A group of South Korean officials left for North Korea on Friday to conduct a joint inspection of a highway along North Korea's east coast as part of an inter-Korean project to modernize and reconnect roads and railways over their border.Some 10 South Korean officials crossed into the North via the eastern border at around 9 a.m. for a three-day trip to inspect the 100-kilometer Goseong-Wonsan section of the highway, according to the unification ministry.  (Yonhap)They plan to visit the North ag

The two Koreas have made 285 rounds of contact, including 46 meetings, at the joint liaison office in North Korea’s border town of Kaesong so far, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said Thursday. The liaison office opened in September. The contact includes five meetings among government officials from both sides, five working-level talks, and 36 meetings between chiefs and deputy chiefs of the office. On top of this, 173 messages or documents were exchanged at the office.  Koreas open their

A senior US envoy on North Korea will visit the Demilitarized Zone on Thursday to take a first-hand look at the country he's tasked with handling, diplomatic sources said.It was not immediately confirmed whether the envoy, Stephen Biegun, will meet with North Korean officials there. He is set to tour the truce village of Panmunjom along the inter-Korean border, also known as the Joint Security Area, a token of decades-long military tensions and on-and-off dialogue. The two Koreas have disarmed t

WASHINGTON -- North Korea could be developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of sanctions by collaborating with foreign scientists on "dual use" technology, a new report showed Wednesday.The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, said it analyzed 1,304 papers co-authored by North Korean and foreign scientists to determine the potential applications of the research to military purposes. (AFP)According to the study, first reported by US radio sta

South Korea’s Unification Minister said Wednesday that North Korea’s denuclearization process had yet to get “fully on track,” indicating that the Seoul government believes Washington and Pyongyang have yet to properly discuss corresponding measures for the North‘s steps towards denuclearization.“Regarding the issue of North Korea’s denuclearization, it would be an accurate assessment to say that the process (of talks between the US and the North) is not fully on track at the moment,” Unificatio

WASHINGTON -- The US special envoy for North Korea will visit South Korea this week to coordinate the allies' push to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, the US State Department said Tuesday.Stephen Biegun will be in Seoul Wednesday through Friday, meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, and other officials, the department said in a press release. (Yonhap)The two sides aim to "further strengthen US-ROK coordination on our shared objective of the final, fully verified d

The United States is willing to lift sanctions on North Korea after the country dismantles its nuclear weapons program, the State Department said Tuesday.North Korea has increasingly protested the sanctions, warning that they could return US-North Korea relations to the tense "exchanges of fire" last year and "block the path to denuclearization on the Korean peninsula forever."(Yonhap)State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino said "the world remains united" in keeping sanctions on th

Parents of an American university student who died last year after being detained in North Korea are seeking over $1 billion in compensation from the rogue regime, Voice of America said Tuesday, citing a US court document. The family of Otto Warmbier, who died days after he was returned to the US in a comatose state in 2017, filed a lawsuit against North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho in April. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and charged the North

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the halt of ongoing casino-related projects, under pressure from Beijing, Radio Free Asia reported Tuesday. Citing unnamed Chinese sources with connections to North Korea, RFA reported that Kim halted the construction of a hotel, the plans for which include a casino, in Sinuiju, North Pyongang Province, due to Beijing’s disapproval. The hotel, which would be 30 stories once completed, currently stands incomplete at about 20 stories, according to reports. S

A South Korean train returned home from North Korea on Tuesday after an 18-day inspection of railways in the communist nation as part of a project to modernize the tracks and connect them to the South's.South Korean officials took over the train from North Koreans at Panmun Station, just north of the western inter-Korean border. (Yonhap)The train crossed into the South at around 10:25 a.m., according to the ministry.Its arrival came a day after a group of South Korean officials and experts retur

More than 1,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea so far this year, a level similar to the number recorded during the same period of last year, the unification ministry said Tuesday.The number of North Koreans defecting to the South came to 1,042 during the January-November period, according to the data provided by the ministry. Last year's corresponding figure was 1,045. (Yonhap)"Since Chairman Kim Jong-un took office in 2012, around 1,000-1,500 North Koreans have defected to the South

South Korea and the United States will have senior-level discussions on North Korea this week, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday, as the two Koreas plan to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for their railway and road project next week.Stephen Biegun, the US special representative on North Korea policy, is scheduled to visit South Korea from Wednesday till Saturday.He will hold one-on-one talks with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, on Thursday, according to ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-d

South Korea will need a budget of about 3.9 trillion won ($3.44 billion) to jointly host an envisioned 2032 Summer Olympics with North Korea, an estimate by the Seoul city government showed Tuesday. The projection came as the Seoul metropolitan government is pushing to form a joint bid with Pyongyang for the Olympic games.Air Busan finalizes offering price for Dec. 27 IPONext(3rd LD) S. Koreans return home after 10-day inspection of N. Korea`s eastern rail lineS. Korea needs 3.9 tln won to pull

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thanked New Zealand on Monday for supporting efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program.In his meeting with New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters in Washington, Pompeo expressed gratitude for New Zealand's "continued support in working towards the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea as agreed to by Chairman Kim Jong-un," according to a State Department readout. (AP)North Korean leader Kim Jong-un committed to

SEOUL/NEW YORK -- South Korea on Tuesday hailed the adoption of a United Nations resolution on North Korea's human rights abuses.The foreign ministry said the country supported the resolution from the basic position of making joint efforts with the international community for "substantive improvement" in the human rights of North Korean people.Hours earlier, the UN passed the resolution, which calls for accountability for gross human rights violations in the communist nation, by consensus at a G