Most Popular
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Seoul transit pass for travelers to be available starting July
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Controversy rekindled over when to name criminals, suspects
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[Weekender] Pet food makers bet big on ‘recession-free’ pet food market
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N. Korea says to deploy new multiple rocket launcher starting this year
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[Drama Tour] Romantic trip to ‘Queen of Tears’ filming spots
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Battery makers ramp up efforts to diversify graphite supply chain
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Hybe-Ador CEO conflict gets messier
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‘Monk’ DJ spreading Buddhism goes global
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[LLG] Unseen inheritance: Trauma of transnational adoption 'trickles down' to adoptees' children
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Buddha's birthday lantern parade to light up Seoul
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North Korean leader Kim visits electrical machine plant: report
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid a visit to an electrical machine factory that earlier leaders of the communist state helped open, Pyongyang's state media reported on Sunday.The Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul, said Kim visited the Chonma Electrical Machine Plant, accompanied by other officials. The KCNA noted that the area where the plant is located is "closely associated with the footprints of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il," the current leader's grandfather and father.The repo
May 25, 2014
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Park regrets N.K.’s shelling
President Park Geun-hye on Friday expressed “very strong regret” over North Korea’s artillery shelling near a South Korean patrol ship, calling for an airtight defense posture and further efforts to ensure the safety of residents in the region. The incident took place late Thursday around 150 meters from the vessel sailing near the Northern Limit Line, a de facto inter-Korean border, prompting the South to shoot back five shells immediately. The Joint Chiefs of Staff reported no damage.Park conv
May 23, 2014
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N. Korea says it will participate in 2014 Asian Games in S. Korea
North Korea announced Friday it will take part in the 2014 Asian Games competition to be held in South Korea, despite heightened tensions between the archrivals.In a short dispatch carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North Korean Olympic Committee said it will participate in this year's quadrennial, multisport competition to be hosted by Incheon, a metropolitan city just west of Seoul."The DPRK Olympic Committee officially informed (the Olympic Council of Asia) of the
May 23, 2014
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Lack of funding threatens WFP programs in N.K.
The U.N. World Food Program faces daunting challenges in its programs in North Korea as a “critical” lack of funding threatens their viability, its chief said Thursday, calling on Pyongyang to make “changes” such as improving transparency with aid delivery to help court more donors. Executive director Ertharin Cousin was here for a two-day stay after spending three days in Pyongyang until Wednesday. In Seoul, she and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se initialed a partnership framework agreement desig
May 22, 2014
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Cardinal Yeom visits Gaeseong
Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung on Wednesday called on the two Koreas to work to break their standoff through dialogue and sincerity, building on their joint factory park as a stepping stone to reconciliation. The remarks came upon his return from the Gaeseong industrial complex, aimed at raising the spirits of Catholics and other workers there despite persistent cross-border tension. “The Gaeseong district is about 60 kilometers away from the Seoul Archdiocese, but I realized that we live in a wo
May 21, 2014
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U.S. issues N.K. travel warning
The U.S. State Department issued an updated travel warning for North Korea on Tuesday for the first time in six months in light of the recent arrests and detention of U.S. citizens in the communist nation. The State Department warned in a statement that entering the reclusive regime legally with a proper visa does not guarantee one’s safe return. It also said that traveling in a tour group did not act as protection.“Do not assume that joining a group tour or use of a tour guide will prevent your
May 21, 2014
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Seoul sends condolences to N.K.
South Korea on Tuesday offered its condolences to the North over the recent collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang, which is presumed to have resulted in heavy casualties. The accident occurred on May 13 in the Pyongchon district, where the construction of the 23-story building was nearing completion, prompting People’s Security Minister Choe Pu-il and other senior executives to offer a rare public apology. The extent of the damage remains unknown but the death toll is expected to be hig
May 20, 2014
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N. Korea leader's half-brother spotted in Jakarta: report
The elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has surfaced in Indonesia, dismissing speculation that he might have been hiding following the execution of his uncle, a South Korean television reported Tuesday.Kim Jong-Nam was sighted at an Italian restaurant run by a Japanese businessman in Jakarta on May 4 with two women, cable news network YTN said.YTN quoted one of Kim's friends as saying the 43-year-old had been living well, shuttling back and forth among Singapore, Indonesia, Mal
May 20, 2014
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S. Korea voices condolences to N. Korea over apartment collapse
South Korea expressed its condolences to North Korea over a recent deadly collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang, an official said Tuesday, a rare goodwill gesture after recent harsh verbal tit-for-tat between the archrivals."We convey our deep condolences over the loss of many lives in the accident," South Korea's Red Cross said in a message sent to its North Korean counterpart earlier in the day through a dialogue channel at Panmunjom, a neutral village on the inter-Korean border.The m
May 20, 2014
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‘Executed’ singer alive and well, Pyongyang TV shows
A North Korean singer said to be leader Kim Jong-un’s ex-girlfriend and rumored to have been executed last year has appeared on state television, apparently alive and well.Pyongyang’s state TV showed Hyon Song-wol, the head of a band known as Moranbong, delivering a speech at a national art workers rally in Pyongyang on Friday.She expressed gratitude for Kim’s leadership and pledged to work harder to “stoke up the flame for art and creative work.”Hyon Song-wol. (Yonhap)Her appearance came after
May 19, 2014
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Where are relations between China and N. Korea heading?
With the ties between Seoul and Beijing getting closer, questions have been raised over where the Sino-North Korea relationship is heading.Observers said that distrust between the communist allies has deepened in recent years due to Pyongyang’s provocative moves including nuclear and missile tests, which has undermined what they traditionally hailed as an alliance “forged in blood.”Yet, no quintessential change has occurred in their relationship given that the two sides still share critical inte
May 19, 2014
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‘Worker’s Party holds the real power in North Korea’
The most powerful organization in North Korea is not the military but the Worker’s Party, according to an internationally famous North Korean defector.“The only entity that actually matters when it comes to decision-making or policy-making is the Organization and Guidance Department,” the poet-laureate Jang Jin-sung said in an interview with U.S. broadcaster NBC.The OGD, a unit of the executive branch of the Worker’s Party, is said to be one of the two biggest power holders within the party, alo
May 19, 2014
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S. Korea mulling sending condolence message to N. Korea over deadly accident
South Korea said Monday that it is considering sending a message of condolence to North Korea over a recent deadly collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang that has claimed an unspecified number of casualties.A Red Cross official said that an internal review is under way to determine whether to send a message, though he did not say when a final decision will be made.Unification ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do told reporters that the Red Cross will make an appropriate judgment on the case.The
May 19, 2014
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Pyongyang issues rare apology after apartment building collapses
An apartment building under construction in Pyongyang collapsed last week, prompting senior executives to offer a rare public apology, state media and Seoul officials said Sunday. The disaster took place on May 13 in the Pyongchon district, where the construction of the 23-story building was nearing completion, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. No death toll was reported though it described the accident as “serious.”As many as 92 households had already moved in, an official a
May 18, 2014
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Apartment under construction collapses in Pyongyang
An apartment building under construction in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang has collapsed, causing an unspecified number of casualties, the state media reported Sunday. The North's Korean Central News Agency said the accident occurred in the Pyongchon District on May 13 as "the construction of an apartment house was not done properly, and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner." An unidentified North Korean official apologizes to local citizens for the collapse o
May 18, 2014
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'Executed' singer alive and well, Pyongyang TV shows
A North Korean singer said to be leader Kim Jong-Un's ex-girlfriend and rumoured to have been executed last year has appeared on state television, apparently alive and well. Pyongyang's state TV showed Hyon Song-Wol, the head of a band known as Moranbong, delivering a speech at a national art workers rally in Pyongyang on Friday. She expressed gratitude for Kim's leadership and pledged to work harder to "stoke up the flame for art and creative work". Her appearance came after months of spe
May 17, 2014
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Korean-American takes sister’s remains from N.Korea
A Korean-American man took his sister’s remains out of North Korea in an unprecedented favor granted by the country, Voice of America reported Thursday. North Korea on Sunday allowed an 80-year-old Korean-American doctor named Pak Moon-jae to take his older sister’s remains from Pyongyang to the U.S. The two siblings were reunited in 1995 for the first time in 44 years, after the production team of a PBS documentary on North Korea informed the younger Pak that his sister was alive. Until then, e
May 15, 2014
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North Korea confirms new provincial party chief
ak Thae-song, a deputy director in North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, has become the party’s new secretary in charge of the western province of South Pyongan, state media confirmed Wednesday. He succeeded Hong In-bom, who was likewise promoted to the post from party deputy director in June 2010. Hong’s new title remains unclear, though he was named a deputy for the country’s rubber-stamp parliament early this year. Pak’s new position came to light as the official Korean Central News Agency rep
May 14, 2014
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N.K. leader inspects Air Force unit again
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited an Air Force unit in the western province of South Pyongan, calling on pilots to master modern flight training equipment and improve the existing gear, state media reported Thursday. The field inspection at the Korean People’s Army’s Air and Anti-Air Force Unit 447 marks at least his third participation in Air Force events in less than a month. The young leader attended a combat flight contest at an air force base last week and guided a flight training
May 14, 2014
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Kerry, Wang discuss N. Korea's threats, territorial tensions
In phone talks with China's foreign minister, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed strong concern over North Korea's threats to carry out further provocations, according to the secretary's office. Kerry and Wang Yi "reaffirmed the U.S. and China's shared commitment to work toward North Korean denuclearization," Jen Psaki, the department's spokeswoman said in a read-out of a phone conversation between them on Monday night (Washington time). But the two sides remained at odds with each ot
May 14, 2014