A UN group has asked the North Korean government to provide an explanation as to the whereabouts of 41 civilians presumed to have gone missing or been abducted. 　 According to an annual report posted on its website, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has requested information on a total of 41 “enforced disappearance” cases from May 23, 2019, to May 15, 2020. The report is to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council’s upcoming 45th session slated

WASHINGTON  -- US President Donald Trump on Monday refuted claims that he had considered what he has called "beautiful letters" from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un just as those, apparently dismissing the naivety such a claim may imply. "Just heard that wacko John Bolton was talking of the fact that I discussed "love letters from Kim Jong-un" as though I viewed them as just that," Trump wrote on his twitter account. "Obviously, was just being sarcastic,

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged North Korea to resume stalled talks with the US and South Korea, stressing that diplomacy is the “only pathway” to achieve sustainable peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. 　 “In 2018, leaders of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, and the United States showed that dialogue is possible and that diplomacy is the only pathway to sustainable peace and denuclearization,”

South Korea will use the region's biggest annual security forum taking place this week to send a message that North Korea should return to the negotiating table, foreign ministry officials said Monday. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha plans to take part in a series of annual meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), set to take place from Wednesday through Saturday. This year's meetings will be held via videoconferencing due t

Some 300,000 North Koreans in Pyongyang have volunteered to help with recovery efforts in typhoon-hit eastern regions after leader Kim Jong-un called on party members in the capital city a day earlier to step forward to help, state media reported Monday. In an open letter sent to party members in Pyongyang, Kim said about 12,000 elite party members of the capital city will be sent to North and South Hamgyong Provinces each to help with recovery efforts, the Korean Central News Agency reported

Streets were flooded and telephone wires were cut Monday as North Korea came under the influence of a powerful typhoon expected to make landfall in the country's east coast later in the day, state media reported. The North's state TV station broadcast live updates on Typhoon Haishen in the usually off-air hours Monday morning, with reporters covering the scenes from Wonsan city and Tongchon County on the east coast, such as flooded streets, cut antennae and telephone wires. The station usual

The Unification Ministry is working with the Korean Red Cross to roll out a virtual reality tour of North Korea for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the ministry said Sunday. “The project aims to comfort the split families here, as the window of reunion opportunity is getting smaller by the day, given their advanced age,” a ministry official said. The first VR content will be about the hometown of Hyun Mi, an 83-year-old singer who was born in Pyongyang in 1937 and was

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday toured a province hit by Typhoon Maysak after convening a meeting there where he discussed countermeasures and replaced the provincial party committee chairman, the Korean Central News Agency said Sunday. “We can’t let our people here go on without homes when our national holiday is nearing,” Kim was quoted as saying at the meeting before visiting South Hamgyong Province. The regime celebrates the anniversary of its ruling party Oct.

Satellite imagery has shown activity at North Korea's main submarine shipyard in a possible sign that the communist nation could be preparing to test-fire a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), a US think tank reported. The primary indicator suggesting preparations for an SLBM launch is the presence of vessels at the North's Sinpo shipyard on the east coast, including one that resembles vessels previously used to tow the test stand barge out to sea, according to the Center for Strategi

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited typhoon-hit areas in the country's eastern South Hamkyong Province and presided over a Workers' Party meeting at the scene to discuss recovery efforts, state media reported Sunday. The enlarged executive policy meeting was held on Saturday to gauge the damage from last week's Typhoon Maysak that hit hard its eastern areas where more than 1,000 houses were destroyed, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The meeting "had an in-depth discussio

North Korea is estimated to have collected up to $2 billion in illegal funds through hacking cryptocurrency exchanges, international financial networks and automated teller machine systems, Voice of America reported on Friday. Citing documents from US law enforcement agencies and experts, the US government-funded broadcaster said North Korean hackers abuse the incomplete regulatory system of the nascent industry, the anonymity of cryptocurrency, and use methods known as “mixer” and

The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan held telephone talks Friday to discuss bilateral cooperation on North Korea's nuclear issue and other issues, the foreign ministry said. The talks between Lee Do-hoon and his Japanese counterpart, Shigeki Takizaki, came as Seoul pushes to bring Pyongyang back to dialogue and find momentum for its lackluster drive to foster lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. "The two sides shared their assessments of the recent situation on the Korean P

The governor of Gangwon Province bordering North Korea asked on Friday for active state support for his efforts to share the right to host the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics with the communist nation. Gangwon Province is where the venue of the 2018 Winter Olympics, PyeongChang, is located. Earlier this year, the province won the right to host the quadrennial 2024 Winter Youth Olympics, and Gov. Choi Moon-soon hopes to co-host the event with North Korea. "It would be a huge honor if (you) tak

A UN investigator on North Korea has urged Pyongyang to free political prisoners, saying that the country should “follow suit” after Venezuela, which pardoned such people recently.  Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, made an appeal on his Twitter Wednesday (local time), by retweeting a post from the United Nations Human Rights welcoming the decision of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to pardon over 100 political prisoners and act

Rosneft, a Russian energy company, has denied supplying oil products to North Korea."Rosneft does not supply North Korea and does not conduct any commercial activity in that country," the company said in a statement. "As a public company and one of the leaders in the global energy industry, Rosneft operates in strict compliance with Russian and international law, corporate standards, and in the interests of its shareholders." The company also said that a media report about