Most Popular
-
1
40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
-
2
Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
-
3
Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
-
4
[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
-
5
N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
-
6
Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
-
7
Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
-
8
Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
-
9
Govt. asks hospitals to mitigate impact of medical professors' absence
-
10
Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
-
N.K. calls itself 'nuclear-armed state' in revised constitution
North Korea calls itself a "nuclear-armed state" in its recently revised constitution, according to its full text confirmed on Wednesday in the North's "Naenara" web site.Following December's death of leader Kim Jong-il, the North has revised its constitution to add three new sentences and one of them contains the term of a nuclear-armed state."National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il has
May 30, 2012
-
World ups pressure on N.K. human rights
North Korea is coming under greater international pressure over human rights issues as the U.S. and European Union are stepping up calls on the oppressive regime to free political prisoners and stop punishing repatriated defectors. The European Parliament subcommittee on North Korea’s human rights issues hosted a session in Brussels Wednesday with some 70 officials from EU, civic groups and other related organizations. Kim Chang-beom, Seoul’s ambassador to Brussels and EU, appealed for internati
May 30, 2012
-
China blamed for defector abuse
Beijing carries out months-long crackdown on illegal immigrantsChina’s ongoing campaign against illegal immigrants has sparked concerns that North Korean defectors hiding in the country will become more vulnerable to human rights abuses.Amid stepped-up searches, refugees may have to do whatever it takes not to be dragged back to the oppressive state, even if that means selling themselves into slavery or prostitution, activists and defectors said. “As they fear repatriation, they cannot but choos
May 30, 2012
-
S. Korean human rights activist killed in car wreck in China
Kang Ho-bin, a South Korean human rights activist and survivor of an apparent assassination attempt in 2011, died in a car accident in China on Sunday. Kang, who had been working for North Korean human rights in China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture for more than 10 years, died in a car accident on Sunday as he was driving to a church at about 2 p.m.Officials at the church said that Chinese authorities have not elaborated on the accident, but said that Kang is suspected of having fallen a
May 30, 2012
-
Curtains open wide in Myanmar, a crack in N.K.
For decades, they have been two of the world’s most reclusive nations.Myanmar, run by a cabal of generals, squelched any attempt at democratic change and kept the country’s most popular figure under strict house arrest for years.North Korea, run by the same family as a Stalinist dictatorship since the 1940s, simply sealed itself off. Outsiders were rarely allowed to visit, tourists were long unknown and the only way ordinary people could escape the country’s extreme poverty and political repress
May 30, 2012
-
Seoul urges Pyongyang to free detained daughters of Shin
U.N. rules North Korea ‘arbitrarily’ detains Shin’s two daughtersSeoul on Tuesday reiterated demands that Pyongyang release the daughters of Shin Sook-ja, a South Korean who allegedly died last month after being imprisoned for more than 20 years in North Korea. The Foreign Ministry said that a U.N. agency recently ruled that the North has “arbitrarily” confined Shin and her two daughters -- Oh Hye-won and Oh Kyu-won -- now 70, 36 and 33, respectively. The decision was made by the U.N. Office of
May 29, 2012
-
N. Korean farmers cite grave drought; aid unlikely
NAMPO, North Korea ― North Korea is reporting a serious drought that could worsen already critical food shortages, but help is unlikely to come from the United States and South Korea following Pyongyang’s widely criticized rocket launch.North Korea has had little rain since April 27, with the country’s western coastal areas particularly hard hit, according to a government weather agency in Pyongyang. The dry spell threatened to damage crops, officials said, as the country enters a critical plant
May 29, 2012
-
N. Korea quickly makes documentaries of leader's inspection trips
North Korea's state television has aired a series of documentaries of leader Kim Jong-un soon after his inspection trips, in an apparent move to help the young leader gain public support.Korean Central Television broadcast films on Kim on Saturday, just two days after he toured an amusement park, an ice rink and a street in Pyongyang.The state television aired the new documentaries three times on
May 29, 2012
-
N.K. suffering severe drought: state media
North Korea is suffering a prolonged and widespread drought, state media says, raising fears it will worsen already dire food shortages in the impoverished communist country.If the unusually dry weather persists to the end of the month, it will be the driest May in 50 years in western coastal areas, the Korean Central News Agency said, warning: “The drought is expected to get more serious.”The Rodong Sinmun newspaper urged workers and government employees to help farmers in their struggles to ea
May 27, 2012
-
N. Korea steps up fight against drought
North Korea is stepping up its fight against drought as a prolonged dry spell in the rice-planting season could deal a blow to food production and negatively impact the rule of the its new young leader.The impoverished nation's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper, state television and other media outlets are urging citizens to utilize every possible source of water to irrigate rice paddies, while also of
May 27, 2012
-
King to visit Brussels for discussions on NK human rights
A U.S. envoy will travel to Brussels next week to discuss North Korean human rights with the European Union, the State Department announced Friday.Amb. Robert King, the special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will participate in the European Parliament subcommittee on the human rights situation in North Korea on Tuesday, the department said in a press release.King also plans to meet wi
May 26, 2012
-
Remains of S. Korean soldiers killed in N. Korea return home for 1st time
The remains of South Korean soldiers killed in North Korea during the Korean War returned home on Friday via the U.S., marking the first such repatriation of South Korean war dead since the 1953 armistice.Twelve sets of remains, two of which have been positively identified, were among 226 sets recovered in the northern part of North Korea by a U.S. excavation team between 2000 and 2004, before Was
May 25, 2012
-
30 N.K. officials either executed or killed: rights group
Thirty North Korean officials, once involved in inter-Korean talks, are believed to have been executed either by firing squad or killed in staged traffic accidents, a human rights advocacy group said Thursday.Amnesty International raised the suspicions in its annual report, citing unconfirmed reports in July. The alleged purge suggests that North Korea used the officials as scapegoats for soured i
May 24, 2012
-
N.K., U.S. signal openness to diplomatic solutions
North Korea and the United States are walking a tightrope on signaling willingness to defuse tension diplomatically following Pyongyang’s firing of a long-range rocket last month.U.S. officials said Wednesday that Washington will consider offering food aid to Pyongyang if the destitute country changes course and makes no additional provocations. While portraying its nuclear program as a “self-defense” measure, the North said Tuesday it has no plan for an atomic test for now and remains open to d
May 24, 2012
-
Seoul warns Pyongyang of 'grave consequences' from nuclear test
South Korea on Thursday warned North Korea of "grave consequences" and new international sanctions if the North goes ahead with a nuclear test, with Seoul officials assuming that Pyongyang is technically ready to conduct a third nuclear test. Officials and analysts believe that the North may soon set off a nuclear device following its failed launch of a long-range rocket on April 13. Pyongyang's t
May 24, 2012
-
N.K. upgrades rocket launch pad
Pyongyang denies any plan for nuclear testNew satellite imagery suggests that North Korea has upgraded its old rocket launch site in the northeastern town of Musudan, U.S. experts said Tuesday.After analyzing an April 29 aerial image, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said the communist regime has renovated a launch pad for larger, higher-capacity missiles at the place where it fired its first two long-range rockets in 2006 and 2009.The photo shows the initial stages of constr
May 23, 2012
-
China probes seizure of fishermen by N. Koreans
BEIJING (AFP) ― Beijing said Tuesday it was investigating the seizure of 28 Chinese fishermen by armed North Koreans, as it gave its clearest indication yet that state forces may have played a role.The men were seized as they fished in waters running between China and North Korea on May 8, and held for 13 days before they were released at the weekend, according to earlier reports.Neither country has identified the abductors, and China has been unusually tight-lipped on the incident, which comes
May 23, 2012
-
Lee calls for attention to N.K.’s rights record
President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday North Korea’s human rights record is an issue as important as its nuclear or missile programs, and should be dealt with more urgently than other matters.Lee made the remark during a meeting with a group of U.S. lawmakers, including Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the chairwoman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, presidential spokeswoman Lee Mi-yon said. “The issue of North Korea’s nuclear test or a missile launch is of the same weight of signific
May 23, 2012
-
Bo’s ouster may alter China’s N.K. policy
Expert says leadership changes in S. Korea, U.S., Russia may not cause big policy changeThe ouster of high-flying politician Bo Xilai from China’s Communist Party leadership in March is expected to readjust the direction of its North Korea policy, possibly toward restraining provocative behavior and encouraging openness, a renowned U.S. expert said.Gordon Flake, executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, said that after the downfall of Bo representing the “old-school, react
May 23, 2012
-
Seoul, Washington, Tokyo warn N.K. against further provocations
Chief nuclear envoys from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan on Monday called on North Korea not to “miscalculate,” warning of a united response to any further provocations.“We’re united in our resolve to respond, not just the three allies but China and Russia as well, if there are an additional provocations,” Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, told reporters after a meeting in Seoul with Lim Sung-nam of South Korea and Shinsuke Sugiyama of Japan. “We hope that North K
May 21, 2012