Scores of North Korean defectors in China are facing repatriation back to their ironfisted homeland, a South Korean humanitarian group said Monday. According to the Commission to Help North Korean Refugees, a group of 20 North Koreans was rounded up in Shenyang, China, on Sept. 26, along with 10 others in Weihai, Shandong Province, on the same day. Another three were arrested on Sept. 29 and 30 ...

BEIJING (Yonhap News) ― North Korea is expanding travel routes between China and its scenic resort in Mount Geumgang, a source familiar with the North said Monday, indicating Pyongyang’s continued efforts to earn much-needed cash from Chinese tourists. The new routes will include extra flights from Chinese cities to Mount Geumgang on North Korea’s east coast, in addition to trains and expressway...

Dozens of North Korean defectors in China were recently arrested and will soon be deported back to their communist homeland, a South Korean humanitarian group said Sunday. In a special bulletin posted on its own website, the Commission to Help North Korean Refugees (CNKR) claimed a group of 20 North Koreans was rounded up in Shenyang, China, on Sept. 26, along with 10 others in Weihai, Shandong ...

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- The United States and North Korea are likely to hold their second round of nuclear disarmament talks later this month, after a summit meeting between the South Korean and U.S. presidents, a senior government official in Seoul said, stressing the allies' close cooperation on the issue. Media speculation has been rife over the timing of the next meeting between Washington...

A ranking North Korean official in charge of policies on South Korea will attend a private academic forum in the U.S. next month, an official in Seoul said Friday. Won Tong-yon, deputy director of the United Front Department of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, will travel at the invitation of a professor at the University of Georgia, according to the South Korean government official who spoke ...

Visit raises anticipation for reactivation of economic cooperation South Korea’s top right-wing politician visited a joint factory park in North Korea Friday, raising anticipations for the possibility of the two Koreas reactivating their economic cooperation. Before crossing the heavily fortified land border to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, Hong Joon-pyo, chief of Seoul’s ruling Grand Nation...

A market economy and new business class have emerged in North Korea since the 1990s even though their government will not acknowledge it publicly, a panel of experts said Wednesday. Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Center for Free Enterprise in Yeouido, Seoul, professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University said that the populace was forced into adapting to a new market economy after the fall ...

North Korean officials believe the Libyan regime would not have collapsed had it held on to its nuclear weapons, the outgoing British ambassador to Pyongyang said Wednesday, casting doubt on the likelihood that the North will relinquish its nuclear capabilities. The remarks by Ambassador Peter Hughes came as South Korea and the United States have been holding a rare series of talks with the Nort...

A planned visit to North Korea by a top right-wing South Korean politician is drawing attention as the two Koreas have been trying for months to thaw their icy ties. Hong Joon-pyo, chief of Seoul’s ruling Grand National Party, will travel to a joint factory park in North Korea’s Gaeseong on Friday to seek ways of promoting the industrial complex, the party and the Unification Ministry said. It w...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- North Korea on Tuesday accused South Korea of seeking “the road to war” but called again for international talks on its nuclear arsenal. South Korea’s conservative government has taken relations with the North “to their worst state with widespread atmosphere of war and confrontation,” the North’s Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon told the U.N. General Assembly. Pak blame...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- The military commander in charge of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region expressed concern Tuesday that North Korea will resume belligerence related to its ongoing power succession. “The dynamics surrounding succession and, you know, most importantly, the prospect of continued provocations is another dynamic that we must pay very close attention to,” Adm. Robert Wil...

BEIJING (Yonhap News) ― North Korea and China agreed to strengthen economic cooperation during talks between their prime ministers in Beijing, China’s state news agency reported Tuesday. The North’s Premier Choe Yong-rim and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao “pledged to promote trade, investment and economic cooperation” between the nations during a meeting held on Monday night during Choe’s of...