The Korea Herald

N.K. economic zone under construction

Aug 22, 2012

RASON, North Korea (AP) ― More than a year after construction began, the road from China to North Korea’s special economic zone in Rason is paved. Power substations are being built, railway lines are being linked to routes to Siberia, and piers at the harbor expanded.This week, an international trade fair staged at the exhibition hall in the zone in North Korea’s far northeast offered foreign investors and visitors from China, Britain, Russia and elsewhere, as well as journalists from the Associ
Leadership shake-up adds to signs of change in N.K.

Aug 22, 2012

Promotion of economic specialists, return of technocrats raise prospect of economic reformNorth Korea’s ongoing reshuffle of its top brass is adding to signs of change under the burgeoning leadership of Kim Jong-un. Since taking the reins in December, he has been challenging the military’s iron grip, exposing the reclusive family to the public and retuning the communist state’s economic strategy. The Swiss-educated, 20-something leader is seen placing economic specialists in powerful positions,
Report of Kim Jong-un's Iran trip likely misleading: Seoul

Aug 22, 2012

A news report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un plans to visit Iran next week to attend an international meeting seems to be misleading although Seoul is still working to verify it, a government official said Wednesday.German news agency DPA reported earlier that Kim would attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran from Aug. 26 to 31, citing local news media. "Findings through vario
S. Korea to hit back harder at N.K. attacks

Aug 21, 2012

South Korea will mount a much deeper and stronger counterstrike than any before in the event of North Korea launching an artillery attack, a senior military official said Tuesday, as Pyongyang toughens its rhetoric against ongoing annual military drills in the South.South Korea and the United States on Monday began an annual military exercise that will run through Aug. 31, mobilizing some 56,000 South Korean troops and about 30,000 U.S. soldiers. The Combined Forces Command said it informed the
Powerful uncle of N.K. leader arrives in Pyongyang after visit to China

Aug 19, 2012

BEIJING (Yonhap News) ― The powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un returned home Saturday after a six-day visit to China that included Beijing’s agreement to help develop special economic zones in the impoverished nation and meetings with China’s president and premier, the two countries’ media said.The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Jang Song-thaek, the chief of the central administrative department of the Workers’ Party, boarded a Koryo Air flight that departed Beijing’s Cap
N.K. leader visits front-line artillery unit ahead of South-U.S. exercises

Aug 19, 2012

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid a visit to the front-line artillery unit responsible for the country’s 2010 deadly bombardment of a South Korean island, extolling service members as heroes and telling them never to tolerate enemy aggression, state media said Saturday.The visit to the unit on the North’s border island of Mudo near the tense western sea border came days before South Korea and the United States are to launch their annual joint exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian. The computer-ass
N. Korean official cites ‘considerable damage’ by floods

Aug 19, 2012

A North Korean official told a visiting civilian relief group that the communist country suffered “considerable damage” due to heavy downpours and floods last month, an official at the relief group said Sunday.Three officials from the South Korean affiliate of World Vision made a one-day visit to the North Korean border city of Kaesong on Friday to discuss food assistance to the North, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement on how to deliver shipments of food because of the issue of moni
Powerful uncle of N. Korean leader arrives in Pyongyang after visit to China

Aug 19, 2012

The powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un returned home Saturday after a six-day visit to China that included Beijing's agreement to help develop special economic zones in the impoverished nation and meetings with China's president and premier, the two countries' media said.The North's Korean Central News Agency said Jang Song-thaek, the chief of the central administrative department o
N. Korean leader praises soldiers over South shelling

Aug 18, 2012

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un commended an army unit involved in a deadly skirmish with the South in 2010 and ordered immediate counter-attacks if provoked again, Pyongyang's state media said.The move comes as South Korea and the United States prepare to engage in an annual military exercise this week, described by the North as "an all-out war rehearsal" that could ignite conflict on the Korean
Kim Jong-un visits front-line artillery unit ahead of South-U.S. exercises

Aug 18, 2012

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid a visit to the front-line artillery unit responsible for the country's 2010 deadly bombardment of a South Korean island, extolling service members as heroes and telling them never to tolerate enemy aggression, state media said Saturday.The visit to the unit on the North's border island of Mudo came days before South Korea and the United States are to launch the
Obama signs N. Korean human rights act

Aug 18, 2012

WASHINGTON(Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law legislation aimed at promoting human rights in North Korea, according to the White House.The law, which passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, extends until 2017 the authority of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. It is meant to put pressure on Pyongyang on the issues of human rights, democracy, refu
N. Korean delegations to visit Russia: KCNA

Aug 17, 2012

(Yonhap) -- North Korean delegations will visit Russia this week, the North's official news media said Friday, where they are thought likely to discuss economic cooperation with their ally. Delegations from the DPRK-Russia Friendship Association and the General Bureau of Diplomatic Corps Affairs left North Korea Friday to visit the Amur Region, the (North) Korean Central News Agency said in a br
N. Korea may be preparing for nuke, missile tests: gov't

Aug 17, 2012

(Yonhap) -- North Korea may be preparing to conduct a nuclear or missile test in the near future, a government report submitted during a meeting with ruling party lawmakers showed Friday. "The defense ministry claimed that the communist country was prepared to carry out tests with little preparation time," said a senior Saenuri official, who declined to be identified. The party official said w
Senior North Korean leader meets Chinese president

Aug 17, 2012

The powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday morning, after Beijing earlier in the week agreed to help Pyongyang revamp two trade zones near the Chinese border.The high-level talks are a sign that Beijing and Pyongyang are strengthening ties after Kim took over following his father's death last year. State media have said
N. Korea could produce dozens more nukes: study

Aug 17, 2012

North Korea could build an arsenal of up to 48 nuclear weapons, several times more than it has now, if the communist state were able to step up its program unchecked, a US think tank said Thursday.North Korea's nuclear program is shrouded in secrecy, but the Institute for Science and International Security used limited available information to chart out different scenarios for Pyongyang's progress