[Newsmaker] Doctors Without Borders to help NK address COVID-19

An international health charity received UN approval for an exemption from sanctions against North Korea so it can help the country tackle COVID-19 and tuberculosis. The UN Security Council’s committee on sanctions against North Korea said Wednesday that it had approved a sanctions exemption for Doctors Without Borders, known by the French abbreviation MSF, to support North Korea with nutrition aid, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, and COVID-19 response measures.　 MSF plans to ru

Oct. 21, 2020

Biden likely to seek step-by-step approach toward N. Korea: ex-US official

WASHINGTON -- US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would likely pursue a step-by-step approach toward North Korea with reciprocal benefits for both sides if elected, a former US State Department adviser on nonproliferation and arms controls said Tuesday. Robert Einhorn, now serving as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, declared US President Donald Trump's maximum pressure campaign has failed. "A Biden administration won't give up the ultimate goal of complete denuclea

Oct. 21, 2020

Esper says US continues to face threats from N. Korea, other rogue states

WASHINGTON -- The United States continues to face ongoing threats from rogue states such as North Korea, US. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Tuesday, highlighting the need to further enhance his country's alliances and defense capabilities. "Since my confirmation as secretary of defense well over a year ago, my No. 1 priority has been implementing the national defense strategy (NDS). The NDS tells us that we are now in an era of great power competition, with our primary competitors b

Oct. 21, 2020

N. Korean leader vows to further develop ties with China

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged to further boost friendly relations with China, the North's state media said Tuesday. Kim said he would make positive efforts with Chinese President Xi Jinping to "further consolidate and develop the traditional DPRK-China friendly relations," the North's Korean Central News Agency reported, using the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Kim made the remarks on Monday in a reply message to Xi, who

Oct. 20, 2020

NK fast narrowing missile technology with S. Korea: defense development agency chief

North Korea is developing its missile capabilities at a pace much faster than expected, significantly narrowing the gap in weapons technology with South Korea, the chief of a state-run defense development agency said Tuesday. Nam Sae-kyu, head of the Agency for Defense Development, made the remark during a parliamentary audit session, providing an analysis on the weapons the North unveiled in a recent military parade. "I thought we were some 20 years ahead in terms of solid (propellant) b

Oct. 20, 2020

Ministry looking into state-run port operator's alleged push to invest in N. Korea

The unification ministry is looking into speculation that a state-run port operator has secretly pushed to invest in North Korea despite global sanctions, a ministry official said Tuesday. Opposition lawmaker Rep. Kwon Seong-dong raised the possibility that the Busan Port Authority is pushing for cooperation with a Chinese firm in investing in the North's northeastern port town of Rajin. He made the claim based on a document obtained from the state-run firm that controls terminals in the count

Oct. 20, 2020

Of 26 Asia-Pacific countries, NK at No. 17 for power

North Korea was ranked 17th out of 26 countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of national power, dropping by one place largely due to its waning diplomatic influence, the Australian think tank Lowy Institute said in this year’s power index released Monday. The nuclear talks between the US and the North helped Pyongyang little, according to the index, which assesses a country’s power based on its overall performance in areas such as diplomatic and cultural influence as well as

Oct. 20, 2020

Seoul mulls response to Fukushima water release

Seoul authorities are mulling how to respond to Japan’s impending decision on discharging radioactive water from the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, which could heighten concerns on public safety and environment here. 　 Tokyo is set to formally decide on Oct. 27 as to what to do with the more than 1 million tons of contaminated water it has collected since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Japanese media outlets said T

Oct. 20, 2020

North Korea proliferation imminent threat: Bolton

North Korea poses a more imminent threat to the US than either Russia or China and the threat continues to grow worse, former US national security adviser John Bolton said Monday. “We have two basic threats. One is Russia the other, China,” Bolton told a webinar hosted by the Atlantic Council, singling out China as the “existential threat” for the US and describing North Korea and Iran as top priority countries with overriding concerns about nuclear proliferation. Bolto

Oct. 20, 2020

NK media slams S. Korea over recent defense talks with US

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Tuesday slammed South Korea over recent defense talks between Seoul and Washington about deterring nuclear threats from the communist nation, calling the discussion a "reckless scheme to crush its own race with its master." Last week, Seoul and Washington held their annual ministerial talks, the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), and reaffirmed their joint efforts to denuclearize North Korea, noting that the communist state's nuclear and ballistic

Oct. 20, 2020

Unification ministry slashes staff, budget after NK's liaison office demolition

The unification ministry has cut back on the number of staff at the inter-Korean liaison office and the budget for next year, after North Korea blew up the office building in June, an opposition lawmaker said Monday. The ministry has slashed its budget for the liaison office next year to 310 million Korean won ($270,000), from 6.41 billion won allocated for this year, Rep. Cho Tae-yong of the main opposition People Power Party said, citing data from the ministry. The number of staff members at

Oct. 19, 2020

N. Koreans exposed to gruesome human rights abuses in pretrial detention: rights group

North Koreans under pretrial detention experience extreme human rights abuses by corrupt law enforcement, from confinement in dirty and overcrowded cells to coerced confession and sexual assault, a report claimed Monday. The Human Rights Watch, the international nongovernment organization, shed further light on the rights conditions in the North with the report titled "Worth Less Than an Animal: Abuses and Due Process Violations in Pretrial Detention in North Korea." It found that t

Oct. 19, 2020

Panmunjom tours to resume next month

Civilian tours of the demilitarized border village of Panmunjom will reopen early next month after being suspended for more than a year due to an outbreak of African swine fever, the Unification Ministry said Monday. 　 The tours of the Joint Security Area and other sites inside the Demilitarized Zone are set to begin Nov. 4 for a trial run with a limited number of visitors. The official opening will be Nov. 6, the ministry said. 　 There have been no cases of the animal disease since June in Pa

Oct. 19, 2020

North Korea highlights antivirus effort in 80-day campaign

North Korea said Monday staying vigilant against the coronavirus outbreak is a top priority in its 80-day campaign aimed to jump-start its faltering economy. “We must hold ourselves responsible for and commit ourselves to finding where we stand most vulnerable to infection and come up with responding measures,” the official state newspaper said in a commentary, urging the party members as well to join the effort. The isolated country claims it has yet to report an infection, though

Oct. 19, 2020

Military investigating security lapses over fishing boat's border crossing

The military is conducting an investigation into possible security lapses over a recent border crossing of a South Korean fishing boat into the North Korean waters, officials said Monday. On Saturday, the 4.5-ton South Korean vessel crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean sea border, near the northwestern island of Yeonpyeong at around 1 p.m. and stayed in the North's waters for about 10 minutes before its return to the South, according to officials from the Joint Chief

Oct. 19, 2020

NK media slams S. Korea over alleged nuclear fuel purchase plan

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Sunday slammed South Korea over a media report that Seoul approached Washington to purchase nuclear fuel for a nuclear-powered submarine. Meari, one of the North's propaganda websites, called a visit by Kim Hyun-chong, South Korea's deputy national security adviser, and his alleged talks with Washington, an "extremely dangerous" act that "destroys the peace of the Korean Peninsula, heightens tension and triggers an arms race." Early this

Oct. 18, 2020

N. Korea uncovers ancient mural tomb in western province: KCNA

North Korea has discovered another ancient tomb, with mural paintings, believed to be from the sixth century Koguryo era (37B.C.-A.D.668), state media said Saturday. A research group from its cultural heritage agency found the tomb on a hillside in Undok area of Ryonggang County in the western city of Nampo, South Pyongan Province, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The tomb consists of a burial chamber and passage, with a stone gate of about 125 centimeters tall and 60 meters w

Oct. 18, 2020

[Newsmaker] NK says Danish documentary on Pyongyang dodging sanctions ‘fabricated:’ report

North Korea said a recent Danish documentary claims to show Pyongyang bypassing international sanctions on arms trading is “fabricated” and called Denmark to find the infiltrator, according to media reports on Friday.  The North Korean Embassy in Stockholm said the documentary “is from the beginning to the end a fabricated film which aimed to cast a slur on the image of the DPRK,” Reuters reported, citing the embassy’s letter sent to Danish newspaper Ekstra Bl

Oct. 16, 2020

Seoul, Washington 'on same page' on ending Korean War, security adviser claims

Seoul and Washington are on the same page over the need to declare an end to the Korean War after denuclearizing Pyongyang, Seoul’s top security adviser said, seeking to end speculation that the two sides are in dissent over the matter.  Suh Hoon, director of South Korea’s National Security Office, stressed that the formally ending the Korean War cannot be separated from the denuclearization process of North Korea, adding it was “common sense” that the two matters

Oct. 16, 2020

Army to push for AI-based surveillance system in border, coastal regions

The Army said Friday it will push to establish a surveillance system that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) along the inter-Korean border areas and coastal regions to beef up its security posture. The move came after a series of security breaches this year, including illegal entries of Chinese people into a western coastal city on small boats and a North Korean defector's undetected border crossing back to his homeland through a drainage tunnel underneath barbed-wire fences. "By 202

Oct. 16, 2020