South Korea plans to revise a law to bolster ties with North Korea and protect local businesses involved in inter-Korean economic projects, the Ministry of Unification said Tuesday.The revision would require the government’s bans or restrictions on economic projects with North Korea to be subject to a Cabinet review. It would also help normalize the operations of companies if they suffer damages from the government’s unilateral decisions.  Kaesong Industrial Complex (Yonhap)“Procedures for a Cab

North Korea July 17, 2018

North Korea will issue special pardons for prisoners to mark the 70th anniversary of the regime, North Korean state media said Monday, which experts see as Kim Jong-un’s effort to bolster domestic solidarity amid a shift in political atmosphere following last month’s US-North Korea summit. “The DPRK will grant amnesty to those who have been convicted of crimes against the state and people on the occasion of the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK,” the Korean Central News Agency said, referrin

North Korea July 16, 2018

A major South Korean pro-unification organization, chaired by a son of late President Kim Dae-jung, is set to visit North Korea this week to discuss a joint project of bringing home the remains of victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, the group said in a statement released Sunday. (Yonhap)The Ministry of Unification on Thursday approved a four-day trip to Pyongyang by five members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, inclu

North Korea July 15, 2018

With the controversy surrounding the arrival of North Korean restaurant workers in 2016 snowballing, a lawyers’ group on Sunday urged the South Korean government to confirm the facts before it is “too late.”The narrative involving the 2016 incident took a sharp turn in May, when restaurant manager Heo Gang-il claimed in an interview with local network JTBC that he had tricked the workers into traveling to South Korea and that the South’s National Intelligence Service had orchestrated their defec

North Korea July 15, 2018

South Korea said Thursday it will allow the country’s major pro-unification civic group, chaired by a son of late President Kim Dae-jung, to visit North Korea next week to discuss with its North Korean counterpart cross-border cooperation and exchange. Five members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation including Kim Hong-gul, head of the group, will visit Pyongyang from Monday to Thursday, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Unification.  Kim Hong-gul, head of

North Korea July 12, 2018

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation will visit North Korea’s port city of Rason and attend a seminar hosted by Russia, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification said Wednesday. The Unification Ministry greenlighted an 11-member delegation, including the committee’s Chairman Song Young-gil, to visit North Korea on Friday and Saturday. Song Young-gil, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation (left) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimi

North Korea July 11, 2018

With representatives of South Korean broadcaster JTBC beginning their trip to North Korea on Monday to discuss possible establishment of a Pyongyang bureau, speculations are rampant on how both sides will reach a consensus, with the existing gap on the role of the media. Last week, the South’s Ministry of Unification approved JTBC’s application to send an eight-person team to North Korea from Monday to Thursday to discuss cooperation on the media sector and the possible launch of a Pyongyang bur

North Korea July 9, 2018

In line with the 20th anniversary of Astana as its capital, Kazakhstan took a step forward in becoming a key hub for Islamic and Silk Road finance with the official launch of the Astana International Financial Center. The AIFC was inaugurated Thursday with the blessings of the country’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the international Expo venue, where the center is to operate. “Astana should become the main financial center of the Central Asian region and in the future be included in the lis

Diplomatic Circuit July 9, 2018

Even as North Korea engages in diplomacy with the US for denuclearization, US intelligence officials have spotted evidence that points to the communist nation’s unwillingness to fully dismantle its nuclear program while concealing key parts, the Washington Post said Sunday. The assessment contradicts US President Donald Trump’s remarks that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,” following a landmark summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore.  Satellite i

North Korea July 1, 2018

With the two Koreas having confirmed a slew of plans for cross-border sports exchange last month, July is to see many of the plans materializing. Inter-Korean basketball games this week at the North’s capital of Pyongyang will kick off a series of sport exchanges, signaling the beginning of a summer filled with South-North friendlies and joint teams.  The two Koreas play against each other at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. (Yonhap)Four basketball games will be held over the course of

North Korea July 1, 2018

With the world’s attention focused on North Korea’s denuclearization, concerns are mounting that the country’s human rights abuses could be overlooked. The summit agreement reached between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 did not include clauses on improving the much-criticized human rights conditions in North Korea. The same goes for the result of the inter-Korean summit in April. Trump even publically downplayed the issue when pressed by Fox News about N

North Korea June 28, 2018

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

North Korea June 26, 2018

The two Koreas agreed, as result of their Red Cross talks held Friday, to hold the long-stalled reunion of the Korean War-separated families next month, marking the first of such case since October 2015.The event will be held from Aug. 20-26 at Mt. Kumgang on the North's east coast, with 100 members of families attending from each side, according to officials."The South and the North agreed to hold a reunion of separated families at Mount Kumgang, marking the Aug. 15 Liberati

North Korea June 22, 2018

The release of six South Korean detainees in North Korea is unlikely to be discussed at Friday’s inter-Korean Red Cross talks, as the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War is set to be at the top of the agenda. Friday’s talks are expected to address a clause inked in the agreement reached at the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on April 27, when both vowed “to swiftly resolve the humanitarian issues that resulted from the div

North Korea June 21, 2018

North Korea could start the process of returning the remains of missing troops from the 1950-53 Korean War to the US within the next few days, media reports said Wednesday, a move which could be taken as an indication that the reclusive nation is serious about improving ties with the US. The news comes nearly a week after US President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recommitted to recovering and repatriating the remains of those declared missing in action, through a joint state

North Korea June 20, 2018