North Korea has allowed foreigners to visit 22 more facilities in Pyongyang, Russia's Embassy in Pyongyang said, in an apparent move to ease coronavirus-prompted restrictions for access to public areas. On its Facebook page, the embassy said it has received a notice from the Protocol Department of the North's foreign ministry, saying that 22 facilities were added to the list of 299 cultural, sports, entertainment facilities and retail outlets in Pyongyang that foreigners can visit. Among them

North Korea did not answer South Korea's phone calls via liaison and military hotlines for the second consecutive day Wednesday, officials said, as Pyongyang is ramping up criticism against the South for going ahead with its summertime exercise with the United States. The calls via the inter-Korean liaison office and military communication channels in the eastern and western border regions went unanswered at 9 a.m., after the North began to shun their regular calls from Tuesday afternoon, accor

North Korea on Wednesday slammed South Korea and the United States again for going ahead with its joint military exercise, warning it will make the allies feel a serious security crisis every minute. Kim Yong-chol, head of the North's United Front Department handling inter-Korean affairs, made the remarks in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, saying the South Korean authorities have defied the opportunity to make a turn in relations. The denouncement comes just a d

North Korea did not answer daily phone calls from South Korea via liaison and military hotlines on Tuesday afternoon, hours after the sister of the North’s leader Kim Jong-un blasted Seoul and Washington for going ahead with combined military exercises.  The inter-Korean communication lines -- the liaison hotline and the military channels in the eastern and western border regions -- were in normal operation until the morning but the afternoon calls went unanswered, officials said.&n

South Korea’s budding efforts to resume diplomacy with North Korea are once again fanning expectations for a visit to the reclusive country by Pope Francis. Since the recent reopening of the direct hotlines connecting the two Koreas, officials are reviewing a slew of ideas to expedite inter-Korean talks such as setting up a virtual conference system or holding a family reunion event during the Chuseok holidays in September. Renewed attention is also being paid to the possibilit

North fails to respond to inter-Korean hotline call on Tuesday afternoon

Inter-Korean communication lines were in normal operation Tuesday despite an angry statement that North Korea issued against joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, officials said. Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued the statement expressing "deep regret" to South Korea for going ahead with the exercise with the US after she warned earlier that the maneuvers will cloud inter-Korean relations. Despite the statement, the two Koreas

Countries have welcomed the restoration of inter-Korean communication lines in their joint statements adopted after a series of multilateral meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last week, South Korea's foreign ministry said Monday.  Such phrases were included in all four chairman's statements from the ministerial meetings of South Korea-ASEAN, the East Asia Summit, ASEAN plus its three Northeast Asian dialogue partners -- South Korea, China and Japan -- and the

Civic activists detained last week for allegedly receiving orders from Pyongyang to organize protests against the purchase of F-35A stealth fighters from the US had received at least $20,000 from North Korean agents for their operation, warrant applications by the authorities showed. The National Intelligence Service and the police searched the homes of four activists in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, in May and found USB flash drives containing encrypted files of orders and reports they

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Monday that it would explore all possible ways to help relief efforts in North Korea’s flood-hit eastern regions. “We will leave all the possibilities open, including cooperation through state and civilian channels and international organizations, and then come up with concrete cooperative measures,” ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo told reporters. “Our basic stance is that humanitarian cooperation between the two Koreas

South Korea will try to help North Korea with recovery efforts in a flood-hit eastern province while leaving all possibilities open as to how to provide assistance, the unification ministry said Monday. The remark came a day after North Korean state media reported that leader Kim Jong-un ordered full state support for recovery efforts in South Hamgyong Province, hit hard by recent heavy downpours, and that the country held an emergency meeting of the provincial military commission to discuss re

South Korea and the US are discussing the possibility of offering humanitarian assistance to North Korea as a way to engage the recalcitrant regime, but it remains to be seen whether Pyongyang is ready to return to dialogue.  South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held phone talks Friday, during which the two officials consulted on avenues of cooperation with the North, including humanitarian cooperation, and agreed to continue their efforts

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered full state support for recovery efforts in a flood-hit eastern province as the country convened an emergency meeting of the provincial military commission to come up with recovery plans, state media reported Sunday. About 1,170 homes were destroyed or flooded, and some 5,000 residents were evacuated urgently and large tracts of farmlands were flooded as up to 307 millimeters of rain fell in the eastern South Hamgyong Province between Aug. 1-2, accordi

South Korea's foreign minister has renewed calls for North Korea to return to dialogue during a regional security forum, his office said Saturday, as Seoul seeks to resume nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang following the recent restoration of inter-Korean communication lines. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong made the call during Friday’s virtual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF), a rare multilateral forum involving North Korea. North Korea‘s Ambassador to In

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party wants the US to endorse its initiative to rebuild ties with North Korea, the Washington Post said Friday, citing party leader Rep. Song Young-gil. Seoul is eager to pick up the momentum for diplomacy with Pyongyang by using the hotlines that the two Koreas reconnected a week ago. The North, which severed them a year ago, had reached out to the South, which sees an opportunity to resume what it calls a trust-building process to revive inter-Korean dial