North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chaired a meeting to review his country's disaster prevention and response system, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday, as the powerful Typhoon Hinnamnor hit the southern swathes of the peninsula. Kim and other attendees checked the North's preparedness and discussed measures for strengthening its crisis response capabilities during the session held on Sunday and...

INCHEON -- A North Korean defectors' group said Monday it has sent big balloons carrying COVID-19 pain relievers and face masks to North Korea. Fighters for a Free North Korea said 20 plastic balloons were released from Ganghwa Island in Incheon, around 30 kilometers west of Seoul, to North Korea on Sunday, with 50,000 painkiller pills, 30,000 vitamin C tablets and 20,000 masks in them. In phot...

“By joining voices, I hope to make a bigger impact together,” says Lee

North Korea is taking precautionary measures as it braces for a "super strong" typhoon churning toward the Korean Peninsula, according to its state media Monday. North Korean officials have inspected buildings at risk of flooding or collapsing while fishing boats out in the sea were recalled to port as Typhoon Hinnamnor is expected to bring heavy rains, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) repo...

Elizabeth Salmon, the newly appointed United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, said during her first press conference on Friday in Seoul that she would use her mandate to better protect the rights of women and girls in North Korea. “I am particularly determined to bring more attention to the experiences of women and girls, to improve understanding of their ...

Unification Minister Kwon Young-se met Friday with the new U.N. special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights to discuss humanitarian issues in Pyongyang. During his meeting with Elizabeth Salmon, Kwon promised proactive efforts to address the human rights issue of North Korea and expressed regret that the matter had been "neglected" under the previous liberal Moon Jae-in administration. "T...

North Korea accused the newly appointed U.N. special rapporteur on its human rights situation Friday of serving merely as a "puppet" of the United States. In response to a question by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a spokesperson for Pyongyang's foreign ministry launched the verbal attack on the US and Elizabeth Salmon, who assumed the post in early August. She arrived i...

HONOLULU -- South Korea, Japan and the United States agreed to stern measures against a new nuclear test by North Korea, South Korea's top security adviser said Thursday, adding the countries' reaction will be different from those of the past. Kim Sung-han made the remarks after a trilateral meeting with his US and Japanese counterparts -- Jake Sullivan and Takeo Akiba -- in Honolulu. "(We) agr...

Meeting comes as N.Korea has lambasted S.Korea for conducting major military exercise with US

North Korea has held the first meeting of active commanding officers of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards (WPRG) in three years to review its combat capability, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday. The WPRG is a civil defense organization of around 5.7 million workers and farmers, about a quarter of the country's population. The previous such meeting was held in February 2019. The meeting, held ...

No new significant activity detected at Tunnel No. 3 in Punggye-ri

South Korea's unification ministry said Tuesday it has requested a 15.1 percent hike in its 2023 budget, compared with last year, for humanitarian cooperation with North Korea for the new government's "audacious initiative" revolving around plans to offer a set of bold economic incentives to Pyongyang in return for denuclearization steps. According to the ministry's budget proposal reported to t...

WASHINGTON -- Recent satellite imagery suggest that work to repair North Korea's main nuclear test site in Punggye-ri may have been suspended due to flood damage, a US monitor said Monday. The satellite imagery, taken on Wednesday, showed no significant activities at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, according to Beyond Parallel, a project of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Interna...

North Korea remains ready to carry out a nuclear experiment, but no "particular" signs have emerged yet that the test is imminent, South Korea's defense minister said Monday. In a parliamentary briefing, Lee Jong-sup also said that the reclusive regime appears to be continuing preparations for a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) launch. Lee's ...

North Korea's outbreak of suspected COVID-19 cases in the northeastern province of Ryanggang earlier this week was caused by influenza, its state media said Friday. Earlier, the North said four fever cases suspected of carrying "malignant epidemic" were reported Tuesday in Ryanggang Province bordering China, just two weeks after it declared victory over the coronavirus crisis that began in mid-M...