North Korea threatened Thursday to disclose voice recordings of a secret meeting it had with South Korea last month, during which Seoul allegedly proposed holding a series of inter-Korean summits.In a surprise move earlier this week, North Korea reported that the two Koreas held a secret meeting, during which Seoul negotiators had "begged" for three inter-Korean summits, the first in late June at

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The U.S. House of Representatives will consider a bipartisan bill on reinforcing sanctions on North Korea, along with Iran and Syria, for their proliferation activities, a senior congresswoman said Tuesday.The bill, co-drafted by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-California) calls for the expans

North Korea has trained its special forces to be capable of infiltrating and striking more than 90 percent of targets in South Korea, a report said Tuesday, ringing alarm bells over the threat posed by the North’s elite troops. The report, released by retired one-star Army general Lee Won-seung, was based on a series of drills simulating an infiltration by North Korean special forces that hit targ

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea test-fired a short-range missile off its western coast last week, an intelligence source said Wednesday. "North Korea fired a KN-06 short-range missile off its west coast in the middle of last week," the source said on the condition of anonymity. "The launch is seen as a test to improve the KN-06 missile." North Korea has apparently been trying to increase the range o

Responding to North Korea's fresh military threats against South Korea, the United States called on the communist nation Friday to improve inter-Korean ties.Earlier in the day, the North's military issued a statement vowing to launch “retaliatory military attacks” against South Korea because its reserve forces used photos of North Korean leaders for target practice.The threats were the latest in a

North Korea’s disclosure of what it claims was an “under-the-table proposal” from the South for summits seems to seek a stir here that observers say will not only worsen inter-Korean ties but trigger political conflicts.Pyongyang’s National Defense Commission said Wednesday some of President Lee Myung-bak’s aides had made secretive contact with the North earlier this year to propose three summit m

North Korea and China recently forged a deal to develop two North Korean border towns into an industrial belt and introduce, in part, free market practices, a North Korean government document showed.According to the document obtained by the Yonhap news agency, Pyongyang and Beijing agreed to foster the development of the North’s towns of Rason and Hwanggumpyong into an industrial belt.Rason, in th

Ministry says North distorting South’s ‘real intentions’North Korea said Wednesday South Korea proposed to hold three meetings between their leaders and pleaded for any gesture to appease South Koreans still angry over last year’s attacks via an unofficial communication channel.Pyongyang’s powerful National Defense Commission said senior officials from Seoul including President Lee Myung-bak’s sec

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s recent visit to China indicated that the two countries’ communist alliance remains intact, but that it may be shifting toward a relationship based more on strategic and economic interests.The varying tones of state-run media reports from Pyongyang and Beijing on Kim’s summit meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao last week suggested that the two allies may not b

South Korean military officers have been warned not to open suspicious emails sent to them as signs of a North Korean hacking attack have been detected, a military official here said.North Korea, which is believed to be operating a special computer hacking military unit to collect secret information on South Korea, is suspected of sending spam emails carrying viruses to collect classified informat

North Korea threatened Monday that it will no longer engage with South Korea and will retaliate against Seoul for anti-Pyongyang "psychological warfare."In a spokesman's statement, the North's powerful National Defense Commission said it will cut off military communication lines between the two Koreas and close its liaison office in the Mount Kumgang resort area."The army and people of the (North)