WASHINGTON -- A US congressional committee on Wednesday passed a bill calling for US efforts to reunite Korean-Americans with their family members in North Korea.The Divided Families Reunification Act, introduced by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), passed through the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee amid ongoing tensions between the US and the North over the regime's nuclear weapons program.The bill requires the US secretary of state and the US special envoy on North Korea human rights

North Korea has pulled out of a December international women's football tournament in the South, Seoul's football authorities said Tuesday, weeks after Pyongyang hosted a surreal World Cup qualifier in a near-empty stadium.Pyongyang's nuclear talks with Washington are at a deadlock and it has been at loggerheads with Seoul since the collapse of the Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in February.The North has repeatedly excoriated Seoul, saying it has "noth

North Korea has turned down South Korea’s proposal to hold a working-level meeting over the regime’s plan to tear down the South’s facilities at the Kumgangsan tourist resort, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday. “The North has insisted on discussing a demolition plan and schedule for (South Korea’s) facilities (at the Kumgangsan resort) by means of exchanging documents without having to hold a working-level meeting proposed by our side,” the ministry said i

North Korea rejected South Korea's offer for working-level talks about the fate of a long-suspended joint tour program to Mount Kumgang, insisting on discussing the matter in writing, the unification ministry said Tuesday. Saying that it is "unnecessary" to hold such a face-to-face meeting, the North insisted on discussing the removal of South Korea-built facilities at the mountain on its east coast through the exchange of documents as it earlier proposed, according to the ministry.On

North Korea on Tuesday continued to pressure Seoul and Washington, accusing the allies of raising tensions and saying their policies will determine the future of the peninsula. Speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Azerbaijan, Choe Ryong-hae, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, accused the US of aggravating the situation on the peninsula. “The Korean Peninsula situation is at a critical juncture, whether the situation rides on the current of eas

South Korea is willing to discuss ways to guarantee the safety of tourists to North Korea's Mount Kumgang in a step toward allowing individual visits to the mountain if Pyongyang agrees to hold talks about a long-suspended joint tour program to the mountain, an official said Tuesday.South Korea made the proposal Monday to hold working-level talks, three days after Pyongyang asked Seoul to come and remove its resort facilities at Mount Kumgang, a follow-up on leader Kim Jong-un's order for their

China granted over 41 billion won ($35.2 million) worth of aid to North Korea in the first eight months of this year amid a stalemate in denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang, according to sources Tuesday.Its aid to North Korea is lkely to surpass that of last year, as more could be delivered in the fourth quarter following President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang in June, they noted.Chinese maritime customs statistics showed that Beijing’s aid to Pyongyang amounte

North Korea's No. 2 leader urged the United States to drop its hostile policy toward Pyongyang before seeking denuclearization talks, saying the current situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula are at a "critical crossroads," Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday.In a speech at the Non-Aligned Movement summit held in Azerbaijan, Choe Ryong-hae, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, also criticized South Korea for relying on outsiders in cross-border issues and

The South Korean government has proposed holding working-level talks with North Korea in response to the regime’s plan to abolish the South’s facilities at the Kumgangsan tourist resort, the Unification Ministry said Monday. The offer was made through the joint liaison office in the North’s border town of Kaesong after the regime notified the South that it would tear down the latter’s facilities in the tourist zone in accordance with the orders of its leader Kim Jong-un,

More than 1 million land mines believed to be in DMZ

South Korea offered Monday to hold working-level talks with North Korea about a long-suspended tour program at the North's Mount Kumgang, after Pyongyang demanded Seoul remove all of its resort facilities from the mountain in a threat to end the joint business.  The North made the demand Friday, following up on leader Kim Jong-un's directive that all South Korean-built facilities should be removed from the mountain resort and the North should build an international tourist zone of its

North Korea’s former top nuclear envoy said Sunday the close ties between the leaders of the regime and the US have a limited impact on their stalled denuclearization talks, stressing the year-end deadline for Washington to reconsider its negotiation method is fast approaching.“The US is seriously mistaken if it is of the idea of passing off in peace the end of this year, by exploiting the close personal relations between its president and the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission

North Korea said on Sunday there has been no progress in the North Korea-United States relations, and hostilities that could lead to an exchange of fire have continued, according to North Korea's state news agency KCNA.In a statement under the name of North Korea senior official Kim Yong-chol, KCNA said that it would be mistaken for the United States to ignore a year-end deadline on US President Donald Trump's and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's "close personal relations."Kim Jong-un

President Moon Jae-in said Friday that tours to North Korea’s Kumgangsan cannot be revived in the form they took before they were discontinued. The comment came hours after the Ministry of Unification revealed that the North had informed the concerned South Korean parties of its intentions to remove facilities from the mountain resort. “(The North Korea’s demands) could go against public sentiment, and such elements may damage inter-Korean relations,” Moon said at a

President Moon Jae-in said Friday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s idea of denuclearization matches that of the US and Seoul.Speaking at a meeting with the Cheong Wa Dae press corps, Moon said Kim has made it clear that his idea of denuclearization is the same, but that this outcome can only be achieved if the North’s conditions are met.  “Between the two Koreas, the term complete denuclearization is used, and what complete denuclearization means is the same as the d