The top US nuclear envoy pointed out the need Tuesday for "interim steps" to be taken on a path towards North Korea's ultimate denuclearization, which she stressed would not happen "overnight." US Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak made the remarks while reiterating Washington's "clear" goal to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. On Monday, Mira Rapp-Hooper, the US National Security Council senior director for East Asia and Oceania,

North Korea on Tuesday denounced an annual joint military exercise that South Korea and the United States launched this week, warning they will pay a "dear price" for what it called their large-scale war drills. An unnamed spokesperson at the North's defense ministry issued a statement condemning the annual Freedom Shield exercise that began Monday for an 11-day run to strengthen deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. "The large-scale war drills st

North Korea has removed articles with unification references from the website of its state-run media outlet, after leader Kim Jong-un called South Korea the North's "primary foe" and vowed not to seek unification with the South. As of Monday, a majority of the articles containing references to unification, such as "peaceful reunification," "great national unity" and "northern half," appear to have been deleted from the website of the North's Kore

Poland is in talks with North Korea to conduct a technical inspection at its diplomatic mission in Pyongyang, a US news outlet reported Saturday, after a few other European countries have taken similar steps amid prospects of reopening the missions in the North after years of the pandemic-driven shutdown. Poland is "discussing with the DPRK authorities a suitable time for both sides to conduct a technical mission in Pyongyang," the Voice of America reported, citing a written comment fr

North Korea was again assessed as one of the most repressive countries in the world in an annual report by the US-based freedom watchdog, receiving only three out of 100 points on the freedom index. In the report, titled "Freedom in the World 2024," published by Freedom House, North Korea was given zero points out of 40 in terms of political rights and 3 points out of 60 in terms of civil liberties. The only countries behind the North in the index were Syria with 1 point, South Sudan w

North Korea hopes for former President Donald Trump's win in the Nov. 5 US presidential election and will continue to raise tensions with Seoul and Washington until the election, a former German ambassador to Pyongyang said in a media contribution published Wednesday. Thomas Schafer made the case in a piece written to NPR, saying that Pyongyang would want to give negotiations with Trump "another try" in the event of his reelection, although a nuclear parley between him and North K

South Korean and US troops will begin their expanded annual military drills next week in response to North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats, the two countries said Wednesday, a move that will likely enrage North Korea because it views its rivals’ joint training as an invasion rehearsal. In recent months, North Korea has inflamed animosities on the Korean Peninsula with fiery rhetoric and continued missile tests . While it’s unlikely for North Korea to launch full-blown at

Minister Kim Yung-ho says N. Korea 'must have been profoundly shocked' over S. Korea-Cuba ties

NK has 2 options: dialogue or demise, says Kim Yung-ho

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul expressed concerns Friday over growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, saying it could potentially help Pyongyang's ability to "threaten security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond." Cho made the remarks during a UN Security Council (UNSC) briefing on the Ukraine issue at UN headquarters in New York on the eve of the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "If and when it turns out to be the cas

Defectors say it will improve their image, public perception of unification

The State Department on Tuesday reiterated the United States' goal to achieve the "full" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, after North Korea signaled openness to improving ties with Japan as long as Tokyo does not take issue with its "right to self-defense." Last week, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida might be able to visit Pyongyang if Tokyo "drops its bad habit" of taking issue

A North Korean ballistic missile that Russia fired against Ukraine last month contained many parts traced to companies in the United States and Europe, CNN reported Tuesday, citing a research report. The Britain-based organization, Conflict Armament Research, produced the report that examined 290 components from remnants of a North Korean missile retrieved from Kharkiv in Ukraine, and discovered that 75 percent of the components were designed and sold by companies incorporated in the US, accordi

Russian President Vladimir Putin presented North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with a gift of a Russia-produced car exclusively "for his personal use," North Korean state media reported Tuesday. The South Korean government decried the gift as a breach of UN Security Council resolutions. The Rodong Sinmun, which primarily targets internal audiences as North Korea's most widely circulated newspaper, featured the news on its front page without disclosing specifics about the vehicle gifte

1 defector claims that NK people have begun embracing concept of 'human rights violations'