WASHINGTON -- North Korea's human rights situation has not changed despite its recent diplomatic engagements with South Korea and the United States, a United Nations expert said Tuesday.Speaking to reporters in New York, Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights, said the issue should not be sidelined in nuclear negotiations between the North, and South Korea and the US. (Yonhap)"North Korea has argued that human rights have been used for political purposes," h

Hundreds of Chinese group tourists visited major duty-free shops in Seoul on Tuesday on a scale unseen since Beijing's censure of South Korea last year over the deployment of a US anti-missile system on its soil.   Some 820 employees from Chinese cosmetics firm Anya visited a Shilla Duty Free store in Seoul. The Chinese tourists, who arrived in South Korea on Saturday for a five-day trip, also visited Shinsegae Duty Free and SM Duty Free on the same day.   "It is the first time since March of la

South Korea may have to pay around 200 billion won ($175.9 million) annually for transit fees to North Korea if it imports Russian natural gas via a trans-Korea pipeline, an estimate by the state-run gas firm showed Tuesday.   The Korea Gas Corp. calculated the transit fees at the request of Rep. Kwak Dae-hoon of the Liberty Korea Party, as the long-sought-after project has reappeared amid a mood of rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula.   KOGAS and Russian gas giant Gazprom have resumed joint s

A group of European Parliament members identified North Korea as one of 11 countries where severe violations of freedom of religion or belief occur, in a recently released annual report.The 11 countries named by the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance also include China, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Article 68 of the North Korean constitution enshrines a ‘right of religion,’ but in practice the government systematically suppresses th

International sanctions likely stood in the way of NK’s objectives

‘Scariest place on Earth’ to become weapons-free zone where two Koreas’ soldiers move freely

South Korea will extend the period in which North Korean defectors can apply for settlement here from the current one year to three years as part of efforts to provide them with more support, the unification ministry said Tuesday.Under the current law, defectors could face restrictions in receiving state support, including help related to housing, if they fail to express their intent to settle in South Korea within one year of arrival.The ministry added that it will also provide residence-relate

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will meet North Korean defectors this week apparently to assuage their concerns caused by his controversial decision to exclude a defector-turned-journalist from covering recent inter-Korean talks, a ministry official said.His meeting with North Korean defectors from four unidentified organizations will be held Wednesday, according to the official.The meeting will not be open to the public and what will be discussed will not be disclosed either. (Yonhap)"It i

Parties clash over ratification as earlier Panmunjom Declaration awaits parliamentary approval

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has given the impression that he has a strong willingness to visit North Korea, a senior South Korean bishop said Monday.Lazarus You Heung-sik, who heads the Daejeon diocese, spoke in an interview with Yonhap News Agency at Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, three days after the pope indicated during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he may visit the North.  (Yonhap)In his meeting with the pope, Moon relayed a verbal invitation from North Korean le

North Korea wants to delay working-level talks to prepare for an inter-Korean parliamentary meeting, given its hectic diplomatic schedule, a Seoul official said Tuesday.The South earlier proposed holding a meeting at an early date to prepare for the first-ever inter-Korean parliamentary meeting this year. (Yonhap)"North Korea said that it agreed to Seoul's offer for working-level talks, but hoped to have time to push for them, given various factors," the official said, asking not to be named.Nor

North Korea's state media Tuesday reported on inter-Korean talks held a day earlier, saying that they discussed "practical" issues and "step-by-step" measures for forestry cooperation.The two Koreas held the meeting Monday at their joint liaison office in the North's border town of Kaesong and agreed to work together in combating pine tree pests until March and modernizing North Korean tree nurseries in phases. (Yonhap)"Inter-Korean talks for cooperation in forestry took place at the north-south

SEOUL/KAESONG -- South and North Korea agreed Monday to jointly combat pine tree pests and other tree diseases until March next year as part of efforts to intensify their forestry cooperation.The agreement was made during talks held at their joint liaison office in the North's border town of Kaesong.Officials from the two Koreas shake hands at the meeting held in Kaesong, North Korea on Monday. Yonhap"The South agreed to provide necessary drugs to combat pine tree pests in the middle of November

North Korea's official newspaper again ran an article on the escalating conflict between the United States and China on Monday, citing expert opinions critical of Washington.The Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, said in a commentary that confrontations between Washington and Beijing, which were caused by the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on each other, have been spreading to various other areas.The newspaper then said that US Vice President Mike Pence's open cri

South and North Korea held talks on Monday to discuss cross-border forestry cooperation and reforestation of North Korea’s woodlands.The meeting kicked off at around 10 a.m. at the recently established joint liaison office in the North’s border town of Kaesong. Park Chong-ho, deputy minister of the Korea Forest Service, led the three-member South Korean delegation while North Korea also sent a three-member team led by Kim Song-jun, a senior official of the North‘s ministry of environmental prote