Most Popular
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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S. Korean children, teens grow taller, mature faster than before: study
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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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Naver will consider company benefits in deciding on selling Line shares: CEO
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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‘Images suggest looming North Korea missile test’
North Korea could carry out a long-range missile test in the next three weeks, suggest new images released by satellite operator DigitalGlobe Inc. showing increased launch site activity.The global provider of commercial high-resolution satellite imagery said Monday that the new pictures showed significant movement at North Korea’s Sohae (West Sea) Satellite Launch Station.“Given the observed level of activity noted of a new tent, trucks, people and numerous portable fuel/oxidizer tanks, should N
Nov. 27, 2012
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N. Korea may launch long-range missile in next two months: source
North Korea may fire off a long-range missile in the next two months, military sources in Seoul said Tuesday, amid speculation that the communist nation is in the final stage of preparations for a launch. Images taken by U.S. satellites showed a marked increase in activity at a North Korean missile launch site in its northwestern tip, suggesting that the country is stepping up preparations for a long-range ballistic missile test.Last week, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported the U.S. satellites had p
Nov. 27, 2012
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Obama needs new strategy on N. Korea to offset failed denuclearization efforts: expert
In the second term, the Barack Obama administration will face a daunting task of setting a realistic goal in dealing with North Korea, working shoulder-to-shoulder with South Korea's new government, an expert here said Sunday."Denuclearization as a credible U.S. policy objective is dead," long-time Korea specialist Larry Niksch told Yonhap News Agency."The test for the Obama Administration is whether it will formulate a new strategy toward North Korea to replace denuclearization and whether it c
Nov. 26, 2012
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N. Korea warns of another shelling on S. Korean border island
North Korea threatened on Thursday to launch bomb attack on South Korean soil as Seoul prepares to hold events marking the second anniversary of the North's deadly shelling of a South border island two years ago.A memorial service, a naval firing drill and other commemorative events are to take place to commemorate the deaths of two soldiers in the North's artillery bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea on Nov. 23, 2010. The attack, which was the first launched by the North against
Nov. 22, 2012
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Foreign Ministry plans forum of diplomats handling N.K. affairs
The Foreign Ministry plans to host a conference next year for its diplomats handling North Korean affairs at overseas missions, in an effort to facilitate the sharing of intelligence on the North, an official said Tuesday. The ministry has held an annual meeting of its diplomats in charge of issues concerning North Korean defectors, but plans to expand the agenda of the conference to bring together more diplomats handling intelligence on North Korea, the ministry official said. “The planned conf
Nov. 20, 2012
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Seoul urges end to foreigners’ Geumgang tours
South Korea asked North Korea on Monday to stop organizing sightseeing tours for foreigners visiting a scenic mountain resort in the communist country while shutting it out to South Koreans.Cross-border tours for South Koreans to Mount Geumgang on the North’s east coast remain suspended since a South Korean woman tourist was shot to death by a North Korean soldier there in July 2008. Seoul has required a tourist safety guarantee from the North as a condition for resuming the tour program, once a
Nov. 20, 2012
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N. Korea steps up idolizing of leader Kim Jong-un as grip on power grows stronger
North Korea has been stepping up its efforts to idolize leader Kim Jong-un, recent documents show, in an apparent indication that Kim's grip on the communist state has grown tighter.According to the Chosun Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan, on Sunday, the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang has published a book extolling the extraordinary skills of the young leader.The paper reported that the book describes Kim as a worldly man who is well-versed in international politics and military
Nov. 18, 2012
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Donilon urges N. Korea to mull Myanmar-style reform
President Barack Obama's national security adviser said Thursday North Korea can take lessons from Myanmar's move towards reform and democracy."It's an important example for them (the North Koreans) to contemplate," Thomas Donilon said at a forum on Obama's Asia policy, hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.He emphasized that the leadership of Myanmar, which Washington calls Burma, has adopted a path of reform with a focus on its economy.Just as with Myanmar earlier, North
Nov. 16, 2012
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Ahn urges N.K. to give up nuclear weapons
Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo called on North Korea Thursday to give up its nuclear weapons and return to six-party disarmament talks as he seeks to boost his image as an advocate for strong national security. “North Korea should give up its nuclear weapons,” Ahn said during a foreign policy briefing at his Seoul office. “(The North) should promptly return to the six-party talks to start processes for resolving nuclear issues.”Earlier this month, Ahn visited front-line barrack
Nov. 14, 2012
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Minister Yu urges N. Korea to embrace change, dialogue
Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik urged North Korea to break a “vicious cycle of sanctions and isolation” by changing course and engaging in dialogue with the South. With leadership shifts taking place across the region, neighbors will have a chance to “break with their passive concept of maintaining the status quo” and reassess their policy so as to help resolve the standoff with the nuclear-armed state and realize the peninsula’s unification, he said in a forum Tuesday.“North Korea must no longer
Nov. 14, 2012
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N. Korea has better harvest but faces food shortages
ROME (AP) ― North Korea increased its production of staple foods for the second year in a row, thanks in part to better use of fertilizers and plastic sheeting to protect crops, but its citizens are still suffering from a serious lack of key proteins and fats in their diets, a U.N. report said Monday.A U.N. team visited all nine agricultural provinces of the communist state in September and October during the main cereal harvest and estimated that even with the increase ― a 10 percent improvemen
Nov. 14, 2012
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Returning to N.K.: Defectors double back
North Korean defectors Kim Kwang-hyok and Ko Jong-nam dreamed of a life free from repression and hunger. Nearly four years later they found themselves at the bottom of the social ladder, suffering from financial difficulties, prejudice and social isolation.That was the “miserable life” in the South the couple described at a news conference in Pyongyang on Nov. 8 after they returned to the North with their 2-year-old son Se-han. According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim, 2
Nov. 14, 2012
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N. Korea carries out tests for missiles: think tank
North Korea has conducted motor tests to improve its long-range missiles after a failed launch in April, a U.S. think tank said Monday after reviewing new satellite images.Since the embarrassing flop in April, the communist regime appears to have carried out at least two tests of large motors needed for rockets and worked on a launch platform, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said.The institute examined commercial images of the Sohae satellite launch station between April and
Nov. 13, 2012
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U.N.: N.Korea has better harvest but faces shortages
ROME (AP) -- North Korea increased its staple foods production for the second year in a row but its citizens are still suffering from a serious lack of key proteins and fats in their diets, a U.N. report said Monday.A U.N. team visited all nine agricultural provinces of the communist state in September and October during the main cereal harvest and estimated that even with the increase _ a 10 percent improvement over last year _ North Korea will need to import 507,000 metric tons of cereals to m
Nov. 12, 2012
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N. Korean defectors nabbed for smuggling drug from China
Two North Korean defectors have been arrested for smuggling drugs from China for distribution in the local market, with dozens of South Koreans also detained for illegal use, police said Monday.The defectors from the North, whose identities were withheld by the police, were arrested on suspicion of smuggling 80 grams of methamphetamine from the Chinese city of Dandong through the port of Incheon, some 40 kilometers west of Seoul, on June 11, and selling it to dozens of South Koreans, according t
Nov. 12, 2012
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Students voice their desire for reunification in music video
Young North Korean defectors and South Korean students unveiled a music video this week voicing their calls to overcome ideological division and work together toward genuine reunification. Highlighting their shared challenges including cutthroat competition for jobs, “That Day (of Reunification)” has been released through the YouTube site (http://youtu.be/t090rTnrZGY).It starts with a scene where a North Korean defector struggles to live in the competitive capitalist society just like his peers
Nov. 8, 2012
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Reinvigorated Obama to approach N.K. afresh
Newly re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to more flexibly implement his two-track approach on North Korea, pressing it to give up nuclear arms while promising rewards for a shift toward openness and reform. The Democrat president’s re-election will likely facilitate cooperation with South Korea and other regional partners in curbing the communist state’s nuclear ambitions.A potential game changer is the South’s December presidential election to replace Lee Myung-bak, the hardline
Nov. 7, 2012
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N. Korea threatens war on Korean Peninsula at the U.N. session
A North Korean diplomat, addressing the U.N. General Assembly, warned Monday that a war can break out any time on the Korean Peninsula due to mounting military tensions.“The situation on the peninsula is on the brink of explosion and nobody knows when the war will break out,” North Korea‘s deputy ambassador to the U.N. Ri Tong-il said.He accused the U.S. of continuing to exacerbate the situation with “increased hostilities” against Pyongyang. Ri said his communist nation is a nuclear state and t
Nov. 6, 2012
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N. Korea plagued by drug-resistant tuberculosis: S. Korean aid group
North Korea is being plagued by a widespread and difficult strain of tuberculosis and needs urgent measures to curb it, the chairman of a South Korean aid group said Monday.“The spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is so serious that North Korea is judged to be missing the crucial ‘golden time’ to root out tuberculosis,” Stephen Linton, the chairman of Eugene Bell Foundation, said in a news conference.The chairman of the charity foundation dedicated to medical aid for the reclusive country
Nov. 5, 2012
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Huge N. Korea hotel begun in 1980s might open soon
The 105-story, pyramid-shaped hotel that has stood over North Korea's capital city like a mountain for more than 20 years just might be on the verge of opening for the first time. Pyongyang's Ryugyong Hotel will ``partially, probably'' open in the middle of next year, Reto Wittwer, CEO of international hotel operator Kempinski AG, said Thursday at a forum in Seoul. Kempinski will manage the hotel, which Wittwer said will open with shops, offices, ballrooms, restaurants and 150 rooms. The
Nov. 2, 2012