Spread of information through phones may not immediately lead to big change: expertsThe number of North Korean mobile phone users has jumped in recent years, with the figure projected to top the 1-million mark by year’s end, an unusual phenomenon in the tightly controlled state.In the last three months, there has been an increase of around 140,000 cellular phone registrations, according to a recent report by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, the sole wireless carrier in the communist country.The figure,

Scaremongering about an imminent war with North Korea is quickly spreading among residents in the communist state, as the media in Pyongyang have increasingly distorted facts about Seoul’s military drills in recent weeks, sources said.The Korean Central Television, which controls both radio and TV broadcasting, said through its radio station on Monday that South Korea and the U.S. were “getting ready to stage a new nuclear war against North Korea by organizing the Extended Deterrence Policy Comm

BEIJING (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s top official in charge of relations with North Korea on Tuesday asked China to quickly send North Korean defectors to South Korea.Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, hoping to travel to Thailand or other Southeast Asian countries before resettling in South Korea.Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik sought cooperation from Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to ensure that “North Korean defectors can quickly come to Sout

A former South Korean Army soldier is being investigated for suspicions of espionage.According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency on Tuesday, the former sergeant first class was arrested on suspicion of passing military secrets to North Korea.Police suspect that the soldier, Kim, 34, whose full name was undisclosed to the media, crossed through Shenyang, northeastern China, into the North and handed over information gathered during and after his military service.The police report found tha

North Korea should stop its uranium enrichment program and implement denuclearization measures if it wants to resume the stalled six-party talks, a senior U.S. diplomat said Tuesday.“I think that both the Republic of Korea, the United States and our other partners have been very clear on what North Korea must do to be able to have a resumption of the six-party talks,” U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told reporters in Seoul after meeting with South Korean Foreign

A presidential advisory panel on national reunification has recommended to President Lee Myung-bak inter-Korean talks for the resumption of tours to the Mount Geumgang resort in North Korea.The recommendation by the National Unification Advisory Council came as Seoul has softened its hard-line stance toward Pyongyang to improve ties soured by two deadly attacks last year.“Although the North rejected our offer for comprehensive talks on the resumption of the tour program, the possibility at this

South Korea will hold a military drill in the West Sea on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of North Korea’s attack on Yeonpyeongdo.In the drill, units including the Northwest Islands Defense Command, Air Force Operations Command and the Navy Operations Command will engage in an exercise simulating last year’s attack under the command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Jung Seung-jo. The exercise will also include simulating the defense of Baengnuyeongdo against a North Korean attem

NEW YORK (Yonhap News) -- The human rights panel of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution condemning North Korea’s human rights abuses as part of annual move to put pressure on the communist regime, diplomats here said.The Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, which handles social, humanitarian and cultural issues, approved the measure co-sponsored by South Korea and 51 other member states. A total of 103 members voted in favor and 16 were against it, with 55

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- Stephen Bosworth, a former top U.S. envoy on North Korea, said Monday that he does not want to use the words “management strategy” regarding North Korea and pointed out that there is no “hard evidence” of Pyongyang’s nuclear ties with Teheran. “I would not use those words myself,” he said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency, the first with Korean media since he quit two and a half years of service as special representative for North Korea policy last month.As Wash

NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- The human rights panel of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights abuses as part of annual move to put pressure on the communist regime, diplomats here said.The Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly

The United States is unlikely to provide humanitarian food aid to North Korea this year as it believes food shortages in the communist state have been eased slightly by the autumn harvest, a Seoul official said. The U.S. has been considering an appeal from North Korea for food aid and sent a team in May of this year to assess the needs of the impoverished country, but is withholding its decision because of monitoring concerns. “The U.S. expects North Korea’s harvest volume to increase somewhat t

A North Korean spy has been caught impersonating a defector from the North, the South's public security authorities said Saturday.The man was identified as a member of the North's Military Security Command in a routine investigation of newly arrived defectors, government agencies, including the Nati

South Korea on Saturday hailed a resolution by the United Nations' nuclear energy agency expressing "deep and increasing concern" about Iran's nuclear program.The resolution was adopted on Friday during a meeting in Vienna of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."W

South Korea's state human rights panel said Saturday it has adopted a statement urging North Korea and China to immediately stop summarily executing defectors from the North in the border area, arguing the executions violatepeople's right to life."Summary executions of North Korea defectors are cont