Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[Music in drama] An ode to childhood trauma
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'The Roundup: Punishment' becomes fastest 2024 film to top 2 mln admissions
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New head of doctors' association vows war in case of disadvantage to medical professors
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N. Korea extends charm offensive toward S. Korea
North Korea has extended its offer to hold dialogue with South Korea for the sixth day in a row, calling on Seoul to accept its proposal to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula, the country's state media reported Wednesday.An institute under the ruling Workers' Party of Korea said North Korea is ready to have candid talks with South Korea, blaming Seoul for not accepting its dialogue proposal, according to the Rodong Sinmun, the party's main newspaper.The offer is part of North Korea's charm off
May 25, 2016
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S. Korea denies report of unification minister's possible visit to Japan
South Korea's unification ministry on Wednesday denied a Japanese report that Seoul's top point man on unification is likely to visit Japan early next month to exchange views about North Korea with officials there.Japan's Asahi Sinmun newspaper reported that Seoul is adjusting the schedule of Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo to push for his visit to Japan in June. The Korean government hopes that Hong may have meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Tokyo's top diplomat Fumio Kish
May 25, 2016
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Key officials from N. Korea, Cuba hold meeting for better ties
Key ruling party members of North Korea and Cuba have held talks to discuss ways to further develop their friendly ties, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday.The talks were held in Cuba on Monday between the North Korean delegation led by Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) central committee, and members of the Communist Party of Cuba led by Salvador Antonio Valdes Mesa, vice president of the Council of State of Cuba, according to the Korean Central News Agency (K
May 25, 2016
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Prospects for global nonproliferation not optimistic due to N.Korea: CFR
Prospects for progress in global nonproliferation efforts are not bright due to North Korea's continued pursuit of its nuclear program, the U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations said Tuesday.In a report on global cooperation, the CFR said that global nonproliferation efforts received a boost from the Iranian nuclear deal last year, but suffered a setback from the North's nuclear program."North Korea continued to threaten the international nonproliferation regime and global peace and stabi
May 25, 2016
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Ministry backs reports of more N.K. defections
Following last month’s mass defection from China, some workers at another North Korean restaurant abroad have escaped the country, Seoul’s Unification Ministry confirmed Tuesday, indicating they are likely on their way to the South. Two to three servers at a diner in China have been taking refuge in Thailand awaiting their flight to Seoul, according to news reports Monday. But speculation varied over the facility’s location, from Xian to Shanghai to Hangzhou. “It is true that employees at an ove
May 24, 2016
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N. Korea uses women on TV to push forward anti-smoking campaign
North Korea has cast women in a TV program to push forward an anti-smoking campaign, Pyongyang observers here said Tuesday.North Korea's Central TV Station aired a 40-minute-long public service announcement program on Friday titled "The Extra Quality Favorite Item Threatening Life," North Korea watchers said.In the video, a narrator from the TV station explained about the dangers of smoking, saying, "Today, our North Korean women do not smoke at all, so we have met many women to hear various opi
May 24, 2016
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More N.K. restaurant staff in China escape for possible defection: Seoul
South Korea's unification ministry said Tuesday that a small number of North Korean restaurant staff have recently escaped their workplace in China.The confirmation comes a day after local media reported two or three North Koreans are moving to a third country after fleeing a Pyongyang-run restaurant in China, according to local media reports. The reports claimed the North Koreans may have escaped from a restaurant in either Xian or Shanghai.The case is the second escape by North Korean restaura
May 24, 2016
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China's imports of N. Korean goods plunge 22.3% in April
China's imports of North Korean goods nosedived 22.3 percent on-year in April, data showed Tuesday, after tightened U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang started to bite. The Chinese customs data was compiled by the Beijing unit of South Korea's Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency.The plunge in the imports of North Korean goods suggested that China, the North's economic lifeline, has been strictly implementing the latest U.N. sanctions, which were adopted in early March following the North's
May 24, 2016
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Kim Jong-un inspects salt production
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a saltworks in an apparent move to encourage salt production to better meet the country's demand for the key mineral, the North's official news agency reported Tuesday.The North's Korean Central News Agency said that Kim visited the Kwisong Saltern to learn about salt production from underground ultra-saline water. The plant is run by the Korean People's Army.Kim's latest visit to the salt works is the fifth in his inspection of industrial sites following
May 24, 2016
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N. Korean envoy downplays Trump's willingness to talk: report
North Korea's ambassador to Geneva reportedly downplayed U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's willingness to hold talks with the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, as a gesture for campaign purposes."It is up to the decision of my supreme leader whether he decides to meet or not, but I think his idea of talk is nonsense," Reuters quoted Amb. So Se-pyong as saying in Geneva. "It's for utilization of the presidential election, that's all. A kind of a propaganda or advertisement ... This is useless
May 24, 2016
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Ex-U.S. nuclear negotiator expresses condolences over N.K. diplomat's death
Former U.S. nuclear negotiator Robert Gallucci expressed condolences Monday over the passing of his former North Korean counterpart Kang Sok-ju, saying the veteran diplomat was a "creative thinker" and a "skilled negotiator."Kang, a former first vice foreign minister of the North, died Friday of esophageal cancer at age 76. He has long been a top foreign policy brain of the North and negotiated the Agreed Framework deal with the U.S. that defused the 1993-94 nuclear crisis."In 1993 and 1994, Kan
May 24, 2016
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N. Korea poses 'biggest challenge' to nuclear-free world: Obama
U.S. President Barack Obama said North Korea poses the "biggest challenge" to efforts to realize a world without nuclear weapons.Obama made the remark in an interview with Japan's NHK television, saying one of the purposes of his planned visit to the Japanese city of Hiroshima is to demonstrate his commitment to a nuclear-free world."I think the biggest challenge we have right now with respect to nuclear weapons is the dangers of the nuclear program in Pyongyang, in North Korea. And there has be
May 24, 2016
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N.K. nukes prompt Seoul to further tighten sanctions on Pyongyang
South Korea has tightened the screw on North Korea by slapping tougher unilateral sanctions over the North's recent nuclear and missile tests, adding to its punitive actions taken in 2010 in response to the North's attacks.On May 24, 2010, Seoul slapped comprehensive sanctions on North Korea to punish it for the torpedoing of the South Korean warship Cheonan two months earlier. The 2010 punitive measures excluded operations at the joint industrial park in North Korea's border city of Kaesong and
May 23, 2016
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More N.K. restaurant staff in China escape for possible defection: source
An unknown small number of North Korean restaurant staff have recently escaped their workplace in China for possible defections to South Korea, a source familiar to inter-Korean affairs said Monday.The North Koreans are moving to a third country after working at a North Korea-run restaurant in an unspecified city in China, according to the source.If confirmed, the case comes in the wake of the April mass defection by 13 North Korean workers who used to work at a restaurant in the Chinese eastern
May 23, 2016
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Seoul calls on N.K. to explain its stance on denuclearization
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Monday it has responded to North Korea’s latest offer for military talks by calling on Pyongyang to make its stance on denuclearization clear. The government also said denuclearization steps should be a top priority in any inter-Korean dialogue.Seoul earlier referred to Pyongyang’s calls to hold a working-level meeting with South Korea in late May or early June in preparation for military talks as a proposal without sincerity and a propaganda ploy.“We expresse
May 23, 2016
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S. Korea calls for N.K. to give up nukes in response to dialogue offer
South Korea's defense ministry said Monday it has responded to North Korea's latest offer for military talks by saying that the North's denuclearization steps should be a top priority.The government said it sent its reply to Pyongyang earlier in the day as North Korea on Saturday proposed holding a working-level meeting with South Korea in late May or early June in preparation for military talks. Seoul has rejected it as a proposal without sincerity."We expressed regret that North Korea had prop
May 23, 2016
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N.K. holds state funeral of top diplomat Kang Sok-ju
North Korea held a state funeral for Kang Sok-ju, a top North Korean diplomat who had negotiated the now-collapsed 1994 nuclear deal with the United States, the North's state media said Monday.On Sunday, the North carried out the funeral of Kang, a former party secretary in charge of international affairs, who died of esophagus cancer at the age of 77, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)."The death of Kang Sok-ju, genuine revolutionary and able political activist, was a great loss
May 23, 2016
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Top N. Korean diplomat Kang Sok-ju dies of cancer: state media
Kang Sok-ju, a top North Korean diplomat who negotiated a now-defunct 1994 nuclear deal with the United States, has died, Pyongyang’s state media reported Saturday. Kang, a Workers’ Party secretary in charge of international affairs, died of esophagus cancer at 4:10 p.m. on Friday at age 76, the Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported.Kang has long been a top foreign policy brain of the North and negotiated the Agreed Framework deal with the U.S. that defused the 1994 nuclear crisis.The dea
May 22, 2016
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N.K.’s talks offer presents dilemma
South Korea on Saturday immediately snubbed North Korea’s proposal to hold an inter-Korea working-level military meeting, but with a bitter aftertaste.Observers here said Pyongyang is likely to continue sending overtures for talks as it faces tough sanctions by the international community against its nuclear programs, in a strategic attempt to shift the blame over to Seoul for the protracting standoff.Pyongyang, on the coattails of holding its first ruling party congress in 36 years, had called
May 22, 2016
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N.K. proposes working-level meeting for military talks with Seoul
North Korea on Saturday proposed holding a working-level meeting with South Korea in late May or early June in preparation for military talks that can diffuse tension on the Korean Peninsula.Pyongyang's charm offensive toward Seoul came one day after it called on South Korea to immediately accept its latest proposal for inter-Korean dialogue made by the North's leader Kim Jong-un at the country's recently concluded ruling party congress."We propose to hold working-level contact for opening (the
May 22, 2016