Most Popular
-
1
No plan to let doctors with foreign licenses practice here anytime soon: PM
-
2
Ador CEO's dismissal to be decided on last day of May
-
3
[Graphic News] Beer the most favored alcoholic drink by Koreans
-
4
Science Ministry expresses regret over Japan’s pressure on Naver
-
5
Haeundae Beach to become sand art museum in late May
-
6
Hostilities get out of hand as YouTuber murders another outside courthouse
-
7
Medical professors set to take day off amid protracted walkouts by junior doctors
-
8
Police officer jumps barefoot into drainage tunnel to save man
-
9
Yoon interacts with public for 1st time since election defeat
-
10
Lee Sun-kyun's posthumuous film to hit theaters in August
-
NK discharged soldiers to settle in vacant houses in flood-hit areas
North Korea is compelling discharged soldiers to settle in areas that were devastated by floods during a powerful typhoon in August last year as there were more new houses constructed than people can live in, a US broadcaster said Tuesday.A resident of Pyongyang who visited China told the Radio Free Asia that the North Korean authorities are forcing former servicemen to live in houses left over in North Hamgyong Province, adding he learned about it through acquaintances living in the northern pr
Feb. 7, 2017
-
Acting president warns of NK 'strategic' provocations
South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Tuesday warned of North Korea's possible strategic provocations ahead of the birthday of its late former leader next week, stressing the need for Seoul to maintain strong security cooperation with its ally Washington.During a Cabinet meeting, Hwang also noted that US Defense Secretary James Mattis' visit to Seoul last week reaffirmed the robust bilateral alliance and sent a "strong" warning to an increasingly provocative Pyongyan
Feb. 7, 2017
-
Poland to take legal action against NK's illegal business activities: report
The Polish government plans to take legal action to prevent the North Korean Embassy in Warsaw from continuing on its alleged illegal commercial activities, a US-based media said Tuesday.Voice of America reported that the European country's foreign ministry has sent VOA an email saying it will take additional steps to terminate the embassy's illegal activities in line with new sanctions that the UN Security Council imposed on the North in response to its fifth and largest nuclear test.The North
Feb. 7, 2017
-
NK leader inspects precision machine plant
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a precision machine factory in Pyongyang, calling for its employees to steadily improve their technical skills, state-run media said Tuesday.The North's leader made an inspection to the Kangdong Precision Machine Plant, stressing the need for its workers to "make it part of their everyday life to acquire the knowledge of cutting-edge science and technology," according to the Korean Central News Agency monitored in Seoul.He said that by doing so, the fa
Feb. 7, 2017
-
NK berates recent three-way missile drills as pre-emptive strike-driven
North Korea accused South Korea, the United States and Japan on Monday of carrying out drills aimed at pre-emptively attacking the communist country, and threatened to take retaliatory actions in response.The threat carried by North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper came after the three regional partners conducted a joint three-day exercise from Jan. 20 to detect and track potential North Korean missile launches.The recent missile alert exercise, the third of its kind carried by the three nations,
Feb. 6, 2017
-
NK renames financial ministry to attend to wider economic affairs
North Korea renamed its financial planning department in an effort to empower the government ministry to newly take charge of practical economic affairs, a Pyongyang source has said."The Financial Planning Department under the Workers' Party of Korea was renamed last year as the Department of Economy," the source told Yonhap News Agency. O Su-yong, a vice chairman of the ruling party's Central Committee is heading the renamed ministry, the source said. (Yonhap)The rebranding broadened the depar
Feb. 6, 2017
-
S. Korea rejects civic group's request for contact with N. Koreans
South Korea's unification ministry on Monday expressed its opposition to a local civic group's push to contact North Koreans in China this week, citing inter-Korean tensions.The government has rejected a plan by the group to meet with its North Korean counterparts in Shenyang on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss ways to promote exchanges between the two Koreas.Seoul's unification ministry said unauthorized contact with North Koreans will entail a fine under the law on inter-Korean exchanges and c
Feb. 6, 2017
-
Japan to allow entry to N. Korean athletes for Asian Winter Games: report
Japan will allow entry to North Korean athletes for an upcoming regional sports competition as an exception to its travel ban, a news report said Monday.Citing multiple government sources, Kyodo News said Japan will let North Koreans compete at the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo from Feb. 19 to 26.The news agency noted that while Japan normally bans North Korean nationals from entering the country, it will make an exception for sports exchange. Closing ceremony at the Rio Olympics in Brazil (Yonh
Feb. 6, 2017
-
Sacking of spy agency chief likely to aggravate instability in NK: think tank
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent sacking of the chief of the country's spy agency is likely to aggravate the sense of instability among the North Korean elite class, a report by the state-run Institute for National Security said Sunday.South Korea's Ministry of Unification said last week that State Security Minister Kim Won-hong was dismissed from the seat in mid-January over charges of abusing authority. The previously four-star general was also demoted to a one-star general, the minist
Feb. 5, 2017
-
Black market helped NK weather sanctions last year: researcher
North Korea's black economy, which is believed to have grown as a market force in recent years, helped the isolated country weather international sanctions last year, according to a researcher at South Korea's state-run think tank on Sunday.North Korea, which has been under layers of international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program, is expected to focus on stimulating its domestic consumption this year, said Lee Jong-kyu, a researcher at the Korean Development Institute, in a
Feb. 5, 2017
-
NK sells rice cookers made in Kaesong industrial complex
North Korea has unilaterally sold rice cookers produced in the now-defunct inter-Korean industrial zone in Kaesong, a US media outlet reported Saturday.A source in China told Radio Free Asia that North Koreans took several hundred electronic rice cookers from Kaesong in mid-December and sold them to a businessman in China, who then put them up for sale in Chinese markets.A South Korean businessman was said to have purchased them and later sold them off to stores in Shenyang, the capital of the n
Feb. 4, 2017
-
N. Korea demands ethnic Chinese pledge allegiance to Kim's family
The North Korean authorities are compelling ethnic Chinese with Chinese nationality living in the North to pledge their allegiance to the family of leader Kim Jong-un, a US broadcaster said Friday.A source in North Hamgyong Province told the Radio Free Asia that ethnic Chinese residents in the North are pressured to pay allegiance to the Kim family just like North Koreans do. "Most ethnic Chinese regret that they came to North Korea and wish to return to China," the source was quoted as saying.C
Feb. 3, 2017
-
Mattis vows to respond overwhelmingly if N. Korea uses nuclear weapons
US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday reiterated Washington's security commitment to Seoul and vowed to overwhelmingly respond to any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea."America's commitments to defending our allies and to upholding our extended deterrence guarantees remain ironclad: any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming," Mattis told reporters. Mattis made th
Feb. 3, 2017
-
NK leader sacks chief of spy agency: sources
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sacked the chief of the country's spy agency on suspected abuse of power after the ruling party conducted surveillance on the ministry, sources said Friday.Kim Won-hong, 72, was dismissed from the head of the Ministry of State Security after the party's audit late last year found his agency had abused its authority, according to the sources familiar with North Korean affairs.His military rank may have been demoted to lieutenant general from full general, they
Feb. 3, 2017
-
Former N. Korean smuggler diplomat named ambassador to Switzerland
North Korea has named Han Tae-song as its new ambassador to Switzerland, Pyongyang's state media said Thursday.Han "has been appointed as DPRK ambassador to Switzerland," the Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch. The DPRK is short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's formal name.Han, a career diplomat, has previously served as North Korea's top envoy to Italy, Malta, Greece and Spain. North Korean foreign minister Ri Su-yong speaks to a group of government o
Feb. 2, 2017
-
QR codes common on N. Korean goods: Singapore NGO
QR codes, a kind of matrix bar code, are becoming commonly used in Pyongyang as they have shown up in all kinds of ways in the last six months to mark exhibition items at a science complex, in inventory systems at supermarkets and on consumer products, a non-government organization said Thursday.According to the website Choson Exchange, a Singaporean organization that teaches North Koreans all about the market economy, a story titled "QR Codes in Pyongyang" carried photos of a bottle of mineral
Feb. 2, 2017
-
China misses deadline for reporting NK coal imports
China has yet to submit data on its coal imports from North Korea to the United Nations three days after the deadline set by the latest sanctions resolution.Under the Nov. 30 resolution adopted by the UN Security Council in response to the North's fifth nuclear test in September, member countries were required to notify the sanctions committee by Jan. 30 of how much coal they imported from the North during the Nov. 30 - Dec. 31 period.Resolution 2321 banned the member states from buying North Ko
Feb. 2, 2017
-
S. Korea condemns NK's war threats over Seoul-Washington military drill
South Korea condemned North Korea on Thursday for threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes in response to a joint military exercise by Seoul and Washington scheduled for next month. North Korea's agency handling inter-Korean affairs said Wednesday that the upcoming military drill will lead to "shameful destruction" for the two allies as North Korea is ready to take action against what it called their preparation for a nuclear war."If North Korea wants to see an improvement in the inter-Korean tie
Feb. 2, 2017
-
Some European countries refuse to issue visas for NK university students: report
Germany, Italy and Poland have refused to issue visas to students from a North Korean university in compliance with the UN Security Council's sanctions resolution on the North, a US-based media said Wednesday. UN Security Council ministerial-level open debate on conflict prevention and sustaining peace held in January (Yonhap)Pak Chan-mo, an honorary president of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, said in an interview with Voice of America that the university's students have bee
Feb. 1, 2017
-
Kim Jong-un's drive for domestic products likely to fall apart: report
Poor quality of North Korean-made products have brought North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's policy to encourage people to use domestic products over foreign-made ones to the brink of failure, a US broadcaster reported, Wednesday."The phenomenon of stagnant sales that started at major foodstuff plants across the country has spread to light industry plants manufacturing clothes," a source in northern Jagang Province told Radio Free Asia (RFA). The source added that light industry plants with little
Feb. 1, 2017