N. Korea leader not mentioned among deputies newly elected to parliament

North Korea's state media did not mention leader Kim Jong-un in announcing a list of deputies newly elected to the communist state's rubber-stamp parliament on Tuesday, raising speculation about the reason for his exclusion.Kim's exclusion from the list of 687 new deputies, if confirmed, means he didn't run because elections in North Korea are a formality as all candidates are elected with 100 percent of the vote. State media did not mention Kim's candidate registration before or after the elect

March 12, 2019

NK leader's sister elected to rubber-stamp parliament

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister was elected to the country's rubber-stamp parliament, state media reported Tuesday. Kim Yo-jong was on the list of 687 deputies newly elected to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly in elections held on Sunday, according to the North's state media. (Yonhap)The Korean Central News Agency also reported that 99.99 percent of eligible voters cast ballots and all new deputies were elected with 100 percent of the vote. (Yonhap)

March 12, 2019

S. Korea to seek talks with N. Korea to help stalled nuke negotiations move forward: ministry

South Korea will push for talks with North Korea, including summits, this year to deepen inter-Korean relations and help stalled denuclearization talks move forward between Washington and Pyongyang, the unification ministry said Tuesday."In close coordination with the US, (we) will push for inter-Korean talks to help the US and North Korea meet again and reach an agreement on denuclearization and corresponding measures," the ministry said in a report detailing its 2019 policy direction. (Yonhap)

March 12, 2019

N. Korea to limit number of foreign visitors starting next week: report

North Korea will begin restricting the inflow of foreign visitors starting next week as it is struggling to cope with a surge in the number of tourists following the first US-North Korea summit last year, Chinese media reported Tuesday.North Korea plans to restrict the number of visitors to the country to 1,000 per day starting Monday, the state-run Global Times said, citing a source. The number of foreign visitors to North Korea peaked around July and August last year, with about 1,800 daily vi

March 12, 2019

Opposition party seeks to send special envoy to N.K.: floor leader

The floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party said Tuesday the party plans to send a special envoy to North Korea to examine whether it is sincere about denuclearization.At a parliamentary speech during the ongoing March extra session, Rep. Na Kyung-won said the move by the conservative party is aimed at directly delivering a message to the North's regime without distortion. (Yonhap)"If North Korea really seeks to denuclearize, we will tell the Kim Jong-un regime that we are willin

March 12, 2019

Trump is committed to N. Korea's denuclearization: White House

US President Donald Trump is committed to achieving denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, the White House said Monday following the breakdown of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last month.White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the president didn't feel like the deal on the table was enough when he decided to walk away from the summit in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28. (Yonhap)"The president is 100 percent committed to denuclearization of the peninsula, and he's going to make s

March 12, 2019

Ruling party floor leader urges N.Korea to make wise choice amid rocket site speculation

Hong Young-pyo, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party, called on North Korea on Monday to make a wise decision for peace amid reports about its restoration of a rocket launch site.At a parliamentary speech during an extra session in March, Hong voiced grave concerns about reports on increased activity in the North's long-range missile launch site in Dongchang-ri. (Yonhap)"If something goes wrong, future negotiations could hit a snag severely. North Korea should make a wise judgment that be

March 11, 2019

North Korea holds rubber-stamp election to determine Assembly representatives

North Korea held a national election on Sunday for its Supreme People’s Assembly, a rubber-stamp event thought to strengthen the solidarity of its communist regime. The North elects its legislators every five years in events similar to general elections for lawmakers here. But each constituency has a sole candidate and voters can only vote for or against.  An electoral worker shows a ballot during the election at a polling station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sunday. (AP-Yonhap)The Supreme People’

March 10, 2019

[Feature] Will the border open at the Joint Security Area?

The unexpected sight of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un crossing the Military Demarcation Line back and forth, hand-in-hand, before their first summit on April 27, 2018, is still fresh in the memory of many Koreans. Starting with the first summit, the inter-Korean relationship, which had virtually frozen over the North’s repeated missile and nuclear tests, quickly improved, leading to a bilateral military agreement to stop “all hostile acts.”  South Korean

March 10, 2019

NK leader cites economic growth as urgent task amid rocket launch speculation

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has picked economic development as his country's urgent task, state media said Saturday, amid speculation that the North may launch a rocket.In a letter to a national conference of propaganda officials held in Pyongyang earlier this week, Kim stressed the need to concentrate all efforts on building the socialist economy.He called on party officials to spur efforts to handle ideology education for citizens to ensure that "a great progress will be made in socialist

March 9, 2019

UN grants sanctions exemption for video reunions of separated families

The United Nations Security Council on Friday granted a sanctions waiver to the shipment of equipment to North Korea for video reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, diplomatic sources said.The UN sanctions committee on North Korea approved South Korea's request to permit relevant equipment to be sent to the North for the Koreas' video reunions of divided families on humanitarian grounds.Women walk through the streets of downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, March 7, 201

March 9, 2019

N. Korea media acknowledges 'no deal' at Hanoi for first time

North Korea's state media Friday acknowledged for the first time the collapse of the summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump last week without a deal.   The high-stakes meeting in Vietnam was supposed to build on the leaders' historic first summit in Singapore last year, but ended without any agreement on walking back North Korea's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.    Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency, however, had made no mention of the breakdown of

March 8, 2019

Seoul: Small quake in North Korea likely due to mining blast

South Korea's weather agency says a small earthquake detected in North Korea was likely caused by a mining operation.    An official from the Korean Meteorological Administration said Friday that a magnitude 2.1 earthquake was detected in North Korea on Thursday at a region near the border with the South.     The official says the quake was artificial and likely caused by an intentional blast in a coal mine.  Yonhap    "Our map data shows the locations of mines across North Korea, and we also de

March 8, 2019

US positive on N. Korea denuclearization despite 'operational' rocket site

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - The US still believes the "fully verified denuclearization" of North Korea is possible by the end of President Donald Trump's "first term," a senior official said Thursday, despite warnings a key rocket launch site appears to have resumed operations.The specialized website 38 North and the Center for Strategic and International Studies used commercial satellite imagery to track construction at the site -- which they said began before last week's aborted summit in Hanoi betwee

March 8, 2019

US will ask N. Korea for clarification on missile site reassembly: official

The United States is seeking clarification on the purposes of North Korea's reassembly of a key missile facility, a senior US official said Thursday as President Donald Trump expressed repeated disappointment over the activity.North Korea began to rebuild parts of the missile engine testing site in Dongchang-ri in the runup to Trump's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27-28, according to two US think tanks earlier this week.By Wednesday, commercial sat

March 8, 2019

N. Korea completes candidates' registration for parliamentary elections

North Korea has completed the registration of candidates for parliamentary elections to be held over this weekend, Pyongyang's media reported Thursday.The candidates include workers, farmers, intellectuals and soldiers who are striving to uphold leader Kim Jong-un's ideology and leadership and fighting for national development, according to the Korean Central News Agency.It did not provide the list of the candidates, however, nor did it confirm whether leader Kim was among them.  (Yonhap)The Sup

March 7, 2019

N. Korea blasts S. Korea, US for conducting joint military exercise

North Korea blasted South Korea and the United States on Thursday for carrying out a joint military exercise, saying that it is a violation of summit agreements they reached with the North last year.On Monday, South Korea and the US kicked off a new weeklong combined exercise named Dong Maeng that replaced their major springtime Key Resolve drills.The military exercise, which will run through Tuesday, is seen as a scaled-down replacement for the usually two-week-long Key Resolve exercise. (Yonha

March 7, 2019

NK apparently running uranium enrichment facilities normally at Yongbyon: Seoul spy agency

North Korea seems to be operating uranium enrichment facilities normally at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, South Korea's spy agency was quoted as saying by lawmakers."(North Korea's) uranium enrichment facilities have been in normal operation, even before the recent summit between the United States and North Korea," the National Intelligence Service was quoted as telling lawmakers at the closed-door briefing Tuesday. (Yonhap)The spy agency said that North Korea stopped the operation of its 5-mega

March 7, 2019

Trump says he would be disappointed if NK is rebuilding missile site

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would be "disappointed" if reports that North Korea is rebuilding a missile engine test site are true.Trump made the remark at the White House when asked about two US reports that North Korea is rebuilding the Sohae satellite launching facility, which it began to dismantle last year.(Yonhap)"I would be very disappointed if that were happening," he told reporters. "It's a very early report. We're the ones that put it out. But I would be very, very disap

March 7, 2019

Signs of N. Korea reassembling part of Dongchang-ri missile site

South Korea has detected signs of North Korea restoring an ancillary building of its Dongchang-ri long-range missile launch site that it partially disassembled last year, a government source in Seoul said Wednesday.On Tuesday, Beyond Parallel, a project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that its satellite imagery analysis showed Pyongyang is pursuing a "rapid rebuilding" of the site on its west coast in what may be a move to demonstrate "resolve" in the fa

March 6, 2019