The United States has redesignated North Korea as a violator of religious freedom for the 18th consecutive year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday.North Korea is among 10 Countries of Particular Concern for engaging in or tolerating "systematic, ongoing, (and) egregious violations of religious freedom," Pompeo said in a statement. (Yonhap)The designations were made Nov. 28 in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and subject the nations to further action b

South Korea reaffirmed that it will swiftly discuss with North Korea holding a groundbreaking ceremony to link cross-border roads and railways by the end of the year, the South’s Ministry of Unification said Tuesday. A ministry official told reporters that the government will specify its plans to hold the ceremony by “swiftly carrying on” negotiations with the North on the matter, while stressing that the event is an agreement reached between the leaders of the two Koreas in September. Though th

With North Korea maintaining its silence as to whether Kim Jong-un will visit Seoul before the end of this year, speculation is rampant among political parties here as to whether the North Korean leader will deliver on his promise. In his meeting with President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang in September, Kim pledged to visit Seoul “at an early date.” But the communist state has yet to accept Moon’s invitation to visit by the end of this year. The prolonged silence has prompted a flurry of speculation

The joint Korean handball team at next year's men's world handball championships will start training later this month in Germany, officials from the sports ministry said Tuesday, hinting that North Korean athletes will not come to South Korea this time. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, three officials and four athletes from North Korea will join the South Koreans in Germany later this month to prepare for the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship, which will be co-hoste

South and North Korea will discuss organizing a joint march at the opening ceremony of the next Summer Olympics and fielding combined teams there, when they hold sports talks this week, a Seoul official said Tuesday.Sports officials of the two sides are scheduled to meet Friday at the joint liaison office in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. It will be their first such meeting since early November. (Yonhap)Sports Minister Roh Tae-kang will lead the South's delegation and his North Korean

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to make it mandatory for the government to go through a Cabinet review before restricting or terminating on-going cooperation projects with North Korea.   The proposed revision of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act came after criticism of the lack of legal grounds for the government's past decisions to restrict or ban inter-Korean exchanges, such as the closure of the inter-Korean factory park in the North's border city of Kaesong.  This file

A unified Korean mixed doubles table tennis team will take part in the season-ending tournament in South Korea this week.The tandem of Jang Woo-jin (South) and Cha Hyo-sim (North) will compete in the mixed doubles at the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour Grand Finals, starting Thursday in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul. (Yonhap)The competition is open to the top 16 players in the men's and women's singles, and the top eight teams in the men's, women's and mixed doubles, base

A joint railway inspection that South and North Korea have been carrying out in the North is going as scheduled, the unification ministry said.A group of South Korean railway officials and experts traveled to the North on Saturday to inspect a rail line running through the eastern part of the North. The two sides had earlier conducted a similar inspection on the North's western rail line. (Yonhap)The inspections are part of efforts to modernize the North's rail systems and ultimately reconnect c

North Korean state media outlets slammed the United States on Tuesday for pressuring the communist nation over human rights issues, calling it a "hostile" act running counter to the goodwill spirit of the historic summit between the two countries.The North's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, issued the blistering commentary, saying the US blacklisting of Pyongyang as one of the worst human trafficking countries is an "intolerable political provocation" and a "hostile act" that goes against the

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on three North Korean officials, including a top aide to leader Kim Jong-un, in response to their alleged human rights abuses and censorship.Choe Ryong-hae, who is seen as the No. 2 official in the regime, was designated for being an official of the ruling Workers' Party, the Department of the Treasury said in a statement.Choe is director of the party's Organization and Guidance Department, which is "instrumental in implementing censors

South Korea’s budget allocated for inter-Korean projects next year has exceeded 1 trillion won ($890.7 million) for the first time since 2016, the Ministry of Unification said Monday. A total of 1.1 trillion won has been earmarked for the inter-Korean cooperation fund in 2019, which is 15 percent higher than the 959.3 billion won set aside for 2018, the ministry said in a report. The ministry noted that this is the first time in three years that the fund has risen to over 1 trillion won.  A Sout

North Korean propaganda media outlets bristled Monday at South Korea's decisions to purchase foreign weapons, saying the move is no different from the confrontational attitude of the previous conservative administration.South Korea has recently announced plans to purchase Israeli-made Green Pine Block C radar systems for nearly $300 million, as well as US-made P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and other foreign-made weapons and military hardware. Kang Hwan-seok, spokesman for the Defence Acq

Officials of South and North Korea will meet this week to discuss cooperation in medical and health sectors, including exchanging information on infectious diseases, the unification ministry said Monday.The meeting will be held Wednesday at the joint liaison office in the North's border town of Kaesong. This follows up on an agreement in November to cooperate in preventing the spread of infectious diseases and exchange information on such diseases on a trial basis this year. Kwon Jun-wook (Yonha

A group of South Korean officials and experts embarked on a trip to North Korea on Monday for talks on forestry cooperation.A 10-member team led by Lim Sang-seop, a senior official with the Korea Forestry Service, left for Beijing early in the day from which it will fly to the North on Tuesday for a three-day stay in Pyongyang. (Yonhap)The trip is part of efforts to implement an agreement reached in October to jointly combat pine tree pests and other forestry diseases until March next year, the

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho’s trips to the communist state’s allies -- China, Syria and Vietnam -- show the North’s desperation amid stalled denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington, experts say. Ri met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday for talks, during which Xi reaffirmed his country’s strong relations with Pyongyang, North Korea’s state-run media reported Sunday.Xi was quoted as saying by North Korea’s state-run media that he regards Pyongyang-Beijing tie