Construction drive for ‘strong and prosperous nation’ adds to difficulties in daily lifeThe year of building a “strong and prosperous nation” has come in North Korea, but its capital is suffering from one of its worst electricity shortages in recent years.According to the Daily NK, an online publication specializing in North Korea, Pyongyang is being hit by power shortages that are forcing citizens to make haphazard modifications to their apartments or seek other accommodation for the winter.Wit

North Korea will soon provide about 400 more North Korean laborers to South Korean companies operating in the joint industrial complex South Korea runs in the North’s border town, sources said Tuesday.It is the first time since the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il late last month that Pyongyang will send fresh laborers to South Korean firms in the Gaeseong Industrial Park.The provision of new laborers is seen as a signal of the new North Korean leadership attempting to maintain the joint

The National Election Commission plans to prevent North Korean defectors from entering South Korean diplomatic missions in China during the overseas voting period for the general elections.The overseas voting period for the April 11 general elections runs from March 28 to April 2, and the ballots are open to overseas Koreans with Korean nationality, and absentees such as those studying or working abroad. According to reports, the National Election Commission is reviewing plans to collaborate wit

NEW YORK, Jan 23, 2012 (AFP) - The former US pointman on North Korea voiced doubt Monday that the communist regime would give significant power to young new leader Kim Jong-Un, lowering chances for a resumption of diplomacy."Diplomatically, I think it's likely to be a fairly quiet year," Stephen Bos

SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will soon provide about 400 more North Korean laborers to South Korean companies operating in the joint industrial complex South Korea runs in the North's border town, sources said Tuesday.It is the first time since the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il

The joint South-North Korean industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong saw its production expand 14.4 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, Seoul's unification ministry said Monday.   The total production at the Kaesong Industrial Complex reachedUS$369.9 million during the Ja

North Korea held its first cabinet meeting since its long-time leader Kim Jong-il's death, the state media said Sunday.   According to North Korea's official Korea Central News Agency(KCNA), the North's cabinet members convened an enlarged plenarymeeting earlier in the day to review last y

North Korea's top envoy to Germany was caught illegally fishing earlier this week, but could not be detained due to his diplomatic immunity, a German magazine said Thursday (local time).Ambassador Ri Si-hong, who took office in September, was fishing on the Havel River in Berlin Sunday when local po

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S., Japan and South Korea say ``a path is open" to North Korea toward the resumption of talks on its nuclear program and improved relations through dialogue.Senior diplomats from the three allies held talks Tuesday in Washington on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and other issues including recent developments in Myanmar.It comes a month after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Before that, the U.S. appeared close to deal in which Pyongyang would get food

Some doubt his intentions behind those media interviewsRecently revealed remarks by Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of late North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il, have drawn keen attention here as he painted a grim outlook for the leadership of his brother Jong-un.Through the remarks, he has disparaged the third-generation power succession, doubted Jong-un’s untested leadership and asserted the need for an openness policy to shore up the moribund economy of the North.Jong-nam apparently fell out of his fa