North Korea appears to have reaffirmed its will toward bolstering its nuclear war deterrence during a recent key party meeting again after the communist regime vowed to do so at the end of last year, the unification ministry said Monday. The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday that leader Kim Jong-un presided over a Central Military Commission meeting and discussed "new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country." "T

WASHINGTON -- US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien renewed calls Sunday for North Korea to give up its nuclear program if it wants to have a "great economy," after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a key party meeting to discuss bolstering nuclear deterrence. In his first public appearance in about three weeks, Kim presided over a session of the Workers' Party's Central Military Commission to discuss "new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence,"

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, reappearing after three weeks out of the public eye, called for stronger “nuclear war deterrence” at a key military meeting, the country’s state media reported Sunday. 　 Kim presided over the meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party, which the Korea Central News Agency said was held to discuss “putting the strategic armed forces on a high alert operation” in line with the “building and dev

North Korea has designated the date its late founder Kim Il-sung created anti-Japanese guerrilla forces in 1932 during Japan's colonial rule of Korea as a national holiday, its main newspaper said Sunday. The Rodong Sinmun said a decree was promulgated Wednesday to institute the April 25 founding day of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA) as a national holiday. "In order to meaningfully celebrate the founding day of the KPRA, April 25 every year has been instituted as a nation

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a Central Military Commission meeting and discussed "new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country," state media reported Sunday. Also discussed at the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party were important military steps and organizational and political measures to further bolster up the overall armed forces, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Set f

The United Nations Human Rights Committee said Wednesday a group of North Korean workers who defected to South Korea in 2016 are not being detained against their will, as claimed by lawyers who submitted a complaint to the UN body on behalf of the defector’s self-proclaimed families. In 2016, 13 North Korean restaurant workers in China defected to South Korea. A year later, one of them, the manager, claimed Seoul’s spy agency orchestrated the defection to politicize the event. Prog

South Korea is closely watching the whereabouts of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the unification ministry said Friday, as his absence from public view has stretched to three weeks once again. A swirl of global rumors about Kim's heath and even the possibility of his death came to an end when he attended the completion ceremony of a fertilizer factory with a broad smile on May 1 after a 20-day absence from public view. Speculation over his whereabouts has resurfaced as he has been out of pu

North Koreans remain vulnerable to the novel coronavirus pandemic, despite Pyongyang’s repeated claims that it has no infections, the US State Department said Wednesday. The department, asked by Radio Free Asia on Wednesday for comment on the COVID-19 situation in the North, said the country was still underprepared to deal with the disease, noting its stance on the matter remains unchanged after three months.  In February, the State Department said it supported the e

Former presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok told a behind-the-scenes story about the 10 months of dialogue leading up to the most recent US-North Korea summit in February 2019 in a periodical to be published Friday. In the summer issue of the Quarterly Changbi, Im said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was “candid and confident” when he met with President Moon Jae-in for their first summit in April 2018 at the border village of Panmunjom. Im, who sat in on the meeting, said: &ld

The Unification Ministry on Thursday reiterated that the set of sanctions slapped on North Korea in 2010 over its deadly sinking of a South Korean warship had lost their effect and are no longer a “barrier” for inter-Korean cooperation. 　 “Through past administrations, a large part of the May 24 Measures has virtually lost effect,” an official said, echoing the ministry’s stance previous day. “The important aspect is that the government does not see those sa

The United States is closely monitoring risks to global supply chains from cyberattacks by North Korea and other countries amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, US Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said Tuesday. “I talked a lot about nation state threats, and how those manifest in different ways whether it’s China, Iran, or everything in between, North Korea. From a cyber perspective, we’re very concerned about that,” he said at a US Chamber of Commerce even

North Korea’s trade with Southeast Asian countries has dropped while its trade with Central and South American countries rose under toughened United Nations sanctions. Seven of North Korea’s 10 largest trading partners have been replaced since the UN tightened sanctions against the reclusive state, and its exports last year amounted to a 17th of the level in 2015, Voice of America reported on Wednesday, citing the Korea International Trade Association’s reports and past data.

A set of sanctions slapped on North Korea over its deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010 has since been softened and no longer poses any obstacle to inter-Korean exchanges, the unification ministry said Wednesday. Ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key made the remark as South Korea marked the 10th anniversary of the sweeping sanctions that the South imposed on the North after the communist nation sank the South Korean warship Cheonan and killed 46 sailors. "Previous governments have

South Korea's unification ministry has launched a new section on its website featuring "fake news" as part of efforts to prevent the spread of groundless rumors about North Korea and inter-Korean affairs. It is the first time that a government agency has launched such a fake news section on its homepage. The move came amid growing worries that the spread of unsubstantiated rumors and speculation about the secretive North could cause confusion and instability in society and financial

WASHINGTON -- A US senator has urged the Senate leadership to include measures to streamline aid to North Korea in a future coronavirus relief package. The proposal by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), ranking member of the East Asia Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was sent in a May 15 letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, according to a press release posted on Markey's website Monday. "As you work to craft future coronavirus relief pac