Military options possible depending on how N. Korea sends leaflets across border: officials

South Korea is closely monitoring North Korean military movements regarding Pyongyang's plan to send propaganda leaflets across the border while leaving all response options open, including military action, officials said Monday. The communist country is preparing to release some 3,000 balloons carrying around 12 million propaganda leaflets to the South, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency, in a tit-for-tat for Seoul's failure to stop defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaf

June 22, 2020

N. Korea preparing military parade for party anniversary: Defense Ministry

North Korea is preparing to hold a large-scale military parade to mark October's 75th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party, the defense ministry said Monday, amid speculation that the communist nation could use the event to showcase new strategic weapons. In a report to the parliament's defense committee, the ministry said new buildings were spotted under construction at the Mirim airfield in Pyongyang, a possible sign the North could showcase an intercontinental ballistic

June 22, 2020

Trump, Kim didn't want Moon at Panmunjom meeting: Bolton memoir

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump did not want South Korean President Moon Jae-in to join him during his third meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom in June 2019, but at Moon's insistence, he eventually agreed, according to Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton. In his upcoming memoir, "The Room Where It Happened," set to be published Tuesday, Bolton wrote that Moon came to Washington on April 11, 2019, to discuss the aftermath of the failed H

June 22, 2020

N. Korea preparing to send 12m leaflets to S. Korea via 3,000 balloons

North Korea is preparing to send around 12 million propaganda leaflets to South Korea via some 3,000 balloons, state media reported Monday, saying, "The time for retaliatory punishment" is fast approaching. North Korea has threatened to send propaganda leaflets into the South in retaliation against South Korea's failure to stop North Korean defectors and other activists from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the communist state despite their 2018 summit agreement banning such act

June 22, 2020

Leafleting: decisive propaganda or empty provocation?

  Even in the 21st century with all its technical wizardry and social media, old-fashioned propaganda leaflets seem to matter a great deal on Korean Peninsula, the world’s last remaining Cold War frontier.  The act of flying huge gas-filled balloons carrying leaflets and other materials denouncing the rival regime has lately become the source of sudden ratcheting up of tensions between the two Koreas. 　 Enraged by defectors here sending anti-North Korea leaflets across the bor

June 21, 2020

Top nuke envoys of S. Korea, US share gravity of peninsula situation: source

The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States share the gravity of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, amid rising tensions caused by North Korea's demolition of a joint liaison office and bellicose rhetoric, a diplomatic source said Sunday. Seoul's chief nuclear negotiator Lee Do-hoon held talks with his US counterpart, Stephen Biegun, on Thursday during his low-key trip to Washington that followed the North's blowing up of the office in its border city of Kaesong on Tuesday

June 21, 2020

Unification Ministry to upgrade computer system to better cope with cyberattacks from N. Korea

The unification ministry plans to upgrade its computer system to strengthen security against possible cyberattacks from North Korea and other hackers, officials said Sunday. The move comes a year after hackers posing as the ministry sent emails with malicious codes to reporters covering the ministry and other related people. Hacking experts said at the time that North Korea was believed to be behind the attacks. Earlier this month, the ministry announced a bid to pursue the upgrade, saying, &

June 21, 2020

N. Korea keeps sending small groups of troops to border sentry posts: source

North Korea keeps sending small groups of troops to border sentry posts for bush clearance and road maintenance, a government source said Sunday, amid concerns it could deliver on its threat of military action against South Korea. The North has sent groups of up to five soldiers with shovels and sickles to small stakeout boxes in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. But Seoul does not see the move as a step to make good on Pyongyang's threat of military action, the source said. I

June 21, 2020

N. Korea says it has no intention to cancel plan to send anti-Seoul leaflets

North Korea said Sunday that it has no intention to cancel its plan to send anti-South Korea leaflets across the border, calling an inter-Korean agreement that bans such activity "a dead document." On Saturday, the North's state media said Pyongyang was printing anti-Seoul propaganda materials in large numbers and preparing to send them across the border. South Korea's unification ministry expressed regret and urged Pyongyang to withdraw the plan immediately, calling it a violation o

June 21, 2020

S. Korea urges NK to drop plan to send anti-Seoul leaflets

   South Korea urged North Korea on Saturday to "immediately" withdraw its plan to send anti-Seoul leaflets across the border into the South, voicing regret over its decision to do so.  The unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs made the request after the North's state media said earlier in the day it was printing anti-Seoul propaganda materials in large numbers and preparing to send them across the border to the South.  The North's Korean Central New

June 20, 2020

NK getting ready to send anti-Seoul leaflets to S. Korea

North Korea is printing anti-Seoul leaflets in large numbers and preparing to send them across the border to South Korea, the country's official news agency said Saturday.  "The enraged people across the country are actively pushing forward with the preparations for launching a large-scale distribution of leaflets to pour the leaflets of punishment upon those in South Korea who are bereft of even elementary morality," said the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The KCNA

June 20, 2020

Trump told Kim in Singapore he was open to lifting UN sanctions: Bolton memoir

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump told North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their June 2018 summit in Singapore that he was open to lifting United Nations sanctions on the regime and would think about it, Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, was quoted as writing in his upcoming memoir. In his book, "The Room Where It Happened," which is due to be published next week, Bolton writes that Kim told Trump as they were leaving the meeting that he was glad the two

June 20, 2020

Warmbier's mother urges continued pressure on N. Korean regime

WASHINGTON -- Cindy Warmbier, the mother of an American college student who died after being held in North Korea, renewed her resolve on Friday to increase pressure on the Pyongyang regime. On the third anniversary of her son Otto's death, Warmbier spoke from her Cincinnati, Ohio, home about the legacy of her "hero" and the guilt she still feels over letting him travel to North Korea in 2016. But her message to the world was clear: North Korea must be held accountable for its b

June 20, 2020

S. Korean nuclear envoy departs US amid tensions with NK

WASHINGTON -- South Korea's top nuclear envoy departed Washington on Friday after meeting with US officials amid North Korea's threats to launch military action on Seoul. Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, boarded a flight home at Dulles International Airport at the end of an unannounced three-day visit to the US capital. Met by reporters at the airport, he refused to answer any questions on what he discussed with his American counterpart, Dep

June 20, 2020

Unification Ministry reiterates vow to crack down on anti-Pyongyang leaflets

The unification ministry reaffirmed its vow Friday to stop North Korean defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets and other materials to the communist state, amid a spike in cross-border tensions caused by the North's shocking demolition of a joint liaison office. The government has sought to stop the leafleting on the grounds that it could further aggravate inter-Korean tensions and undermine the safety of residents near the border. North Korea has lashed out at South Korea for failing

June 19, 2020

Outgoing minister hopes his departure will pave way for 'pause' in inter-Korean tensions

Outgoing Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul voiced hope on Friday that his departure will pave the way for a "pause" in the recent escalation of inter-Korean tensions caused by North Korea's shocking demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office and bellicose rhetoric. In his farewell speech, Kim also stressed that "hatred can't be defeated by hatred" in his appeal for the two Koreas to stop the downward spiral of their relations and return to a reconciliatory mode. Earlier

June 19, 2020

No direct moves linked to NK military threats detected: official

No signs have been detected yet that suggest North Korea is following through with a threat to beef up military presence near the border with South Korea, a military official said Friday. On Wednesday, the General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army said it will redeploy troops to two joint inter-Korean economic zones, restore guard posts removed from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas and resume all kinds of military exercises near the border in anger over anti-Pyong

June 19, 2020

Bolton says diplomatic dance with NK was South Korea’s creation

Former US national security adviser John Bolton wrote in his new book that US President Donald Trump’s diplomacy with North Korea was South Korea’s “creation,” and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was able to manipulate the American president. In his memoir “The Room Where It Happened,” which is due to be published next week, Bolton wrote extensively about his disagreements with Trump before, during and after the Singapore summit with Kim, CNN reported o

June 19, 2020

N. Korea continues to present 'extraordinary threat' to region: Pentagon official

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's recent provocations against South Korea show that the communist country continues to present an "extraordinary" threat to the region, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday. Speaking in a teleconference, David Helvey, acting assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said the United States remains in close coordination with South Korea to ensure readiness against North Korea's threats. "As we've been starkly reminded in recen

June 19, 2020

NK may carry out 'Christmas gift' provocation around November's US presidential election: expert

North Korea could carry out a major "Christmas gift" provocation around the time of November's US presidential election unless the current tensions are properly dealt with, an expert said Thursday. Last year, the North threatened to carry out an unspecified provocative act as a "Christmas gift" to the US in protest of stalled nuclear negotiations, spurring speculation that it could be a new intercontinental ballistic missile  launch or similar testing of strategic weap

June 18, 2020