Most Popular
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Jennie, Stray Kids's Met Gala attendance puts them on 'digital guillotine' blacklist
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Korean industries gauge impact of Biden's steep tariffs on China
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Do Korean doctors make too much money?
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Another suspect behind murder of Korean tourist in Pattaya arrested in Cambodia
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Is FTC's conglomerate listing a boon or bane for Hybe?
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NewJeans to headline palace show
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Coupang's Kim Bom escapes chaebol chief designation again
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Rare mid-May heavy snow warning issued over mountainous areas of Gangwon
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CIO chief nominee to explain allegations at confirmation hearing
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Yoon vows to run country 'rightly' on Buddha's birthday
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N. Korea urges lifting sanctions for family reunion
North Korea on Friday called on Seoul to lift its bilateral sanctions if it hopes to hold dialogue, arrange a reunion of separated families and restart other exchanges. The demand by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles cross-border affairs, came after Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae proposed at the end of last year a fresh round of high-level talks to discuss the family reunion and other issues of mutual concern.Along with Seoul-Washington joint military drill
Jan. 23, 2015
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S. Korea, China confirm joint stance on N.K. nuclear issue
President Park Geun-hye and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang met in Seoul Friday, agreeing that the two countries will continue working closely on the resumption of multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Park's office said.Wang, who arrived in Seoul Thursday for a three-day visit, also delivered a message from Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying the neighbors should deepen their strategic partnership and make efforts to revive the stalled six-party denuclearization talks, it
Jan. 23, 2015
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China calls for dialogue to resume N. Korea nuclear talks
China called Friday for stepped-up efforts to resume international dialogue on North Korea's nuclear weapons program after the United States rejected an offer from the North to temporarily freeze nuclear tests in exchange for a halt to joint South Korea-U.S. military drills."Under the current circumstances, relevant parties should make joint efforts and come back to the track of dialogue and consultation to create favorable conditions for the resumption of six-party talks," China's foreign minis
Jan. 23, 2015
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N. Korea says family reunions possible if sanctions lifted
North Korea called on South Korea Friday to lift its sanctions on the communist country first in order to resolve the issue of reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.The North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which deals with inter-Korean issues, made the suggestion nearly a month after the South proposed that the rival Koreas hold high-level talks to help resolve pending issues, including family reunions."If the South Korean government is genuinely int
Jan. 23, 2015
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S. Korea prods North again to accept talks offer
South Korea renewed its calls Friday for North Korea to accept a weeks-long offer to hold high-level talks as the communist country stayed mum on it and continued to blame the South for lingering inter-Korean tension.In late December, Seoul proposed that the two Koreas hold high-level talks to discuss pending issues, including the arrangement of a reunion for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War around the Lunar New Year's Day that falls in mid-February.No reply has come from the North s
Jan. 23, 2015
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N. Korea all out to discredit rights abuse charges
North Korea is going all out to discredit human rights abuse charges following a well-known defector's recent confession of errors in his accounts about life in the communist country.Last week, Shin Dong-hyuk, one of the most frequently cited survivors of brutal North Korean prison camps, admitted to some errors in the timeline and the location of his accounts of experience and defection from North Korea's political prison camp.Shin's confession has challenged the credibility of a United Nations
Jan. 23, 2015
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N. Korea urges S. Korea to crack down on leaflet campaigns
North Korea again demanded Friday that South Korea clamp down on civic activists' anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns across the border in order to improve inter-Korean ties.In a commentary carried by the North's mainstream Rodong Sinmun daily, the communist country renewed its call on the South to deter its civic groups from sending balloons to the North carrying leaflets that criticize the North Korean regime."What stance (South Korea takes) on the anti-North Korean leaflet campaign will tell whe
Jan. 23, 2015
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N. Korea asks top UN rights body to probe CIA torture
North Korea on Thursday urged the UN Human Rights Council to discuss CIA torture revelations and set up an independent investigation."This morning ... I sent a letter to the president of the Human Rights Council ... requesting that the council take up the issue of CIA torture crimes committed by the United States," said So Se Pyong, North Korea's ambassador to the UN in Geneva.He told reporters that Pyongyang wants the UN's top rights body to formally discuss the U.S. interrogation techniques, d
Jan. 23, 2015
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North Korea tells UN to drop call for ICC referral
North Korea has told the United Nations that its call to refer Pyongyang to the International Criminal Court is invalid after a prominent defector retracted part of his testimony to a UN rights inquiry.North Korea made the argument in a letter dated Wednesday from Ambassador Ja Song Nam to the UN General Assembly and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.In the letter, the envoy branded Shin Dong-hyuk a "swindler" and a "parasite" who has been "pretending to be a 'survivor from the political prison camp
Jan. 23, 2015
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N.K. sanctions bill a top priority for U.S. House committee
The chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has announced that one of his highest priorities for the new Congress will be to pass legislation aimed at strengthening sanctions on North Korea.Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) made the planned legislation on North Korea among the top issues to pursue that also included passing a State Department Authorization bill, pressuring Iran to stop its "march toward nuclear weapons" and combating the militant Islamic State group.Royce will introduce the Nort
Jan. 23, 2015
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Park says S. Korea patiently seeking dialogue with N. Korea
South Korean President Park Geun-hye called Friday for patience as North Korea shows no sign of coming to the negotiating table to discuss ways to ease rising tension on the divided Korean Peninsula."Seoul will patiently seek dialogue and cooperation with the North," Park said in a video message to hundreds of business executives at a Korea Night function on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.Park, who took office in early 2013, attended last year's WEF bu
Jan. 23, 2015
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Park weighs options ahead of WWII gathering in Moscow
With North Korean leader Kim Jong-un apparently mulling a visit to Russia, speculation is rising that President Park Geun-hye might accept an invitation from Moscow and possibly hold talks with the young ruler. Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited dozens of world leaders ― including U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ― to a ceremony on May 9 marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Moscow has received a “positi
Jan. 22, 2015
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China says Kim's possible visit to Russia 'conducive to peace'
China said Thursday that a possible visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Russia in May would be "conducive to regional peace and stability," sounding a positive tone as Kim looks increasingly likely to choose Moscow, not Beijing, as his first destination for an unprecedented foreign trip. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow received a positive signal from Pyongyang after Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Kim to attend a May ceremony marking the 70th an
Jan. 22, 2015
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N.K. nuke envoy returns home after talks with ex-U.S. diplomats
North Korea's chief nuclear envoy returned home Thursday from Beijing after holding unofficial talks with former U.S. diplomats in Singapore earlier this week over the North's nuclear and missile programs. Upon his arrival at the Beijing airport before flying to Pyongyang, Ri Yong-ho, the North's chief negotiator to the long-stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, remained tight-lipped over whether he met with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, in Beijing.A South Korean d
Jan. 22, 2015
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'The Interview' actor wishes best for N. Korean people
Randall Park, the Korean-American actor who played North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the Sony Pictures comedy, "The Interview," said Wednesday he hopes "whatever is best" for the North Korean people will happen.Park made the remark at a news conference promoting a new ABC TV series, "Fresh Off The Boat," in response to a request for comment on a plan by anti-Pyongyang activists in South Korea to send DVDs of "The Interview" to the communist nation."I don't know enough about the politics there t
Jan. 22, 2015
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N. Korea accepts Moscow's invitation for May visit: report
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accepted Russia's invitation to visit Moscow in May, Russia's state media reported Wednesday.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow that "a positive signal has been received" from the North, apparently referring to Pyongyang's affirmative response to its invitation to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to a May 9 ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, according to a re
Jan. 22, 2015
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N. Korea appeals for S. Korea to strive for inter-Korean ties
North Korea, in its latest peace offensive, pressed South Korea Wednesday to resume inter-Korean dialogue after suspending its planned joint military exercises with the United States.But the Seoul government immediately dismissed it as "propaganda," asking Pyongyang to accept its earlier proposal for high-level talks to arrange a breakthrough in icy cross-border relations without any conditions attached.According to South Korea's Unification Ministry, the North sent what it called an "appeal" to
Jan. 22, 2015
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Abe’s handling of Asia ties could hurt U.S. interests: CRS
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his cabinet could hurt U.S. interests by roiling regional tensions with “comments and actions on controversial historical issues,” the U.S. Congressional Research Service said Tuesday.In a report on U.S.-Japan relations, the CRS said Abe has raised tensions in the region over issues such as Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of women, history textbooks accused of whitewashing the country’s wartime atrocities, and visits to a Tokyo shrine accused of honoring
Jan. 21, 2015
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Kim Jong-il’s half-brother named N.K. envoy to Czech Republic
The half-brother of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was recently appointed Pyongyang’s top envoy to the Czech Republic after serving 17 years as ambassador to Poland, a South Korean government official said Wednesday.Kim Pyong-il is a younger brother of Kim Jong-il, the father of current leader Kim Jong-un. He will be replaced in Warsaw by Ri Kun, the director general for North American affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry, the official said on condition of anonymity.“It has been deter
Jan. 21, 2015
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‘N. Korea likely to prioritize ties with China’
This is the fifth installment in a special New Year’s series of interviews with preeminent scholars on international politics and security. ― Ed.Improving its strained ties with China will be at the top of North Korea’s foreign policy agenda for this year, a political scientist said, stressing China still remains the most crucial economic and political partner for the isolated state.Last year, Pyongyang was seen to have beefed up its diplomacy with Moscow and Tokyo amid growing estrangement from
Jan. 21, 2015