North Korea on Wednesday advised its people against going to crowded areas, saying the coronavirus can be transmitted even through eye infections. Introducing a medical study conducted abroad, the Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the North's ruling Worker's Party, highlighted social distancing measures as the COVID-19 virus was found to be more contagious than previously known. "There is a risk of transmission of the coronavirus through the eyes ... the respiratory system is not the only rout

Michelle Bachelet, UN high commissioner for human rights, said Tuesday that North Korea needs UN sanctions relief because its health care system lacks the resources to counter the coronavirus. “Obstacles to the import of vital medical supplies, including over-compliance with sanctions by banks, will create long-lasting harm to vulnerable communities,” she said. She was implying UN sanctions could hamper Pyongyang’s coronavirus response. Bachelet said the North Korean public

North Korea’s foreign currency income looks set to shrink this year, as the coronavirus halts Chinese tourism, one of the few remaining legitimate sources of hard currency for the cash-strapped regime, a Seoul-based think tank said in its latest report. Pyongyang, which closed its borders with Beijing to contain COVID-19, has long relied on tens of thousands of its people working in China, Russia and elsewhere to send dollars back home, but many workers have been sent back because of UN s

Local non-government organizations can receive government financial support for coronavirus-related North Korea aid projects if they have an agreement with Pyongyang, a unification ministry official said Tuesday. The remark came amid hopes for resuming aid projects in North Korea after US President Donald Trump expressed an intention to help with Pyongyang's fight against the coronavirus in a recent personal letter to leader Kim Jong-un. "We have established regulations on humanitarian a

South and North Korea should work together in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus from the perspective of "humanitarian" and "mutually beneficial" cooperation, Seoul's unification ministry said Monday. The emphasis on cross-border cooperation came a day after North Korea announced that US President Donald Trump expressed an intention to help its fight against the coronavirus in a personal letter to leader Kim Jong-un. "Our government's

North Korea's main newspaper called Monday for "unconditional and absolute" adherence to coronavirus quarantine regulations, saying allowing exceptions to the law could affect the very existence of the country. The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party, made the appeal in an editorial, stressing that it is also an important political issue for all people to strictly abide by regulations and order established under the national emergency quarantine system. &quo

Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, seems to have risen above her leadership title as deputy chief of Pyongyang’s propaganda affairs to Kim Jong-un’s personal messenger, aggressively weighing in on US relations and the inter-Korean agenda. In her second known official statement, released Sunday, she disclosed that US President Donald Trump had sent Kim Jong-un a letter, saying Washington was ready to expand cooperation with Pyongyang to combat the cor

The two short-range projectiles North Korea fired into the East Sea on Saturday were ballistic missiles and the test was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said Sunday, adding the “strategic and guided weapons” would soon be operational. The missiles flew approximately 410 kilometers and reached a peak altitude of 50 kilometers from Sonchon, along the North’s western coast. In its third weapons launch this month, the North was suspect

North Korea's main newspaper on Sunday called public attention to keeping "at least one meter distance" from others in what appears to be a social distancing effort to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Introducing foreign countries' measures to curb COVID-19 outbreaks, the Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, mentioned such social distancing measures as staying away from others and avoiding public transportation. Pyongyang has claimed to have no C

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a test of a newly developed "tactical guided weapon," state media reported Sunday, a day after South Korea said the communist nation fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday that the North conducted the launches from areas near its western county of Sonchon in North Pyongan Province, and the missiles flew around 410 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitud

US President Donald Trump has sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, offering help with the communist nation's fight against the coronavirus, Kim's sister said Sunday. The letter is a "a good example showing the special and firm personal relations" between Trump and Kim, said Kim Yo-jong, first vice department director of the Central Committee of the North's Workers' Party, in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "We regard it as a good jud

A US public health expert has refuted North Korea’s repeated claims of zero COVID-19 infections, saying that Pyongyang could potentially be dealing with domestic transmission. “It’s really not very conceivable that they aren’t having transmission in North Korea,” epidemiologist Jonathan Mayer from the University of Washington told Voice of America on Thursday. The North could not have blocked the transmission, especially if the virus was circulating in China, he ad

North Korea's parliament will convene a plenary session in Pyongyang next month, state media said Saturday, amid the country's nationwide efforts to block an outbreak of the new coronavirus on its soil.    The presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) on Friday released its decision to convene the third session of the 14th SPA on April 10, according to the Korean Central News Agency.    North Korea usually holds such a meeting once in April every year to address the

North Korea fired what appeared to be two ballistic short-range missiles into the East Sea on Saturday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have overseen the third weapons test this month after previous rounds on March 2 and 9. The missiles flew approximately 410 kilometers and reached a peak altitude of 50 kilometers from Sonchon, along the North’s western coast. The North is suspected of firing variants of the US surfac

North Koreans born in 2020 can expect to live about 71 years on average, whereas their South Korean neighbors have an average life expectancy of about 82 years, the Central Intelligence Agency said in its latest World Factbook. Boys and girls in the North have life expectancies of 67 and 75 years, respectively, as opposed to 79 and 85 in the South, the CIA said. The median ages for the North and South stand at 34 and 43, respectively. North Koreans over the age of 65 make up only 9 percent of