Unification Minister Lee In-young on Saturday reiterated South Korea's resolve to revive peace efforts with the North, pinning hopes on the recent reactivation of communication lines between the two Koreas. Speaking during a forum in the eastern city of Chuncheon, Lee said that the Beijing Winter Olympics slated for February next year may offer an opportunity to restore inter-Korean relations. "(The government) will focus its efforts to resume the Korean Peninsula peace process and make p

WASHINGTON -- The United States is committed to working with its allies in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, a State Department spokesperson said Friday, also stressing the importance of key US allies, South Korea and Japan, working together to that end. Ned Price made the remark after Japan's newly inaugurated Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held his first call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday (Seoul time), more than 10 days after his inauguration last Monday. "As you kn

North Korea may be considering engaging with South Korea and the rest of the world, former Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said Friday. Biegun noted the North may be trying to influence the outcome of South Korea's upcoming presidential election, but insisted having a direct communication channel with the reclusive state was more important to South Korea, as well as the United States, than having such consequences. "We've seen a sequence of events that many analysts have interpre

North Korea has opened a key sea route on the western coast to receive humanitarian aid deliveries following its closure attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, a United Nations agency official said Friday. The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has begun shipping medical supplies from the Chinese port of Dalian to North Korea's Nampo and plans to deliver more items, according to its Seoul office. "The sea route from China's Dalian to Nampo has been opened,&qu

The US State Department said Thursday that the US is waiting to see if North Korea would respond to its offer to resume nuclear talks. “We do stand prepared to meet with the DPRK without preconditions. We have made, in fact, specific proposals to the DPRK, and we will await a response,” spokesperson Ned Price said referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Price, who did not elaborate on the specific proposals, said the status qu

Top security officials held a regular National Security Council meeting Thursday and discussed ways of swiftly reopening stalled dialogue with North Korea, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said. The meeting came after Suh Hoon, the nation‘s top security adviser, held talks with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington earlier this week and they reaffirmed their commitment to engaging with North Korea. 　The participants agreed to work closely together with related

  　North Korea on Wednesday condemned Japan‘s recent push to build up its military, branding it as “preparations for a war of aggression.” 　 　A commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) noted Japan is planning to import over 20 U.S.-made reconnaissance drones, and pushing to possess aircraft carriers and introduce the latest stealth fighters. 　 　“The gravity of the issue lies in the fact that Japan pushes ahead with such arms buildup under the pret

The top national security advisers of South Korea and the US on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to engaging with North Korea, pledging to work together to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. Suh Hoon, South Korea’s director of national security at Cheong Wa Dae, was visiting Washington to hold a bilateral meeting with his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, amid North Korea’s conflicting messages involving back-to-back missile tests and diplomatic overtures, including the

A T-shirt with a printed portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was spotted during a public event in Pyongyang for the first time, state media showed, amid the reclusive regime's push to rev up an image of being a "normal state." According to footage released by the North's official Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Tuesday, an orchestra conductor was clad in the white T-shirt with Kim's face printed in black and white on the front at a defense expo the previous day. N

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Wednesday visited an estuary of the Han River near the border with North Korea and urged Pyongyang to respond to Seoul's call for dialogue to jointly use the waterway as agreed earlier. Under a military agreement signed at a 2018 summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the two sides agreed on the joint use of the estuary along their western border and conducted joint waterway research in November that year. The project, how

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to build a powerful military to strengthen war deterrence, but insisted that the country’s main enemy is “war itself,” and not South Korea or the US. 　 Kim made the remarks Monday as he gave a rare speech at a defense development exhibition to mark the previous day’s 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party, the North’s official Korea Central News Agency said Tuesday. 　 It was the first time the North

The South Korean government proposed Tuesday North Korea resume inter-Korean dialogue in order to narrow differences and promote mutual understanding after its leader accused Seoul of being "hypocritical" and having "double standards." In a speech Monday at a defense development exhibition to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, the North's leader Kim Jong-un condemned Seoul for continuing efforts to boost its military capabilities while talking p

North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker said Monday that South Korea should step up efforts to improve the human rights situation in North Korea, along with its proposal to declare the formal end to the Korean War. Rep. Tae Young-ho of the main opposition People Power Party made the remark during an interview with Yonhap News Agency while in New York for a parliamentary audit of the South Korean Embassy to the United Nations. "We shouldn't lean toward the left or the right for the North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for boosting the country's military capabilities to counter what he called "hostile forces" against Pyongyang but said the move is not aimed at a war against South Korea or the United States. Kim made the remarks Monday in a speech at a defense development exhibition to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, criticizing Seoul and Washington over their combined military exercises and weapons development. "The Un

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un urged his party officials to improve people’s lives in the next five years amid a growing economic crisis aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, the official Korean Central News Agency said Monday. “As set forth in the January congress, the five-year plan has to improve the living conditions, bring about a fundamental change and buttress a socialist utopia the world envies,” Kim said as he marked the anniversary of the regime’s ruling pa