WASHINGTON-- US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun called on the North on Friday to halt its demonstrations of hostility and return to denuclearization talks.In a speech at the University of Michigan, the top US envoy to North Korea negotiations said both countries must work together to ensure progress on denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.His remarks came as dialogue has stalled despite an agreement between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim

South Korea will continue to abide by UN sanctions on North Korea until the communist nation's complete denuclearization, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. The ministry made the statement in response to the latest assessment published Thursday by a UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions on the communist state.The UN report concluded that North Korea's illegal smuggling of resources such as refined oil and coal through ship-to-ship transfers remains in place in violation of the sa

Promised food aid is unlikely to be delivered to North Korea by the end of this month, the unification ministry said Friday.In June, South Korea announced it would provide 50,000 tons of rice to the North via the World Food Programme (WFP) to help the impoverished country address its worsening food shortages. Its original plan was to complete the delivery by September. But the North is reportedly refusing to accept the aid, taking issue with a joint military exercise South Korea and the United S

A United Nations panel of experts recommended Thursday that the Security Council draft future sanctions against North Korea with a focus on its cyberattacks.The experts made the recommendation in a new report to the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions implementation against the North, saying the regime is estimated to have illegally acquired as much as $2 billion through cyberattacks.The report covered the period Feb. 2 - Aug. 2, and detailed the regime's increasingly sophisticate

North Korea's missile programs are designed to support its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, a United Nations panel of experts said Thursday, underscoring the ongoing threat posed by the regime.The panel made the assessment in a new report for the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions implementation against North Korea, adding that the regime's nuclear weapons program also continues unabated.The report covers the period Feb. 2 - Aug. 2, and comes as US-North Korea

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- North Korea wants the number of UN international staff in the country reduced by the end of the year over what it claims is the politicization of aid by parties hostile to its government, but the United Nations says the mission's current "light footprint'' is vital.Kim Chang Min, secretary general of North Korea's National Coordinating Committee, said in a letter to the UN resident coordinator in North Korea that in recent years "UN supported programs failed to b

North Korea’s state media lashed out at South Korea on Thursday for introducing F-35A fighter jets from the United States, saying it proves that Seoul has not given up its ambition to attack the North.“This reckless act demonstrates the war-mongering force in South Korea has not given up is ambition to take a preemptive strike against us,” the Korean Central News Agency said. “The South’s move to build up its armed forces will only justify our military measures tens

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington is not looking for a leadership change in North Korea, amid failure to resume denuclearization talks. While answering a question from reporters about tensions in Iran, Trump brought up North Korea and said the two countries have “tremendous potential,” seemingly urging the regime to return to the denuclearization talks.“Iran can be a great country and North Korea can be a great country,” he said. “They can be

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has returned home after a three-day visit to Pyongyang but without meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the North's state media reported Thursday.Wang arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Wednesday evening, after meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, and Ri Su-yong, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea's Central Committee, in Pyongyang. Reporting on Wang's meeting with the vice chairman, the North's main

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States is not looking for regime change in North Korea, appearing to extend another invitation to Pyongyang to return to denuclearization talks.Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump again lumped North Korea and Iran together as he suggested the possibility of striking a deal with both."Iran can be a great country and North Korea can be a great country," he said. "They can be great. We are not looking for a regime c

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- North Korea has told the United Nations to cut the number of international staff it deploys in the country because the world body's programs have failed "due to the politicization of UN assistance by hostile forces," according to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday.The United Nations estimates 10.3 million people - almost half the country's population - are in need and some 41 percent of North Koreans are undernourished, while Pyongyang said in February it

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will not attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations later this month "due to his schedule," the country's mission to the UN told Reuters on Wednesday.Ri has attended the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York for the past three years. North Korea was initially listed on a tentative speaking schedule - dated July10 - to again be represented at ministerial level, but a rev

　Forty-two percent of North Korea’s population is expected to remain food insecure even 10 years later, a recent US Department of Agriculture report said, as the impoverished country grapples with worsening food shortages. 　Referring to North Korea as one of Asia’s “most food-insecure” countries, along with Yemen, the International Food Security Assessment, 2019-2029 by USDA’s Economic Research Service showed an estimated 57.3 percent of North Korea’s populati

North Korea's state media slammed Japan on Wednesday over its suspected plan to discharge radioactive water into the sea, saying it would be a criminal act that could bring about a nuclear calamity in the region.Environmentalist group Greenpeace earlier said that Japan is planning to discharge about 1 million tons of radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. Japan has said that it has not made any specific decision yet on how to dispose of the cont

South Korea's vice defense minister on Wednesday held a series of bilateral talks with his counterparts from foreign countries and asked for their continued support for efforts to denuclearize North Korea and build peace on the peninsula, his office said. On the sidelines of the 8th Seoul Defense Dialogue under way in Seoul, Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min met with his counterparts from Singapore, Uzbekistan, the Philippines and Ethiopia, to share their assessment on the recent security situa