North Korea is exploring a grand plan to become a regional transportation hub, inspired in part by the successes of Singapore and Switzerland, and would be open to joining world financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund if current member states give up their “hostile” policies toward it, a senior government economist has told The Associated Press. Ri Ki Song, a senior researcher with the Economic Institute of the North's Academy of Social Sciences, said that although sanctio

 The organizers of an international youth football tournament for inter-Korean sports exchanges are looking to invite teams from the United States next year when the competition will be held in North Korea, a South Korean governor said Monday. Gangwon Gov. Choi Moon-soon said during his press conference that the organizers of the Ari Sports Cup are planning to bring American teams to Wonsan, North Korea, when the sixth edition of the under-15 football tournament kicks off in May 2019.  (Yonhap)T

The top US envoy for North Korea on Monday expressed confidence about achieving North Korea's nuclear disarmament, despite worries about the slow pace of nuclear diplomacy in recent weeks.Meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul, Stephen Biegun said that Washington and Seoul have a shared goal of ending seven decades of hostility on the Korean Peninsula.  (Yonhap)"The primary requirement for us to get to that endpoint is to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Ko

 Top South Korean and US officials on North Korea stressed the importance of a coordinated approach toward North Korea in their meeting here Monday.The talks between Stephen Biegun, the Trump administration's special representative for North Korea, and his counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, came as the allies face two urgent tasks: revitalizing denuclearization talks and dispelling public concerns about a possible rift between the two sides. (Yonhap) "We have a shared goal here, which is to bring an end

North Korea's official newspaper on Monday played up a column of a Pyongyang economist, who calls for expanding the share of knowledge and high technology industry in the North's economy.In a contribution to the Rodong Sinmun, Ri Ki-song, a professor at the Institute of Economy at the Academy of Social Sciences, said that the structure of the North Korean economy should be transformed on the basis of state-of-the-art technologies. (Yonhap)Specifically, Ri proposed that the North intensively deve

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said Monday that the declaration of a formal end to the Korean War could take place this year despite there being little progress in denuclearization talks."We are working on realizing (the end-of-war declaration) by the end of the year," Cho told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit. "I think it is possible at this moment."South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed during their first-ever April summit to seek an official

The Pyongyang Declaration was posted on the official government gazette Monday, promulgating the declaration and bringing the agreement to effect. The main opposition Liberty Korea Party, meanwhile, immediately filed for an injunction to suspend the agreement taking effect, claiming that the government has violated the Constitution.The Pyongyang Declaration, announced during President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang last month, calls for an end to military hostilities and improved inter-Korean

President Moon Jae-in said Sunday that he could give North Korea's Kim Jong-un a tour of Mount Halla, South Korea's tallest mountain, on the southern island of Jeju, if the leader comes for a visit.Moon made the remarks in response to a reporter's question about what he would show Kim should the communist leader reciprocate his own visit to Pyongyang last month for the third inter-Korean summit aimed at fostering inter-Korean rapprochement and cooperation."As we have an expression like 'from Mou

 The Koreas and the US-led UN Command have finished their two-day work to verify the disarmament of the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone, Seoul's defense ministry said Sunday. They conducted the joint verification work Friday and Saturday following the Koreas' 20-day land mine clearance operations and then the withdrawal of military posts, armed troops and other weapons. (Yonhap)"Through the joint verification work, the three sides directly confirmed and evaluated the fact that mutu

The head of a North Korean hospital on Saturday denied allegations that American college student Otto Warmbier was tortured to death in North Korea.Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 for stealing a propaganda sign from a Pyongyang hotel. He was released in a coma in June last year and died shortly after being returned to his family in the US. Otto Warmbier (Yonhap)North Korean officials claimed Warmbier fell into a coma in March 2016 due to botulism and a sleeping pil

A senior North Korean diplomat has left for Russia for talks with his Russian counterpart, North Korea's state news agency reported Saturday.North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Sin Hong-chol is set to meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, the Korean Central News Agency said without providing further details. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Sin Hong-chol at Beijing International Airport on his way to Russia (Yonhap)The meeting comes amid speculation that North Korean leader K

A North Korean who said he escaped round-the-clock labor in the Middle East and Russia voiced fears Friday that Pyongyang was sending more forced workers abroad and appealed for greater international attention.Addressing a news conference in Washington, Roh Hui Chang said he reached South Korea in 2014 after two to three months hiding in the bushes and warned that many more North Koreans suffered his plight."According to my sources who have knowledge of the current situation there, nothing has c

The United States on Friday called on the United Nations to fully comply with sanctions on North Korea until the regime gives up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert issued the call in a statement welcoming a UN committee's decision to deflag and ban port entry to three vessels suspected of engaging in illicit activities with the North.The Shang Yuan Bao, New Regent and Kum Un San 3 are accused of carrying out banned ship-to-ship trans

North Korea's state media on Saturday reported on general-level military talks with South Korea a day earlier but didn't mention the outcome of the meeting. North Korea's Korean Central News Agency reported that the general-level military talks were held for "implementing the historic September Pyongyang Joint Declaration." (Yonhap)Friday's meeting was one of the follow-ups to the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang last month. "At t

The US State Department stressed the full implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea in regard to the possible resumption of operations at the inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong, US broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported Thursday.Executives of South Korean companies that have factories in Kaesong are seeking to visit the industrial park north of the border next week for the first time since factories there were shut down in 2016.  Kaesong Industrial Complex (Yonhap)“The US expects all