Exiled uncle of Kim Jong-un back in N. Korea: NIS

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s exiled uncle has been recalled to his home country after having spent decades as an envoy in Europe, according to reports Sunday. Lawmakers of South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee and National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon reportedly confirmed that Kim Pyong-il, North Korea’s top envoy to the Czech Republic, has returned to Pyongyang. The NIS had said early last month that Pyong-il would be replaced and return to North Korea

Dec. 1, 2019

N. Korea's trade reliance on China surges fivefold since 2001: data

North Korea's trade reliance on its traditional ally, China, has jumped more than fivefold since 2001, data showed Sunday, highlighting Beijing's status as a key patron for the cash-strapped regime under biting international sanctions.China's proportion of the North's overall external trade rose to 91.8 percent last year, compared with 17.3 percent in 2001, according to the data from an analysis report of the Korea International Trade Association. South Korea, once the North's second-largest tra

Dec. 1, 2019

Change in NK leader's fashion style seen as reflecting desire to craft unique image

A recent change in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's fashion style is raising questions over whether it reflects his desire to craft a unique image of his own, eight years after he took the throne in a third-generation hereditary power succession.In a shift from his characteristic style reminiscent of those of his late grandfather and father, Kim was seen wearing a black leather trench coat while overseeing a test-firing of a super-large multiple rocket launcher Thursday.The relatively young lea

Dec. 1, 2019

US says cryptocurrency expert violated N. Korea sanctions

NEW YORK -- Federal prosecutors have charged a cryptocurrency expert with violating economic sanctions against North Korea by presenting at a conference there this year after the US government denied his request to travel to Pyongyang.Virgil Griffith, 36, was awaiting a federal court appearance Friday in Los Angeles, a day after he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport.Griffith is an American citizen but lives in Singapore. Messages were sent to Griffith‘s defense attorney seek

Nov. 30, 2019

US calls on N. Korea to avoid provocations, return to nuclear talks

WASHINGTON -- The United States calls on North Korea to avoid provocations and return to negotiations on dismantling its nuclear weapons program, the State Department said Friday.The comment comes after North Korea fired two projectiles from a super-large multiple rocket launcher on Thursday in its 13th major weapons test this year.The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan spoke by phone following the launch to share their assessments and coordinate future steps, Seoul&l

Nov. 30, 2019

N. Korea calls Abe 'most stupid man' for mistaking projectiles from super-large launcher for ballistic missiles

North Korea fired verbal shots at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday for mistaking Pyongyang's recent test-fire of its super-large multiple launch rocket system for a ballistic missile launch.In a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency, a vice director general of the Department of Japanese Affairs at the North Korean foreign ministry also said Abe "may see what a real ballistic missile is in the not distant future and under his nose. North Korea claimed Friday that

Nov. 30, 2019

Seoul considers carrying out maintenance work on facilities at Kumgangsan

The government is considering repairing some of South Korea’s facilities at North Korea’s Kumgangsan tourism complex, the Ministry of Unification said Friday, as the North continues to demand their demolition. “Our side is planning measures to repair the temporary facilities that cannot be reused in Onjong-ri or the port of Goseong,” Kim Eun-han, a deputy spokesman for the Unification Ministry, told a regular press briefing. In October, Pyongyang notified Seoul that

Nov. 29, 2019

NK's latest weapons test intended to warn it can return to past behavior: Seoul

North Korea appears to have tested a super-large multiple rocket launcher as a warning sign that it can return to its past behavior of resorting to provocations if it fails to get what it wants during talks with the United States, Seoul's spy agency said Friday.The National Intelligence Service also assessed as "premeditated" the North's recent artillery firing drills on an inter-Korean border island in the Yellow Sea.On Thursday, the North fired two short-range projectiles in a row fr

Nov. 29, 2019

Top nuclear envoys of S. Korea, US, Japan hold phone talks on NK firing

South Korea's chief nuclear envoy has held telephone talks with his counterparts of the United States and Japan and discussed North Korea's latest firing of projectiles, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, spoke by phone with Steven Biegun, special representative for North Korea, early Friday (Seoul time). He spoke to Shigeki Takizaki, head of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau l

Nov. 29, 2019

N. Korea says it tested super-large multiple rocket launcher under leader's guidance

North Korea said Friday it successfully tested a super-large multiple rocket launcher's successive firing system under leader Kim Jong-un's guidance in the launch of two projectiles the previous day.On Thursday, South Korea's military said the North fired two projectiles from what is presumed to be a super-large multiple rocket launcher from Yeonpo in the country's eastern South Hamgyong Province toward the East Sea.The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the Academy of Defence Scie

Nov. 29, 2019

N. Korea fires 2 unidentified projectiles into East Sea: JCS

North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles into the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, in the latest in a series of military moves amid stalled denuclearization talks with the United States. The projectiles were fired from areas of Yeonpo in the country's eastern South Hamgyong Proince into the waters off the east coast at around 4:59 p.m., the JCS said in a release. No other details were immediately available, including the projectiles' type and flight range.&qu

Nov. 28, 2019

NK merchant ship driven out of S. Korean waters: JCS

South Korea has completed an operation to drive a North Korean merchant ship out of its waters after the vessel strayed across the Yellow Sea border due to an engine problem, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday. The ship was detected crossing the Northern Limit Line, the de facto sea border in the Yellow Sea, early Wednesday. South Korea's military later confirmed it to be a merchant ship from the North and broadcast warnings and fired warning shots according to procedure. North Korean sailo

Nov. 28, 2019

Vice minister to visit Kaesong liaison office, no weekly meeting planned

Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho will visit the inter-Korean liaison office in North Korea's border town of Kaesong this week, though there will be no meeting with his North Korean counterpart, a ministry official said Thursday.Suh's trip to the office on Friday comes at a time when inter-Korean relations remain stalled, with Pyongyang threatening to end their joint tour program to Mount Kumgang on the North's east coast.  But the vice minister, who serves as the South Korean head of the of

Nov. 28, 2019

[Newsmaker] North Korean merchant vessel accidentally crosses maritime border: JCS

A North Korean merchant vessel crossed the de facto maritime border into South Korean waters in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday and was headed northward and expected to fully cross the de facto maritime border into the north around midnight, Seoul’s military said. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military detected an unidentified ship that crossed the Northern Limit Line and entered South Korean waters on the northwestern side of Baengnyeong Island at 6:40 a.m. At around 12:30 p.m.,

Nov. 27, 2019

Seoul struggles to deal with Pyongyang’s demolition plan in Kumgangsan

South Korea is struggling to find a way to deal with the North’s decision to tear down its facilities at Kumgangsan tourism complex, as the regime continues to be reticent. Despite repeated requests to discuss the issue through a face-to-face meeting, a North Korean propaganda site Uriminzokkiri said Wednesday that the country’s decision to demolish the facilities -- built by the South Korean government and companies -- in the tourist zone on its east coast remains unchanged. &l

Nov. 27, 2019

US forces in Korea not mercenaries: US think tank

The chief of a US think tank said South Korea currently pays an adequate amount -- $1 billion -- for the upkeep of US Forces Korea, Voice of America reported Wednesday. John Hamre, president and CEO of the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview with the US broadcaster that the US was stationing troops in South Korea for its own interests and that there is no minimum amount that Seoul should pay.Defense cost-sharing talks between Seoul and Washin

Nov. 27, 2019

Trump believed war with NK could have killed 100m people: new book

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump estimated that as many as 100 million people could have been killed had the United States gone to war with North Korea under the previous administration of President Barack Obama, according to a new book based on interviews with the president.Trump's comment came during a January 2019 meeting at the White House with Doug Wead, a New York Times bestselling author and former adviser to two American presidents, whose book, "Inside Trump's White House: Th

Nov. 27, 2019

Seoul lodges complaint against Pyongyang for live firing drill near maritime border

South Korea has lodged an official complaint against Pyongyang for conducting a live firing drill on an island inside the buffer zone near the de facto maritime border, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. North Korea’s state-operated Korean Central News Agency reported Monday that its leader Kim Jong-un had ordered a firing drill involving coastal artilleries on the Changrin Islets, just north of the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea. As the live firing exercise took place ins

Nov. 26, 2019

Funeral to be held for defector mother, son despite opposition from defector groups

A state-run foundation supporting North Korean defectors said Monday it will press ahead with a funeral for a defector and her six-year-old son this week, about four months after they were found dead, apparently from starvation.The 42-year-old Han Sung-ok and her son, surnamed Kim, were found dead at their home in southern Seoul in late July, sparking widespread suspicion they starved to death two months earlier. Defectors groups launched strong protests, accusing the government of not taking pr

Nov. 25, 2019

Pyongyang’s artillery drill near sea border violates inter-Korean agreement: Seoul

South Korea on Monday denounced Pyongyang’s artillery drill conducted on an islet near the de facto maritime border, saying it violated an inter-Korean military agreement. North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency reported earlier in the day that its leader Kim Jong-un had ordered a firing drill involving coastal artilleries on Changrin Islets, just north of the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea.Kim conducted field guidance for a military unit there, to highlight the importance of

Nov. 25, 2019