‘Biden fully ready to invest in N. Korea denuclearization’

US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seems to be fully prepared to engage in North Korean denuclearization, Joseph Yun, former US special representative for North Korea policy, said Thursday. Yun told the local Jeju Forum that he was surprised to see Biden addressing Koreans in the US as well as here, adding that it was evidence that Biden’s agenda included Korean issues. But Yun did not detail what exactly his message was. Earlier, Biden sent a contribution to Yonhap News Agency

Nov. 6, 2020

Defense minister meets brother of S. Korean official killed by N. Korea

Defense minister Suh Wook on Friday met with the elder brother of a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korea near the western sea border as the bereaved family raised doubts about the government's finding that the slain official attempted to defect to the North. On Sept. 22, North Korea fatally shot the 47-year-old official, who was adrift on its side of the Yellow Sea, and burned his body, according to the South Korean military. He went missing the previous day while on duty near

Nov. 6, 2020

NK parliament adopts non-smoking law

The standing committee of the North Korean parliament adopted a non-smoking law and a revised corporate law, the North’s state media reported on Thursday. Under the new law, smoking is banned in designated areas such as theaters, cinemas and other public spaces, childcare centers, educational institutions, medical and health facilities, commercial facilities and on public transportation, said the North’s Korean Central News Agency. Pyongyang had enacted a “smoking control&rdq

Nov. 5, 2020

Military inspects security posture following N. Korean's border crossing

The military has launched an inspection into a border security failure that enabled a North Korean man to cross the heavily guarded border into the South unhindered earlier this week, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said (JCS) Thursday. The man, whose identity was withheld, was captured 14 hours after he crossed the border late Tuesday following the military's extensive search operations. Sensors were installed at the barbed wire fences through which the man climbed over, but they did not ring, rais

Nov. 5, 2020

Unification Minister urges NK to restore communication line

PANMUNJOM -- Unification Minister Lee In-young on Wednesday called on North Korea to restore suspended communication channels between the two Koreas in a move to achieve a thaw in inter-Korean relations. 　 He also expressed hope of rebuilding the now-demolished inter-Korean joint liaison office, as well as resuming reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. 　 Lee’s remarks came during the ceremony for the opening of the tourism support center at Panmunjom to mark the resu

Nov. 4, 2020

NK media stresses 'undefeatable friendship' with China on US election day

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Wednesday stressed the country's strengthening ties with China on the day of the US presidential election, calling it an "undefeatable friendship." "The North Korea-China ties are drawing global attention as an unprecedented and special relationship and an undefeatable friendship that cannot be broken by anything," the Tongil Sinbo, the North Korea's propaganda weekly, said in an article. "The two countries share a long history and t

Nov. 4, 2020

N. Korean captured after crossing into South

A North Korean man was captured and taken into custody by South Korea’s military after he crossed the inter-Korean border on foot along the east coast, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. Late Monday night, military surveillance first picked up the man approaching the northern side of the fortified military demarcation line separating the two Koreas in Goseong County.  At around 7:25 p.m. Tuesday, the man triggered the highest alert here, when he was spotted climbing over barb

Nov. 4, 2020

Minister calls for N. Korea to restore communications lines, liaison office

SEOUL/PANMUNJOM -- Unification Minister Lee In-young called Wednesday for North Korea to restore severed cross-border communications lines and resume the operation of a now-destructed joint liaison office to bring the stalled inter-Korean relations back on track. Lee made the remarks in a speech at the opening ceremony for a tourism support center held at Panmunjom to mark the resumption of tours to the truce border village after more than a year of suspension caused by the spread of the Africa

Nov. 4, 2020

2.8 magnitude natural quake hits N. Korea: KMA

A 2.8 magnitude natural earthquake struck North Korea early Wednesday, South Korea's state weather agency said. The quake was detected at 4:41 a.m., 10 kilometers northeast of Songlim, North Hwanghae Province, which is not far from the capital Pyongyang, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. "Our analysis shows that it was a natural earthquake," a KMA official said. The quake posted 1 on a seismic intensity scale, which means that most people would not have felt the

Nov. 4, 2020

N. Korea lays landmines in border areas to fend off coronavirus: NIS

North Korea has taken extreme measures to fend off the coronavirus, including laying landmines in border areas with China, Seoul's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers Tuesday. During a closed-door session at the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly, the spy agency said North Korea fears the spread of COVID-19 could bring catastrophic results to the country due to its poor medical infrastructure, according to Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party.

Nov. 3, 2020

NK leader orders new probe into S. Korean civil servant killing: NIS

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have ordered an investigation into the killing of a South Korean civil servant, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service revealed Tuesday. “Chairman Kim ordered an investigation into the incident. There was circumstantial evidence of a search for the body,” Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party told reporters after the parliamentary audit of the NIS. Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party added that he

Nov. 3, 2020

Kim Jong-un orders probe into recent shooting death of S. Korean official: spy agency

South Korea's state intelligence agency said Tuesday that there is circumstantial evidence indicating that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered a probe into the military's fatal shooting in September of a South Korean fisheries official, according to lawmakers. Officials from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the remarks during a parliamentary intelligence committee's regular audit session into the agency, lawmakers who attended the meeting said. "According to intelligen

Nov. 3, 2020

N. Korea repeats zero COVID claims: WHO

North Korea has yet to report a single infection case of the noble coronavirus as of Oct. 29, the World Health Organization said in its latest report released Friday. The country has tested 10,462 people, it added. 　 The WHO said in August it had been informed of zero infections in the North. Only about 3,000 North Koreans had been tested until September, according to Edwin Salvador, WHO representative to Pyongyang. All the rest took the test in October alone, but the WHO report did not offer

Nov. 3, 2020

'Circumstantial' evidence suggests N. Korea's incineration of S. Korean official, military says

South Korea's military intelligence community told a parliamentary committee Monday that there are multiple pieces of circumstantial evidence indicating that the North Korean military incinerated the body of a South Korean fisheries official at sea in September.    Officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) under the defense ministry made the remarks during the annual National Assembly audit of its work, according to participants in the session.    "There are v

Nov. 2, 2020

NK accuses Seoul of planning additional THAAD deployment

North Korea on Monday argued that South Korea is scheming to deploy an additional US missile defense system in the country, and warned that doing so would lead to “self-destruction.” 　 Pyongyang propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri claimed that at recent defense ministers’ talks, Seoul and Washington had agreed to establish a long-term plan for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the town of Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, and that the plan was aimed at deploying a

Nov. 2, 2020

S. Korea, US closely monitoring activity at N. Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex: officials

South Korea and the United States are closely watching movements at North Korea's main Yongbyon nuclear complex, military authorities said Monday, amid a report on signs of brisk activities there. Last week, 38 North, a US website monitoring North Korea, reported that activity has picked up throughout the Yongbyon site, citing commercial satellite imagery showing "smoke or vapor" emanated from a building just south of its uranium enrichment plant. "Historically, this building w

Nov. 2, 2020

Decent jobs key to resettlement of N. Korean defectors: unification minister

Providing North Korean defectors with decent jobs is key to their resettlement in South Korea, Unification Minister Lee In-young said Monday, pledging to provide them with better jobs "both in quantity and quality." Lee made the remarks during his speech at a special exhibition displaying products manufactured by defectors held at the National Assembly, saying the ministry is working hard to help defectors land jobs, including opening a job center at Hanawon, a state-run resettlement

Nov. 2, 2020

[Newsmaker] Govt. to inform bereaved family of whether to provide intel on slain official

The Defense Ministry said Monday it will soon inform the bereaved family of a South Korean official killed by North Korea in September of whether it will provide them with the military intelligence collected in the course of the incident. On Sept. 22, North Korea fatally shot the 47-year-old official, who was adrift in its side of the Yellow Sea, and burned his body, according to the South Korean military. He went missing the previous day while on duty near the western border island of Yeonpyeo

Nov. 2, 2020

S. Korea to launch 10-month ecological survey on Han River estuary this week

South Korea will launch an ecological survey on the Han River's estuary along the inter-Korean border this week as part of efforts to implement an agreement with North Korea to jointly use the now-restricted waterway, the unification ministry said Sunday. The survey will start Monday for a 10-month run on about 80 square kilometers of wetland on the southern side of the Han River, near the western border between the two Koreas, to collect "in-depth" ecological and environmental data,

Nov. 1, 2020

N. Korea's anti-virus law imposes requirements on foreigners

An emergency anti-virus law that North Korea recently enacted requires not only its citizens, but also foreigners, to unconditionally obey anti-virus measures, including a ban on entering the sea, according to a state newspaper report. The law also bans foreigners from making unauthorized visits to border regions, while stipulating that the bodies of those who die in an epidemic should be handled according to related regulations, according to the Minju Joson newspaper as obtained by Yonhap News

Nov. 1, 2020