US Rep. Chris Smith, who until recently co-chaired the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said the commission will open a hearing in early March at the latest to discuss South Korea’s 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. “I think appointments to commissions -- such as the Tom Lantos

North Korea‘s top diplomat to Geneva has argued that Pyongyang’s push toward strengthening its military capabilities was aimed at opening an era of peace, according to the North’s foreign ministry Friday. According to Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, Han Tae-song, North Korea‘s ambassador to Geneva, said via videoconference at the meeting of the United Nations Disarmament Conference in Geneva on Tuesday that the reason his country was building up its war deterrent ca

A pro-unification organization on Friday urged the US Congress not to hold a hearing on a South Korean law banning the sending of anti-North Korean leaflets, calling such a move a "clear infringement" on their country's sovereignty and interference in domestic affairs. The North Korean Committee for the June 15 Joint Declaration, which was established to uphold the peace agreement from the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, made the appeal in a statement that the group said was co-sig

A political controversy appears to be brewing over the Seoul government's possible attempt years ago to help North Korea build a nuclear power plant, after a local broadcaster on Thursday disclosed the existence of relevant government documents. SBS TV, citing prosecutors investigating the destruction of government documents related to the closure of an aging nuclear reactor by some officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2019, reported that a number of files on inter-Korean

North Korea's fiscal status has rapidly worsened due to the shutdown of borders over coronavirus concerns, leaving the communist country with no choice but to consider resorting to unofficial markets, a researcher said Friday. Lee Jong-kyu, a senior research at the state-run Korea Development Institute (KDI), made the case in a report published by the think tank, saying the North is likely to be considering utilizing local markets known as "jangmadang." "North Korea's finance an

A vocal North Korean defector activist has left for the United States for a congressional hearing on a controversial bill South Korea recently passed to ban the sending of anti-North Korea leaflets, his lawyer said Thursday. Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector who runs Fighters for a Free North Korea, flew to Washington on Wednesday to attend the hearing that Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is seeking to convene to discuss the anti-leafleting law. "Park left for the US yesterday for the purpos

Nearly 400 local and foreign civic groups on Thursday urged South Korea and the United States to suspend joint military drills as a "major confidence-building measure" toward North Korea. A total of 387 organizations, including 197 South Korean civic groups, made the appeal weeks after North Korea demanded an end to such combined military exercises during a recent party congress. "Suspending these costly and highly provocative war exercises will be a crucial step toward re-start

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday highlighted the need to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Biden made the remarks in a call with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to the White House. "They discussed regional security issues, including China and North Korea," a White House readout of the call said. "They together affirmed the necessity of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the early resolution of the abductions issue," it a

North Korea's official newspaper Thursday urged stepped-up efforts to realize a self-reliant economy and carry out key policy goals unveiled in a rare party meeting earlier this month. At the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un admitted the failure to meet the country's previous five-year development goals and put forward a new five-year plan focusing on self-reliance. "The socialist economic construction is the most crucial tas

More than 60 percent of North Korea's population is facing food insecurity as the global coronavirus pandemic has undercut food supplies in the impoverished country, a US Department of Agriculture report showed Thursday. According to the report by the department's Economic Research Service, 63.1 percent or 16.2 million people in North Korea suffered food insecurity in 2020. Food insecurity occurs when people fall short of the nutritional target of 2,100 kilocalories per day. The 2020 figure f

The United States will work with its Japanese and South Korean allies, but also with China and Russia to denuclearize North Korea, the appointee for US ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday. Linda Thomas-Greenfield also said the former Donald Trump administration may have failed to rid the North of its nuclear weapons because it tried to go "alone." "We certainly have to reengage with our allies. Again, this is not something we can do alone," she said in her confi

For many smokers, quitting smoking might be on top of their list of new year’s resolutions, and it appears that North Korea is also no exception. An article titled, “Anti-smoking and our lives” was published on Meari, one of North Korea’s propaganda media websites, on Monday, promoting the nation’s anti-smoking activities, campaigns and research centers specializing in treatments to stop smoking. Since the enactment of an anti-smoking law on Nov. 4. last year that

SEOUL/WASHINGTON -- Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed Wednesday that the North Korean nuclear issue is an urgent matter that the two countries should work closely to resolve. They shared the understanding in their first phone talks that came just hours after Blinken officially took office as the country's top diplomat following the Senate confirmation on his nomination. "The two ministers shared the understanding that the North Korean nucl

The deputy nuke envoys of South Korea and Russia held phone talks to discuss the latest developments on North Korea, including the recent key party congress, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday. Lee Moon-hee, director-general for North Korean nuclear affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, and his Russian counterpart, Oleg Burmistrov, shared assessments on the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula, including the eighth congress of the Workers' Party that ended earlier this month, the minist

North Korea's official newspaper on Wednesday stressed the importance of admitting flaws and fixing them at the right time as the country steps up efforts to carry out key policy goals unveiled in a rare party meeting earlier this month. "Revolutionaries must strictly stay away from praising one's own accomplishments and drifting into indolence, which is equal to giving up their struggle for the revolution," the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, said i