North Korea to host Asian youth weightlifting championships

JAKARTA, (AFP) - The 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships will be held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, signal that the secretive country may be coming in from the sporting cold.At the Asian Games weightlifting in Jakarta, which North Korea have dominated winning seven golds, the Asian Weightlifting Federation and North Korea's Sports Minister Kim Il Guk signed an agreement Sunday for North Korea to hold the championships from October 27 next year. Gold medalist North Ko

Aug. 26, 2018

Separated families bid farewell, another reunion this year in planning

North and South Korean family members separated for decades by the 1950-53 Korean War bid tearful farewells probably for the last time in their lives Sunday, ending two rounds of family reunions held for the first time in nearly three years.　The second round of the heart-wrenching family reunions, a reminder of the division of the Korean Peninsula, allowed 326 South Koreans to meet their families living in North Korea at the North’s Kumgangsan Resort from Friday to Sunday. For the first round, 1

Aug. 26, 2018

[Photo News] A bitter farewell

The second round of family reunions, involving some 326 people, ended Sunday after a short three-day gathering at the North’s Mount Kumgang. On Sunday around 10 a.m., families separated by war poured into the Oekumgang Hotel’s banquet hall on the second floor to say goodbye.Tears spread throughout the room as participants hugged and held their relatives one last time.At the end of Sunday’s reunion, North Korean Ri Seung-yeol, 53, reportedly told his cousin Lee Young-ho, 50, to “look at the watch

Aug. 26, 2018

Red Cross chiefs of two Koreas agree to hold more family reunions this year

MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea -- The two Koreas‘ Red Cross chiefs have agreed to hold another family reunions event as early as October. Park Kyung-seo, the head of the South Korean Red Cross, said Saturday that he made the agreement with his North Korean counterpart during their talks on the sidelines of a meeting of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at the North’s Mount Kumgang resort.　“I discussed with Park Yong-il, chief of the North Korean delegation, to hold one more round of famil

Aug. 26, 2018

North Korean defectors sue in Japan, alleging rights abuses

TOKYO (AP) -- She was one of the more than 90,000 Koreans and their relatives in Japan who went to North Korea decades ago seeking what the country promised: “paradise on earth.”As North and South Korea make reconciliatory gestures and hundreds of war-separated relatives are reunited, Eiko Kawasaki and others like her feel forgotten.Kawasaki, 76, who was born in Japan and lived for 43 years in North Korea before defecting, has not seen her children, still in North Korea, for years.She and four o

Aug. 26, 2018

Elderly Koreans shut out of family reunions use backchannels

Kim Kyung-jae will probably never be chosen in the government lottery that would allow him to reunite one last time with his relatives in North Korea. But that’s no problem, he said this week in an interview, even as a small group of the lucky South Koreans who won the lottery met with their loved ones in North Korea.The 86-year-old Kim is one of a dwindling number of elderly South Koreans who, frustrated with North Korea’s reluctance to allow more frequent reunions and by the small chance that

Aug. 26, 2018

N. Koreans reveal secret of weightlifting success

North Korea has become a dominant force in weightlifting at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia, so far taking five gold medals out of nine events. With China out of contention due to a doping ban, North Korea has taken its neighbor's spot at the Asian Games. The communist state is expected to grab two or three medals in the remaining six weight classes.North Koreans usually cite the power of their ideology, or great care of the supreme leader as the factors behind their success, but those are not

Aug. 25, 2018

Separated families from two Koreas begin 2nd day of reunions

After a tearful encounter after nearly 70 years, families from South and North Korea enjoyed more private time on the second day of their reunions Saturday.Starting at 10 a.m., 326 South Koreans from 81 families spent time with their long-lost kin residing in North Korea in their hotel rooms at the North's eastern resort of Mount Kumgang for small talks and lunch in a freer and more relaxed atmosphere.  (Yonhap)They crossed the border into the North on Friday for the first time after being separ

Aug. 25, 2018

N. Korea to host int'l blockchain conference in October

North Korea plans to hold an international conference on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in Pyongyang in October, a US-based radio broadcast said Saturday.The first-ever Korean International Blockchain Conference will be held for a two-day run starting Oct. 1 in the North Korean capital city, according to the report by Radio Free Asia. (Yonhap)The event will bring experts in this cutting-edge field from around the world, the report said, adding that they will hold meetings with offici

Aug. 25, 2018

Trump cancels Pompeo trip to N. Korea

US President Donald Trump said Friday he has canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming trip to North Korea because of a lack of progress in dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program.Trump wrote the message on Twitter a day after Pompeo announced that he will be traveling to Pyongyang next week to continue negotiations on the denuclearization of the regime. US President Donald Trump (EPA-Yonhap)"I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, bec

Aug. 25, 2018

Second round of inter-Korean family reunions begins at Mount Kumgang

Tears streamed down the wrinkled face of Cho Jeong-gi as the 67-year-old South Korean met the North Korean father he has never seen.“I am your first son, first son,” Cho said in a trembling voice. “I had no idea I would be able to meet you.” Cho was among hundreds of people from the two Koreas who were reunited with their families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at the North’s eastern resort of Mount Kumgang on Friday.His 88-year-old father, Deok-yong, moved to the North alone during the war

Aug. 24, 2018

S. Korea to propose to NK withdrawal of guard posts in designated DMZ sections

South Korea will propose to North Korea the withdrawal of guard posts in certain designated areas of the Demilitarized Zone, rather than committing to reducing by an equal number of border facilities, its defense chief said Friday.Song Young-moo made the remarks amid concerns that, should the two Koreas agree to remove the same number of guard posts, Seoul would be put at a disadvantage given that the North has about 160 guard posts in the DMZ, double the number of those run by the South.Defense

Aug. 24, 2018

US ambassador upbeat about new point man on N. Korea, cautious about Pompeo's upcoming trip

The top US envoy in South Korea voiced optimism on Friday about the role of Washington's new point man on Pyongyang, while he was guarded about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming trip to the communist nation.In Washington DC, Pompeo announced the appointment of Stephen Biegun, a Ford Motor Co. executive, as the department's special representative for North Korea policy.The secretary added that he and Biegun will travel to the North next week "to make further diplomatic progress" towards t

Aug. 24, 2018

Pompeo to make 4th trip to N. Korea next week

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday he will travel to North Korea again next week to continue negotiations on the dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.Pompeo also announced the appointment of Ford Vice President Stephen Biegun as US special representative for North Korea, saying the two will travel to Pyongyang together."Steve will direct US policy towards North Korea and lead our efforts to achieve President Trump's goal of the final, fully verified den

Aug. 24, 2018

Ford vice president named US special representative for NK

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday named Ford Vice President Stephen Biegun as US special representative for North Korea.The appointment comes at a critical time in US-North Korea relations as the two sides negotiate the details of a denuclearization agreement reached by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their June summit in Singapore.Pompeo said he and Biegun will travel to North Korea next week to continue talks with Pyongyang. (Yon

Aug. 24, 2018

S. Koreans prepare for second round of reunions

The second group of South Koreans selected for reunions with their North Korean relatives gathered in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, on Thursday. The group consisting of 326 people was set to leave for the Kumgangsan Resort in the North Korean part of Gangwon Province on Friday. On Thursday, the South Koreans were briefed on visiting North Korea. They were to set out for the North by bus early Friday and were expected to arrive at the North Korean resort in the early afternoon of Friday, when they wi

Aug. 23, 2018

Inter-Korean event canceled in Dandong due to objection of Chinese police

DANDONG -- An inter-Korean forum scheduled to be held in the city of Dandong, in China's northeastern province Liaoning, on Thursday was canceled due to objection from Chinese police apparently wary of international sanctions on North Korea.About 40 people, among them South and North Koreans and overseas Koreans, gathered in Dandong in the morning to attend the "Pan-Korean Peace Forum" to be hosted by the National Unification Advisory Council, a South Korean constitutional organization that advi

Aug. 23, 2018

N. Korea pressing harder for end-of-war declaration, lifting of sanctions

North Korea's external propaganda media are escalating pressure on the United States to sign a declaration to end the Korean War amid speculation about an imminent Pyongyang visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.They also keep calling for the lifting of international sanctions on the North, arguing that sanctions and relationship improvement can never go together.Uriminzokkiri, Pyongyang's state-controlled website, said Thursday that a declaration of an end to the 1950-53 war will terminate

Aug. 23, 2018

NK media reports on reunions of separated families

North Korea's state media reported Thursday on this week's reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, calling them part of "practical" measures to enforce the April inter-Korean summit agreement to enhance cross-border ties."During the first reunion held from August 20 and 22, the families and relatives from our side met their flesh and blood from the south and exchanged their inmost thoughts in a happy homely atmosphere," the North's Korean Central News Agency said in an English-

Aug. 23, 2018

Second Trump-Kim meeting could boost nuclear talks: ex-CIA official

WASHINGTON -- A second meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could give a boost to negotiations to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program, a former US intelligence official said Wednesday.Trump has dangled the possibility of a second summit following his landmark June meeting with Kim in Singapore, saying in an interview with Reuters this week that it's "most likely" to happen.He declined to elaborate on any details. But according to Jung Pak, a for

Aug. 23, 2018