Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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N.K. holds local elections amid succession campaign
North Koreans voted in local elections Sunday as state media stepped up calls for loyalty to the ruling Workers’ Party and leader Kim Jong-il as the totalitarian leader has been trying to hand power over to his youngest son.Kim cast his ballot at a polling station in Pyongyang, along with his heir-apparent son Kim Jong-un and a senior party official, according to the official Korean Central News A
July 24, 2011
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Foreign ministers of two Koreas meet at key ASEAN meeting
BALI, Indonesia, July 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan held a brief meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Pak Ui-chun, on the sidelines of a key ASEAN forum here, an official said Saturday.The informal meeting between Kim and Pak came a day after the chief nuclear envoys from the two Koreas met for the first time since 2008 and agreed to make joint efforts to resume
July 23, 2011
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Philadelphia conductor eyes inter-Korean youth orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra chief conductor Charles Dutoit was a longtime friend of Isang Yun, a composer jailed and then exiled by his native South Korea for visiting the North. Now, 16 years after Yun’s death, the 75-year-old Dutoit is working to realize a dream inspired by his friend: an inter-Korean youth orchestra.The Swiss maestro held talks in North Korea late last month and says cultural offici
July 22, 2011
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Koreas agree to reopen 6-party talks
South and North Korea agreed to make joint efforts to resume the stalled six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear program "as soon as possible," Pyongyang's chief nuclear negotiator said FridaySouth Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac (left) and his North Korean counter Ri Yong-ho enter a hotel room for bilateral talks in Bali, Indonesia, on Friday. (Yonhap News) The agreement came a
July 22, 2011
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N. Korea's sincerity on dialogue still in question: Sung Kim
The nominee to become the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea said Thursday the allies still have doubts over North Korea's seriousness about dialogue despite its recent peace gestures. "We are not convinced that they really are ready to return to serious diplomacy and negotiations. This is why, I think, Seoul and Washington have both been very cautious in just rushing back to the negotiating table
July 22, 2011
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96 injured in downpours in N. Korean border city
Recent heavy rains in North Korea have slightly injured 96 people and destroyed thousands of houses in a border city alone, an international relief agency said Thursday. Among the injured people, 14 patients were moved to a nearby hospital in Kaesong, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a report, without elaborating on their conditions. The relie
July 21, 2011
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N. Korea opening up toward Western media for better ties
‘Chance of North’s News analysis communication with S. Korean media slim’North Korea’s recent gesture to open its doors wider to Western media indicates the reclusive state’s dilemma of wanting to escape international isolation while keeping its people marooned, analysts and officials here say. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency recently signed agreements with the New York-based Ass
July 21, 2011
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Pastor helps N. Koreans grow food
Kim Seon-man is more than a pastor working to spread the gospel.He has also been working as an agricultural advisor to North Korea for more than a decade. It started in July 2000, when the North’s Geumgangsan Tourist Region, only recently opened to South Korean tourists, had the need for an agricultural expert to teach the locals how to grow vegetables to satisfy the palates of their Southern visi
July 21, 2011
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North Korea holds more than 138,000 people in detention facilities
North Korea is holding more than 138,000 people in its detention facilities across the country, a private organization on North Korean human rights said Wednesday.The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights said about 130,500 people are being detained in five harsh political prison camps while the others are languishing in at least 182 ordinary detention centers.It also reported serious viol
July 20, 2011
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‘N.K. importing luxury goods as civilians starve’
North Korea’s imports of luxury goods from China almost doubled in a year, a report from China showed Wednesday, indicating the ongoing shopping spree by the elite class of the reclusive regime even as its people are supposedly dying of hunger. According to Beijing customs, quoted by Seoul officials, the total volume of trade between Pyongyang and its last-remaining ally and economic benefactor su
July 20, 2011
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N. Korea imports luxury goods for ruling elites despite food shortages
North Korea has continued its shopping spree for Armani, Gucci and other luxury goods for its ruling elites, a South Korean official said Wednesday, the latest sign that international sanctions on the North have not been fully implemented.The U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 ban the communist country from trading in weapons of mass destruction, some conven
July 20, 2011
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Informal markets help N. Korea survive: expert
North Korea has been able to survive unaffected by Arab Spring-style political unrest due to its tolerance for "inconsistencies" like informal markets within a communist state, a top North Korean expert said Tuesday."What makes North Korea still viable and function? We can see all kinds of gaps in this system and one of them is informal markets," Stephen W. Linton, chairman of the Eugene Bell Foun
July 20, 2011
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Seoul moving to approve flour aid to North Korea
South Korea does not ban civic groups from sending flour and other humanitarian supplies to North Korea, an official here said Tuesday, hinting at a new policy direction on aid, which has been banned since the North’s November naval attack. Seoul has been cautious about sending flour to Pyongyang due to its possible use as military provisions. The purported approval indicates South Korea’s softeni
July 19, 2011
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North Korea fakes news photo again
North Korea has been accused of doctoring a news photo to exaggerate damage from recent rains.The image showing pedestrians wading through thigh-high water on a Pyongyang street was released by North Korea’s state run Korea Central News Agency to the Associated Press, as part of their recently-signed licensing deal. The left photo provided by North Korea’s state-run KCNA is believed to have been
July 19, 2011
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‘Photo on North Korea suffering from flood is fake’
A photo that shows Pyongyang residents suffering from heavy rain has been digitally altered, the Associated Press said in a letter to editors and other subscribers Monday afternoon.The news agency asked them to immediately eliminate the photo from their system and archives.“The content of this image has been digitally altered and does not accurately reflect the scene,” the news agency said in a st
July 19, 2011
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Time for U.S. to decide on N. Korea food aid: expert
Dragging its feet on food aid for North Korea, the United States is sending the wrong signal to the international community that the communist nation is not in urgent need of food handouts, an expert said."Taking no decision is really a decision," Roberta Cohen, human rights specialist at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said in a recent report.She said that a delay in the U.S. decision
July 18, 2011
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Heavy rain feared to deepen N. Korea food shortages
North Korea reported deaths and damage to farmland and homes from heavy rain, sparking concerns as the communist state is already struggling to overcome chronic food shortages that were deepened by floods last year. Downpours hit several provinces from July 12-15, “leaving dwelling houses, public buildings and roads destroyed and causing casualties,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency
July 17, 2011
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N.K. farmers vow to send rice to military
Starving North Koreans have been conducting aggressive campaigns to deliver rice to their 1.2 million-strong active military, the South Korean government said Sunday, as disputes continue over the conditions in the communist state. North Korean farmers vowed to “carry out active campaigns to send more rice to the military” during a July 4 assembly, the Seoul government said, quoting a recently acq
July 17, 2011
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Heavy downpours raise fresh concern about N.K. food shortages
Heavy downpours battered much of North Korea earlier this week, causing casualties and flooding homes, farmlands, and roads, the country's media reported Saturday.The massive flooding raises fresh concern that the North's already serious food shortages may worsen. The North's Korean Central News Agency said that downpours hit many parts of the country from July 12-15, with North and South Hwanghae
July 17, 2011
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Sweden plans to offer medical aid to N.K.
Sweden is planning to send medical aid worth US$2.94 million to North Korea, the Voice of America reported Saturday.The supply of medical aid to the communist state will be made through European relief agencies such as Save the Children U.K., according to the report.The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) said the medical aid to the North is part of its humanitarian assista
July 17, 2011