The United States will closely consult with its Asian allies such as South Korea in dealing with North Korea, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday. He also said close consultation with allies will be part of US efforts to strengthen its alliances. "To revitalizing America's alliance, the president has spoken with key allies in both Europe and Asia. Just last night, he had the opportunity to speak with both the president of the Republic of Korea and the prime minister o

North Korea will be provided with 1.99 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine by June this year to inoculate nearly 1 million people, COVAX said Wednesday. COVAX is an international group that helps less wealthy countries with vaccination efforts. The North will start receiving vaccines in late February at the earliest. But the program could face delays as the AstraZeneca vaccine has yet to be approved by the World Health Organization, which expects to discuss the matter later

The brother of a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korea's military near the western sea border last year met with Unification Minister Lee In-young on Thursday and asked the government to deliver his letter to the North's leader. Lee Rae-jin, the brother of the deceased official, said he handed Lee the letter, in which he asked for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's cooperation so that he could visit the North to find the truth behind his brother's death. "I asked the unific

The unification ministry said Thursday it is not appropriate to use the inter-Korean cooperation fund to help people suffering from the coronavirus given the nature of the money set aside for cross-border exchanges. Media reports earlier showed that the main opposition People Power Party is pushing to tap into the inter-Korean fund worth around 1.2 trillion won ($1.08 billion) in providing support for the virus-affected people during an interpellation session Friday. "The inter-Korean coo

Unification Minister Lee In-young said he is against additional sanctions on North Korea, which US Secretary of State has mentioned as one of the options the US may consider as it reviews its North Korea policy. “To talk about further sanctions, it is about time to evaluate what kind of outcome the sanctions so far has brought,” Lee said during a meeting with the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club on Wednesday as he answered a question on what he thinks about Antony Blinken&rs

North Korea will convene a congress of the country's largest youth association for the first time in four years, state media reported Thursday, in an apparent move to enlist support for new policies and decisions adopted at last month's Workers' Party congress. During the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party, the North unveiled a new five-year economic development plan focusing on self-reliance in the face of the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and global sanctions on its regime. T

Unification Minister Lee In-young said Wednesday that South Korea has been sufficiently communicating with the United States about a recently legislated ban on the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea.  The amendment to the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, set to take effect next month, has raised concerns among critics that it could hurt freedom of expression and undercut efforts to send outside information into the reclusive North.  "South Korea and th

The UN secretary-general’s office said Monday that it believes South Korea will respect human rights when it implements the ban on the cross-border launching of anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets. The leafleting is set to become a felony in March under legislation introduced by Seoul to protect residents near the border, in fear of retaliation by Pyongyang, which fired at balloons carrying leaflets, food and medicine in 2014. The two countries exchanged gunfire at the border. “W

North Korea is accelerating efforts to improve its irrigation system and recover from last year's flood damage ahead of the spring farming season, state media said Wednesday. Last summer, North Korea was hit hard by heavy rains and back-to-back typhoons in several regions, including the rice-producing areas in its southern parts. As part of recovery efforts, the North is repairing its reservoirs and building waterways in typhoon-hit regions, including in Gangwon and South Hamgyong provinces, a

Only about $1.3 million has been pledged as humanitarian assistance to North Korea so far this year, an over 80 percent plunge from the same period last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, UN data showed Wednesday. According to the data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Switzerland has promised to donate $1.21 million in humanitarian aid to the North since the start of this year. Of the total, $1.16 million has been assigned to help provide nutrition to No

The United States' missile defense system provides deterrence against "limited" nuclear attacks from countries such as North Korea, Deputy Defense Secretary nominee Kathleen Hicks said Tuesday. Hicks said if confirmed, she would work to further improve the missile defense system. "As currently constructed, the relationship between US missile defense and the US nuclear arsenal is complementary," she said in written response to her pre-confirmation-hearing questions from the

The United States is reviewing its North Korea policy to use the most effective tools to advance the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in his first media interview since taking office last week. Blinken said that included a possibility of further sanctions in coordination with US allies, as well as unspecified diplomatic incentives, he said in an interview with broadcaster NBC aired Monday evening, local time. Asked whether it was time to reco

The United States is looking for optimal ways to advance the denuclearization process in North Korea and also deal with "growing problems" from the North's nuclear weapons, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Blinken said such measures may include additional sanctions but also diplomatic incentives. "This is a problem, a bad problem that has gotten worse over time, and I would be the first to acknowledge that it's a problem that has gotten worse across administrations,&qu

South Korea's energy ministry on Monday made public an internal document about the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in North Korea to defuse "unnecessary" political turmoil sparked by a report on the paper's existence. A TV station reported earlier that documents on a nuclear power project in the North were among hundreds of computer files that industry and energy ministry officials deleted ahead of the state audit agency's inspection of atomic energy policies. The repo

A former acting North Korean ambassador to Kuwait has said that Pyongyang won't give up its nuclear weapons because the arsenal is the key to the survival of leader Kim Jong-un's regime, a CNN report showed Monday. Ryu Hyun-woo, who defected to South Korea in September 2019 while serving as acting chief of mission at the North's embassy in Kuwait, made the remark in an interview with CNN. His defection was made public only last week. "North Korea's nuclear power is directly linked to the