Anti-N. Korea group helped to hide top diplomat: report

Free Joseon, a clandestine anti-North Korea political group, helped Pyongyang’s top diplomat in Italy go into hiding in November 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. It said Free Joseon arranged a car and a safe house for Jo Song-gil, who was then acting ambassador to Rome, and his wife, citing sources familiar with the matter. Jo, who had told colleagues he was going for a stroll, got into the car with his wife at the embassy compound and fled to a safe house, leaving thei

April 6, 2020

US flies spy plane over Korean Peninsula after NK missile launches

A US surveillance aircraft has flown over South Korea, an aviation tracker said Saturday, on an apparent mission to monitor North Korea following its successive major weapons tests. The US Air Force's RC-135W Rivet Joint was spotted in skies above Gyeonggi Province near the capital city of Seoul and the eastern province of Gangwon, Aircraft Spots tweeted. This type of aircraft has been detected often here, with the last known flight being made early last month, along with several other types

April 5, 2020

500 North Koreans remain under coronavirus quarantine: state media

Around 500 people remain under coronavirus quarantine across North Korea, state media reported Friday, a sharp drop from some 2,280 people a week earlier as the communist nation keeps lifting the quarantine for people with no symptoms during the isolation period. North Korea has insisted it has no confirmed COVID-19 infections but has taken various anti-virus measures, including shutting down its border and putting thousands of people in isolation. The regime has said that preventing the virus

April 3, 2020

USFK commander strongly disputes N. Korea's claim of no coronavirus cases

The commander of US Forces Korea said Thursday he does not believe North Korea's claim that it has no coronavirus cases, according to CNN and Voice of America. "That is an impossible claim based on all of the intel we have seen," Gen. Robert Abrams said in a joint interview with the two US outlets in Seoul. "We're not going to reveal our sources and methods. (But) that is untrue. How many, I couldn't tell you." North Korea has said it has no cases of COVID-19 and boasted ab

April 3, 2020

N. Korea eases coronavirus restriction on foreigners

North Korea has eased coronavirus restrictions on foreigners, allowing them to go to shops and restaurants, according to the Russian mission in Pyongyang on Thursday. The North Korean foreign ministry's protocol department issued the notice to all embassies and international organization offices, saying that foreigners are allowed to visit all shops, restaurants and customer services, including the central market in Tongin Street, the Russian Embassy said in a Facebook post. The department urg

April 2, 2020

North Korea insists it is free of coronavirus

North Korea remains totally free of the coronavirus, a senior health official in Pyongyang has insisted, despite mounting scepticism overseas as confirmed global infections near one million. The already isolated, nuclear-armed North quickly shut down its borders after the virus was first detected in neighbouring China in January, and imposed strict containment measures. Pak Myong Su, director of the anti-epidemic department of the North's Central Emergency Anti-epidemic Headquarters, insisted

April 2, 2020

[Herald Interview] Young NK defectors’ school hopes dashed

Students of Yeomyung School, an alternative high school for young North Korean defectors, had high hopes for the school’s relocation plan.   　 In a new location with a new building, they would have more spacious classrooms and a real playground with enough space to kick a ball during recess.   　 But those dreams were dashed late last year.   　 Met with strong resistance from residents in Eunpyeong-gu, a largely residential district in northern Seoul where the school was

April 2, 2020

NK pushing for five-year space development program purely for peaceful purposes: state media

North Korea has been pushing for a five-year space development program purely for peaceful purposes, a state propaganda outlet said Thursday, despite outside criticism that it's a cover for developing long-range missiles capable of striking the United States. Naenara, the propaganda website, said that the North's National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) has been working on the space program since 2016 to resolve problems in the economy and improve the lives of North Koreans. "

April 2, 2020

S. Korea vows to donate $5.73m for N. Korea assistance projects

South Korea has pledged to donate around $5.73 million this year to international agencies to help with their aid projects for North Korea, the unification ministry said Thursday. The money includes $4 million Seoul pledged in December for the World Health Organization's project to provide medical support for North Korean women and kids and $1.73 million promised to help the North's typhoon recovery efforts through the Red Cross, the ministry said. The money represented the largest portion of

April 2, 2020

S. Korea OKs aid group's plan to provide hand sanitizers to N. Korea amid coronavirus fears

South Korea has approved a local nonprofit organization's plan to provide hand sanitizers to North Korea to support Pyongyang's anti-coronavirus efforts, a unification ministry official has said, in the first such move this year amid chilly inter-Korean relations. The approval was granted Tuesday, allowing the organization to supply hand sanitizers worth around 100 million won ($81,000), the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. He said the money has been funded by the organizatio

April 2, 2020

NK hospital construction project moving ahead fast: state media

A hospital construction project in Pyongyang is moving ahead in a speedy manner, with more than 60 percent of the initial excavation work completed in just about 10 days after ground was broken, state media said Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has shown interest in the Pyongyang General Hospital project, attending its groundbreaking ceremony on March 17 and ordering that construction be completed by Oct. 10, the 75th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party. "With stron

April 2, 2020

Seoul says it deported NK fishermen for ‘disingenuous intention’ to defect

South Korea has deported two North Korean fishermen accused of killing 16 crew members in November, after concluding that their intentions to defect were disingenuous, according to local news reports Wednesday. 　 The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the South Korean government had responded to letter sent by UN special rapporteur for North Korea’s human rights Tomas Ojea Quintana in January to inquire the repatriation of two fishermen to North Korea. 　 Seoul expl

April 1, 2020

Europeans on UN Security Council condemn North Korean tests

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The European members of the UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned North Korea's latest missile tests, describing the launches as "provocative actions." Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom "are deeply concerned by the repeated testing of missiles, using ballistic missile technology," by North Korea on March 2, 9, 21 and 29, read a statement issued after an informal high-level UN videoconference. The Europeans noted tha

April 1, 2020

US flies spy plane over Korean Peninsula following NK's missile launch

A US surveillance aircraft has flown over South Korea, an aviation tracker said Wednesday, on an apparent mission to monitor North Korea just days after the communist nation fired what are believed to be two short-range ballistic missiles. The US Navy's EP-3E was spotted in skies above South Korea on Tuesday, Aircraft Spots tweeted. The operation came two days after North Korea fired two projectiles from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan toward the East Sea, marking the fourth major weapons t

April 1, 2020

North Korea ‘photoshopped’ latest rocket test photo: report

North Korea could have manipulated images of its latest rocket launches, a German rocket expert told Voice of America. Markus Schiller, who specializes in mechanical and aerospace engineering, suspected the North edited some of the launch pictures made public. “If you measure the dimensions of the missile which just seems to have left the launch tube, the missile is too large, diameter is too big and the length is too long to fit into that launch tube,” he said. North Korea launc

March 31, 2020

Pompeo hopeful N. Korea nuclear talks will resume

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday he was hopeful nuclear talks between the US and North Korea would resume, just hours after the North, which repeated missiles tests this month, threatened to repay pains the US had caused its people. “We hope to sit with the North Korean leadership again and discuss how to bring about a brighter future for its people,” he said. The top US diplomat said he remembered well when President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong-un exchanged pro

March 31, 2020

Pompeo: US looks forward to meeting NK leadership for nuclear talks

The United States looks forward to sitting down with North Korea's leadership for nuclear talks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday, shortly after Pyongyang accused him of slandering the regime and said it will "go our own way." Pompeo was responding to an official North Korean statement that condemned his earlier call on the Group of Seven major economies to continue diplomatic and economic pressure on Pyongyang. In a telephone briefing with Yonhap News Agency and other Asi

March 31, 2020

NK colleges offer online programs amid extended vacation caused by virus fears

Colleges in North Korea are providing online programs for students amid an extended vacation, as the country is making all efforts to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, state media showed Monday. North Korea has not officially confirmed any coronavirus infections, but it has reportedly extended the winter vacation for all schools as a precaution. "Classrooms nationwide have been suspended and vacation periods extended as part of efforts to stem the spread of the new coronavirus t

March 30, 2020

NK fired missiles from launcher similar to one unveiled last year: JCS

A super-large multiple rocket launcher that North Korea claimed to have test-fired the previous day appears to be similar to its large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system unveiled last year, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. The military is scrutinizing photos North Korean state media released earlier in the day of the super-large multiple rocket launcher tested Sunday as the system looks different from the North's existing weapon of the same name, a JCS official said.

March 30, 2020

NK hails rocket test, US urges return to nuclear talks

The two short-range projectiles North Korea fired into the East Sea on Sunday were super-large rockets, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said Monday, calling the test a “success." Unlike previous launches, leader Kim Jong-un was reportedly not there to guide the latest test. This was the North’s fourth weapons test this year, all in March. Pyongyang tested super-large rockets March 2 and 9 and ballistic missiles March 21 in an unprecedented flurry of launches that S

March 30, 2020