WASHINGTON -- The United States is committed to the Singapore Declaration that calls for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and normalization of US-North Korea relations, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Japan and Korea Mark Lambert said Wednesday. Lambert also reiterated the US' willingness to meet with North Korea at any time without preconditions. "We're committed to the framework that was laid out in Singapore," he said, referring to former President Don

"Spider-Man: No Way Home," Marvel's latest Spider-Man series film, has set the best opening-day record at the South Korean box office since the new coronavirus broke out, data showed Thursday. The blockbuster garnered about 635,000 viewers upon its debut Wednesday, accounting for 96.9 percent of the tickets sold on the day, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). It marked the largest first-day score for a film since the COVID-19 pandemic started early last year, outnumbering t

In the past 20 years, the number of marriages in Seoul has decreased by 43 percent and the number of births by 64 percent, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday. Marriage registrations in the capital city hit a 20-year low of 44,746 in 2020, down 43.2 percent from 78,745 tallied in 2000. From a year ago, the 2020 figure also represented a drop of 7.3 percent. The average age of first marriages last year was 33.61 for men and 31.6 for women, up 3.96 years and 4.35 years

The government has halted the measure for phased daily recovery as infections continue to surge. From Saturday, the number of people allowed to attend private gatherings will be reduced to four and entertainment facilities, restaurants, and cafes will only be open until 9 p.m. nationwide. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announced the new measure at the COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on Thursday morning. He said a meeting was held earlier than scheduled because &ld

It’s not easy being female. But it’s often no picnic being male either. The world is changing faster than ever and, with it, so are notions of masculinity. Many men are feeling unmoored, for better or worse. If you happen to be James Bond, you take this flux in stride and effortlessly turn from the Sean Connery version of manhood into the more vulnerable and complex Daniel Craig variety. But how many real-life men have an inner 007 to channel? The reality for many of those who aren

Today, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un marks 10 full years of ruling the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. As his father Kim Jong-il died of heart failure on Dec. 17, 2011, Jong-un, the third son, then 29, immediately took over as chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party, DPRK, so as to not leave a power vacuum. He then added the various titles his father had held one by one: He became the supreme commander of the DPRK Armed Forces at the end of the year, a

N. Korea’s pursuit to avoid international scrutiny raises necessity to focus on secret executions