Ministry mulling adjustments to Panmunjom tours over virus concerns

The unification ministry considers adjusting a recently resumed tour program to the truce village of Panmunjom amid toughened social distancing measures against the coronavirus, a ministry official said Thursday. The official did not specify what the adjustments might be, but observers say they could include scaling down or suspending the tours altogether in consideration of a recent spike in daily infection cases. "We will announce plans soon for tours starting next week in consideration

Dec. 10, 2020

N. Korea likely to propose beefed-up 'self-reliance' drive at party congress: think tank

North Korea is likely to propose a beefed-up drive for "self-reliance" at the upcoming party congress to bolster its faltering economy under the strain of global sanctions and the fallout from the global pandemic, a Seoul-based think tank said Thursday. The Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University also said that the January-February period will be a "golden time" to make progress in the stalled nuclear talks and inter-Korean ties. The North is expected to ho

Dec. 10, 2020

N. Korea-China trade hits all-time low in Oct. amid pandemic

North Korea's trade with China nose-dived to a record low in October due to Pyongyang's border closure with its ally to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, a report showed Thursday. Exports and imports between the two countries came to $1.7 million in October, down a whopping 99.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the report by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). The October reading was the lowest monthly tally and down 92 percent from the previous month. North Korea

Dec. 10, 2020

Biegun stresses close cooperation with Seoul in dealing with NK

US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, who doubles as Washington’s point man on North Korea, stressed close bilateral cooperation with Seoul as he reflected over the past years of nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, while meeting senior officials in South Korea on Wednesday. 　   　  Biegun arrived here Tuesday for a four-day trip -- most likely his last visit to Seoul as the No. 2 American diplomat and the US special representative for North Korea, as US President Donald Tr

Dec. 9, 2020

[Newsmaker] NK’s Kim Yo-jong lashes out at South Korean FM for coronavirus remark

Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful younger sister, lashed out at South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha for questioning Pyongyang’s claim that it is free of the coronavirus, warning that she may “pay dearly” for the remarks, state media said Wednesday.   　 Kim was apparently responding to Kang’s remark delivered Saturday at the Manama Dialogue, an annual regional security forum held in Bahrain. Seoul’s top diplomat said that i

Dec. 9, 2020

US sanctions N. Korea over coal smuggling

The US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday announced sanctions against six trading companies and four vessels over their involvement in North Korea’s illicit trade of coal. The OFAC’s latest move, which comes a day after a US newspaper published US government-provided satellite photos indicating coal trade between North Korea and China, appears to be the Trump administration’s message to Pyongyang that it will not loosen the reins until i

Dec. 9, 2020

NK leader's sister says S. Korean FM will 'pay dearly' for remarks on COVID-19

North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo-Jong on Wednesday slammed South Korea's foreign minister over her recent remarks on Pyongyang's antivirus measures, saying that she will "pay dearly" for them and warning the already frozen inter-Korean relations could get worse. Last week, South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told a forum in Bahrain that the North has been unresponsive to Seoul's calls for cross-border antivirus cooperation, adding that Pyongyang's claim that it has no cor

Dec. 9, 2020

Minister hopes NK agrees to COVID-19 cooperation

Inter-Korean relations could improve in the coming year, and Pyongyang may respond to Seoul’s proposal on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Unification Minister Lee In-young predicted Tuesday, saying the situation on the Korean Peninsula was at a tipping point. 　 Lee made the remarks during an interview with local radio broadcaster CBS on Tuesday morning, assessing that the tension between the two Koreas had eased from its peak in early June, when the North demolished the inter-Korea

Dec. 8, 2020

NK, China no longer hiding illicit trade in coal: report

North Korea and China are no longer even trying to avoid international surveillance when trading coal illegally, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Citing senior officials in the US State Department and satellite photos provided by the State Department, the US newspaper said North Korea-flagged vessels have lugged hundreds of coal shipments to China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan area over the past year. North Korea, prohibited from exporting coal under United Nations sanctions since 2017, had

Dec. 8, 2020

[Newsmaker] US says willing to help N. Korea fight coronavirus

The United States will seriously consider helping North Korea contain the spread of the coronavirus if it requests such assistance, Robert O’Brien, US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, said Monday. “They (North Korea) have been reticent to ask for outside help for things in the past but if they did we would certainly look at that very seriously,” O’Brien said in an interview with 19FortyFive, a website on global affairs. He said Pyongyang appears

Dec. 8, 2020

US flies early warning aircraft, spy planes over S. Korea: aviation trackers

US early warning aircraft and reconnaissance planes have flown over South Korea, aviation trackers showed Tuesday, in an apparent move to monitor North Korea. One E-3B Sentry airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) jet departed Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and carried out a mission over South Korea and the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, Aircraft Spots tweeted. This type of aircraft provides all-altitude, all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, according to the US Air Force.

Dec. 8, 2020

US again designates N. Korea as violator of religious freedom

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Monday renewed its designation of North Korea as one of the state violators of religious freedom. It marks the 19th consecutive year the North has been named a state violator of religious freedom. "Religious freedom is an unalienable right, and the bedrock upon which free societies are built and flourish. Today, the United States -- a nation founded by those fleeing religious persecution, as the recent Commission on Unalienable Rights report noted -- onc

Dec. 8, 2020

US not seeing weapons proliferation from N. Korea: O'Brien

WASHINGTON -- North Korea is not currently engaged in proliferation of weapons at any significant level, US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said, adding such activity would mean crossing the "red line." "It would be an extraordinarily risky venture for Kim Jong-un to get into the proliferation business when it comes to nuclear weapons. It's something that I am hoping won't happen. We don't see it on the WMD side -– we don't see that happening at this point," O

Dec. 8, 2020

[Newsmaker] International human rights group condemns anti-leafleting bill as violation of free expression

A human rights group condemned the South Korean parliament’s push to penalize the launching of propaganda leaflets into North Korea as a violation of the freedom of expression, calling on the National Assembly to reject the proposed legislature.   　 Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organization, said in a statement Saturday that if the bill that bans leafleting campaigns is enacted, it would violate South Koreans’ rights to the freedom of expression, making “engaging

Dec. 6, 2020

[News Analysis] Experts weigh in on aftereffects from N. Korea’s full COVID-19 lockdown

North Korean watchers are weighing in on ramifications of the regime’s extreme response to COVID-19, as it has suspended all travel by land, sea and air and shut down public facilities. Leader Kim Jong-un issued the highest alert for the pandemic on Dec. 2 for the second time since February, when the new coronavirus began spreading globally. Such extreme measures, however, would be a double blow to North Korea, which suffered reduced food production this year due to shrinking outside sup

Dec. 6, 2020

NK to convene Supreme People's Assembly meeting in late January

North Korea will convene a Supreme People's Assembly meeting in late January, state media reported Saturday.   The SPA usually meets once a year in April to rubber-stamp decisions by the ruling Workers' Party. The North has also used SPA sessions as a major platform to unveil key policy changes or messages.   "The 4th Session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will be convened in Pyongyang late in January," the

Dec. 5, 2020

Experts rap Seoul for ban on cross-border propaganda leafleting

North Korea experts on Thursday criticized a move by the South Korean parliament to criminalize sending propaganda leaflets, along with food and medicine, into the North across the inter-Korean border. Defectors here have long sent leaflets and other materials across the border, but the activity essentially ground to a halt in June when Pyongyang blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in protest. Roberta Cohen, who served as a US deputy assistant secretary of state for human rights, expresse

Dec. 4, 2020

Unification minister promises support for N. Korea aid groups

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Friday met with aid organization leaders and promised active support for their efforts to send humanitarian assistance to North Korea. During the meeting with the leaders of Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea (KNCCK), Lee also welcomed a UN Security Council panel's recent decision to extend the exemption period for sanctions on humanitarian aid to the North from the current six months to nine months. Lee promised to review the KNCCK's propo

Dec. 4, 2020

Unification minister cites European Coal and Steel Community as model for inter-Korean cooperation

Unification Minister Lee In-young said Friday that South and North Korea should look for creative ways to build peace and prosperity just as the European Coal and Steel Community led Europe into unity "beyond the barrier of ideology and boundaries." Lee made the remark during a video speech at a forum on peace in the demilitarized zone (DMZ), stressing the importance of inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation. The European Coal and Steel Community is an organization established in 1952

Dec. 4, 2020

US should signal willingness for dialogue with N. Korea at early date: official

The incoming US administration of President-elect Joe Biden should signal its willingness to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff through dialogue so as to prevent Pyongyang from undertaking provocations to grab US attention, an official said Thursday. The foreign ministry official made the case, pointing out that the Biden administration might be unable to pay enough attention to the issue of North Korea in its early months as it could be focused on domestic matters first. "We need

Dec. 3, 2020