Unification Minister Lee In-young said Friday that South Korea will keep seeking "dialogue" with North Korea to figure out exactly what happened to a South Korean official shot and killed by the North last month. Lee made the remark during a parliamentary audit session in response to a lawmaker's question as to how the government will draw cooperation from the North on the deadly incident at a time when Pyongyang remains unresponsive to Seoul's calls for a joint probe. "We wil

A group of main opposition party lawmakers boycotted an on-site inspection of Panmunjom on Friday in protest against the government's plan to reopen the inter-Korean border village for tourists next month. The People Power Party members of the National Assembly committee on national defense accused the Moon Jae-in administration of rushing to resume the tour program, although North Korea has yet to come clean on its recent gunshot killing of a South Korean maritime official. They argued that th

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent floral baskets to China to pay tribute to fallen soldiers from the 1950-53 Korean War, state media said Friday, in an apparent effort to highlight his strong and friendly relations with the ally. This came a day after Kim visited the cemetery of fallen Chinese soldiers in the North's South Pyongan Province and paid his respects to mark the anniversary of their participation in the conflict. Kim sent floral baskets to the cemetery of "the martyrs falle

WASHINGTON -- North Korea is one of a few nations that pose a threat to cyber security but stands out as an "unique" country that steals money, a senior official from the US Department of Justice said Thursday. John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, also noted the communist state may be getting support for its illicit cyber activities from China, in terms of know-how and protection. "A lot of it is getting money, getting cash. So on the cyber side very, y

The South Korean fisheries official who was shot dead by North Korea in the West Sea near the maritime border in late September was making defection, the Korea Coast Guard reaffirmed Thursday. “The missing official was a heavy gambler. We judge that he may have been mentally disturbed and attempted defection to the North to escape reality,” the Coast Guard told a press briefing, concluding its investigation into the case. The Coast Guard said, the official, who was in his 40s, mad

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the graves of Chinese soldiers who joined the Korean War 70 years ago, Pyongyang’s state media said on Thursday in an apparent show of reverence for the historical ties between the two communist allies. “Comrade Kim Jong-un visited the cemetery of Chinese soldiers in Hoechang County of South Pyongyan Province around the 70th anniversary of their participation in the war and paid tribute to the patriots,” the North’s Korean Central

North Korea’s denuclearization would ultimately lead to the declaration of an official end to the Korean War, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. The two Koreas are still at war, having signed no peace treaty to end the 1950-53 conflict. Pompeo was addressing questions about whether ending the war would be feasible without the North’s disarmament. President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly called for an end-of-war declaration. The top US diplomat again urged Pyongyang to c

North Korea appears to have suspended its signature mass gymnastic shows scheduled to be held until the end of this month after leader Kim Jong-un recently attended its performance, a unification ministry official said Thursday. North Korea's media earlier reported that the propaganda shows would be put on stage from early last week to the end of this month at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang on the occasion of the ruling party's 75th founding anniversary on Oct. 10. Kim attended its performa

WASHINGTON -- Declaring a formal end to the Korean War would "obviously" be part of efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, calling for North Korea's return to denuclearization talks. Pompeo's remarks come after South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged international support for declaring the war's end in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly last month. "So our position on that set of issues, that suite of i

WASHINGTON -- The United States must reinvigorate its discussion on strategic deterrence against continued and growing threats from other countries, including North Korea, the chief of the US Strategic Command said Wednesday. "Given Russia and China's expanding capabilities and increasingly aggressive behavior and those posed by nuclear North Korea and possibly Iran, we must reinvigorate the national conversation on the importance of strategic deterrence," said Adm. Charles Richard,

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the cemetery of Chinese soldiers who fell during the 1950-53 Korean War to mark the anniversary of their participation in the conflict, state media said Thursday. It appears be in line with Kim's push to further strengthen bilateral ties with China at a time when the North is in need of support from the ally amid stagnant economic growth and stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States. Kim visited "the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunt

Unification Minister Lee In-young vowed Wednesday to push ahead with inter-Korean cooperation projects to reconnect railways and allow for travel to North Korea, saying that it is the way that the two Koreas should go no matter what. Lee made the remark during a speech at a forum of the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), stressing the need to seek practical inter-Korean cooperation amid several challenges. "We are faced with the task of moving the US-North Korea nuclear talk

North Korean state media said Wednesday that the country’s leader Kim Jong-un expressed his intent to improve ties with China in his reply to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory message for the North’s Workers’ Party anniversary. “Together with Comrade General Secretary (Xi), I will further develop the traditional friendly relations between Choson (North Korea) and China, which have entered a new phase of vitality, in line with the demands of the times an

North Korea has introduced a payment service that allows people to purchase goods on mobile phones without having to carry around cash or plastic cards, a propaganda outlet said Wednesday. Meari, one of the North's propaganda websites, said that a joint research team from the central bank and a government agency in charge of information technology has "developed a mobile payment service and is introducing it in everyday lives." "The mobile phone electronics payment system is a n

An international health charity received UN approval for an exemption from sanctions against North Korea so it can help the country tackle COVID-19 and tuberculosis. The UN Security Council’s committee on sanctions against North Korea said Wednesday that it had approved a sanctions exemption for Doctors Without Borders, known by the French abbreviation MSF, to support North Korea with nutrition aid, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, and COVID-19 response measures.　 MSF plans to ru