Information on around $23 million worth of frozen North Korean funds deposited at three US banks will be disclosed to the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died after being detained in North Korea, possibly enabling them to collect damages. 　 The US District Court for Washington D.C. on Monday granted a “protective order” requiring three American banks -- Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and The Bank of New York Mellon -- to disclose information on the accounts that

North Koreans under leader Kim Jong-un live in dire human rights conditions, facing execution for watching or circulating South Korean TV dramas, the Korea Institute for National Unification said in its latest white paper on human rights in the North. The extensive application and frequent implementation of the death penalty in the communist regime could be a breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral treaty the United Nations adopted to safeguard individ

A new cultural center for promoting exchanges between North Korean defectors and the local community will open Wednesday with limited programs due to concerns over the coronavirus, the unification ministry said. The Inter-Korean Cultural Integration Center, which was set to open in March, had been delayed amid the spread of COVID-19. The ministry said the opening ceremony of the center, located in Seoul's Gangseo district, will be replaced by the online release of video clips of congratulator

North Korea's official newspaper on Tuesday emphasized the importance of self-reliance, claiming hostile forces are bent on trying to "economically suffocate" the communist nation. North Korea has repeatedly called for self-reliance in many areas, including economic development as it is bracing for a long fight against sanctions amid a deadlock in denuclearization talks with the United States. "Hostile forces are making a frantic effort to economically suffocate us," the R

The United States is focused on drawing North Korea back to denuclearization talks and is willing to show flexibility in reaching balanced agreements to reflect the promises the two countries exchanged at the Singapore summit in June 2018, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday. Asked by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency to respond to President Moon Jae-in’s latest push to resume inter-Korean exchanges, the top US diplomat reiterated that Washington supports inter-Korean coope

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for anti-virus cooperation with North Korea as a way to break the impasse in inter-Korean relations amid stalled denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington. 　 “We should not only watch the US-North Korea dialogue, but search and do what can be done between the two Koreas,” Moon said during a Q&A session following a special address to the nation marking the third anniversary of his inauguration. 　 Among various inter-Korean

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the North's state news agency reported. Kim expressed the belief that friendly relations between the two countries would steadily develop and wished that Putin can achieve victory in preventing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. In Russia, the virus has killed more than 1,7

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sought to strengthen ties with China by sending a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulating him on gaining control over the COVID-19 situation. In the message Kim congratulated Xi, “highly appreciating that he has seized a chance of victory in the war against the unprecedented epidemic,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency said Friday. “Kim Jong-un wished Xi Jinping good health, expressing conviction that the Chinese part

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a "verbal message" to Chinese President Xi Jinping, lauding Beijing's success in stemming the spread of the new coronavirus, state media reported Friday. In the message, Kim "congratulated him, highly appreciating that he is seizing a chance of victory in the war against the unprecedented epidemic," according to the Korean Central News Agency. "Kim Jong-un wished Xi Jinping good health, expressing conviction that the Chinese pa

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and a stalled peace process on the Korean Peninsula, South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul proposed a joint response system with North Korea against infectious diseases. 　 “The coronavirus has affected not only our daily lives but also inter-Korean relations and the political landscape of the peninsula in various ways,” Kim told reporters during a press conference held in Seoul. 　 “The ministry is preparing ways to tackle such unconven

A new facility that is probably linked to North Korea’s ballistic missile program is nearing completion, a US think tank said. In a report published onTuesday (US time), Beyond Parallel, a website specializing in North Korean matters run by the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies, said the facility -- located about 17 kilometers northwest of Pyongyang International Airport -- is most likely linked to the North’s missile program. The website predicted th

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is not seriously ill, nor did he undergo heart surgery during his recent absence from the public eye, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday. 　 “At least, it is judged that Kim did not receive surgery or a medical procedure related to his heart,” ruling Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Byung-kee told reporters after a closed-door parliamentary briefing with the National Intelligence Service. “(We were also told that) while he

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul visited the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom on Wednesday, just days after South and North Korea exchanged gunfire at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two sides. The unification ministry said Kim's visit was not related to the recent gunfire and was aimed at assessing preparations for the planned resumption of tours to the truce village, which have been suspended since the outbreak of African swine fever last year. On early Sunday, four bul

The US-led United Nations Command is drawing up a report on a recent border shooting incident between South and North Korea after a field inspection into the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone, officials said Wednesday. On Sunday, four bullets from North Korea hit a South Korean guard post in the central part of the DMZ in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, prompting South Korean troops to fire back, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. UNC, which administers the DMZ and enforces the armisti

The United States and South Korea were in close coordination over North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent disappearance from public view, a State Department official said Tuesday. The comment by Marc Knapper, deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, suggests that the allies jointly sought to verify unconfirmed reports that Kim was seriously ill or possibly dead, and may have looked into options in the event the reports turned out to be true. "I'd say, you know, without g