NK-US dialogue leads China to keep distance from anti-North sanctions: paper

A pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan said Wednesday that China will be able to keep away from international sanctions on the North following the recent launch of dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington.The Chosun Sinbo said in an article that the US-led international sanctions on North Korea will face changes, as the North has risen to the status of a strategic nation through the completion of its nuclear weapons program and created an atmosphere for dialogue with the US."Until last year, the

June 27, 2018

N. Korea warns Japan not to intervene in denuclearization

GENEVA -- North Korea has again warned Japan not to meddle in its denuclearization issue, saying Tokyo has nothing to do with the North's recent summit agreements with South Korea and the United States.Ju Yong-chol, a North Korean diplomat stationed in Geneva, said at a UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday that Japan should refrain from intervening in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, because it is not a signatory to the Panmunjom Declaration between the two Koreas or th

June 27, 2018

Summit diplomacy breaks vicious cycle on Koreas, US: Cheong Wa Dae official

A round of recent summit diplomacy on North Korea has created a virtuous cycle of inter-Korean ties and a viable denuclearization process, a senior South Korean presidential official said Wednesday. In the past, an improvement in South-North relations often hurt the Seoul-Washington alliance and efforts to eliminate the communist nation's nuclear program. It caused ideological rifts among South Koreans. Through the Panmunjom Declaration and the Sentosa agreement, however, "the vicious cycle was

June 27, 2018

S. Korean team visits N. Korea to check facilities for family reunions

SEOUL/GOSEONG -- A group of South Korean officials and civilian workers visited North Korea on Wednesday to check facilities for the planned reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul's unification ministry said.Led by Kim Byung-dae, a senior ministry official in charge of humanitarian cooperation, the 20-member team crossed the eastern border to visit Mount Kumgang on the North's east coast, the venue for the reunions slated for Aug. 20-26. A South Korean delegation arrives

June 27, 2018

Mattis: US takes N. Korea's missile capability 'very seriously'

WASHINGTON -- The United States takes the threat of North Korea's ballistic missiles "very seriously," US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday in the wake of recent diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the regime.Mattis was speaking at a press conference in Alaska en route to China, South Korea and Japan."That capability still exists today, so clearly we take that very, very seriously," he said, referring to North Korea's ability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. "But our hopes a

June 27, 2018

N. Korea makes rapid improvements to nuclear facilities: 38 North

WASHINGTON -- North Korea has continued to make rapid improvements to its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, although the action may have nothing to do with its recent pledge to denuclearize, a US website said Tuesday.38 North, which monitors developments inside the reclusive regime, said the improvements to infrastructure are visible in commercial satellite imagery taken last Thursday.The cooling system for Yongbyon's 5 MWe plutonium production reactor has undergone modifications, although it's un

June 27, 2018

Turkey asked N. Korea to return Korean War remains: source

Turkey asked North Korea earlier this month to return the remains of its soldier killed in the 1950-53 Korean War as the North prepares for the return of American war dead as agreed between the leaders of the two countries, a diplomatic source said Tuesday.　The source said the request was made by Turkish Ambassador to South Korea Ersin Ercin, who recently was named to concurrently work as the country‘s ambassador to North Korea, when he presented his credentials to the North’s ceremonial head of

June 26, 2018

Koreas agree to conduct joint study on railway cooperation

South and North Korea agreed Tuesday to conduct a joint study on modernizing the railways that run through their borders “at an early date.”The joint study will start first on the northern part of the Seoul-Sinuiju western railways from July 24 and then on the railways running along the eastern region of the Korean Peninsula, according to the unification ministry. The agreements were reached after the two Koreas held working-level talks on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom to d

June 26, 2018

Challenges remain over inter-Korean economic cooperation

　Expectations for inter-Korean economic cooperation are rising with talks of cross-border projects on infrastructure and environment, but challenges remain amid the persistent economic sanctions on the reclusive regime. 　Starting from the talks on reconnecting inter-Korean railways and subsequent meetings on reforestation of North Korea, the discussion over the joint projects raises the prospect of pursuing broader economic cooperation between the two Koreas. 　While the inter-Korean summits and

June 26, 2018

[Herald Interview] Singaporean consultant optimistic about business opportunities in NK

SINGAPORE -- When Michael Heng, a business strategist and former professor, heard that the US and North Korea were going to hold a summit, he felt it was finally time for something to happen in the reclusive state.He asked his friend, an official at the North Korean Embassy in Singapore, if he could take some Singaporeans on a mission to tap future business opportunities in the North.A day after the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore earlier

June 26, 2018

Mattis: UN Command to receive remains of troops killed in Korean War

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- The United Nations Command in South Korea will handle North Korea's return of the remains of American troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said.The repatriation was part of an agreement reached by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their historic summit on June 12.US Forces Korea said over the weekend that it had moved 100 wooden coffins to the inter-Korean border to prepare for the remains' delivery, with

June 26, 2018

Pompeo refuses to put timeline on denuclearization talks with N. Korea

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has refused to put a timeline on negotiations with North Korea, saying he will instead monitor progress toward the dismantlement of the regime's nuclear weapons program, CNN reported Monday.Pompeo made the remark in a phone interview with the news channel Sunday as the two countries prepare to hold working-level talks to follow up on this month's historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."I am not going t

June 26, 2018

UNICEF data shows N. Koreans lack access to computers

North Korean households lack access to computers despite the country's nearly 100 percent penetration rate of radios and TVs, United Nations Children's Fund data showed Monday.According to the data released by UNICEF, conducted on 8,500 households in the country last year, North Korean households boasted a penetration rate of 94.1 percent and 98.2 percent for radios and TVs, respectively.The figure for computers, however, came to 18.7 percent, with only 1.4 percent of the households able to acce

June 25, 2018

Koreas discuss removing North's artillery from tense border

The rival Koreas are discussing the possible relocation of North Korea's long-range artillery guns away from the tense Korean border, South Korea's prime minister said Monday, as the countries forge ahead with steps to lower tensions and extend a recent detente. If realized, it would be yet another conciliatory step by North Korea since it entered talks on giving up its nuclear weapons earlier this year. But some experts say it might be a tactic to push Seoul and Washington to withdraw their mor

June 25, 2018

NK media stress trust building as US extends sanctions

North Korea's media outlets are successively asking the United States for efforts to build mutual trust, despite recent moves by Washington and Seoul to halt annual joint military exercises and ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.The North's media commentaries have also repeatedly stressed the need to implement a joint declaration signed with the US at a summit in Singapore on June 12 and establish a new bilateral relationship through "trust building."Pyongyang's external propaganda website Me

June 25, 2018

Civic groups from two Koreas to broaden inter-Korean exchanges

Civic groups from the two Koreas agreed to boost private sector exchanges ranging from sports to culture in line with the joint declaration signed at the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, a South Korean civic group said Monday, after a rare four-day visit to Pyongyang last week.  The South Korean Committee on June 15 Joint Declaration visited Pyongyang from Wednesday to Saturday, which marks the first made by a civic group in nine years.  “The visit was meaningful because it marked the first ti

June 25, 2018

N. Korean restaurants in China move to resume business

SHENYANG -- North Korean restaurants in Chinese cities near the border with the North are moving to resume business as relations between the two countries improve rapidly, sources said Monday.Following the three meetings this year between the leaders of North Korea and China, some North Korean restaurants in three northeastern Chinese provinces -- Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang -- have been seen preparing to reopen after months of closure linked to international sanctions.At the Reungrado Rest

June 25, 2018

Two Koreas set for talks on bilateral economic projects

The two Koreas agreed to hold a series of working-level talks on economic cooperation this week, Seoul officials said Monday, as their reconciliatory efforts sparked by an April 27 summit agreement are expanding beyond military and humanitarian arenas.The two sides plan to have a meeting on linking and modernizing cross-border railways Tuesday at the Peace House, a South Korean administrative building in Panmunjom, according to the Ministry of Unification.The South plans to send a three-member d

June 25, 2018

S. Korea picks candidates for reunions with N. Korean families

South Korea began a process Monday to select those who will meet their long-separated family members in North Korea in late August.The two Koreas agreed to hold their first family reunion event in nearly three years at the North's Mount Kumgang resort from Aug.20-26, a follow-up to the April 27 summit deal.It would enable 100 South Korean people, mostly elderly ones, to get together with their families across the border, decades after being separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.A South Korean woma

June 25, 2018

Koreas agree to 'quickly' restore military communication lines

The two Koreas’ militaries Monday agreed to restore suspended military communication lines “as soon as possible,” as they announced a plan to hold a series of cross-border talks this week on reconnecting inter-Korean railways and reforestation of North Korea. 　Following the one-hour meeting at the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine office, the two sides decided to restore the communication line in the West Sea first before reconnecting a similar one in the East Sea.　Reconnecting the military c

June 25, 2018