South Korea does not ban civic groups from sending flour and other humanitarian supplies to North Korea, an official here said Tuesday, hinting at a new policy direction on aid, which has been banned since the North’s November naval attack. Seoul has been cautious about sending flour to Pyongyang due to its possible use as military provisions. The purported approval indicates South Korea’s softeni

Dragging its feet on food aid for North Korea, the United States is sending the wrong signal to the international community that the communist nation is not in urgent need of food handouts, an expert said."Taking no decision is really a decision," Roberta Cohen, human rights specialist at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said in a recent report.She said that a delay in the U.S. decision

Starving North Koreans have been conducting aggressive campaigns to deliver rice to their 1.2 million-strong active military, the South Korean government said Sunday, as disputes continue over the conditions in the communist state. North Korean farmers vowed to “carry out active campaigns to send more rice to the military” during a July 4 assembly, the Seoul government said, quoting a recently acq

Heavy downpours battered much of North Korea earlier this week, causing casualties and flooding homes, farmlands, and roads, the country's media reported Saturday.The massive flooding raises fresh concern that the North's already serious food shortages may worsen. The North's Korean Central News Agency said that downpours hit many parts of the country from July 12-15, with North and South Hwanghae

Sweden is planning to send medical aid worth US$2.94 million to North Korea, the Voice of America reported Saturday.The supply of medical aid to the communist state will be made through European relief agencies such as Save the Children U.K., according to the report.The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) said the medical aid to the North is part of its humanitarian assista

Senior South Korean and U.S. diplomats began a new round of negotiations here Thursday on Seoul's pursuit of expanding its peaceful nuclear technology.The two-day meeting, the third of its kind, will focus on fine-tuning the wording of a draft agreement presented in the previous round, according to officials.The existing treaty, signed in 1974, expires in March 2014.South Korea is seeking to revis

North Korea is supposed to have discharged water from a dam near the border with the South on Wednesday without advance notification, the state water agency said.The water level on the Pilseung Bridge near the border reached 5.8 meters as of 8:25 p.m. and is increasing by 25 centimeters every hour, officials at the Korea Water Resources Corp. said.The bridge near the Imjin River, which flows from

North Korea on Wednesday demanded that the South present its plans to dispose of the Seoul-owned assets at the Mount Geumgang resort by July 29, according to a government official.The North also said that should the South make no response by then, it would unilaterally dispose of the assets held by South Koreans.The demand came as a 10-member delegation of Seoul government officials and investors

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Tuesday for an end to partisan strife over free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia and Panama."I know two things about trade. It is a polarizing political issue, but done right, it creates American jobs," she said in a speech at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Conference in Washington.She pointed out the U.S.-South Korea FTA is pr