North Korea said Tuesday a forest fire broke out on Mount Kumgang in the eastern Kangwon Province over the weekend, damaging hundreds of hectares of forests and facilities. The fire started at about 3:20 p.m. Saturday on a hill near Kuryong Pool of Mount Kumgang and the Kosong Port Golf Course in the border county of Kosong, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). All available firefighters were immediately mobilized, and the fire was extinguished the next day at 11:

North Korea opened a new exhibition hall at a major museum in Pyongyang to mark the 10th anniversary of its leader Kim Jong-un's rise to power, state media reported Monday, amid efforts to tout his leadership. At the Korean Revolution Museum, the North displayed photos and videos of Kim's major "achievements of immortal leadership" since his pledge to build a responsible nuclear weapons state at a congress of the ruling Workers' Party in May 2016, the official Korean Central News Agenc

China’s top nuclear envoy meets high-ranking US diplomats during rare visit to Washington D.C.

North Korea appears to be continuing restoration work at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, including the construction of a tunnel entrance, a new report said, amid concerns that the secretive state may be pushing for another nuclear experiment. Commercial satellite imagery taken between March 24 and April 6 indicates continued activity at the site's Tunnel 3, such as new spoil piles and a newly uncovered entrance, according to the report released by the Vienna-based Open Nuclear Network. "T

US investor Jim Rogers is in the city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, which includes a portion of the Demilitarized Zone that divides North and South Korea, where he was previously tapped to become an inter-Korean project cooperation adviser. Rogers arrived in South Korea on Tuesday and was scheduled to sign the related agreement the following day. In an email interview Wednesday, Rogers expressed hopes for possible peace and exchanges despite the ongoing tug-of-war between the two countries, in

Seoul sees accidental conflict with North Korea as prone to happen in foreseeable future

Kim Yo-jong‘s statement simultaneously targets internal and external audiences at a critical jucture

North Korea has a large number of "theater-class" missiles with a desire to develop a "credible" missile threat, a US commander has said, casting the recalcitrant regime as a strategic security challenge. Adm. Charles Richard, head of the US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), made the assessment in a written statement to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense prior to a closed-door hearing on Tuesday (US time). "The DPRK previously tested ICBM class missiles desig

The United States has more room to maneuver in waters around the Korean Peninsula to help deter further provocations by North Korea and will continue to cultivate such options, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet said Monday. Adm. Samuel Paparo also said North Korea's recent missiles launches are "deeply, deeply concerning." "We are cultivating some options for a demonstration of our bilateral commitment to the security, the stability and the well being of the Republic of Korea,

The South Korean government called Monday on North Korea to refrain from escalating tensions in the region, responding to the latest statement, directed at Seoul, by Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korea's leader. "The Ministry of Unification clearly points out that North Korea should not cause additional tension on the Korean Peninsula in any case," the ministry's spokesperson Lee Jong-joo told a regular press briefing. The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs,

Kim Jong-un’s influential sister calls South Korean minister ‘scum-like guy’

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un lambasted South Korea's defense chief for talk of "preemptive strike" capabilities and warned that the South may face a "serious threat" for such a "senseless" remark, according to Pyongyang's state media Sunday. In her rare press statement issued the previous day, Kim Yo-jong called South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook a "senseless and scum-like guy" for mentioning a preemptive strike at a "nuclear wea

WASHINGTON -- North Korea continued to advance its nuclear capabilities last year despite its border closure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that led to "historically low levels" of goods and people entering or leaving the country, a UN Security Council panel of experts said in its annual report, released Friday. The panel, however, said Pyongyang also continued to seek materials and technology for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs from overseas by evading UN Security C

North Korea no longer has COVID-19 vaccines allocated for its people under the COVAX Facility initiative, an international group co-leading the vaccine-sharing program confirmed Friday. The announcement came amid a protracted setback in shipment-related efforts apparently attributable to lack of cooperation from the country's reclusive regime. "COVAX has no concrete allocations for DPRK currently," a spokesperson for the Gavi vaccine alliance told Yonhap News Agency, using the acronym

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took a commemorative photo in person with the participants of a workshop of the ruling party's propaganda officials and called for accelerated "revolution through a powerful ideological offensive," according to the country's state media Friday. Apparently, Kim paid keen attention to the workshop, which opened in Pyongyang on Monday and brought together officials in the "information field" of the Workers' Party of Korea. He sent a letter to the