NK missile tests a threat to Pacific region: senior US official

A senior US official denounced North Korea’s test of what it claims was a super-large multiple rocket launcher on Thursday, saying it will have a negative impact on Pyongyang’s talks with Washington.Clarke Cooper, the US State Department’s assistant secretary for political-military affairs, said the North’s firing of two short-range projectiles toward the East Sea was a threat to the entire Pacific region. “Completely unfortunate, completely inappropriate and certai

Nov. 1, 2019

N. Korea says it successfully tested super-large multiple rocket launcher

North Korea's official news agency said Friday that the country successfully tested a super-large multiple rocket launcher the previous day, adding that it verified the "perfection" of the weapons system.On Thursday, South Korea's military said that the North fired two short-range projectiles from a western region toward the East Sea, saying that both flew about 370 kilometers with a maximum altitude of around 90 km."The Academy of Defense Science of the Democratic People's Republ

Nov. 1, 2019

No behind-the-scenes talks under way between US, NK: ambassador

The United States and North Korea do not appear to have had behind-the-scenes discussions since their working-level denuclearization negotiations ended without an agreement in Sweden earlier this month, South Korea's ambassador to the US said Thursday.Lee Soo-hyuck made the remark after meeting with US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, Washington's chief envoy to the talks with Pyongyang, for the first time since taking up his post last week.Lee also said Biegun expressed hi

Nov. 1, 2019

US envoy for NK tapped as No. 2 State Dept. official

US President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated the top US negotiator on North Korea's nuclear weapons program to be deputy secretary of state, the White House said.The nomination of US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun comes after Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan was picked to be Washington's next ambassador to Russia. His nomination requires Senate confirmation.In a tweet, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Biegun has been and will continue to be an "effec

Nov. 1, 2019

S. Korea's NSC expresses 'strong concern' over N. Korea's projectile launch

South Korea's National Security Council expressed "strong concern" Thursday over North Korea's latest firing of two unidentified projectiles.The presidential NSC's standing committee had a session and analyzed the background and intention behind the North's launch earlier in the day, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung said. In the meeting, presided over by Chung Eui-yong, head of Cheong Wa Dae's national security office, its members reviewed the "overall" security conditi

Oct. 31, 2019

Kim's condolence message signals no shift in Pyongyang's stance toward cross-border ties

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's surprise condolence message over the death of President Moon Jae-in's mother does not signal any meaningful shift in Pyongyang's tough attitude toward Seoul, a belief accentuated by the regime's latest projectile launches, experts said Thursday.Kim sent the message through the truce village of Panmunjom on Wednesday afternoon, less than a day after Moon's mother, Kang Han-ok, passed away at the age of 92. He expressed his "deep condolence" over her dea

Oct. 31, 2019

N. Korea fires two short-range projectiles toward East Sea: JCS

North Korea fired two short-range projectiles from a western region toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, amid a lack of progress in denuclearization talks with the United States and chilled inter-Korean ties.  The projectiles were fired at 4:35 p.m. and 4:38 p.m. from areas in the city of Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, toward the East Sea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff  said.  Both flew around 370 km across the peninsula, reaching a maximum

Oct. 31, 2019

Unification minister gathers Kumgangsan tour operators’ opinions

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul held a meeting Thursday with chiefs of Hyundai Asan and the state-run Korea Tourism Organization, operators of now-suspended tours to North Korea’s Kumgangsan, to discuss ways to deal with Pyongyang’s demand to demolish their facilities from the tourism resort. Kim stressed close coordination with the operators to find a path forward in “this critical situation” in a meeting with Bae Kook-hwan, president of Hyundai Asan, and Ahn Young-ba

Oct. 31, 2019

Warmbiers to attend Seoul meeting of N. Korean abduction victims

Family of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died in 2017 shortly after being released from prison in North Korea, is expected to visit Seoul next month for a meeting of international victims of abduction by the North.  The Korean War Abductees’ Family Union said Wednesday the American victim’s parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, have accepted its invitation for the convention slated for Nov. 22.In January 2016, Otto Warmbier was detained in Pyongyang for allegedly att

Oct. 31, 2019

NK human rights resolution submitted to UN committee

A resolution calling for accountability for human rights violations in North Korea has been submitted to the United Nations committee that oversees humanitarian issues, Voice of America reported Thursday.This year’s resolution, written by the European Union, does not differ significantly from last year’s, which was adopted by the UN Third Committee and the UN General Assembly by consensus without a vote, a spokesperson for the EU delegation to the UN told the US broadcaster.The spoke

Oct. 31, 2019

N. Korean leader sends condolence message to Moon over passing of his mother

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has extended a condolence message to President Moon Jae-in over the death of his mother, Kang Han-ok, Cheong Wa Dae announced Thursday.Kim delivered the message Wednesday afternoon through the truce village of Panmunjom, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson, Ko Min-jung.It was conveyed soon after to Moon at Namcheon Catholic Cathedral in Busan, where a mourning station for Kang was set up, she added. Kim sent his "consolation" message for Moon, expres

Oct. 31, 2019

N. Korea's top girl band to go on concert tour in China

North Korea's best-known girl band is expected to go on a one-month concert tour in China later this year, sources said Thursday, in a sign of strengthening relations between Pyongyang and Beijing.Moranbong Band plans to start the tour in Beijing in December at the invitation of a Chinese international culture exchange center, which will be followed by concerts in other major Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Changsha, according to the sources. It will be the first time that the band

Oct. 31, 2019

East Asian football body not considering sanctioning N. Korea for skipping tournament

North Korea will not face punishment for withdrawing from an East Asian football tournament to be held in South Korea later this year, the region's top football body said Wednesday.North Korea will skip the women's tournament at the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship, set to take place from Dec. 10-18 in the South Korean city of Busan. The Korea Football Association (KFA) revealed on Tuesday that the North had informed the EAFF in September that it would not sen

Oct. 31, 2019

New S. Korean ambassador expects US-NK talks to resume this year

South Korea's top envoy to the United States said Wednesday that he expects the US and North Korea to resume denuclearization negotiations before the end of the year.Ambassador Lee Soo-hyuck made the remark to reporters in his first briefing since taking office last week, noting that his prediction is based only on the South Korean government's assessment of the last round of negotiations that took place in Sweden early this month.The talks ended without an agreement, with the North accusing the

Oct. 31, 2019

US House panel passes bill on reuniting Korean-Americans with NK family members

WASHINGTON -- A US congressional committee on Wednesday passed a bill calling for US efforts to reunite Korean-Americans with their family members in North Korea.The Divided Families Reunification Act, introduced by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), passed through the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee amid ongoing tensions between the US and the North over the regime's nuclear weapons program.The bill requires the US secretary of state and the US special envoy on North Korea human rights

Oct. 31, 2019

N. Korea pulls out of football tournament in South: Seoul

North Korea has pulled out of a December international women's football tournament in the South, Seoul's football authorities said Tuesday, weeks after Pyongyang hosted a surreal World Cup qualifier in a near-empty stadium.Pyongyang's nuclear talks with Washington are at a deadlock and it has been at loggerheads with Seoul since the collapse of the Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in February.The North has repeatedly excoriated Seoul, saying it has "noth

Oct. 30, 2019

Pyongyang rejects Seoul’s proposal of working-level talks

North Korea has turned down South Korea’s proposal to hold a working-level meeting over the regime’s plan to tear down the South’s facilities at the Kumgangsan tourist resort, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday. “The North has insisted on discussing a demolition plan and schedule for (South Korea’s) facilities (at the Kumgangsan resort) by means of exchanging documents without having to hold a working-level meeting proposed by our side,” the ministry said i

Oct. 29, 2019

NK rejects dialogue offer, insists on discussing Mount Kumgang issue in writing

North Korea rejected South Korea's offer for working-level talks about the fate of a long-suspended joint tour program to Mount Kumgang, insisting on discussing the matter in writing, the unification ministry said Tuesday. Saying that it is "unnecessary" to hold such a face-to-face meeting, the North insisted on discussing the removal of South Korea-built facilities at the mountain on its east coast through the exchange of documents as it earlier proposed, according to the ministry.On

Oct. 29, 2019

Top NK official accuses US of aggravating tensions on peninsula

North Korea on Tuesday continued to pressure Seoul and Washington, accusing the allies of raising tensions and saying their policies will determine the future of the peninsula. Speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Azerbaijan, Choe Ryong-hae, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, accused the US of aggravating the situation on the peninsula. “The Korean Peninsula situation is at a critical juncture, whether the situation rides on the current of eas

Oct. 29, 2019

S. Korea willing to discuss with N. Korea safety issue for individual trips to Mount Kumgang

South Korea is willing to discuss ways to guarantee the safety of tourists to North Korea's Mount Kumgang in a step toward allowing individual visits to the mountain if Pyongyang agrees to hold talks about a long-suspended joint tour program to the mountain, an official said Tuesday.South Korea made the proposal Monday to hold working-level talks, three days after Pyongyang asked Seoul to come and remove its resort facilities at Mount Kumgang, a follow-up on leader Kim Jong-un's order for their

Oct. 29, 2019