Most Popular
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Defense chiefs of US, Australia, Japan decry NK-Russia military cooperation
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'U.S. intercepted N.K. ship suspected of carrying military contraband'
The United States recently intercepted a North Korean ship suspected of carrying military-related contraband, causing the vessel to eventually sail back home, a U.S. official said Monday.The remarks by Gary Samore, special assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama, came after local media reported that the North Koreans turned back after apparently sensing their cargo would be inspected if they stop
June 13, 2011
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‘Vessel suspected of carrying banned items returns to N.K.’
A North Korean vessel suspected of carrying banned items recently sailed back home from international waters after fearing it would be searched if it docked at a foreign port, sources said Sunday.It was not clear where the ship was headed or what it was carrying, but the vessel returned home at the end of last month after drifting in international waters near Southeast Asia, the government sources
June 12, 2011
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Ruling camp to push N.K. human rights bill
South Korea’s ruling camp will cooperate for the parliamentary endorsement this month of a bill designed to help improve North Korea’s dismal of human rights conditions, officials from the government and the ruling party said Friday. “We agreed that the National Assembly of South Korea should no longer sit idly by on the problem of human rights infringements in North Korea,” Rep. Lee Ju-young, the
June 10, 2011
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N. Korean taekwondo athletes in U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- A group of North Korean taekwondo athletes arrived in the United States Thursday for a rare performance tour abroad.The 17-member team, which left Pyongyang on Saturday, arrived in San Francisco via Beijing. Leaving the San Francisco airport, they refused to answer reporters' questions.It is the second time that North Korean taekwondo athletes have visited
June 10, 2011
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Pyongyang threatens to disclose tapes of secret South-North talks
North Korea on Thursday threatened to disclose voice recordings of a secret meeting with South Korea where it said rejected the South’s proposal to hold a series of summits. “If all (South Korean officials who attended the meeting) refuse to admit the truth, we will have to disclose the full recordings of the contact,” the Korea Central News Agency, the north’s state news agency, reported, quoting
June 9, 2011
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N.K. threatens to disclose voice recordings of secret contact
North Korea threatened Thursday to disclose voice recordings of a secret meeting it had with South Korea last month, during which Seoul allegedly proposed holding a series of inter-Korean summits.In a surprise move earlier this week, North Korea reported that the two Koreas held a secret meeting, during which Seoul negotiators had "begged" for three inter-Korean summits, the first in late June at
June 9, 2011
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U.S. Congress proposes another bill on tougher sanctions against N.K.
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The U.S. House of Representatives will consider a bipartisan bill on reinforcing sanctions on North Korea, along with Iran and Syria, for their proliferation activities, a senior congresswoman said Tuesday.The bill, co-drafted by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-California) calls for the expans
June 8, 2011
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N. Korea’s special forces capable of striking most targets in South: report
North Korea has trained its special forces to be capable of infiltrating and striking more than 90 percent of targets in South Korea, a report said Tuesday, ringing alarm bells over the threat posed by the North’s elite troops. The report, released by retired one-star Army general Lee Won-seung, was based on a series of drills simulating an infiltration by North Korean special forces that hit targ
June 8, 2011
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Inter-Korean ties still frosty after N.K. claim
Pyongyang, Beijing push joint industrial zone; N.K. defector gets high-level S. Korean postInter-Korean ties remained chilly this week following North Korea’s sudden exposure of the Seoul government’s “humiliating proposal” to hold a summit meeting. As the Lee Myung-bak government in Seoul strove to prevent negative political fallout following the incident, news spread that Pyongyang’s military ha
June 8, 2011
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N. Korea test launched short-range missile near Yellow Sea last week
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea test-fired a short-range missile off its western coast last week, an intelligence source said Wednesday. "North Korea fired a KN-06 short-range missile off its west coast in the middle of last week," the source said on the condition of anonymity. "The launch is seen as a test to improve the KN-06 missile." North Korea has apparently been trying to increase the range o
June 8, 2011
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U.S. urges N. Korea to mend ties with S. Korea
Responding to North Korea's fresh military threats against South Korea, the United States called on the communist nation Friday to improve inter-Korean ties.Earlier in the day, the North's military issued a statement vowing to launch “retaliatory military attacks” against South Korea because its reserve forces used photos of North Korean leaders for target practice.The threats were the latest in a
June 4, 2011
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N.K.’s action aimed at damaging Lee
North Korea’s disclosure of what it claims was an “under-the-table proposal” from the South for summits seems to seek a stir here that observers say will not only worsen inter-Korean ties but trigger political conflicts.Pyongyang’s National Defense Commission said Wednesday some of President Lee Myung-bak’s aides had made secretive contact with the North earlier this year to propose three summit m
June 2, 2011
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Pyongyang, Beijing to build industrial belt in North
North Korea and China recently forged a deal to develop two North Korean border towns into an industrial belt and introduce, in part, free market practices, a North Korean government document showed.According to the document obtained by the Yonhap news agency, Pyongyang and Beijing agreed to foster the development of the North’s towns of Rason and Hwanggumpyong into an industrial belt.Rason, in th
June 1, 2011
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Seoul proposed 3 inter-Korean summits: N.K.
Ministry says North distorting South’s ‘real intentions’North Korea said Wednesday South Korea proposed to hold three meetings between their leaders and pleaded for any gesture to appease South Koreans still angry over last year’s attacks via an unofficial communication channel.Pyongyang’s powerful National Defense Commission said senior officials from Seoul including President Lee Myung-bak’s sec
June 1, 2011
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Communist allies seek strategic interests
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s recent visit to China indicated that the two countries’ communist alliance remains intact, but that it may be shifting toward a relationship based more on strategic and economic interests.The varying tones of state-run media reports from Pyongyang and Beijing on Kim’s summit meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao last week suggested that the two allies may not b
June 1, 2011
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[News Focus] North Korea turning tough against South Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (eighth from left) and his son and heir apparent Jong-un (fourth from left) pose with officials during his recent visit to the Heechun Power Plant construction site in Jagang Province. (Yonhap News)Abandoning its months-long reconciliatory gesture, North Korea threatened this week to cut off a military hotline with South Korea, a change analysts say might affect the
June 1, 2011
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N.K. action may thwart summit chances
Lee faces criticism for secret move to set up meeting with Kim Jong-ilPyongyang’s official media announcement on Wednesday that Seoul proposed holding three rounds of summit meetings between their leaders have dashed prospects for a summit between President Lee Myung-bak and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and prolonged the inter-Korean stalemate.The Lee administration was also likely to face crit
June 1, 2011
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More N.Koreans hope unification initiated by South Korea: report
Migrant workers sit near a police electric car patrolling around Shanghai train station on Sunday, May 22, 2011 in Shanghai, China.(AP-Yonhap News)As the economic gap between North and South Korea widens, more North Koreans think that unification led by South Korea would make their lives better, Radio Free Asia reported. North Koreans are also well aware of the economic prosperity the South has es
June 1, 2011
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‘N. Korea has been stealing military information via spam email viruses’
South Korean military officers have been warned not to open suspicious emails sent to them as signs of a North Korean hacking attack have been detected, a military official here said.North Korea, which is believed to be operating a special computer hacking military unit to collect secret information on South Korea, is suspected of sending spam emails carrying viruses to collect classified informat
May 31, 2011
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N. Korea threatens 'physical action' against S. Korea
North Korea threatened Monday that it will no longer engage with South Korea and will retaliate against Seoul for anti-Pyongyang "psychological warfare."In a spokesman's statement, the North's powerful National Defense Commission said it will cut off military communication lines between the two Koreas and close its liaison office in the Mount Kumgang resort area."The army and people of the (North)
May 30, 2011