Most Popular
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Govt. asks hospitals to mitigate impact of medical professors' absence
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S. Korea's working-age population to dip nearly 10m by 2044 amid low births
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Doggy patrol team on the move to protect their cities
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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Powers ramp up diplomacy amid NK nuke threat
South Korea, the U.S. and China are stepping up their diplomatic efforts this week to prevent North Korea from proceeding with a third nuclear test.Satellite images of the North’s test site in the northeastern town of Punggye showed work under way last week. A Korean expert told reporters on Wednesday that Pyongyang appears to have finished its preparations.The U.S. government said Thursday it has not detected any clear signs of an imminent atomic test “other than the rumors.” Seoul and Beijing
May 4, 2012
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No clear sign of N. Korea's nuke test: State Dept.
The U.S. government indicated Thursday that it has not detected any clear signs that North Korea's nuclear test is around the corner."Nothing to point to, I mean, other than the rumors that we've heard in the press and elsewhere," Mark Toner, deputy spokesman for the State Department said at a press briefing.He was responding to media reports that Pyongyang seems to be all set for a third nuclear
May 4, 2012
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Graphic displays may be key to N.K. human rights awareness
The drawings start with prisoners being stripped naked by scowling guards and severely beaten. This is their entry into a North Korean prison camp, and it only gets worse. Another picture shows dozens of emaciated prisoners sleeping side by side in cramped quarters. A man standing 170 centimeters tall shrivels to 38 kilograms, at which point there is almost no chance of survival, even if released. Weak prisoners attempt work in caves and erecting walls that sometimes collapse, killing them, whil
May 3, 2012
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New N. Korea sanctions sets stage for nuclear showdown
The UN Security Council on Wednesday put three top North Korean state firms on a sanctions black list over the country's failed rocket launch.But the assets freeze against three enterprises said to have financed and organized the North's missile and nuclear programs could soon be followed by a new UN sanctions battle if the North carries out a feared nuclear bomb test.The United States, European U
May 3, 2012
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A strong voice for N.K.’s downtrodden
Suzanne Scholte says S. Korea needs to stop kowtowing to China, be more aggressive on N.K. refugee issuesFor North Koreans suffering from severe poverty and repression, American human rights activist Suzanne Scholte has an unwavering message: “I am right here to be your voice. No one can destroy your will to survive.”A key driver of the movement to raise awareness of human rights abuses in the North, she has underscored the brutality of the autocratic regime and the pressing need for the interna
May 2, 2012
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‘N.K. has HEU to make up to 6 bombs’
Seoul reports Pyongyang has 3,000 nuclear specialists, 2,000 centrifugesNorth Korea is presumed to have sufficient stockpiles of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to build three to six atomic bombs, a local nuclear expert said Wednesday.The communist state is thought to be planning to conduct a third nuclear test soon in what appears to be a move to make up for last month’s botched rocket and raise its bargaining power with the West.As the North claims it has some 2,000 centrifuges in opera
May 2, 2012
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Science ensures nuclear test would be no secret
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― North Korea remains largely cut off from the Internet and mobile phone technology that links much of modern society, but any nuclear test would be swiftly revealed by global scientists, experts say.Thousands of earthquake specialists would be able to measure the seismic waves from any underground blast and alert the world in real-time, a capacity that has grown since the hermit state’s last nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.Speculation has mounted that North Korea could soon cond
May 2, 2012
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N.K. jamming affects flights: Seoul
Electronic jamming signals from North Korea have affected scores of civilian flights in and out of South Korea, a Seoul official said Wednesday.“We’ve confirmed the GPS (global positioning system) jamming signals have been stemming from the North,” Lee Kyung-Woo, a deputy director at the state Korea Communications Commission, told AFP.The transport ministry, in a statement and in comments to AFP, said the jamming had affected 252 flights since last Saturday but did not identify who was responsib
May 2, 2012
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Campaign increases awareness of N.K. refugee issue
Online and offline activities pressure China to stop sending defectors back to North KoreaFor the last three months, desperate efforts to stop China from repatriating North Korean refugees have yielded one crucial outcome ― a sharp increase in domestic and international awareness of the issue.Lawmakers, celebrities and activists have been united under the slogan of “Save my friend” since the news reports came out in early February that scores of the defectors were likely to be deported to the re
May 2, 2012
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Thai journalists’ book sheds light on North Korea
Kim Jong-il conducted several purges of high-ranking government officials before his death to aid the power transfer to his son Kim Jong-un, senior Thai journalists claimed in a book on North Korea.According to the book, entitled “Unveiling North Korea’s Leaders” and published in March, senior international affairs journalists from the Thai daily Kom Chad Luek and the business daily Krungthep Turakij, the late former leader of North Korea purged ranking officials in order to remove obstacles ham
May 1, 2012
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Photo shows work at N.K. test site
WASHINGTON (AP) ― New satellite imagery appears to show a train of mining carts and other preparations under way at North Korea’s nuclear test site but no indication of when a detonation might take place.Early this month, South Korean intelligence reported digging of a new tunnel at the Punggye-ri site, which it took as a sign that North Korea was covertly preparing for a third nuclear test.The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies provided the Associated
April 29, 2012
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North highly likely to test nuclear bomb:defense official
The South Korean and U.S. defense authorities agree that the chances of another North Korean nuclear test are "very high," a senior military official said Friday."The assessment of South Korea and the U.S. is that chances are very high that North Korea will carry out a nuclear experiment," South Korea's deputy minister of defense, Lim Kwan-bin, told reporters after two days of meetings here with h
April 28, 2012
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NK leader observes combined arms military exercise
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed a combined arms exercise to mark the 80th anniversary of the Korean People's Army (KPA), a media report said Saturday.The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) picked up in Seoul said without specifying the date of the exercise that Kim, who has been made the supreme commander of the KPA, "guided" the military maneuver. The anniversary of the North Korean armed
April 28, 2012
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S. Korea, U.S. discuss N.K. in high-level meeting
WASHINGTON ― Senior South Korean and U.S. military officials began a meeting here Thursday to coordinate their response to recent North Korean provocations and to discuss alliance issues.The Pentagon said it opened the inaugural session of the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue, which the defense chiefs of the two countries agreed to at a Security Consultative Meeting last year.“Discussions will include North Korean provocations and coordinated responses as well as a broader range of Allianc
April 27, 2012
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Chinese firm sold 8 military vehicles to N. Korea: report
Military exports could violate UNSC resolution against arms transactions with PyongyangA Chinese firm reportedly sold eight military vehicles to North Korea last May in an apparent violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning arms transactions with the impoverished state.Citing an announcement by Kanwa Information Center, a private military research institute based in Canada, Japan’s Kyodo News reported Friday that the firm under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army sold the vehicles.
April 27, 2012
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N.K. may see its end in a collapse: Cha
Former White House adviser says Pyongyang not interested in bargaining over nukesThe history of doomed autocratic regimes suggests that impoverished North Korea under untested leadership may see its end in a collapse, a renowned U.S. security expert said.“I think this combination of the young, untested leadership, economic problems, food problems; this is not a good combination for predicting the longevity of a regime,” Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International St
April 26, 2012
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Contrasting styles and choices for North Korea
This month provided a stark contrast on the Korean Peninsula. During the same week, there were elections for the National Assembly in South Korea and private meetings in North Korea where selections were made for leadership positions in the regime. The campaign trail in a democracy like South Korea helps prepare candidates for leadership and set the national agenda going forward. This is done through a series of constituent meetings, television ads, debates and stump speeches. For a country like
April 26, 2012
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Seoul asks U.N. to add N.K. entities to sanctions list
South Korea has asked the U.N. Security Council to add more than 10 North Korean entities to its sanctions list, a senior government official said.The move comes after the 15-member Security Council on April 16 condemned Pyongyang’s recent rocket launch, expanded the list of North Korean organizations subject to asset freezes and identified more proliferation-sensitive technology to be banned from transfer in and out of the reclusive state.The Seoul official said the U.S., Japan and EU also have
April 25, 2012
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N.K. reneging on U.S. deal suggests disarray at top: Hill
Former U.S. nuke envoy says North is relic of China’s past, not asset for its futureNorth Korea’s rocket launch in violation of a breakthrough deal in February with the U.S. is an indication of “deeper problems” within the leadership of the communist state, a former chief U.S. nuclear negotiator said Wednesday.“I think it does suggest some disarray at the top or some lack of clarity on who does what in North Korea,” Christopher Hill, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told
April 25, 2012
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Glimpse into governing organs in North Korea
Workers’ PartyAs North Korea’s Constitution says, “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea carries out all activities under the leadership of the Workers’ Party,” the party is the highest governing authority in the North.The party convention is its top decision-making apparatus, which is to be held every five years. But it has not been held since the sixth one in 1980, when Kim Jong-il was declared successor to his father Kim Il-sung.The party representatives’ conference is held to deal with
April 25, 2012