SEOUL, (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may visit the site of a joint industrial park with China on his way back from the latest trip to the neighboring nation, sources said Monday, a move that could underscore his commitment to economic cooperation with the ally.The 69-year-old Kim has been traveling by train through the Changchun, Jilin and Tumen regions of China's northeastern region

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived at a northeastern Chinese city on the second day of his secretive trip to the ally state, TV reports here said Saturday.Kim's special train arrived in Changchun around 8:20 a.m., and a convoy believed to be carrying an entourage accompanying the leader was seen heading toward the city's South Lake Hotel, according to reports citing unnamed sources there. A l

The United States said Friday it will send a delegation to North Korea next week to assess the food situation and discuss human rights conditions in the impoverished communist state.The mission, led by Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will travel to North Korea for five days from Tuesday for "food assessment" and to address "appropriate human rights issues," State D

North Korea has vowed full disclosure of how donated food is distributed among its people, a senior World Food Program official said Thursday in an apparent bid to encourage Seoul to send food to the impoverished state. The comments by Claudia Von Roehl, director of the U.N. food agency in Pyongyang, come as Washington prepares to send its own delegation to North Korea to monitor the food conditio

A North Korean defector is waging a lonely legal battle against South Korean authorities over the alleged disappearance of his relatives in his communist homeland, following an unwanted disclosure of his identity in the South.The battle started two years after Lee Kwang-su arrived in the South along with his wife, two children and a friend aboard a small barge across the eastern sea border in 2006

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― China blocked the release Friday of a report by U.N. experts accusing North Korea of violating U.N. sanctions that ban the export and import of ballistic missile and nuclear-related items as well as conventional arms and luxury goods.China’s U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the Security Council to discuss implementation of two rounds of

North Korea on Tuesday said that South Korea’s recent announcement pinpointing it as the culprit for the April 12 cyber attack was a “fabrication,” denying its role in the nation’s worst-ever banking system crash.The North’s Defense Ministry spokesperson issued a statement, claiming that the announcement last Tuesday was the “same fabrication” as the sinking of the corvette Cheonan, according to i

The nuclear materials found in Libya in 2004 were highly likely to have been produced by North Korea, U.S.-funded broadcaster Voice of America said Saturday, citing an interview with a former senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog. In the interview, Olli Heinonen, the former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said uranium hexafluoride, or UF6 ― used in uranium

The number of North Korean defectors to Thailand has jumped more than 50 times since 2004, a U.S. report claimed Saturday.Radio Free Asia (RFA), citing a Thai newspaper, the Bangkok Post, said the number of North Koreans who illegally entered Thailand and were arrested soared from 46 in 2004 to 2,482 in 2010.Through April this year, 870 North Koreans have been arrested for illegal entry, RFA added