The head of a U.N. food agency said Monday he is “very concerned” about food shortages in North Korea and called for donations to the impoverished communist nation, affirming that the agency will try to make sure aid will reach those intended.　World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley made the remarks to reporters after he met with South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul to discuss North Korea’s worsening food situation.　“We are very concerned about the situation there and we

South Korea and the US appear determined to stay the course on North Korea in the face of an increasingly belligerent Pyongyang.In the latest hint that Washington will, at least for the time being, continue on its current course, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the goal of the Trump administration’s North Korea diplomacy remains clear. “Past efforts, agreements that we entered into with North Korea, only produced more North Korean nukes and American diplomatic failure,” Pompeo said, speak

SHANGHAI (AP) -- A South Korean violinist and a North Korean singer held a rare joint performance Sunday in hopes of bringing the divided Koreas closer together -- especially at this time of emerging tensions amid deadlocked nuclear diplomacy.Violinist Won Hyung-joon and his North Korean soprano partner, Kim Song-mi, performed together at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center with a Chinese orchestra. Their concert took place three days after South Korea said North Korea fired two suspected short-ran

　The Moon Jae-in administration announced that it will soon initiate the procedure for providing food aid to North Korea. The South Korean government has not sent any direct humanitarian aid to the impoverished country since 2010. 　According to the Unification Ministry’s data, the total amount of assistance provided to the North by the South Korean government stands at around 2.4 trillion won ($2.03 billion) since the Kim Young-sam administration offered 150,000 metric tons of rice in 1995. The

US President Donald Trump has said he doesn't think North Korea's launches of short-range missiles this week were a breach of trust, although that could happen in the future.In a phone interview with Politico on Friday, Trump was asked whether he was angry or frustrated by the firings and if he considered them to be a breach of trust between himself and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)"No. No. I'm not at all," he said. "They're short-range. They're short-range and I don't consider that

US Vice President Mike Pence said the United States will "stand firm" with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.    In an interview with Fox News aired Friday, Pence was asked about the future of denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang following the North's renewed firing of missiles and the US seizure of a North Korean vessel earlier this week. US Vice President Mike Pence (AP-Yonhap)    "Well, look, President (Donald) Trump truly believes that Chairman Kim (Jong-

The father of American college student Otto Warmbier who died soon after being sent home from North Korea in a vegetative state said Friday that Kim Jong-Un should be called “criminal Kim” -- not “chairman Kim” which “makes me sick.”   Otto Warmbier (Yonhap)    Fred Warmbier told a UN symposium promoting international cooperation on abductions that calling the North Korean leader “chairman” gives him status on the world stage, and “if we're afraid to tell the truth of who we're dealing with we d

Projectiles launched most likely North Korean version of ‘Iskander’ missiles

National Security Office deputy chief Kim Hyun-chong met with US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun on Friday to discuss recent developments on the Korean Peninsula, Cheong Wa Dae said. According to Seoul’s presidential office, the meeting began at 3 p.m. and lasted 80 minutes, during which they discussed developments surrounding North Korea, as well as South Korea-US cooperation on the matter.  North Korea released a photo showing its launch of a short-range missile on Thursday. (Yonh

US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun was quoted as saying Friday that the door remains open for North Korea to return to nuclear negotiations, despite Pyongyang's firing of two missiles the previous day.Biegun made the remarks during his courtesy call on South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha amid fears that the North's escalatory moves could derail the allies' ongoing efforts to bring a lasting peace to the divided peninsula.Just five days after firing off multiple projectiles,

North Korea's launch of yet more projectiles on Thursday signals that it wants more than the food aid Seoul and Washington are poised to discuss this week to lure it back to nuclear talks, analysts said.Less than a week after launching a volley of short-range projectiles into the East Sea, the North fired off a couple of presumably short-range missiles, raising pressure on the United States to show flexibility in the hitherto unfruitful negotiations.(Yonhap)The North has been escalating tensions

North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range missiles on Thursday, less than a week after it conducted what it claimed was a “regular military drill.” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said launches of what appeared to be short-range missiles took place at 4:29 p.m. and 4:49 p.m. in Kusong, North Pyongan Province. It had initially said they were launched at Sino-ri, some 40 kilometers below Kusong in the same province. (Yonhap)Both of the projectiles traveled east at the altitud

The United States won't "intervene" if South Korea decides to send food aid to North Korea, the White House said Wednesday.US President Donald Trump expressed support for South Korea's possible humanitarian assistance to the North during a phone call with President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday, the latter's office said.White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked at a meeting with reporters Wednesday if Trump will go along with the plan despite the North's firing of projectiles last week. (AFP-

The United Nations Command (UNC) has approved the opening of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas for hiking trails in the border towns of Cheorwon and Paju, a military official said Wednesday, following the launch of the DMZ tour program in the eastern coastal section last month.  (Yonhap)The towns, in Gangwon and Gyeonggi provinces, respectively, are two of the three "DMZ Peace Trail" sites proposed by the South Korean government under its plan to open the DMZ to the public f

The Unification Church said Wednesday that its leader is preparing to visit North Korea next year, although it was cautious over the issue amid recently heightened geopolitical tensions in the region."Ms. Han Hak-ja is ready to go to Pyongyang next year," Ahn Ho-yeol, spokesperson of the religious group, said in a press meeting in Seoul. "She already received a letter of invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Jan. 1."Han, wife of founder Moon Sun-myung, who died in 2012, now heads th