The US point man on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, ended his trip to Beijing without setting up talks with the North on Friday amid concerns that Pyongyang could resume provocations in protest over the deadlocked nuclear negotiations.Biegun, who has just been confirmed as the US' new deputy secretary of state, was not seen boarding an Air China plane bound for Pyongyang at the Beijing Capital International Airport, a sign that his speculated trip to the North would not materialize.He then departed

North Korea recently established a website providing information on science and technology trade, its state media said Thursday, an apparent move to revitalize related sectors amid economic challenges stemming from global sanctions.The North‘s National Science and Technology Committee created it to contribute to invigorating technology trade by establishing a link to prepare and verify the quality and competitiveness of technology products, the official Korean Central News Agency said. &ld

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been calling on the US to suspend its joint military exercises with South Korea so that it can direct resources into the regime’s economic development, a former unification minister suggested. If South Korea and the US revive their biggest annual spring drills, Foal Eagle and Key Resolve next year, he says, North Korea will have to divert a larger number of armed forces back to the military grounds for training from construction sites where they were com

North Korea and China stressed their friendship and cooperation while Beijing and Moscow have requested from the UN partial sanctions relief for Pyongyang.According to Yonhap News Agency, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the North Korean Embassy in China held an exhibit at the National Library of China in Beijing on Tuesday in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.  About 100 people, including North Korean ambassador to China Ji J

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution calling for accountability for gross human rights violations in North Korea.It is the 15th straight year the UN General Assembly has adopted such a document, which passed by consensus without a vote.The Assembly "condemns the long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights in and by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, including those that may amount to crimes agai

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of US senators Wednesday warned North Korea of further economic sanctions in response to any provocation, such as a long-range missile test.The four senators -- Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) -- led passage of a North Korea sanctions bill as part of an annual defense policy bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday.The defense bill is certain to be enacted into law as US President Donald Trump said last week h

The US point man on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, could hold a secret meeting with North Korean officials when he travels to China later this week, a former South Korean unification minister said Wednesday.The State Department announced earlier that Biegun, US special representative for North Korea policy, will visit Beijing on Thursday and Friday "to discuss the need to maintain international unity on North Korea."The previously unannounced trip, which follows his visits to Seoul and T

North Korea is unlikely to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles at least until the end of the year in order not to embarrass China, experts said Wednesday, amid concerns the regime could express frustration at the stalled denuclearization talks with the US through a major military provocation. “Chances are high that North Korea won’t test-fire missiles before and after a China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit or even until the year-end, taking into account Beijing’s po

WASHINGTON -- The United States will not ease sanctions on North Korea short of the regime's complete and verifiable denuclearization, a senior aide to US President Donald Trump said Tuesday, following reports that China and Russia proposed the United Nations lift some sanctions on the North.Kellyanne Conway, senior counselor to Trump, did not comment directly on the draft UN resolution proposed by China and Russia on Monday.Instead, she told reporters the US position regarding sanctions has not

WASHINGTON -- US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will visit Beijing later this week to discuss the need to maintain international unity on North Korea, the State Department said Tuesday.Biegun will be in the Chinese capital on Thursday and Friday following visits to Seoul and Tokyo, the department said in a brief statement.He will "meet with (Chinese) officials to discuss the need to maintain international unity on North Korea," it said, indicating the US official

　North Korea’s crop production this year is estimated to have slightly increased from a year earlier on the back of relatively improved weather conditions, data showed.　The combined crop output of the communist nation is estimated to reach 4.64 million tons this year, compared to 4.55 million tons a year earlier, according to the Rural Development Administration.　The production of rice, a key staple food for Koreans, is estimated to have risen 1.8 percent over the period to reach 2.24 mill

Signs of the resumption of activity at some military test sites in North Korea have been observed, less than two weeks before the year-end deadline the regime set for denuclearization negotiations with the United States. Amid speculation that the North may carry out a military provocation, experts say its actions may involve tests for the development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads.According to a report releas

Prospects are dim for denuclearization talks between the US and North Korea next year, with the possibility of the communist regime escalating military tension, the South Korean government said Tuesday. “If there is no progress in North Korea-US negotiations by the year-end deadline, the possibility of North Korea’s leader declaring the suspension of the talks in his New Year’s address cannot be ruled out,” the Unification Ministry said in a press release on its evaluatio

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the mausoleum in Pyongyang where his late father's body is enshrined to commemorate the eighth anniversary of his death, the North's state media said Tuesday.Kim paid tribute to his deceased father and former North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun where the bodies of late Kim and the country's founder, Kim Il-sung, lie in state, according to the Korean Central News Agency.Kim Jong-il died in 2011 after ruling the communist

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Monday rejected a reported proposal by China and Russia to lift some United Nations sanctions on North Korea, saying Pyongyang has yet to make progress toward denuclearization.A spokesperson for the State Department made the comment after Reuters reported that China and Russia proposed a draft UN resolution seeking partial sanctions relief, including the lifting of sanctions on North Korean exports of statues, seafood and textiles."Now is not the time for