Gov't to offer food aid to N. Korea next week: lawmaker

The government plans to provide 50,000 tons of food to North Korea next week via an international organization, a ruling party lawmaker said Friday.North Korea needs more than 1.45 million tons of food to resolve its food crisis, Rep. Sul Hoon of the Democratic Party said during a meeting with senior party members held at the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas."Next week, the government plans to offer 50,000 tons of food to North Korea through an international organization,&qu

May 31, 2019

Kim Jong-un executed envoys in a purge after failed Hanoi summit: report

North Korea executed its nuclear envoy to the United States as part of a purge of officials who steered negotiations for a failed summit between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper said on Friday.Kim Hyok-chol was executed at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, along with four Foreign Ministry executives, in March after they were all charged with spying for the United States, the Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified North Korean source."He was accused

May 31, 2019

Cheong Wa Dae cautious about reports of N. Korea's post-Hanoi purge

South Korea's presidential office maintained a cautious stance Friday on news reports of a possible massive purge of top North Korean officials after the failed summit in Hanoi with the United States."I don't think that a hasty conclusion or comments on the issue are appropriate," Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung said at a press briefing.She was responding to a local newspaper's report that North Korea had executed Kim Hyok-chol, its special envoy for the U.S., and some foreign m

May 31, 2019

S. Korea ready to tackle potential swine fever transmission from N. Korea

North Korea has confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever, possibly adding to the country's already dire food situation and prompting South Korea to guard against the possible spread of the animal disease in areas bordering the North.North Korea reported the outbreak of the swine fever at a farm in its northern Jagang Province, which borders China, to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Thursday.While the farm is located far from the border, South Korea's agriculture ministry on

May 31, 2019

Sanctions have started to hit North Korea’s most vulnerable: experts

Tough sanctions slapped on North Korea have begun to adversely affect the most vulnerable people there, experts said, stressing the need for swift humanitarian action for millions of hungry and sick people. What has hurt the lives of North Korean people the most are sanctions, and the widespread impact has reached those who already could not afford food, University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Moon-soo said during a roundtable held by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unificat

May 30, 2019

Pentagon chief contradicts Trump on NK’s missile launches

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Wednesday the recent missile launches by North Korea were a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions, contradicting US President Donald Trump. North Korea launched multiple projectiles on May 4 and 9 -- of which the latter involved what were officially identified as short-range missiles -- in what is seen as a protest over the deadlock in nuclear talks with the US. While Trump played down the launches, his officials have been making contradic

May 30, 2019

Ship carrying North Korean coal appears to return to Indonesia after drifting for over a month: VOA

A Panama-flagged vessel suspected of carrying North Korean coal appeared Tuesday to be returning to Indonesia, from where it had departed, after being refused port entry and drifting in the sea for over a month.Citing a ship tracking site, Voice of America Korea reported that the bulk carrier, Dong Thanh, started to move again after staying on the southernmost waters off Malaysia for about three weeks. As of Tuesday, the vessel is 242 kilometers from the Port of Jakarta in Indonesia, according t

May 30, 2019

Sanctions motivated NK cybercrimes: US officials

US intelligence authorities say North Korea carried out cybercrimes such as cryptocurrency mining and bank theft to get around sanctions, according to US broadcaster Voice of America. Tonya Ugoretz, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s cyber readiness, outreach and intelligence branch, said Wednesday at a conference hosted by private US think tank the Aspen Institute that sanctions had motivated North Korea to carry out the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014, the Bangladesh B

May 30, 2019

Pentagon chief says NK launches violated UN resolutions

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Wednesday that North Korea's missile launches this month were a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, adding to the confusion over the US views.North Korea launched short-range missiles on May 9 in apparent protest over stalled negotiations with the US While US National Security Adviser John Bolton condemned them as a breach of UNSC resolutions, which ban the North's use of ballistic missile technology, President Donald Trump said he view

May 30, 2019

S. Korea prepares for possible outbreak of swine fever in North

South Korea is currently making preparations against the possible spread of African swine fever from North Korea, a unification ministry official said Wednesday, amid concerns that the disease may have broken out there. "North Korea has not made an official statement on an outbreak of African swine fever, and international organizations have also not confirmed a possible outbreak," an official from the Ministry of Unification said. The unification ministry, meanwhile, is working closel

May 29, 2019

S. Korea reiterates stance on East Sea naming after Trump mentions Sea of Japan

South Korea said Tuesday that the body of water between the Korean peninsula and Japan should be referred to as both the East Sea and Sea of Japan, after US President Donald Trump used only the Japanese name.During a meeting with US troops in Japan, Trump mentioned the Sea of Japan as an area of their patrol responsibilities."Regarding the naming of the East Sea, our consistent position is clear," Kim In-chul, spokesman of Seoul's foreign ministry, told a regular press briefing. "

May 28, 2019

[News focus] Trump’s take on NK hints at gaps with aides, Japan

US President Donald Trump appears to be taking a different tack on North Korea from his advisers and also from Japan, sending mixed signals about US-North Korea relations and dialogue prospects. Speaking before and after his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Monday, Trump reiterated his views on North Korea’s recent provocations and on its leader, Kim Jong-un. “I think he’s very much -- I talk to him a lot about it, and he’s very much into th

May 28, 2019

N. Korea slams Bolton as 'security-destroying advisor,' 'human defect'

North Korea sharply criticized US National Security Advisor John Bolton on Monday, calling him "a security-destroying adviser," a "structurally defective guy" and a "human defect" that "deserves an earlier vanishing."A spokesperson for the North's foreign ministry unleashed the vituperation, bristling at Bolton's denunciation of the communist nation's recent missile launches as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions."As for the UNSC 'resolutio

May 27, 2019

Trump says US and NK have ‘respect,’ downplays concerns

US President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated his view that progress had been made with North Korea, saying the US and the North had built mutual respect. Speaking ahead of his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Trump predicted “good things” for North Korean issues.  “We’ve come a long way, there’s been no rocket testing, there’s been no nuclear testing, there’s been very little activity from that standpoint, we’ve come

May 27, 2019

Trump brushes off concerns over N. Korea missile tests

US President Donald Trump on Sunday downplayed the potential danger of North Korea’s missile launches in early May, just a day after national security adviser John Bolton called the tests a clear breach of UN resolutions. “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” Trump tweeted during a four-day state visit to Japan that started Saturday. On May 9, North Korea tested two short-range missiles, which fell into the East S

May 26, 2019

Bolton says N. Korea missile tests violated UN resolutions

US national security adviser John Bolton on Saturday called a series of short-range missile tests by North Korea earlier this month a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and said sanctions must be kept in place. The US, however, is willing to resume talks with North Korea at any time, Bolton said. Washington's position on the North's denuclearization is consistent and a repeated pattern of failures to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons should be stopped, he said.Bolton was speaking to r

May 25, 2019

Unification minister hopes better inter-Korean ties lead to resumption of nuclear talks

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Friday that he will work hard to advance inter-Korean relations so as to resume the stalled denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea."We will do our best to steadily improve inter-Korean relations in a way that will lead to the resumption of North Korea-US talks at an early date," Kim said at a forum in Seoul. "Despite the lull since the Hanoi summit, North Korea and the US still maintain the principle of resolving th

May 24, 2019

US closely watching for N. Korea’s possible financial sanction violations

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said President Donald Trump has firm willingness to implement sanctions against North Korea, in another signal that the country will not pursue sanctions relief in order to resume nuclear talks. “The president is determined that we continue our efforts to enforce both the UN sanctions and the US sanctions against North Korea,” he said at the US House Committee on Financial Services on Tuesday. Mnuchin said sanctions are effective leverage to

May 23, 2019

US would seek for UNSC measures if N. Korea fires missiles again: news report

Although the United States has played down recent launches of short-range missiles by North Korea, it will seek substantive action if the communist regime fires again.A Japanese news outlet reported late Tuesday that the US has warned that if North Korea launches a short-range ballistic missile again, it will demand further measures to be taken by the United Nations Security Council.According to Japan’s Kyodo News Agency, the US told Japan and permanent members of the UNSC that it will &ld

May 22, 2019

US, North Korea square off over seized trade ship

The US State Department on Wednesday reaffirmed that UN sanctions against North Korea will remain in place, after Pyongyang publicly criticized Washington’s “extreme hostile policy” regarding the seizure of its cargo ship, escalating tensions between the two countries amid stalled nuclear talks. In a rare press conference at the UN in New York on Tuesday, North Korea’s UN Ambassador Kim Song demanded immediate return of the country’s second-largest cargo ship, the W

May 22, 2019