A North Korean defector who crossed the inter-Korean border back to his homeland was tested for the new coronavirus, but the results were inconclusive, a media report said Wednesday.    On July 18, the 24-year-old man, surnamed Kim, fled back to the North after swimming across the border from the western border island of Ganghwa. His case became known after North Korea reported on July 26 that a "runaway" returned home in the border city of Kaesong with COVID-19 symptoms. &

　Eleven North Korean defectors went back to their communist homeland from South Korea over the past five years, the Unification Ministry said, after Pyongyang claimed that a defector suspected of having virus symptoms recently crossed the demarcation line to return home. 　The 24-year-old defector is believed to have fled back to the North while he was under police investigation over suspicions of raping a female defector last month. His return was made known after the North said that a &ldq

A major river running through North Korea's capital of Pyongyang is at risk of flooding as heavy rainfall continues to pound the country, according to state media on Wednesday. North Korea is expecting to see an average of 150 to 300 millimeters of rainfall around the Taedong River from Wednesday to Thursday, and the water level of the river is expected to exceed the warning level around Thursday evening, the North's weather agency was quoted by state media as saying. On Tuesday, flood alerts

North Korea issued flood alerts in areas along three western rivers Tuesday as heavy rain continued to lash many parts of the country, a North Korean media report said. The flood alerts were issued near the Taedong River, the Chongchon River and the Ryesong River for Thursday and Friday, according to the North's Korean Central Television. All the three rivers empty into the Yellow Sea, with the Taedong running through the capital city of Pyongyang. An official at North Korea's weather age

North Korea appears to have been pushing ahead in advancing its nuclear weapons program, a UN report has said, assuming the North has “probably developed miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles.” 　 The report by an independent panel of experts monitoring UN sanctions, said several countries, which it did not identify, assess that Pyongyang’s past six nuclear tests had likely helped it build miniaturized nuclear devices, according to a Re

North Korea has recently released water from a border dam three times without notifying Seoul, in defiance of an inter-Korean agreement, authorities here confirmed on Tuesday.  Pyongyang partially opened the floodgates at Hwanggang Dam, 42 kilometers north of the western border with the South, unleashing water into Imjin River on Monday, stoking concern that it could raise water levels here. A Unification Ministry official said that since July, the North has discharged water from the dam

Record-breaking torrential rain and the COVID-19 pandemic are threatening North Korea, which has already been troubled by years of international economic sanctions. The country’s state broadcaster said Tuesday that heavy rain will continue in most regions from Monday night through Thursday morning, with special warnings issued in South and North Pyongan, South and North Hwanghae provinces; Kaesong; southern Jagang Province and certain inland areas of Gangwon Province. Lesser-degree warn

North Korea did not notify South Korea before discharging water from a border dam earlier this week in violation of an inter-Korean agreement, a unification ministry official said Tuesday. On Monday, the North partially opened the floodgates of Hwanggang Dam on the western inter-Korean border and sent water into the Imjin River, a move that put authorities here on alert against the potential rise in water levels in the South. "North Korea has opened the gates of the dam three times from

North Korea's No. 3 leader visited a major port in the western city of Nampho to inspect antivirus efforts, state media reported Tuesday, after leader Kim Jong-un declared a state of emergency following the return of a defector from South Korea. In late July, North Korea declared a "maximum emergency system" against the coronavirus after it claimed a defector returned home from the South with symptoms. It has since intensified antivirus efforts, putting the border town of Kaesong in

North Korea on Monday discharged water from a border dam without notifying South Korea in advance, ahead of possible torrential downpours in the communist state, government sources said. The North partially opened the floodgates of Hwanggang Dam on the western inter-Korean border and sent water into the Imjin River, a move that put authorities here on alert against the potential rise in water levels in the South. The water discharge came as the North's official Korean Central News Agency repo

　The North Korean economy is estimated to have expanded at an annual rate o f 4.7 percent between 1956 and 1989, the Bank of Korea estimated. 　North Korea's economy grew at a double-digit rate up until the 1960s, but has failed to catch up to that of South Korea since then, according to the central bank. 　The BOK report said the North Korean economy is believed to have expanded at an average annual rate of 13.7 percent between the 1956-1960 period. Its growth nosedived to an average 4.1 pe

North Korean propaganda outlets on Sunday lashed out at South Korea over a recent US decision to lift restrictions on Seoul's use of solid fuel for its space rockets, slamming the move as being contrary to the South's calls for peace. Seoul and Washington revised the missile guidelines between the two countries Tuesday to lift a decades-old ban on the South from using solid fuel for space rockets, a move expected to lead to the country developing space rockets and launching spy satellites to m

The international nongovernmental organization, Human Rights Watch, has called on South Korea to stop "regulatory intimidation" against some activist groups focusing on North Korean human rights, calling it a "political crackdown."    Last month, Seoul's unification ministry sought to check if the groups were operating in line with their declared business purposes -- a move critics argue was aimed at clamping down on those sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the

A 2.0 magnitude earthquake hit North Korea's southeastern region close to the inter-Korean border Saturday, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.    The quake occurred at 2:58 a.m., 29 kilometers north-northwest of Pyonggang County in Kangwon Province, at a depth of 17 km, according to the KMA. Pyonggang is located just across the border from South Korea's Cheorwon, 90 km northeast of Seoul. The epicenter was at 38.65 degrees north latitude and 127.16 degrees east long

Two in five defectors who returned to the North lived in South Korea for less than three years, a lawmaker said Saturday, urging authorities to pay greater attention to the management of former North Koreans here.    Rep. Lee Sang-min of the ruling Democratic Party, citing data obtained from the Ministry of Unification, said that a total of 28 defectors had left South Korea to go back to their communist homeland from 2012 to 2017.    Of them, 12 defectors had lived in the