Unification ministry's budget rises 3.6% with new fund for developing big data, AI program

The unification ministry's budget for next year has been set at about 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion), including a new fund to build an artificial intelligence and big data program to analyze North Korea, officials said Thursday. Of the total 1.474 trillion-won budget, 1.245 trillion won ($1.12 billion) was set aside for the inter-Korean cooperation fund, a 3.3 percent increase from this year, according to a statement released by the ministry. The ministry also introduced a budget of 10.4 bil

Dec. 3, 2020

North Korean hackers targeted South Korean COVID-19 drug and vaccine makers

 North Korean hackers have attempted a cyberattack on local pharmaceutical companies developing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in recent weeks, international media reported Wednesday. 　 　 The Wall Street Journal said a North Korean-linked group, known as “Kimsuky,” has tried to break into six companies since August: US-based Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, British drugmaker AstraZeneca, and South Korea-based Genexine, Shin Poong Pharmaceutical and Celltrion.  　 Reute

Dec. 3, 2020

UNC refutes allegations of hindering Tamiflu delivery to N. Korea

The US-led United Nations Command (UNC) on Thursday rebutted allegations that it blocked South Korea's attempt to send antiviral medication to North Korea last year. South Korea tried to send 200,000 doses of Tamiflu to the North in early 2019 as a follow-up on an agreement between their leaders to closely cooperate in fighting the spread of infectious diseases. But the plan never materialized. In a recent media interview, Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung said the influenza medication coul

Dec. 3, 2020

[Newsmaker] North Korea enforces tougher antivirus measures in Pyongyang amid heightened alert

North Korea has been enforcing tougher antivirus measures in Pyongyang since the capital was recently put on the highest level of alert against the global coronavirus pandemic, according to state media. "Preventive efforts to block the inflow of the vicious virus into Pyongyang have been under way in a more proactive manner," the state-run Korean Central Broadcasting station said. All people entering through the Mankyongdae region, a western gateway to Pyongyang, should get their tem

Dec. 3, 2020

Biden needs to make 'early' decision about N. Korea: US expert

WASHINGTON -- The incoming US administration will need to quickly make a decision about how it will deal with North Korea to have a better chance of engagement, a former US diplomat said Wednesday. Kurt Campbell, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, also insisted the new administration under Joe Biden would have to send an "early signal" to the North. "There are always areas of unpredictabilities and, generally speaking, at the top of that list

Dec. 3, 2020

N. Korea advancing nuclear, missile capabilities: Milley

WASHINGTON -- North Korea continues to develop its nuclear and long-range missile capabilities, but so are South Korea and the United States to deter provocations, the top US military officer said Wednesday. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, also noted the communist state may stage military provocations but said the allies are fully ready and capable to deal with any provocation. "It is also true that North Korea has advanced their nuclear weapon and missile deli

Dec. 3, 2020

NK denuclearization is mission impossible: Perry

Getting North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenals is “mission impossible,” former US Defense Secretary William Perry said, underlining that any future negotiators should enter talks with the reclusive regime on this premise. 　 “I truly believe getting North Korea to denuclearize is ‘mission impossible’ and any negotiator given that task is going to fail,” Perry said during a video-linked forum organized by the state-run think tank the Institute for Nationa

Dec. 2, 2020

Unification ministry welcomes passage of anti-leafleting bill by parliamentary committee

The unification ministry on Wednesday welcomed a parliamentary committee's passage of a proposal to ban the flying of propaganda leaflets into North Korea, saying the measure will help protect residents in border regions and ease cross-border tensions. The government and the ruling Democratic Party have been seeking to legislate a ban on the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets after North Korea bristled at such activity and even blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in June in anger. Pyongyang

Dec. 2, 2020

Court rejects info disclosure request regarding deported N. Korean fishermen in 2019

The two fishermen confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members and expressed a desire to defect, but South Korean authorities dismissed their intentions as insincere. It was the first deportation of North Koreans since the 1950-53 Korean War. The lawyers' group, which claims the deportation is a violation of the North Koreans' human rights, started the litigation after the NSO and the NPA dismissed its request for the disclosure of all relevant data, including their written statements and letter

Dec. 2, 2020

US says China's failure to enforce sanctions delaying N. Korea denuclearization

WASHINGTON -- China's failure, if not refusal, to implement UN sanctions aimed at denuclearizing North Korea may be delaying the process, a senior US diplomat said Tuesday. Alex Wong, deputy assistant secretary of state for North Korea, insisted China often "chooses" not to implement the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, of which it is a permanent member. "It (China) has the resources to implement its UN sanctions obligations. But again, it chooses not to," Wong

Dec. 2, 2020

UN to allow longer period of sanctions exemption for humanitarian aid to N. Korea

A UN Security Council panel has approved a proposal to extend the exemption period for sanctions on humanitarian assistance to North Korea and streamline procedures to allow easier delivery of aid to the impoverished country, its website showed Tuesday. The North Korea sanctions committee on Monday (US time) adopted a revision to its "Implementation Assistance Notice No. 7" with regard to sanctions on Pyongyang, extending the exemption period from the current six months to nine months

Dec. 1, 2020

N. Korea might seek to improve cross-border ties to strengthen leverage over Washington: think tank

North Korea could try to improve its currently chilled relations with South Korea next year so as to strengthen its leverage in future nuclear negotiations with the United States, a state-run think tank said Tuesday. The Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification also said that the May-September period will be a "golden time" to make progress in stalled nuclear talks and inter-Korean ties as the Tokyo Summer Olympics could serve as a platform for resuming talks. The North i

Dec. 1, 2020

[Newsmaker] Ex-CIA official suggests Biden administration propose working-level talks with N. Korea

A proposal by the incoming US administration of President-elect Joe Biden to hold working-level talks with North Korea can be a "good starting point" to resume the long-stalled nuclear negotiations, a former US intelligence official said Tuesday. Andrew Kim, who retired as the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Korea Mission Center in 2018, made the remark during a webinar on the South Korea-US alliance, saying the North appears to be waiting to see what the Biden camp will sa

Dec. 1, 2020

NK’s Kim condemns economic policies at Politburo meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un condemned the country’s economic agencies for failing to carry out policies on a “scientific basis,” in a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party that he chaired, the North’s state media said Monday.   　 The extended Politburo meeting held Sunday “harshly criticized economic guidance organs for failing to provide scientific guidance” and “failing to overcome subjectivism and formalism in their work,&rdq

Nov. 30, 2020

S. Korea in talks with WFP to redeem money sent for NK rice aid

The unification ministry said Monday that it is in talks with the World Food Programme (WFP) to redeem the money it sent for a project to provide rice assistance to North Korea after Pyongyang rejected the offer. In June last year, the ministry announced a plan to provide 50,000 tons of rice to North Korea through the WFP and sent the organization around $11.6 million to cover transportation, equipment and monitoring costs. The plan, however, has since been stalled as the North rejected the as

Nov. 30, 2020

NK leader 'harshly criticizes' economic agencies ahead of party congress

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has held a politburo meeting of the Workers' Party and "harshly criticized" economic agencies for failing to handle policy in a scientific manner, state media reported Monday. The criticism appears aimed at tightening discipline of economic officials ahead of a rare party congress that Kim plans to hold in early January for the first time in four years to unveil a new five-year economic development plan. During the extended politburo meeting held Sunda

Nov. 30, 2020

[Newsmaker] N. Korea reinforces border control amid mounting COVID-19 worries

North Korea said Sunday it was reinforcing border lockdown to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from spreading into its territory. The regime still claims zero COVID-19 cases. “Every effort is made to keep strong border closures and to ensure everyone stick to antivirus measures and report anything out of ordinary,” the official Korean Central News Agency, said adding it was enforcing tighter controls over the inter-Korean border. Earlier this month, a North Korean man, now in Seoul

Nov. 29, 2020

N. Korea steps up virus control along inter-Korean border: state media

North Korea has stepped up virus control measures along the inter-Korean border and at sea, state media said Sunday. The communist country is "firmly establishing a blockade wall in the areas near the border and the Military Demarcation Line and asking workers and residents to keep established system of action and immediately gain control of and respond to even the slightest abnormal situations," the Korean Central News Agency reported. The Korean Central Broadcasting Station also re

Nov. 29, 2020

N. Korea steps up coronavirus quarantine in coastal areas: paper

North Korea's main newspaper on Saturday reported on military efforts to strengthen the monitoring of coastal areas and the responsibility of front-line health care workers in a stepped-up campaign against the new coronavirus. The Rodong Sinmun published articles highlighting the importance of maintaining a strong push to prevent COVID-19 transmissions, as the virus continues to resurge around the world, including in South Korea. "Surveillance posts deployed along the coastal areas are s

Nov. 28, 2020

NK’s trade with China drops 70% this year

North Korea’s trade with China shrank by over 70 percent this year, with the North shutting down borders with its main trade partner in January in hopes to fend off COVID-19. North Korea’s trade with Russia, on the other hand, gained 15 percent. North Korea’s trade volume with China stood at $530 million in the first nine months of this year, down 73 percent from the same period last year, according to a quarterly report on the two countries’ trade released by the Kore

Nov. 27, 2020