Most Popular
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Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
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Why Korean crime stories typically feature nameless, faceless perpetrators
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Debate on 'no-seniors zones' heats up
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S. Korea, Cambodia forge strategic partnership
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Rare mid-May heavy snow warning issued over mountainous areas of Gangwon
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Is NewJeans headed for a long 'break'?
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[KH Explains] Hyundai-backed Motional’s struggles deepen as Tesla eyes August robotaxi debut
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Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
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New Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office chief vows full-fledged probe into first lady
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Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
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N.Korea berates Seoul for talks over Gaesong
North Korea on Wednesday virtually turned down a South Korean proposal for talks to return raw materials and finished products from a suspended inter-Korean industrial complex to South Korea, criticizing the proposal as a "crafty ploy" to evade domestic criticism over the complex's halt and mislead public opinion. "Availing ourselves of this opportunity, we (North Korea) remind the south Korean authorities once again that the prospect of the Gaeseong complex and the future orientation of the nor
May 15, 2013
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U.S. envoy for N.K. to visit Seoul next week
The U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights will visit Seoul early next week for a four-day trip that includes talks with South Korean officials, a diplomatic source said Wednesday. Ambassador Robert King will arrive in Seoul on Sunday and meet with officials of the foreign ministry and other government agencies related to the North’s human rights issues, the source said on condition of anonymity. It will be King’s first visit to South Korea this year. “Ambassador King is scheduled to a
May 15, 2013
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Court rejects arrest warrant for journalist
A Seoul district court on Wednesday dismissed the prosecution’s request to arrest a well-known reporter who had claimed that a younger brother of President Park Geun-hye was behind a murder case.Joo Jin-woo, a reporter of the monthly news magazine Sisa IN, is accused of spreading false and defamatory information in his article that the president’s younger brother, Park Ji-man, was involved in the killing of his relative.“There is not enough reason to detain Joo at the present stage after reviewi
May 15, 2013
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N.K. urged to accept Gaeseong talks
South Korea urged North Korea Wednesday to accept talks to arrange the return of production materials and finished goods from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.The call comes a day after the Ministry of Unification officially proposed working level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom, aimed at alleviating the plight of the 123 South Korean companies that were forced out of the inter-Korean joint venture complex. Operations of the companies came to a halt early last month after Pyongyang ordere
May 15, 2013
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Seoul offers talks with North on Gaeseong
South Korea offered working-level talks with North Korea on raw materials and finished products in a joint industrial complex closed by military tensions, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry proposed that the two sides meet at the truce village of Panmunjeom.In a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day President Park Geun-hye instructed the ministry to propose talks with the North about bringing South Korean items out of the suspended factory complex.Established in 2004 as a rare symb
May 14, 2013
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Ruling party pushes to curb unfair business practices
The ruling Saenuri Party will seek to rewrite the nation’s fair trade law to prevent large companies from bullying their suppliers and distributors as part of efforts to level the playing field for all businesses, a lawmaker said Tuesday.Under the envisioned revision bill to the Fair Trade Act, companies that engage in unfair business practices will have to pay punitive damages to the victims, Rep. Rhee Chong-hoon of the ruling party said.Meant to punish the offending party for its reckless or u
May 14, 2013
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N. Korean academic says American is seeking amnesty
A North Korean academic says an American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor has called his family and urged Washington to push for his amnesty.Ri Gyong Chol, section chief of the North Korean Academy of Social Sciences' Institution of Law, also told The Associated Press Sunday that Kenneth Bae informed his family on Friday that he couldn't appeal his April 30 sentence.Ri's information came from authorities in charge of Bae's case. Washington has called for Bae's release.North Korea accuses Bae of
May 14, 2013
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N.K. replaces hawkish defense chief with younger, little-known general
North Korea has replaced a hawkish defense minister with a younger, little-known army commander, indicating the shakeup of the upper military echelons was still ongoing to strengthen its leader Kim Jong-un’s grip over the armed forces.The official Korean Central News Agency on Monday introduced Jang Jong-nam, in his 50s, as the minister of the People’s Armed Forces in a report on a military musical event attended by Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju.It was the first time the North’s state media had men
May 13, 2013
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Anonymous launches fresh attack on N.K.
Hacktivist group Anonymous staged another round of online attacks against the North Korean regime’s websites from Sunday morning, closing down those for public organizations and companies run by the regime. The group reportedly used DDos (Distribute Denial of Service) in their online hacking operation named “OpNorthKorea.”Some of the group’s members posted notifications through their Twitter accounts in advance that Anonymous would launch the operation at 1:00 a.m. (GMT) on May 12, which was 10
May 12, 2013
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U.N. calls for ‘due process’ in probing N. Korea rights abuses
The head of a new U.N. commission investigating alleged widespread human rights violations in North Korea said that he would ensure “due progress” when his team begins probing allegations of torture and labor camps in the totalitarian state. Michael Kirby, a former justice of Australia’s top court, was appointed last week to head the three-member U.N. “Commission of Inquiry” into rights abuses in North Korea, a landmark move that upgraded the level of U.N. investigation on par with probes into S
May 12, 2013
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Nuke arsenal seen as matter of when, not if
For 20 years, fears about North Korea’s headlong pursuit of nuclear bombs have been watered down with smirking admonishments not to overestimate an impoverished dictatorship prone to bragging and tantrums.Few are laughing now. After three nuclear tests of apparently increasing power and a long-range rocket launch that puts it a big step closer to having a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead to American shores, many believe that in a matter of years _ as little as five, maybe, though the tim
May 12, 2013
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Ginseng, bear bile: N. Koreans look to old cures
PYONGYANG (AP) ― The Man Nyon Pharmacy is lined with rows of colorful packages containing everything from dried bear bile and deer antler elixir to tiger bone paste and ginseng. But the ancient “Koryo” medicine provided at this popular dispensary isn’t just for minor aches and pains.It has been integrated into the health system from the smallest village clinic all the way up to the nicest showcase hospitals in the privileged capital of Pyongyang. Both modern and traditional styles of healing hav
May 12, 2013
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China, N.K. political, business ties grow: report
BEIJING (AFP) -- North Korean visits to China have multiplied over recent years, a Chinese newspaper reported, underscoring growing political and business links between the isolated nuclear-armed state and its sole major ally.There were a total of 180,600 visits by North Koreans to China in 2012, nearly twice as many as the 103,900 only three years previously, the investigative Southern Weekly said in its latest edition, citing official data."Ordinary people in North Korea are not free to go abr
May 10, 2013
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Korea, U.S. hold talks on arms control, non-proliferation
Senior diplomats from South Korea and the United States on Friday held regular talks aimed at discussing arms control and non-proliferation issues as well as nuclear issues of North Korea and Iran, among other topics. The talks were led by Shin Dong-ik, the ministry’s deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs, and Rose Gottemoeller, acting U.S. under secretary of state for arms control and international security. On the sidelines of the talks, Gottemoeller met with South Korean Second
May 10, 2013
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N. Korea slams Park's U.S. trip as prelude to war
North Korea on Friday denounced South Korean President Park Geun-hye's first visit to the United States and summit with U.S. President Barack Obama as a prelude to war aimed at escalating conflict with her countrymen.Park was headed home Friday after wrapping up her five-day trip to the United States. The visit to Washington and her meeting with Obama marked her first overseas tour since taking office in February.The spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), res
May 10, 2013
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N. Korea could deploy nuclear-armed missiles in 5 years: official
North Korea's defiant pursuit for nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles will move it closer to the deployment of a nuclear-armed missile within five years, a senior Seoul official warned Friday, in what would be the first such assessment on the North's nuclear weapons capability. Yun Duk-min, the president of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy affiliated with the foreign ministry, also said that, "The countdown for North Korea's deployment of nuclear-armed missiles has begun
May 10, 2013
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N. Korea: Detained American smuggled in propaganda
North Korea delivered its most in-depth account yet of the case against a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor, accusing him late Thursday of smuggling in inflammatory literature and trying to establish a base for anti-Pyongyang activities at a border city hotel.Still, the long list of allegations included no statement from Kenneth Bae, other than claims that he confessed and didn't want an attorney present during his sentencing last week for what Pyongyang called hostile acts again
May 10, 2013
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U.S. nuke envoy to visit S. Korea next week: source
The U.S. envoy on the North Korean nuclear program will visit South Korea next week as part of his Asian tour, a diplomatic source here said Thursday, as the leaders of Seoul and Washington vowed no concessions to Pyongyang after months of simmering tensions.U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies plans to arrive in Seoul on May 13 for a three-day stay as part of his trip to Asia which also includes China and Japan, the source said, requesting anonymity.During the visit, D
May 9, 2013
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International pressure deepens N.K.’s isolation
Growing international unity against North Korea’s nuclear adventurism is putting the reclusive state into deeper isolation, which could doom any chances of economic reform and push it to explore arms trading and other illicit means for survival.Already under a host of economic sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests, Pyongyang might not be seriously susceptible to additional pressure, but growing signs of its sole patron China losing patience could ring alarm bells for the North, observers s
May 9, 2013
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Chinese bank’s severed ties with N.K. shows Beijing’s frustration
The Bank of China’s recent cutoff of ties with North Korea’s main foreign exchange bank appears to be the latest sign of Beijing’s patience wearing thin on the back of a string of nuclear threats and provocations by its rebellious ally. The U.S. and South Korea welcomed China’s first publicly pronounced action which they expect to have considerable impact on curbing the North’s military ambition. The state-run institution, one of the biggest in China, said Tuesday it has suspended transactions w
May 9, 2013