The government is considering allowing local aid groups to resume assistance to North Korea as the country is showing increasing signs of easing its border restrictions with China, a unification ministry official said Thursday. "The possibility of the North Korea-China border restrictions easing has been constantly observed, and it is rather increasing," the official said. "We plan to make a conclusion in the direction of allowing nongovernmental organizations to resume humanit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a construction site for riverside apartments in Pyongyang again in a week, state media reported Thursday, an apparent move to underscore his commitment to improving the livelihoods of people. Kim's "field guidance" trip to the construction site for "800 terraced apartment buildings" along the Pothong River marked the second time after he visited on March 25 without attending a test-firing of short-range ballistic missiles. "Stric

North Korea continued to blatantly violated UN Security Council resolutions last year, stealing more than $300 million in virtual assets to support its illegal development of weapons of mass destruction, a UN report said Wednesday. The impoverished country also continued to illicitly import oil, several times the amount allowed under UN Security Council resolutions, according to the report from a panel of experts under the UN Security Council committee on North Korea sanctions. "The Panel

North Korea on Wednesday denounced Japan's recent moves to beef up its military as a threat to regional peace and stability. In a commentary, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Japan's ambition to turn itself into a military powerhouse has accelerated since Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga took office in September. The news outlet noted Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi recently ordered the military to keep full preparations amid "severity and uncertainty of the securit

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The UN Security Council took no action after a brief meeting Tuesday on North Korea’s latest ballistic missile tests, the first since US President Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20 and a violation of UN sanctions. Council diplomats said all 15 members encouraged dialogue and negotiations on North Korea‘s nuclear program but disagreed on the need for a statement. Last Friday, the council unanimously adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of UN experts monit

North Korea's trade with the outside world has dropped to practically zero due to the country's tightened border controls amid the global coronavirus pandemic, the unification ministry said Wednesday. In January and February, the trade volume between the North and China stood at around $3.27 million, a ministry official said, citing Chinese customs data. "This figure includes the trade volume of electricity exported last year so there were no actual physical exchanges," a ministry of

North Korean people's access to outside information should be expanded but not at the expense of the safety of people living in border regions in South Korea, the unification ministry said Wednesday. A ministry official made the remarks after the US State Department stressed the importance of free flows of information to the reclusive North, referring to South Korea's recently enforced law banning the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets in its annual human rights report. "Our government al

The two ballistic missiles North Korea tested a week ago could carry nuclear warheads and would be hard to intercept with South Korea’s missile defense systems, a local security think tank said Tuesday in its latest report. “They could put a nuclear warhead on each KN-23,” the Sejong Institute said, referring to the missiles. The report cited experts including Jefferey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies. He said the North could mount nu

A US think tank suggested possible activity at North Korea’s key nuclear facility in Yongbyon, pointing to a satellite image showing steam coming out of its radiochemistry lab and thermal plant. The Center for Strategic and International Studies published its analysis based on a satellite image dated Tuesday as the US government is wrapping up a comprehensive review of its North Korea policy. In an article published on “Beyond Parellel,” a website run by the CSIS Korea Chair,

Recent satellite imagery showed steam from the plutonium reprocessing plant at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, a US think tank said Wednesday, an indication of activity at the facility used to extract the key nuclear weapon ingredient. The imagery taken on Tuesday shows a plume of steam or smoke emanating from a small support building in the center of the reprocessing plant, known as the Radiochemical Laboratory, according to Beyond Parallel, a project of the Center for Strategic and In

North Korea's official newspaper on Wednesday urged stepped-up efforts for effective water management to prevent the recurrence of flooding that caused heavy damage to the country last summer. "Without well organizing rivers and streams, we could be faced with tremendous damage as our homes, public buildings, roads and railways could be inundated or destructed and our farmland could be lost," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the ruling Workers' Party, said. "Natural disasters w

The UN Security Council convened a closed-door session Tuesday to discuss North Korea's recent missile launches but took no immediate action, a report said. On Thursday, the North test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, the first such provocative move in about a year. The launches came just days after it fired two cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea. The Security Council held the half-hour meeting, but it released no statement, according to AFP. A diplomat was quoted a

The United States will hold North Korea accountable for its "egregious" human rights violations, a State Department official said Tuesday, as it released an annual human rights report. Lisa Peterson, acting assistant secretary of state in the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor, made the remarks, reaffirming human rights will be an "indispensable" element of the Joe Biden administration's policy toward Pyongyang. The State Department published the 2020 Country Repor

US President Joe Biden does not intend to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as his approach to Pyongyang will be "quite different," the White House said Monday. During a press conference on Thursday, Biden said that the United States would respond accordingly if the North escalates tensions in the wake of its recent missile tests and that he is also prepared for some form of diplomacy. "I think his approach would be quite different, and that is not his intention," W

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday criticized South Korean President Moon Jae-in for his speech on the North's recent missile launches, mocking him as a "parrot" that repeats the United States' "gangster-like logic." Kim Yo-jong made the criticism in a statement after Moon said on Friday in a speech that any action that could undercut the mood for dialogue is "undesirable," hours after Pyongyang confirmed its test-firing of short-range ballist