that Cuba should defend itself from the United States. “A veteran and unimpeachable combatant sent us 100,000 AK rifles and (ammunition) without charging a cent,” he said. Castro
Aug. 15, 2013
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Chinese scholar cautious about reopening inter-Korean industrial park
BEIJING -- An agreement between Seoul and Pyongyang to reopen their joint industrial complex was a welcome sign for inter-Korean relations, but much work is still needed for the two sides to put their relations on a positive footing, a Chinese scholar said Thursday. South and North Korea agreed on Wednesday to reopen the Kaesong industrial complex in the North's border city, which was shut down in April amid soaring tensions following Pyongyang's third nuclear test. However, they failed
Aug. 15, 2013
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Two Koreas agree on Gaeseong normalization
GAESEONG -- The two Koreas agreed Wednesday to take steps to reopen the Gaeseong factory park after 133 days of suspension, as the sides compromised on the key issue of how to prevent another closure in the future. Under a five-point accord signed at the close of the seventh round of talks in Gaeseong, they will meet again “in the near future” to form a new joint committee to discuss compensation for businesses and ways to improve passage, communications and customs and how to protect South Kore
Aug. 14, 2013
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U.S. to engage N.K. on detainee
WASHINGTON (AP) ― The U.S. on Tuesday signaled a willingness to engage North Korea to secure the release of an American sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in the authoritarian country.State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf would not say whether the U.S. might send a high-level official to Pyongyang to seek freedom for 45-year-old Kenneth Bae.But she told reporters the U.S. is “willing to consider a number of different options to secure his release.” She did not elaborate on what those options
Aug. 14, 2013
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Two Koreas agree on Gaeseong complex normalization
GAESEONG -- South and North Korea reached a five-point agreement Wednesday to reopen a shuttered joint industrial park that has been idle for more than four months, the government said."The agreement was signed by Kim Ki-woong, Seoul's chief delegate and his North Korean counterpart Park Chol-su,“ a Unification Ministry official said.Ministry officials said the two sides adopted the agreement after day-long negotiations in the North's border city of Gaeseong.The joint complex has been closed si
Aug. 14, 2013
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Koreas kick off 7th round of talks on Gaeseong park normalization
South and North Korea resumed talks Wednesday aimed at restarting operations at a joint factory park in the communist country that has been shut down for more than four months.Working-level officials from both sides met six times last month, but no breakthrough has been made mainly due to disagreements on which country is responsible for the current suspension and safeguards to prevent another work stoppage at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. From the outset of negotiations, each side blamed the
Aug. 14, 2013
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‘DMZ peace park plan tied to Gaeseong success’
A senior North Korean official stressed that Seoul’s plan to build a peace park in the demilitarized zone will be dependent on the success of the inter-Korean factory park in Gaeseong, a businessman with close ties to Pyongyang said Sunday.In a meeting with reporters after his recent 11-day trip to the North, Park Sang-kwon, the honorary chairman of Pyeonghwa Motors Corp., said Kim Yang-gon, Pyongyang’s point man on cross-border relations, told him that the peace park and Gaeseong Industrial Par
Aug. 11, 2013
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Panama finds explosives on N. Korea-bound ship
PANAMA CITY (AP) ― Authorities in Panama say they have found more explosives aboard a North Korean-flagged ship detained in the Panama Canal for carrying undeclared arms from Cuba.Anti-drug prosecutor Javier Caraballo said Saturday that inspectors found a kind of “anti-tank RPG (rocket-propelled grenade)” explosive when they opened one of five wooden boxes on the Chong Chon Gang. He said the other boxes were not opened because of security fears. The discovery comes just over a week after authori
Aug. 11, 2013