North Korean leader Kim Jong-un highlighted the importance of science and technology education, saying people educated abroad should be hired as university professors in the North, Pyongyang’s state media said Wednesday. Kim made the statement during a meeting with leading officials of the North’s Workers’ Party last month. The message was delivered to a national conference of teachers held Tuesday, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said.“Science and technology

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on North Korea to release all political prisoners, accusing Pyongyang of a series of human rights abuses at prison camps, such as arbitrary arrests, beatings, forced labor and executions.Guterres made the appeal in a report submitted for the 74th Session of the General Assembly, which is slated to kick off on Sept. 17. The report covers the North's overall human rights situation from September last year to July this year."Citizens of the Demo

The crisis level of the Korean Peninsula remained unchanged last month despite a series of short-range projectile launches by North Korea, an international think tank said in a recent report.The International Crisis Group's global crisis tracker Crisis Watch marked the situation on the peninsula as "unchanged" while noting the five rounds of projectile launches carried out by the North in August. The group also said South Korea and US President Donald Trump played down the North's laun

The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and Russia held talks in Russia on Tuesday on North Korea's denuclearization and other peninsula issues, Seoul's foreign ministry said.Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met with his Russian counterpart, Igor Morgulov, in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, the ministry said in a release.They discussed the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea's latest series of missile launch

South Korea and the United States held working-level talks in Washington last week about the North Korean nuclear standoff and inter-Korean issues, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.Rhee Dong-yeol, director-general of the Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Bureau at the ministry, had broad discussions over the matters with his US counterparts last Thursday, according to the ministry. His visit follows the latest meeting between top nuclear envoys of the two allies, Lee Do-hoon and Stephen Biegun, tha

The foreign ministers of North Korea and China agreed to consult closely on Korean Peninsula issues during a bilateral meeting in Pyongyang, amid stalled denuclearization talks with the US. Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho following his arrival in Pyongyang on Monday for a three-day visit. Marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea, Wang and Ri said t

North Korea has hosted a dinner reception for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visiting Pyongyang, state media reported Tuesday, amid speculation that his trip might be intended to discuss North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to Beijing.Wang arrived in Pyongyang on Monday on a three-day visit for talks with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho. Wang could also meet with the North's leader. "The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea gave a reception in honor of Wang Y

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi departed for Pyongyang on Monday for talks with his North Korean counterpart, amid speculation that the two sides could discuss a possible visit to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Wang left the Beijing international airport in the afternoon, accompanied by ministry officials, including spokesperson Hua Chunying. On Friday, Beijing's foreign ministry said Wang will leave China on Monday for a three-day visit to North Korea, without giving further details

The border island of Hambak in the Yellow Sea belongs to North Korea, the defense ministry said Monday, following revelations that some government maps and data erroneously mark it as South Korean territory.A controversy has erupted recently over the ownership of the small, uninhabited island near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border, after some news reports said that government data and maps show it belongs to the South.But the defense ministry said such data and maps are

North Korea denied on Sundayallegations that it had obtained $2 billion through cyber attacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, and accused the United States for spreading rumours.A United Nations report seen by Reuters last month said North Korea had used "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyber attacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, amassing $2 billion which it used to fund weapons of mass destruction programmes. "The United States and other host

North Korea on Sunday castigated a UN report on its cyberattacks aimed at creating funds for its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs, calling the report a "fabrication," its state media reported.A spokesperson of the North's panel on prevention of money laundering and terror financing made the remarks, calling the UN report a "downright lie" and a "pretext" for sanctions pressure against the regime, according to the North's official Korean Central News A

The US and North Korea still hope to take steps toward resuming their stalled denuclearization talks but their critical rhetoric reveals distrust and difficulties in arranging a working-level meeting. On Saturday, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, one of Pyongyang’s top officials leading the denuclearization negotiations with the US, said that Pyongyang’s hopes for nuclear talks with Washington are fading. She pointed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s

A recent remark by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about “North Korea’s rogue behavior” will make talks with the United States more difficult, the North’s KCNA news agency on Saturday quoted its vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, as saying.“We recognized that North Korea’s rogue behavior could not be ignored,” Pompeo said on Tuesday, while speaking at the American Legion National Convention in the state of Indiana.Pompeo’s comment was unreasona

North Korea's top diplomat is unlikely to attend this year's meeting of the UN General Assembly in a move that, if confirmed, would dash expectations for a meeting between him and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the sidelines.The North had earlier informed the UN that Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho would attend the UN General Assembly session opening on Sept. 17. But last week, Pyongyang changed the level of its keynote speaker to an ambassadorial, or "Corps Diplomatique," official f

North Korea’s hopes for talks with the US is fading, a senior North Korean official said Saturday, accusing the US of pushing Pyongyang to reconsider its measures. “Our hopes for talks with the US is gradually fading, and (the US is) pushing us into a situation where we cannot but reconsider all measures taken until now,” North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said in a statement on Saturday.  Referring to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement