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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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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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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Pyongyang to enjoy refreshing treats this spring
(MCT)“Bingsu,” a popular summer ice dessert in South Korea, is to be sold on the streets of Pyongyang.With North Korea’s biggest holiday coming up soon, the city plans to open 100 bingsu vendors. April 15 is the birth date of the late North Korean founder and leader Kim Il-sung. The holiday is referred to as “the Day of the Sun” in the North. The year 2012 marks his 100th birthday.South Korea’s Yo
April 7, 2011
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NK opens parliament amid attention on leader's son
North Korea was to convene its rubber-stamp parliament Thursday amid keen interest on whether its ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, would promote his heir-apparent son to another top post. The session comes amid lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula over Pyongyang's two deadly attacks on the South last year, which killed a total of 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers. It also comes as former U.S.
April 7, 2011
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‘N.K. will never admit ship sinking’
North Korea remains adamant that it will never apologize for the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship last year, according to an academic who visited the communist nation this month.South Korea says the North must admit it torpedoed the Cheonan with the loss of 46 lives before dialogue can resume to ease months of tensions. “North Korea says it cannot apologize for what it has not done and thi
April 7, 2011
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North Korea masterminded March cyber attacks: police
South Korean police said Wednesday that North Korea was behind the massive cyber attacks that severely slowed and disrupted dozens of South Korean government and business websites last month.The sites of about 30 key South Korean government agencies, including the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, and financial institutions came under a so-called distributed denial-of-service attack on March 4, w
April 6, 2011
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U.S. finds no evidence to relist N.K. as terrorism sponsor
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The Obama administration said Tuesday it has not yet found enough evidence to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.“There’s a very specific procedure, though, to designating someone as a state sponsor of terror, with specific criteria that need to be met,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.“There’s a legal process to doing that. And I’m not aware t
April 6, 2011
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N. Korea tests new submarine in naval drills
North Korea has strengthened the intensity of its naval drills this year by deploying a new submarine, prompting South Korea’s military to raise its level of vigilance, a government source here said Wednesday.“North Korea is on naval maneuvers near its bases off the East Sea and Yellow Sea by mobilizing five to six submarines, including a new Sango class submarine,” the source said on the conditio
April 6, 2011
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Seoul to foster N.K. defectors as unification force
Four-month program to train 1,000 young people from N. KoreaSouth Korea will open a program aimed at training young North Korean defectors to be resourceful workers after the reunification of the two Koreas, a civic group here said Tuesday.The four-month program, funded by the government, will train 1,000 young North Koreans, who are either college seniors or graduates, on topics such as social in
April 5, 2011
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North Korea desperate for outside food aid
Seoul, Washington reluctant to resume full-scale assistanceFacing ongoing international isolation and experiencing a wobbly power transfer from its ailing leader to his young son, North Korea is escalating efforts to secure food assistance for its starving people, philanthropic groups in and out of the country said Sunday. The communist North, which relies mostly on outside aid to feed its impover
April 3, 2011
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U.S. legislators move to redesignate N. Korea as terror sponsor
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― A bipartisan group of congressmen will soon submit legislation to redesignate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism for its torpedoing of a South Korean warship and shelling of a South Korean border island that killed 50 people last year, sources said Friday.“I understand Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has almost completed drafting the legislation, and she is likely to s
April 3, 2011
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U.S. confident on ability to intercept N.K. missiles
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The U.S. has the capability to intercept ballistic missiles from North Korea, a senior U.S. official has said.Patrick O’Reilly, director of the Missile Defense Agency, made the remarks at a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday in response to a lawmaker who expressed “concerns about the ground-based midcourse defense system in Alaska and California,” citing “ba
April 3, 2011
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N. Korea's parliamentary speaker asks Britain to send food aid: report
North Korea's parliamentary speaker asked Britain to send food aid to his country in the midst of a deepening food shortage, saying the upcoming two months would be the most difficult, a report said Saturday.Choe Tae-bok, chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, visited Britain between March 28 and 31 on an invitation from the British-North Korea All-Party Parliamentary Group.David Alt
April 2, 2011
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Dictator Kim becomes popular drink’s model
Sprite advertisement (YouTube)Although Kim Jong-il is the most influential and even sacred figure in North Korea, he is treated as a hilarious icon outside of the hermit kingdom.A new Sprite advertisement which features a dictator clearly modeled after Kim is popular among Chinese websites.Produced in Israel, the advertisement depicts the dictator dancing wildly after taking a sip of the drink. It
April 1, 2011
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South Korea willing to hold military talks with North: minister
South Korea’s defense minister said Thursday his military was willing to hold low-level military talks with North Korea if the North suggests such a meeting again, but insisted that no progress would be possible unless Pyongyang apologizes for last year’s deadly attacks. “If North Korea proposes a dialogue again, (the South’s military) will accept the proposal,” Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said
March 31, 2011
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S. Korea resumes civilian humanitarian aid to N. Korea
South Korea said Thursday it has allowed civilian groups to resume humanitarian aid to North Korea for the first time since last November when the North bombarded a South Korean island. The Unification Ministry approved requests by three relief groups to send aid to the North, an official here told reporters amid reports of dire food shortages in the communist country.<한글뉴스>민간단체 北취약계층 지원재개 허용연평
March 31, 2011
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N. Korea proposes inter-Korean Red Cross talks over return of defectors
North Korea on Wednesday proposed holding inter-Korean Red Cross talks to discuss the repatriation of four North Korean defectors, officials said.The four were among 31 North Koreans who strayed across the inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea on a wooden boat last month.The remaining 27 were repatriated to the North by sea earlier this week, in accordance with their wishes.North Korea agreed to a
March 30, 2011
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Koreas agree to continue study on volcanic threat
The two Koreas agreed Tuesday to advance their joint study of volcanic threats from Mount Baekdu, providing room for the chance of official dialogue long-stalled amid high tensions.The sides did not agree on a date for the next round of talks, though the North suggested early April and the South said it would review the proposal, according to Yoo In-chang, the chief South Korean delegate.During th
March 29, 2011
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Seoul not opposed to N.K. food aid: GNP’s Chung
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― South Korea does not oppose providing humanitarian food aid to North Korea as the communist country suffers from severe food shortages due to a poor harvest last year, a senior South Korean lawmaker said Monday.Speaking to a forum here, Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Grand National Party said, “Nobody in South Korea opposes humanitarian aid to North Korea by South Ko
March 29, 2011
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Divided Koreas hold their first-ever volcano talks
In a rare scene of cooperation, the two Koreas began a meeting of geology experts Tuesday to gauge the potential threat of a volcanic eruption at a mountain considered sacred by both sides.The meeting, which took place in this western South Korean border town of Munsan, came amid heightened concerns over natural disasters in the wake of a killer earthquake and ensuing tsunami that have driven neig
March 29, 2011
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Activists to fly anti-N.K. balloons next month
Leftist groups to hold separate demonstration at Imjingak near borderSouth Korean activists said Monday they have asked the government to approve their plan to fly anti-North Korea propaganda balloons across the border ahead of the birthday of the communist state’s late founder. It is the first time for rightist groups here to officially notify the government of the propaganda activity that has lo
March 28, 2011
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‘Gaeseong complex to promote N.K. reform, cut unification costs’
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The South Korean-invested industrial complex in North Korea will eventually help promote economic and political reform in the reclusive communist state and reduce the unification cost for South Korea, a U.S. congressional report said.The Congressional Research Service report dated March 17 that was written by specialists Dick Nanto and Mark Manyin dismissed concerns over
March 27, 2011