North Korea has completed building an ice cream factory in Pyongyang as instructed by leader Kim Jong-un, its state media reported Thursday, amid an economy faltering under global sanctions. A ceremony was held the previous day to celebrate the construction of a "modern" ice cream production base in the center of Taesongsan, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Jon Hyon-chol, t...

Former S. Korean commanders say South Korea should develop latent capacity to produce nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON -- The United States is very much focused on improving human rights conditions in North Korea, a state department spokesperson said Tuesday, calling it a serious challenge. Ned Price, however, said he had no announcements to make when asked if the US would appoint a special envoy for North Korean human rights, a position that has remained vacant for nearly six years. "When it comes t...

South Korean lawyers said Thursday the human rights situation in North Korea under Kim Jong-un remains dire, and called for more action from the South Korean government. Speaking at a seminar hosted by the Korean Bar Association, Joo Sung-ha, who left North Korea in 2002, said attempts to flee the country have been more severely punished over the past five years there. “During the Kim Jong-il e...

Border intrusion comes hours before S. Korea, US forces kick off large-scale exercises in western seas

North Korea could carry out consecutive nuclear weapons tests, experts say, as intelligence authorities warn of the rising possibility of Pyongyang conducting the first test of its kind in five years. “It is likely that they need several tests to meet the requirements of their ambitious nuclear weapons program, which has tactical nuclear weapons, intermediate range and intercontinental ballistic...

Former Defense Minister Suh Wook and former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee were arrested Saturday over their alleged mishandling of the death of a fisheries official in September 2020 at the hands of North Korea. The Seoul Central District Court issued the arrest warrants for them, citing the risk of them fleeing or destroying evidence, after hearings held Friday. The prosecution...

A Seoul court summoned former chiefs of national defense and maritime police for questioning on Friday, after prosecutors filed for a warrant to arrest them in an investigation into North Korea’s killing of South Korean fisheries official Lee Dae-jun two years ago. Appearing at the Seoul central district court at around 9:40 a.m., Seo Wook, who was minister of national defense at the time, decli...

S. Korea urges China, Russia to stop forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors

The family of Lee Dae-jun, a South Korean fisheries official slain at sea two years ago, talked Thursday about meeting with Seoul’s new North Korea human rights envoy, Lee Shin-wha. Lee Rae-jin, the late official’s brother, said he and the family’s lawyer Kim Ki-yun spoke with the ambassador-at-large on North Korean human rights issues for about an hour on Wednesday. “She said that bickering am...

North Korea has held a Cabinet meeting to assess its economic performance so far this year and called for utmost efforts to achieve its goals in the remaining months, its state media reported Thursday. At the expanded plenary meeting of the Cabinet held the previous day, Vice Premier Pak Jong-gun made a report on the economic performance and plans for the third and fourth quarters of this year a...

Pyongyang fires more than 900 artillery shells into inter-Korean buffer zones since Friday

A key missile defense radar system, emplaced in a southern city last year, went into full-fledged operation earlier this month, Seoul officials said Wednesday amid growing North Korean nuclear and missile threats. The ground-based Green Pine radar in Busan, 390 kilometers south of Seoul, is now running at full capacity. It was delivered to the city late last year, but had to go through testing a...

WASHINGTON -- The United States maintains a whole range of responses it may take when necessary against North Korean provocations, a Department of Defense spokesperson said Tuesday. Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder also said the US continues to closely monitor the recalcitrant country for actions that may warrant such a response. "In terms of how we respond to individual provocations, for example, missile ...

North Korea's military said Wednesday it fired artillery shots overnight into maritime buffer zones near the inter-Korean border as a "serious warning" over South Korea's ongoing military drills. In a statement, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said the North's military launched a "threatening and warning" fire as its "powerful military countermeasure" against ...