A Seoul court on Thursday ruled that a North Korean defector and his family should be compensated for suffering sustained by having been falsely accused of being a spy. The Seoul Central District Court ordered the government to pay 120 million won ($107,900), 80 million won and 30 million won, respectively, to Yoo Woo-seong, his sister, Ga-ryeo, and his father, in compensation. Yoo, an ethnic Chinese who defected to the South in 2004, was indicted in February 2013 on the charge of espionage, l

A Canadian aid group has provided soy milk to around 80,000 children in North Korea as part of efforts to ease malnutrition among kids in the impoverished state, its website showed Thursday. First Steps Health Society said that 100 tons of soybeans have recently been shipped to "eight of our soymilk partner sites in three provinces, reaching more than 80,000 children with much needed soymilk at exactly the right time." The recently-delivered soybeans are part of 400 tons the group pr

North Korea's state news agency on Wednesday highlighted the hazards of smoking, saying the habit could increase the chances of getting infected with the new coronavirus. North Korea's media outlets have intensified calls for people to stop smoking since Pyongyang held a parliamentary meeting and adopted an anti-smoking law earlier this month. "Smoking has taken more lives than natural disasters and traffic accidents," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. "Since the new

North Korea is believed to have up to 60 nuclear warheads that can threaten regional stability, according to a recent estimate by a research institute affiliated with the US National Defense University. The Institute for National Strategic Studies said in its Strategic Assessment 2020 report that the North is assumed to have between 15 and 60 nuclear warheads and approximately 650 ballistic missiles capable of threatening cities in South Korea, as well as in Japan and eastern China. "Thro

North Korea is making all-out efforts to prevent forest fires, state media said Wednesday, as the dry weather puts the country's deforestation problem at greater risk. "Efforts to protect forests, including forest fire prevention, are under way as part of nationwide patriotic efforts," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The North has strengthened patrol in the forest areas and tightened rules for visitors during the fall season, the KCNA added. It then called on all cities

A western border hiking trail along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Korea will reopen to the public later this month after more than a year of closure due to the outbreak of African swine fever. The hiking trail in Paju, about 30 kilometers northwest of Seoul, will begin accepting visitors starting Nov. 28, after all three DMZ hiking trails closed in September last year amid concerns over the spread of African swine fever. "Even after the reopening of the Paju hiking trail

CHUNCHEON -- South Korea has made its first formal proposal to North Korea to co-host an upcoming international youth sports competition. The province of Gangwon on the east coast of South Korea said Tuesday it sent a letter to Pyongyang in August, with the help of civic organizations that provide aid to the North, seeking an opportunity to stage the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics together. Gangwon was named the host of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) event in January this year. Though t

US President-elect Joe Biden’s potential national security advisers may recommend ratcheting up pressure on North Korea, but such moves, if pushed to the extreme, could backfire and a new strategy may be necessary. With the new Biden national security team yet to take shape, experts said prospective advisers understand the importance of sanctions to engage Pyongyang in talks. “These advisers believe Trump squandered the reputational weight of the presidency by meeting Kim Jong-un

The military will take steps to improve the border security system after a North Korean man crossed the heavily guarded border into the South unhindered last week, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Tuesday. The man, whose identity was withheld, was captured Wednesday, 14 hours after he crossed the border in a suspected defection attempt. The military came under heavy fire in the wake of the security failure. JCS spokesperson Col. Kim Jun-rak said during a press briefing Tuesday that the mil

North Korea's urban population increased this year compared with five years ago, with more than 60 percent of the total population living in urban areas, though the figure is still one of the lowest in the region, a UN report showed Tuesday. According to the "World Cities Report" by UN-Habitat, the number of North Koreans living in urban areas, including the capital city of Pyongyang, came to 16.12 million as of mid-year, accounting for 62.4 percent of the total population, up from 15

Stressing the latest US presidential election as an important turning point, Unification Minister Lee In-young on Monday called on North Korea to act cautiously and refrain from provocations to make this period a time for peace between the two Koreas.  Noting it could take several months for the incoming Joe Biden administration to review and come up with policy on Pyongyang, Lee underlined that this period of uncertainty could in turn become an opportunity to obtain peace on the Korean P

Unification Minister Lee In-young called for North Korea on Monday to act in a "discreet, wise and flexible" manner and refrain from provocations during the US leadership transition so as to keep chances of progress in nuclear negotiations alive. During a press meeting held at the ministry's inter-Korean dialogue office in Seoul, Lee also urged the North to carry out existing peace deals concluded with the United States and the South and demonstrate its denuclearization commitment to

The incoming Biden administration in the US would seek a bottom-up, step-by-step approach to disarming nuclear North Korea, and the policy could expand into a synergistic alliance with South Korea to bring lasting peace on the peninsula if Seoul adjusts its tune, experts here and abroad said Monday. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump has employed an unconventional, top-down style, dealing directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and often touting a special relationship with Kim th

Now that Democrat Joe Biden has won the US presidential election, how the new president-elect and his administration will cope with North Korea is attracting keen attention here. During his election campaign rallies, Biden called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a “dictator” and a “thug,” and criticized his rival President Donald Trump for befriending Kim. But Biden left the door open for a possible summit, with the condition being that Pyongyang work to make the Kor

US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seems to be fully prepared to engage in North Korean denuclearization, Joseph Yun, former US special representative for North Korea policy, said Thursday. Yun told the local Jeju Forum that he was surprised to see Biden addressing Koreans in the US as well as here, adding that it was evidence that Biden’s agenda included Korean issues. But Yun did not detail what exactly his message was. Earlier, Biden sent a contribution to Yonhap News Agency