South Korea has proposed holding a cross-border parliamentary meeting in November in Pyongyang and follow-up gathering next year in Seoul.The proposal was made by South Korean lawmakers who were part of the 160-member delegation that visited Pyongyang last week for the joint celebration of the 11th anniversary of the 2007 inter-Korean summit.Earlier this year, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang had proposed to the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly that the two parliaments hold a joint meeti

North Korea Oct. 8, 2018

A new observatory deck in the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the two Koreas will open to the public later this month, the city of Paju said Sunday.Dora Observatory, situated in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, will be officially relocated to a spot 170 meters northeast of its previous location. New Dora Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province (Yonhap)The relocation process started in late 2016 with an investment of 1 billion won ($884,000). The new venue will be nearly double the size of the former obse

North Korea Oct. 7, 2018

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui will hold rare trilateral consultations with her Chinese and Russian counterparts in Moscow on Tuesday, in what is viewed as an effort to reaffirm their shared stance on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.According to Russia’s Tass news agency, Choe and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov will hold a bilateral meeting Monday, which will be closely followed by a trilateral consultation involving the two and China’s Vice Minister

North Korea Oct. 7, 2018

A group of South Korean government officials, politicians and civic and religious leaders headed to North Korea on Thursday to participate in an event marking the 11th anniversary of the 2007 inter-Korean summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.A delegation of 160 people led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and ruling Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Hae-chan arrived in Pyongyang at 9:58 a.m. via the western air route for a three-day trip to Pyongyang

North Korea Oct. 4, 2018

China sold about 2,700 tons of refined oil to North Korea in August, triple the amount it exported to the neighboring country in July, Voice of America said Wednesday, citing the UN Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee. The report highlighted the abrupt surge in oil shipments, saying that the volume is believed to be the largest amount tracked since October 2017, when the committee started recording such trade.According to VOA, the total volume of refined oil exported to North Kore

North Korea Oct. 3, 2018

For North Korea an end-of-war declaration “can never be a bargaining chip” to get the country to denuclearize, and it will not hope for such a declaration if the US does not want it, according to the country’s state media on Tuesday. Experts interpreted the statement as Pyongyang’s call on Washington to stop using such a declaration as a bargaining chip for its complete and verifiable denuclearization, and instead take corresponding steps to the “goodwill measures” the communist nation has taken

North Korea Oct. 2, 2018

In line with the 70th Armed Forces Day, President Moon Jae-in highlighted strong national defense and the alliance with the US on Monday, as the allies cooperate toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. “Now we have launched our ambitious journey toward lasting peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. The path we are walking on is a path that no one has walked before, and so it is hard to predict what difficulties lie ahead. And therefore, strong defense is more important than ever,” the

Defense Oct. 1, 2018

The third summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un broke new ground in inter-Korean ties, experts said, giving South Korea an opportunity to move beyond its role as a “mediator” in the US-North Korea nuclear talks. The South’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the Seoul government would now be able to take on a more “active role” based on the “meaningful” results of the inter-Korean summit. “(The summit agreement) has provided a foundation for both Ko

North Korea Sept. 20, 2018

The leaders of the two Koreas on Wednesday vowed to revive the now-suspended tours to North Korea’s eastern slopes of Kumgangsan and bolster humanitarian cooperation with the establishment of a permanent meeting area for families separated by 1950-53 Korean War. “The South and North have decided to negotiate normalizing the Kaesong industrial complex and tour programs to Kumgansan and the issue of forming a special joint economic zone near the West Sea and a joint tourism zone near the East Sea,

North Korea Sept. 19, 2018

The leaders of the two Koreas will visit North Korea’s sacred Paektusan early Thursday, before wrapping up their third summit, according to Cheong Wa Dae. “President Moon accepted Chairman Kim Jong-un’s request to visit Paektusan (with him),” Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, said at the main press center in Pyongyang. According to the spokesman, they will take a flight from Sunan International Airport to Samjiyon Airport near the mountain and ride a bus to a

North Korea Sept. 19, 2018

One of the major differences that distinguishes South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s latest trip to Pyongyang from previous inter-Korean summits is the live broadcast of the event. The summit scheduled from Tuesday to Thursday is the first time the communist nation has agreed to broadcast segments of an inter-Korean summit held in its capital city live. South Korean President Moon Jae-in (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un participate in an open-car parade in Pyongyang. (Joint Press Corps

North Korea Sept. 18, 2018

The first ladies of the two Koreas carried out their own form of diplomacy, bonding over their shared interest in music and visiting a children’s hospital on the sidelines of the third summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.South Korea’s first lady Kim Jung-sook visited the six-story Okryu Children’s Hospital, the only children’s hospital in Pyongyang, at around 2 p.m. and met with four North Korean children and their guardians. She was

North Korea Sept. 18, 2018

Among those who witnessed the historic opening of the South-North joint liaison office in Kaesong firsthand last week were two business leaders who had once operated factories in the border town. While hoping for the resumption of business in the jointly operated industrial complex, they could only look at the remnants of their once-prosperous investment from afar. Two representatives of the business community who formerly operated factories in Kaesong -- Chung Ki-sub, honorary chairman of the C

North Korea Sept. 16, 2018

A new North Korean ambassador to the United Nations is likely to take his post before the UN General Assembly next week, with the US recently having issued a visa to the representative, local media reports said Wednesday. In July, reports said that a North Korean Foreign Ministry official named Kim Song would replace Ja Song-nam as the North’s permanent representative to the UN, after UN sources claimed that Ja embarked on a trip to Pyongyang upon being dismissed from his post.  Kim Song (left)

North Korea Sept. 13, 2018

A joint liaison office with North Korea will be launched Friday, with the South’s vice unification minister as co-chief of the office, the South’s Ministry of Unification confirmed Wednesday.The South-North liaison office will be launched in the North’s border town of Kaesong at 10:30 a.m. Friday, with an opening ceremony that will be attended by about 100 people from the two Koreas, the ministry said in a press release. South Korea’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and Ri Son-gwon chairman

North Korea Sept. 12, 2018