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NK paper calls for drawing up 'realistic' economic plans
North Korea's official newspaper called Tuesday for putting together thorough and workable plans to carry out a five-year economic development goal unveiled during a recent party meeting, urging its people to break away from the practice of setting far-fetched objectives. At the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party earlier this month, the North put forward the new economic development plan focusing on self-reliance in the face of the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and global sancti
Biden's negotiators face choice between incremental NK nuke dismantlement or 'big deal': CRS report
US negotiators under the new Joe Biden administration could face a choice between the pursuit of an incremental dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program and a big deal calling for its complete denuclearization, a congressional report has said. The recently updated Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on diplomacy with Pyongyang comes as White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Friday that the administration will adopt a "new strategy" in handling North Korean threats throu
‘NK diplomat is living in South’
North Korea’s former acting ambassador to Kuwait has been living with his family in South Korea for at least a year, a local newspaper reported Monday. The diplomat, Ryu Hyun-woo, was the North’s acting chief of mission in Kuwait in 2019, when he defected to the South with his family, who the source said had motivated him to defect in hopes of a “better future.” If true, it is the second time a ranking official from Pyongyang has defected to Seoul since 2012, when lead
Jan 25, 2021
Unification Minister calls for flexible solution to the joint military exercises
Unification Minister Lee In-young on Monday stressed the need to find a flexible solution to the upcoming joint military exercise between Washington and Seoul, to prevent any further flare-up of cross-border tensions. Lee underlined four areas that need to be taken into account when deciding whether to hold the combined military drills, which have long irked Pyongyang. These are COVID-19, the Tokyo Olympics, the lack of an established US policy on the Korean Peninsula, and Seoul’s envi
Minister hopes for 'wise' and 'flexible' solution to joint military drill issue
Unification Minister Lee In-young expressed hope Monday for a "wise" and "flexible" solution on whether to hold joint military drills with the United States so that the issue will not cause serious tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Lee made the remarks during a press conference for the new year in Seoul, weeks after North Korea demanded an end to joint military exercises between South Korea and the US as a major precondition for the improvement in inter-Korean relations. &q
NK propaganda outlet mentions Biden's election for first time
A North Korean propaganda media outlet has mentioned Joe Biden's election as US president for the first time over the weekend, though official state media have stayed mum on his administration. DPRK Today, one of the North's propaganda websites, made the mention of Biden on Saturday, citing a report from Jaju Sibo, a pro-unification online media outlet in South Korea. "The US Congress failed to declare Biden as the president on this day and had to confirm Biden as the winner the following
N. Korean diplomat defects to S. Korea: source
A North Korean diplomat has defected to South Korea while serving as the acting chief of mission at the country's embassy in Kuwait, a source said Monday. Ryu Hyun-woo, who had served as the embassy's charge d'affaires since Ambassador So Chang-sik was expelled from Kuwait after a UN resolution was adopted in 2017, entered South Korea, along with his family, according to the source. Further details were not available, including the timing of the defection. But a media report earlier said that
[Weekender] Dispute rages over ban on propaganda leafleting
Critics slam the ban as ill-conceived and unprecedented
Jan 23, 2021
Nearly half of N. Koreans undernourished, worst in Asia-Pacific: UN report
Nearly five out of ten North Koreans were undernourished from 2017 to 2019, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, the UN said in an inter-agency report. East Timor and Afghanistan followed. In the same period, seven out of ten North Korean children aged two or below did not have minimum acceptable diet. In the report released Wednesday by the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Program, World Health Organization and UNICEF, seven out of ten infants younger than six months old i
Jan 22, 2021
Singapore deal Moon wants Biden to inherit was flawed: US experts
North Korean experts said Thursday it would be a mistake for US President Joe Biden to build on the 2018 Singapore agreement to address North Korea’s denuclearization. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has suggested Washington start re-engaging with Pyongyang based on the deal. “What the administration should strive for instead is a comprehensive, well-crafted agreement such as the arms control agreements we had with the Soviet Union,” Bruce Klingner, a senior research fell
Seoul should refrain from 'prioritizing' US-NK summit with Biden: US expert
South Korea should refrain from "prioritizing" a summit between US President Joe Biden and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when it starts working with the new administration on the stalled nuclear issue, a US expert said Friday. Michael Green, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), made the remark during a virtual forum on the Korea-US alliance, stressing that Biden's team is less likely to respond to such a call, given that it is already l
N. Korea ranks worst in undernourishment in Asia-Pacific region
North Korea was ranked the worst in terms of prevalence of undernourishment among its population in the Asia-Pacific region, a report showed Friday. According to the report jointly compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and other global agencies, more than 45 percent of the North's population was suffering from undernourishment from 2017-2019. The proportion was the highest among Asia-Pacific countries surveyed. It was much higher than the corresponding fig
Consistency key to denuclearizing N. Korea: US experts
Having a consistent policy on North Korea may be the key to denuclearizing the North, US experts said Thursday. They argued the North may have had little or no incentive to actually give up its nuclear weapons since it had been rewarded without doing so. "I think it's because there has been an inconsistent foreign policy, not only from the United States but a lot of countries, and we have in the past rewarded people like Kim Jong-il, they took our support and made promises, and then after
Two Koreas look toward new relationship with Biden
Gone are the days when the leaders of the US and North Korea exchanged “love letters” -- or threats of “fire and fury.” US President Joe Biden took office Wednesday, and the world is now watching Biden to see what actions he will take -- not just unraveling years of Donald Trump’s policies, but how US foreign policy will formulate under the new leader, who declared that “America is back, ready to lead the world.” North and South Korea are also k
Jan 21, 2021
Biden's speech signals better ties with Seoul, less drama with Pyongyang
WASHINGTON -- North Korea is and will continue to be a major challenge for the new US administration, but not as great a challenge as other domestic issues such as the pandemic, at least for now, as evidenced by President Joe Biden's inaugural address on Wednesday. The new US leader took office with a speech that mostly focused on the need for unity among Americans to fight off the deadly new coronavirus, but also other foes facing the US that he said included "anger, resentment, hatred, e