North Korea's main newspaper on Saturday reported on military efforts to strengthen the monitoring of coastal areas and the responsibility of front-line health care workers in a stepped-up campaign against the new coronavirus. The Rodong Sinmun published articles highlighting the importance of maintaining a strong push to prevent COVID-19 transmissions, as the virus continues to resurge around the world, including in South Korea. "Surveillance posts deployed along the coastal areas are s

North Korea’s trade with China shrank by over 70 percent this year, with the North shutting down borders with its main trade partner in January in hopes to fend off COVID-19. North Korea’s trade with Russia, on the other hand, gained 15 percent. North Korea’s trade volume with China stood at $530 million in the first nine months of this year, down 73 percent from the same period last year, according to a quarterly report on the two countries’ trade released by the Kore

North Korea has recently ordered its overseas missions not to antagonize the United States amid an ongoing power transition in Washington following the presidential election win by Joe Biden, according to Seoul lawmakers Friday. The Kim Jong-un regime also executed a big shot in the Pyongyang money change market in late October for a sudden exchange rate fluctuation and an official in August for bringing in prohibited goods amid toughened border customs control due to the new coronavirus pandem

North Korea appears to be enforcing home classes for elementary school students as a way to avoid classroom gatherings amid nationwide anti-coronavirus efforts, according to state media reports. Uriminzokkiri, one of the North's propaganda websites, said that elementary school teachers in Pyongyang are visiting homes of their students every three days for education as vacation continues. "With the vacation for kids in place, such a new schedule has been started," the website said. &q

Unification Minister Lee In-young said Thursday that South Korea should provide food and fertilizer aid to North Korea next spring at the latest to help the impoverished nation address chronic food shortages. "There are warnings that the coronavirus is crippling production and supply chains for crops, and climate change is making things worse, which will likely cause extreme famine and difficulty in securing food," Lee said at an international forum in Seoul to discuss ways to realize

Unification Minister Lee In-young tried to convey his "sincerity" about inter-Korean cooperation when he called for sharing coronavirus vaccines with North Korea, an official said Thursday, following criticism the appeal was inappropriate as South Korea has yet to secure enough vaccines. Last week, Lee said that the South should share coronavirus vaccines with the North even if the country runs short of its own supplies. The remark came under fire from conservatives as it came at a ti

North Korea faces a serious humanitarian crisis due to shortages of food, clean water and medical services aggravated by poor governance and repressive internal political measures, a Swiss international nongovernmental organization has said. According to the annual "Inform Severity Index" report compiled by the Geneva-based Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), North Korea faces a "very high" level of humanitarian crisis severity. This represented the highest level of a s

South Korea decided Wednesday to mass produce a new type of tactical ground-based missiles designed to destroy underground artillery bases in North Korea, officials said. During the defense project promotion committee presided over by Defense Minister Suh Wook, the government approved the plan to produce more than 200 units of the Korean Tactical Surface to Surface Missile (KTSSM) by 2025, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Under the 450 billion won ($406.14 m

North Korea's official newspaper called Wednesday for putting quality ahead of quantity in construction and manufacturing, saying an obsession with speed will end up with defects and a waste of money and efforts. "By focusing solely on the speed without ensuring quality, we cannot avoid re-production and re-construction and our precious materials and funds will only go to waste," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling party, said in an editorial. The paper stressed the im

Europeanist referred to Iran as model for NK nuclear deal

A North Korean man who fled here early this month said he used to be a gymnast and was able to jump over the 3-meter fence along the inter-Korean border, a Seoul official familiar with the matter said Monday. The man, reportedly of small stature and in his late 20s, has been under investigation by Seoul’s defense authorities over his defection route and motives. Seoul officials had him jump twice to verify his claim. Authorities suspect his light body weight and gymnastics experience co

A recently resumed tour program to the truce village of Panmunjom will remain in operation despite this week's toughened social distancing measures against the coronavirus, as necessary preventive steps have already been enforced, a unification ministry official said Tuesday. The tours to the Joint Security Area (JSA) and other sites inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas resumed earlier this month after more than a year of suspension due to the outbreak of African swine

North Korea said Monday that self-help is the way to power through the obstacles ahead, like the coronavirus pandemic, and no one should challenge that direction. “Self-help is the way of life we’ve maintained to this day and it’s in our blood. We display that and there is nothing we cannot overcome,” the official state newspaper said, urging Workers’ Party members to be a brigade moving forward to grab victory. The North still claims it has yet to report an infec

A UN envoy on North Korea condemned South Korea for opting out of co-sponsoring a North Korean human rights resolution at the United Nations, saying this sends the wrong signal to the reclusive regime. 　 “They should have a more vocal and outspoken position with regards to the human rights agenda as it was in the past,” Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said during a recent interview with Radio Free Asia. “I would like to see South

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Monday called on South Korean conglomerates to prepare for possible inter-Korean cooperation despite the current stalled relations, stressing that a breakthrough in cross-border ties could "come sooner than expected." Lee made the remark at a meeting with officials from South Korean conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics, SK Group, LG Group and Hyundai Motor Group, whose leaders accompanied President Moon Jae-in during his visit to Pyongyang