WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States on Friday sanctioned three shipping firms for allegedly engaging in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum goods to North Korea.The US Treasury Department announced the measures on its website, adding that the companies are based in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The department also sanctioned two Taiwanese individuals and designated a Panama-flagged vessel as blocked property for engaging in related activity."Shipping companies trading with Nort

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called out North Korea and other nations on Friday for forcing disappearances of citizens viewed as a threat to their regimes.The statement marked International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, established by the United Nations."Authoritarian regimes often disappear advocates for freedom and human rights, journalists, political opposition and others to silence the voices of those who challenge their authority or express

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a resort construction site, Pyongyang's state media reported Saturday, making his first open field guidance trip in four months.  Kim visited Yangdok County Hot Spring Resort, located north of the capital city, Pyongyang, with senior party officials, including Kim's key aide, Choe Ryong-hae, and the leader's younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.It was the first time in four months that state media reported a fiel

Six puppies of two dogs given to President Moon Jae-in by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a gift last year were distributed to local governments Friday, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said. The North's leader gifted the pair of Pungsan-breed dogs, one male named Songkang and a female named Gomi, after their third summit in Pyongyang in September. Gomi gave birth to the six white puppies -- three male and three female -- in November. "The six puppies Gomi gave birth to are having t

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to North Korea next week for talks with his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, Beijing's foreign ministry said Friday. Wang will leave China on Monday for a three-day visit, ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing, without giving further details on his trip. The visit comes as North Korea has been ramping up pressure on Seoul and Washington amid a deadlock in its denuclearization talks with the United States. On Saturday, Py

North Korea revised its constitution Thursday to further solidify its leader Kim Jong-un’s authority during its rubber-stamp parliamentary session.The second session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly convened Thursday and “made some amendments and supplements to the Socialist Constitution,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. This included a stipulation about the status of the chairman of the State Affairs Commission, a position held by Kim.Kim

North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons, and it would be more effective to seek normalization of relations with the regime, an expert at US-based think tank said Tuesday.John Mueller, a senior fellow at Cato Institute and a political scientist at Ohio State University, also criticized the United States as the cause of friction on the Korea Peninsula due to its “atomic obsession.”  “It doesn’t matter whether North has nuclear weapons or not. There is a good c

As North Korea was to hold the second meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament Thursday, eyes are on what message or policy changes the regime may announce at the event.North Korea’s state-run media outlets reported that Pyongyang was to hold a plenary meeting of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, the second such meeting this year, following the first held in April. According to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, SPA members paid their respects at statues of

North Korea's recent weapons tests are aimed at bolstering its self-defense capacity at a time when "imperialistic behavior" infringing upon the sovereignty of other nations is spreading around the world.North Korea has fired seven rounds of short-range missiles and projectiles since late July, including the latest test of what it called a new "super-large" multiple rocket launcher on Saturday. The weapons tests are seen as intended to modernize its weapons system and also vo

North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament will hold its second meeting of this year Thursday amid stalled denuclearization talks.The Supreme People’s Assembly revises the North’s constitution and laws. It also sets basic policy principles, makes major personnel appointments and approves budget plans. As it is rare for the assembly to be held twice a year, attention is on what decisions will be made Thursday. The meeting comes after South Korea-US military drills, which Pyongyang ha

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Three important US allies on Tuesday condemned the "repeated provocative launches" of ballistic missiles by North Korea, saying they violate UN Security Council resolutions banning any such activity. The United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement after a closed council briefing by UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo that they requested because of serious concerns at the series of missile launches in recent weeks by North Korea.The three European

North Korea's recent stepped-up criticism of South Korea over joint military exercises with the United States is not anything out of the ordinary, a unification ministry official said Tuesday.The North has been ramping up pressure on Seoul, taking issue with the South Korea-US joint military drill that wrapped up last week and the introduction of new weapons, such as F-35A stealth fighters, from Washington."We don't see it as an occurrence of a new situation between the South and the North.

US President Donald Trump again touted North Korea's "tremendous" economic potential on Monday, seemingly urging the regime to return to denuclearization talks.The negotiations have yet to resume despite Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's agreement to do so within several weeks after their impromptu meeting on the inter-Korean border on June 30."I think that North Korea has tremendous economic potential, and I think that Kim Jong-un sees that," Trump said at a joint

The unification ministry said Monday that this week's meeting of North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament will be a "good opportunity" for it to announce Pyongyang's policy direction, vowing to keep a close eye on the event.  The 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) will meet in Pyongyang on Thursday, according to the North's state media, which will be the second time the legislature will have met after 687 new deputies were elected in nationwide polls in March.   &quo

North Korea on Sunday boasted the successful test-firing of what it called a “newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher,” a day after it fired two projectiles into the East Sea. Releasing pictures of the new weapon system, the state-run daily Rodong Sinmun said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un highly praised the new system after overseeing the test-firing.“The test-fire proved that all the tactical and technological specifications of the system correctly reached the p