Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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Another N. Korean defector found on raft in West Sea
Another North Korean man defected to South Korea on Oct. 30, using a makeshift raft to cross the tense western maritime border, government sources said Tuesday.A naval patrol ship spotted him some 13 kilometers away from Yeonpyeong Island at around 3:10 a.m. ― about 10 minutes before they found a group of 21 North Koreans on a wooden boat some 41 kilometers west of Daecheong Island.The two cases are the latest in a series of defections by those who have risked their lives to escape poverty and s
Nov. 8, 2011
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Seoul resumes medical aid to N.K. via U.N.
South gives first government-level assistance since deadly attacks last yearSouth Korea plans to resume medical aid to North Korea by taking part in a U.N. aid program, a Seoul official said Tuesday, in the newest sign of easing tensions between the two rival countries. It will be the first government-level assistance to North Korea since its deadly shelling on a border island in November last year. The Seoul government has approved of executing $6.94 million to the World Health Organization, wh
Nov. 8, 2011
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N. Korea’s nuke tests were two too many: CTBTO chief
North Korea stands out as the only country to have conducted a nuclear test in the 21st century, pushing it into further isolation from the rest of the world, the head of an agency tasked with monitoring the main nuclear-test-ban treaty said Tuesday.“Each test is creating a problem for the DPRK and this is the choice of the DPRK,” said Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). DPRK is the acronym of North Kor
Nov. 8, 2011
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SKorea approves WHO medicines shipment to NKorea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ South Korea has lifted its block on donating medicine to North Korea via the World Health Organization, amid signs of easing tension between the countries.South Korea previously had donated to a WHO program to send medicine and medical supplies to the North, but asked the o
Nov. 8, 2011
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N. Korean man defects to South on raft: source
SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean man crossed the maritime border into South Korea on a raft late last month, the same day that 21 other North Koreans were found drifting aboard a boat off the South's west coast, a government source said Tuesday."One North Korean man was discovered by our Nav
Nov. 8, 2011
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‘N.K. defector shot dead while fleeing country’
A North Korean border guard recently shot and killed a defector while trying to escape near the border with China, an activist in Seoul said.The incident is seen as part of a crackdown on the increasing number of residents risking their lives to flee the impoverished state.Kim Yong-hwa, chairman of the North Korea Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, said he saw a defector shot dead by a North Korean border guard shortly after he crossed the river border and stepped on Chinese soil. “I ac
Nov. 7, 2011
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N.K. soldier shoots defector arriving on Chinese soil: witness
A North Korean defector was recently shot dead by the North's border guards on Chinese soil shortly after crossing a border river, a civic activist here claimed Monday, suggesting that the Pyongyang regime has toughened its crackdown on defectors."I witnessed on Oct. 22 a North Korean man shot to de
Nov. 7, 2011
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Unification minister to ‘actively consider’ giving aid to N.K.
NEW YORK (Yonhap News) ― South Korea will “actively consider” providing humanitarian aid to North Korea through United Nations agencies, Seoul’s top policymaker on Pyongyang said here Friday.Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik visited U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and they discussed the need to help out the impoverished communist regime.Afterward, Yu said Ban expressed concerns about malnutrition among North Korean infants and children and the secretary-general told him that helping North Korea
Nov. 6, 2011
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‘21 N. Koreans cross sea border into South’
A group of 21 North Koreans was found drifting aboard a boat off South Korea’s west coast earlier last week, officials said Saturday, the latest in a string of defections by North Koreans.The five-ton wooden boat carrying the North Korean family members, including children, was spotted by sailors on a South Korean Navy vessel in the Yellow Sea on Sunday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The boat was drifting in waters some 38 kilometers south of the tense western maritime b
Nov. 6, 2011
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Unification minister pledges to start filling fund for Koreas' reunification
Seoul's top policymaker on North Korea pledged Friday to start filling a fund aimed at preparing for reunification with the North, calling on the South Korean people to also take part. Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik, on a trip to the United States,said he plans to launch a campaign to ra
Nov. 5, 2011
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21 N. Koreans cross sea border into South: officials
A group of 21 North Koreans was found drifting aboard a boat off South Korea's west coast earlier this week, officials said Saturday, the latest in a string of defections by North Koreans. The boat carrying the North Korean family members, includingchildren, was spotted by sailors on a S
Nov. 5, 2011
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U.S. House panel OKs bill on tougher sanctions on N. Korea
A U.S. House committee has approved a bill on toughening sanctions against North Korea, Iran and Syria with all three accused of being involved in proliferation activities, congressional sources said Thursday.The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Non
Nov. 4, 2011
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Seoul seeks 'stable dialogue channel' with Pyongyang: minister
South Korea is trying to establish a "stable dialogue channel" with North Korea, Seoul's top policymaker on the communist neighbor said Thursday, adding the alliance with the U.S. is the cornerstone of the effort.In a round-table meeting with U.S. experts on Korea, Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik als
Nov. 4, 2011
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‘N.K. opens bureau to run free trade zone with China’
North Korea has opened a bureau tasked with running a free trade zone near its border with China, a source familiar with the country said Wednesday, indicating the North’s continued efforts to revive its forlorn economy.The move came shortly after North Korea and China agreed to create joint economic complexes on the border islands of Hwanggeumpyeong and Wihwa following a summit between their leaders in May.“North Korea has opened a bureau with some 10 staff members on Hwanggumpyong,” the source
Nov. 2, 2011
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N.K. strengthens ideological education, travel ban after Gadhafi’s death
North Korea has reportedly been scrambling to shield itself from the fallout of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s death last month, a sign that his demise was a shock to the regime.It has intensified ideological education for young people since Gadhafi was killed in his hometown of Sirte on Oct. 20, about two months after the downfall of his regime that ruled the northern African state for 42 years.It also appears to be stepping up measures to bar overseas citizens from returning home to prevent
Nov. 2, 2011
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N.K. desperately collecting foreign currency
Diplomats buy duty-free goods for resale, sell fake artwork to ChineseAhead of the 100th birthday of its founder Kim Il-sung, the North Korean regime is coming up with a variety of ideas to rake in foreign currency from outside the country as well as from its own starving people, sources say. North Korea has been struggling to secure as much outside assistance as possible before 2012, which is the centennial of its founder’s birth.Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-il has boasted that a “powerful, pros
Nov. 2, 2011
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N. Korea's heir apparent fathered daughter last year: source
BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- The youngest son and heir apparent of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appears to have fathered a daughter last year with his reported wife, an informed source here said Wednesday.Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, has cemented his status as leader-in-waiting sin
Nov. 2, 2011
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S. Korea plans $50b fund for reunification
South Korea will set up a fund as early as this year to begin raising up to 55 trillion won ($50 billion) to pay for its eventual reunification with North Korea. Individual Koreans at home and abroad will be able to make donations to the fund and the government in Seoul may earmark money including budget surpluses, Unification Minister Yu Woo Ik said in his first interview since being sworn in on Sept. 19. While foreigners will also be allowed to donate, there is no plan to ask overseas governme
Nov. 1, 2011
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Ex-S. Korean envoys demand China stop repatriating N.K. defectors
More than 120 diplomats who formerly served as South Korean ambassadors released a statement calling on China to stop sending North Koreans back against their will, a civic group here said Tuesday. A total of 127 ex-ambassadors accused the Chinese government of violating international law by sending back the refugees.“It is the international society’s unchangeable custom to protect and shelter refugees,” the diplomats said in the statement released during a press conference here. The statement c
Nov. 1, 2011
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S. Korean Protestant church leaders to visit N. Korea
A group of South Korean Protestant church leaders will make a rare visit this week to North Korea, a local council of churches said Tuesday, in another sign of thawing tensions between the two Koreas.The group is scheduled to visit Pyongyang from Wednesday to Saturday where they will hold a joint pr
Nov. 1, 2011