NK leader puts military on hold in taking action against South

North Korean soldiers were spotted dismantling propaganda loudspeakers on Wednesday, a day after the country’s leader Kim Jong-un put on hold military actions against South Korea. According to the North’s state media Korean Central News Agency, Kim on Tuesday presided over a preparatory Central Military Commission meeting and put on hold plans proposed by the General Staff Department of the Korean People’s Army. On June 14, the North had announced plans to increase military

June 24, 2020

NK propaganda outlets delete articles critical of S. Korea en masse

North Korea's propaganda outlets have withdrawn articles critical of South Korea en masse after state media reported on leader Kim Jong-un's decision to suspend "military action plans" against the South. Kim made the decision to hold off on military plans against the South during a preliminary meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said, without providing reasons. The move came as a surprise

June 24, 2020

US, S. Korea keeping door open to diplomacy with N. Korea: official

WASHINGTON -- The United States and South Korea remain ready to engage North Korea even as tensions have escalated over its threats against the South, a US official said Tuesday. Marc Knapper, deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, said the allies want to see a return to the spirit of the June 2018 Singapore summit where US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to work toward complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. &

June 24, 2020

US constantly assessing options to respond to NK threats: top general

WASHINGTON -- The United States is constantly looking at options to address North Korea's military threats, a top US Air Force general said Tuesday in response to calls to deploy strategic assets and resume full-scale exercises with South Korea. Gen. Charles Brown, commander of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), made the remark during a teleconference with reporters as tensions have escalated over North Korea's threats to send troops to border areas and scrap a military tension-reducing agreement wit

June 24, 2020

North Korea lauds Harry Potter

North Korea’s literary news outlet praised J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, the best selling book series in history, for the pioneering spirit that it models for children. In a review dated June 20, Literature Newspaper, a mouthpiece of the Joseon Writers’ Alliance, the Central Committee of North Korea’s official literary organization, belatedly introduced the British writer’s work. The first book in the seven-book series was published in 1997,

June 24, 2020

[Korea War Anniversary] Reunification, an increasingly distant dream

Seventy years have passed since the fratricidal war broke out, but an increasing number of South Koreans view reunification of the Korean Peninsula as a distant, even far-fetched, dream amid escalating tensions between the two Koreas. Unification with the North is a goal enshrined in the South Korean Constitution, and a long-cherished national aspiration implanted in many South Koreans’ psyches with the popular song “Our Wish Is Unification.” But as the two societies evolved

June 24, 2020

N. Korea seen removing loudspeakers from border areas: officials

North Korea was seen removing multiple propaganda loudspeakers reinstalled recently along the border with South Korea, officials said Wednesday, after leader Kim Jong-un ordered the suspension of military action plans against the South. The North recently set up around 20 to 30 loudspeakers in border areas after threatening to take military action against what it called "the enemy" in anger over Seoul's failure to stop defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across

June 24, 2020

NK suspends military action plans, halts threats against S. Korea

North Korea suspended "military action plans" against South Korea, removed propaganda loudspeakers reinstalled along the border just three days earlier and deleted anti-Seoul articles en masse from media outlets, a surprise about-face after weeks of harsh rhetoric and threats. It was unclear what all these moves mean, including whether it means Pyongyang has decided to put its anger behind it, and if so, why it decided to do so after weeks of bellicose threats and rhetoric, including

June 24, 2020

Red Cross photos provide rare glimpse into life of refugees, POWs during Korean War

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has unveiled dozens of long-kept photos of the Korean War, providing a rare glimpse into devastation, plight and even the resilience people demonstrated with seemingly little hope on the horizon. Yonhap News Agency obtained the 70 black-and-white still images taken by the ICRC and published them on Wednesday in time for the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 conflict. This is the first time that the Geneva-based organization has

June 24, 2020

Defying government ban, defectors group launches anti-NK leaflets

A group of North Korean defectors claimed Tuesday it had sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, continuing an activity that has enraged the North regime, which cited it as the reason it wrecked a liaison office with the South last week. 　 The launch was also in defiance of a ban by South Korean authorities on the cross-border propaganda campaign. 　 “The six members of Fighters for a Free North Korea sent anti-North Korea leaflets between 11 p.m. and midnight on Monday in Paju,

June 23, 2020

[Herald Interview] Former nuclear envoy raps Moon’s policy on N. Korea

Inter-Korean relations under the Moon Jae-in administration were never going to work, as they were built on a misguided belief, as worded by Moon in 2018, that North Korea would dismantle its nuclear arsenal for peace, said Cho Tae-yong, a former South Korean nuclear envoy and deputy national security adviser. “The nuclear talks were headed to a failure from the inception,” Cho said, citing former US national security adviser John Bolton, who in his forthcoming memoir described the

June 23, 2020

New documents on Korean War seized from N. Korea released to public

South Korea on Tuesday released new documents on the 1950-53 Korean War seized from the North Korean military during the conflict, including evidence proving that the then Soviet Union wiretapped the South's military, the defense ministry said. The materials secured by the US military's Allied in Translator and Interpreter Section include documents on the North's preparations to invade the South, its exercise plans, as well as service members' journals and guidelines on how to handle prisoner

June 23, 2020

N. Korean defectors' group says it sent leaflets to North overnight

A group of North Korean defectors in the South claimed Tuesday it sent anti-North Korea leaflets across the border overnight from the western border city of Paju. Police said one of the balloons used for sending the leaflets was found in a town in the mountainous eastern province of Gangwon. "(We) sent anti-North Korea leaflets over (to the North) between 11 p.m. and midnight on Monday (from a town) in Paju," Park Sang-hak, chief of Fighters for a Free North Korea, said. The group p

June 23, 2020

NK paper says S. Korea's push to repatriate remains of Korean freedom fighter 'another provocation'

A North Korean propaganda outlet claimed Tuesday that the remains of a legendary Korean independence fighter, which South Korea has been seeking to bring to Seoul from Kazakhstan, should be brought to his hometown of Pyongyang. Hong Beom-do was a general commander of the Korean independence army during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule who claimed victories in battles against Japanese forces in Manchuria, including the Battle of Fengwudong in 1920. He died in Kazakhstan in 1943 and is still b

June 23, 2020

N. Korea completes setting up some 20 loudspeakers along border

North Korea has completed setting up around 20 propaganda loudspeakers in regions along the inter-Korean border, about half of which had been removed under a 2018 summit agreement with South Korea, a military source said Tuesday. The North was first seen reinstalling the loudspeakers inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas on Sunday in the latest in a series of actions ramping up tensions on the Korean Peninsula in anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by de

June 23, 2020

N. Korea reinstalling propaganda loudspeakers in border regions: authorities

North Korea is reinstalling propaganda loudspeakers in regions along the inter-Korean border after removing them under a 2018 summit agreement with South Korea, military officials said Monday. After the summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on April 27, 2018, the two Koreas agreed to halt all hostile acts against each other and eliminate their means, including broadcasting through loudspeakers and distribution of leaflets. According to the authorities, North

June 22, 2020

Cheong Wa Dae hits back at Bolton’s claims

Former US national security adviser John Bolton’s claims in his memoir “seriously distort” the truth, and could seriously damage South Korean and US interests, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday. “Former adviser John Bolton describes negotiations between the leaders of Korea and the US, and North Korea and related situations from his point of view. (The memoir) does not reflect accurate facts. Also, the truth is seriously distorted in large parts,” Chung Eui-yong, head of

June 22, 2020

NK's liaison office demolition not in breach of military pact with South: minister

North Korea's surprise demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office last week is not in breach of the latest military tension reduction agreement between the two Koreas, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo here said Monday.      Speaking to a plenary session of the parliamentary standing committee on national defense, the minister said the demolition "has nothing to do with the Sept. 19 military agreement." "The military pact deals with various measures t

June 22, 2020

[Herald Interview] Former combined forces No. 2 defends pact with N. Korea

Kim Byung-joo, former deputy commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, said South Korea should manage military tensions to prevent them from getting out of control, while remaining on guard against aggression from North Korea. Despite the North’s escalating threats to undo all the progress both sides have made toward peace and reconciliation, Seoul should continue to honor its agreements with Pyongyang, he added. “Returning to confrontation would further jeopardize the saf

June 22, 2020

NK reinstalls propaganda loudspeakers, gets ready to drop 12 million anti-Seoul leaflets

North Korea is reinstalling propaganda loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border and preparing to drop 12 million anti-Seoul leaflets here, amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula since the North demolished a joint liaison office. 　 South Korea’s military said the North appears to be setting up loudspeakers “in multiple places” inside the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas. Both Koreas dismantled their propaganda loudspeakers in May 2018 after agreeing to st

June 22, 2020