Most Popular
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Defense chiefs of US, Australia, Japan decry NK-Russia military cooperation
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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13 North Koreans working abroad defect to South
Thirteen North Koreans working at a restaurant based outside the country have defected to South Korea, the Unification Ministry said Friday, marking the first mass defection since the United Nations passed powerful economic sanctions against the communist country last month.According to ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee, a male manager and 12 female workers who had been dispatched from North Korea to a restaurant abroad arrived in Seoul on Thursday. He declined to name the exact time of their ar
April 8, 2016
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13 N. Koreans from overseas restaurant defect to S. Korea: Seoul
More than 10 North Koreans working at a restaurant in a foreign country have defected to South Korea this week, Seoul's unification ministry said Friday.A group of 13 North Koreans -- one male manager and 12 female employees -- entered South Korea on Thursday, the ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said.Overseas restaurants operated by North Korea are known to face difficulty in doing business following the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) sanctions on Pyongyang. Such restaurants have served a
April 8, 2016
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N.K. steps up personality cult around leader Kim ahead of May congress
North Korea is stepping up efforts to glorify leader Kim Jong-un in the run-up to the ruling party's landmark congress in May which would focus on solidifying Kim's one-man leadership, a government official said Friday."I think the main goal of the upcoming party congress would be to build up Kim Jong-un's one-man rule," Lim Byeong-cheol, director general of the Unification Ministry's Intelligence and Analysis Bureau, said in a conference on North Korea policy earlier in the day. "As part of tha
April 8, 2016
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[NEWS FOCUS] Observers split on strategy against N.K.
After North Korea briefly mentioned talks in a statement earlier this week, local observers are split between retaining the current hardline approach and being more open to talks in addressing inter-Korean tensions.Last month, the U.N. adopted a new resolution that had what South Korean officials called “the strongest ever sanctions” against Pyongyang, in a punitive action against its Jan. 6 nuclear testing and Feb. 7 long-range rocket launch. Some observers said that the North’s mention of talk
April 8, 2016
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N. Korean workers die of yellow fever in Angola: RFA
Around 10 North Korean workers dispatched to Angola have died of yellow fever in the southern African country, a U.S. radio outlet said Friday.About 450 people have been confirmed to be infected with the viral disease in Angola since the first case was reported in December in the country's capital, the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) report said. Among those that caught yellow fever, 178 have died so far, with the disease spreading rapidly in nearby countries, the RFA said, quoting source
April 8, 2016
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N. Korea uses sunken U.S. merchant ship to stir up anti-Americanism
North Korea has used the story of an American commercial ship that sank 150 years ago in an apparent move to arouse hostility toward the United States.The North's Central Television aired a children's program on Sunday on the General Sherman called "American imperialists -- our resentful foes -- are coyotes."In the TV program, an actor said the General Sherman came to Korea out of hostility, adding that the ship's captain, crew and ship owner looted and killed many Koreans.The U.S. commercial sh
April 8, 2016
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N.K.'s nuclear pursuit denounced at U.N. disarmament session
North Korea's nuclear pursuit was denounced as a key challenge to the global nonproliferation regime as the U.N. Disarmament Commission held a general debate this week, the U.N. said in a statement.Spain's delegate, Francisco Javier Garcia-Larrache, told the session that the North's persistence in challenging the global non-proliferation regime is "of the deepest concern" as he called for rigorous implementation of U.N. Security Council sanctions."Effectively implementing the current sanctions r
April 8, 2016
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N. Korea creating conditions for 'potential conflict': U.S. Army chief
An increasingly assertive China and a provocative North Korea are creating conditions for potential conflict, the U.S. Army chief of staff said Thursday."In Asia and the Pacific there are complex systemic challenges with a rising China that is increasingly assertive militarily, especially in the South China Sea, and a very provocative North Korea," Gen. Mark Milley said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing."Both situations are creating conditions for potential conflict. Again, the United
April 8, 2016
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N. Korea defends its nuclear capability
North Korea on Thursday reiterated its stance that its nuclear capability is the outcome of what it claims is nuclear blackmail from Washington, and threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. mainland.The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang's official news outlet, said the U.S.'s call for a "world without nuclear weapons" is a prelude to a nuclear war against the communist state."The 4th Nuclear Security Summit held in the U.S. was an extremely deceptive and provocative farce aim
April 7, 2016
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N. Korea is one of 11 nations with record of executions for past 5 yrs
The nongovernmental human rights group, Amnesty International, has listed North Korea as one of 11 countries that have carried out executions for the past five years, a U.S. media report said Thursday.AI said in its annual report released a day earlier that information on North Korea cannot be verified on its own, but reports have shown that North Korea has carried out capital punishment on various crimes, according to the Washington-based Voice of America.The report said the purging of North Ko
April 7, 2016
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N. Korea recently opens hospital in Tanzania: RFA
North Korea has recently opened a hospital in Tanzania and since been striving to boost earnings apparently to make up for its foreign income squeezed by international sanctions, a media report said Thursday.Maibong Sukidor Medical, a Korean traditional medical center, opened near the East African country's former capital of Dar es Salaam in early February, the Washington-based Radio Free Asia said. A copy of the center's business cards showed a doctor named Pak Jae-hong serves as the managing d
April 7, 2016
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U.S. welcomes China's restrictions on trade with N. Korea
The United States has welcomed China's restrictions on mineral trade with North Korea, saying it will continue to urge Beijing to do more until there are "concrete signs" of Pyongyang's denuclearization. This week, China, the North's diplomatic and economic lifeline, imposed restrictions on North Korean coal and iron ore trade, while banning imports of North Korean gold and rare earth, in line with new U.N. sanctions against the North's nuclear and missile programs. In a statement released on We
April 7, 2016
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No change in stance on seeking dialogue with S. Korea: N. Korea
North Korea said Wednesday it is sticking to its stance to seek dialogue with South Korea with the aim of improving inter-Korean ties in what may be a peace gesture in the face of tougher U.N. sanctions.The North's comments came two days after it said that pursuing stability and talks, rather than unilateral sanctions and military pressure, will become fundamental solutions to easing heightened tensions on the peninsula."There is no change in our stance that we seek to open the path toward dialo
April 6, 2016
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N. Korea halts GPS jamming: gov't
South Korea's ICT ministry said North Korea's disruptions of Global Positioning System signals, which started last week, stopped as of Wednesday, although they may resume soon, as the signals have been constantly lessening and increasing.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said the GPS disruptions that began Thursday were no longer detected as of 12:00 p.m. The jamming has been impacting Seoul's adjacent city of Incheon, and the surrounding Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces.The disrupt
April 6, 2016
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N. Korea to deploy long-range rocket launchers late this year: defense chief
North Korea has completed the development of a large-caliber multiple launch rocket system and is likely to deploy it against South Korea starting late this year, Seoul's defense minister here said.North Korea announced last month that its leader Kim Jong-un inspected what was claimed to be the final test-fire of the 300-millimeter caliber rockets equipped with an accurate guidance system.The completion of the new weapon has drawn attention to North Korea's escalating artillery threats to South
April 6, 2016
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N. Korea mobilizing its people ahead of key party event: sources
North Korea is mobilizing all of its people ahead of a key party congress in May by pressing them to work hard even at night and on weekends, sources said Wednesday.The North has been pushing its people, including those in Pyongyang, to put in long hours in a bid to achieve short-term goals before the ruling Workers' Party of Korea holds its congress early next month, according to sources familiar with the isolationist country."North Koreans are working every day from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. as t
April 6, 2016
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N.K. cyber capabilities pose serious challenges to U.S.: cyber command chief
North Korea's cyber capabilities pose serious challenges to the United States, the U.S.cyber commander said Tuesday, emphasizing the communist nation has steadily been bolstering its capabilities and has been "quite active" in the cyber domain.Adm. Michael S. Rogers made the assessment in a statement submitted for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, saying the North is one of the countries that his command is watching "most closely," along with Russia, China and Iran."Iran and North Korea
April 6, 2016
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N. Korea could have already started harvesting plutonium from spent fuel: U.S. think tank
North Korea could have already started reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to harvest weapons-grade plutonium in a process that could give Pyongyang enough fissile material for up to three nuclear bombs, a U.S. research institute said Tuesday.The Institute for Science and International Security, a think tank in Washington that specializes in the Iranian and North Korean nuclear issues, raised the possibility, citing an unidentified "government official who monitors the situation closely."The report
April 6, 2016
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China restricts trade with North Korea over nuclear tests
BEIJING (AP) -- China imposed restrictions Tuesday on imports of coal from North Korea and exports of jet fuel to the North in a potentially significant increase in pressure on Pyongyang following U.N. sanctions over its nuclear and missile tests. China is the impoverished and politically isolated North‘s main trading partner, making its cooperation essential for penalties approved by the U.N. Security Council last month to succeed. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has intensified nuclear ac
April 5, 2016
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S. Korea, U.S. working to tackle abuse of N. Korean workers abroad: U.S. envoy
South Korea and the United States are working together to determine the extent to which North Korea uses its workers abroad to raise money for its weapons of mass destruction programs, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues said Tuesday.North Korea's exports of workers has emerged as a new area the international community needs to address to tackle both the North's human rights abuses and its defiant pursuit of missile and nuclear weapons capabilities.Speaking in an intervie
April 5, 2016