The United States cautioned the world Wednesday against any action that may send the wrong signal to North Korea as it seeks to justify its planned rocket launch."We call on the international community to abstain from taking any actions, such as sending observers, that might be seen as endorsing a launch that would be in blatant defiance of the DPRK’s international obligations and commitments,” a

Four N.Korean defectors arrive in South Korea secretly after three years of forced stay in ChinaThe recent secret arrival of four North Korean defectors in South Korea from China indicated that international pressure not to repatriate North Koreans may be having an effect. However, it is still unclear whether the move was part of a long-term policy change.News reports from Beijing said Tuesday China allowed four North Korean defectors, who had been staying at a South Korean consulate in China fo

North Korea’s determination to go ahead with a planned long-range rocket launch is indicative of the new regime’s “structural intransigence” under young leader Kim Jong-un and a “self-defeating” choice, a South Korean unification policy adviser said Wednesday.Hyun In-taek, a unification policy adviser to President Lee Myung-bak who served as Seoul’s point man on North Korea for almost three years until last October, forecast a repeat of the North’s provocations in 2009, when it last launched a l

An international organization of more than 40 human rights groups around the world on Tuesday urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to address the issue of North Korean prison camps.The International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea, or ICNK, submitted a petition to call on the U.N. to carry out an investigation and report on the gulags.“The U.N. used a similar procedure to investigate the situation of U.S. detainees at Guantanamo Bay,” human rights lawyer Jared Genser, for

VIENNA (AP) ― As international tensions rise over a planned North Korean rocket launch, the U.N. nuclear agency is taking a wait-and-see attitude on an offer from the North to allow agency experts back into the country, according to a letter shared with the Associated Press.In the March 30 letter, circulated internally among the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35 member-nations, IAEA head Yukiya Amano expresses thanks for the March 16 overture by North Korean Atomic Energy head Ri Je-son an

North Korea plans to kick off an international art festival in Pyongyang next week, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan said Tuesday.The April Spring Friendship Art Festival, to be held from April 11 to 19, is designed to celebrate the centennial of the birth of North Korea‘s late founder Kim Il-sung.The festival will bring together about 800 artists from 23 countries, including China, Russia, France and Italy, the Choson Sinbo said on its Internet edition.Their performances will be devoted to

Five North Korean defectors have arrived in South Korea after spending three years in a South Korean consulate in China, a South Korean official said Wednesday.China has allowed them to travel to South Korea via a third country, the official said, a step Beijing usually takes to handle those involved in high-profile cases.The five people, who include three family members of a late South Korean sol

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not adapt well to an international school in Switzerland in the 1990s and his grades were poor, a news report has said.Kim was absent for 75 days and 105 days in his first and second year at the International School of Bern, respectively, Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche reported Sunday, citing unidentified sources.Kim sometimes came to the school only in the afternoons, the newspaper said, citing an former classmate of Kim.Kim, who used the pseudonym Pak Un,

Despite tough talk from President Barack Obama, the United States and its allies have limited options if North Korea goes ahead with its planned long-range rocket launch in mid-April.　 Washington is likely to take the matter to the U.N. Security Council, analysts say, and could tighten its already tough sanctions. Such efforts would struggle without support from China, which can be expected to resist any moves that might threaten the stability of its neighbor.　 There also is deep uncertainty abo

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not adapt well to an international school in Switzerland in the 1990s and his grades were poor, a news report has said.Kim was absent for 75 days and 105 days in his first and second year at the International School of Bern, respectively, Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche reported Sunday, citing unidentified sources.Kim sometimes came to the school only in the a

The U.S. suggested in an informal meeting in Berlin that North Korea ask China or Russia to launch its satellite Kwangmyongsong-3, but the North refused, a news report said.Japan’s TV Asahi reported that a civilian U.S. delegation, which met with its North Korean counterpart, offered the alternative if the North’s planned rocket launch was for peaceful purposes as claimed.However, the North rejected the offer, it said.The report said Ri Gun, director-general of the North American affairs bureau

North Korea said Monday its ruling Workers’ Party will hold a special conference on April 11 in Pyongyang where it is expected to name its new leader Kim Jong-un as General Secretary of the Workers’ Party, the party’s highest post.The scheduled conference comes just before Pyongyang’s planned launch of a rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 and also to mark the 100th year of the North’s late founder Kim Il-sung’s birth on April 15.The Workers’ Party conference is one of t

This month’s long-range rocket launch will cost North Korea some $850 million, the equivalent of feeding 19 million people for one year, intelligence authorities in Seoul estimated Monday.According to the estimate, revealed by a military official, construction of the launch site is expected to cost the North $400 million, while the rocket and its payload will cost $300 million and $150 million, respectively.The North says the rocket launch set for sometime between April 12 and 16 is designed to