North Korea held a Cabinet meeting earlier this week to discuss follow-up measures for policy goals laid out in a recent key party meeting, such as increasing agricultural production, the North's state media said Thursday. A two-day plenary meeting of the Cabinet's Party Committee wrapped up Wednesday, attended by participants, including Premier Kim Tok-hun and Vice Premier Pak Jong-gun, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The meeting came less than two weeks after th

South Korea and the United States are working to hold their inaugural meeting of the new Nuclear Consultative Group, South Korea's ambassador to the US Cho Hyun-dong said Wednesday. Cho also said the allies have made "progress" toward holding the first meeting of the consultative body created under the Washington Declaration, signed by their leaders in late April. "With North Korea's threat actually materializing, the discussion for the inaugural meeting of the NCG proposed by Sou

South Korea unveiled sanctions on a Russian citizen of Korean descent and his company, as well as on a separate North Korean citizen and a joint venture run by the two individuals, the latest efforts to crack down on North Korea’s attempts to fund its weapons programs. Choi Chon-gon set up Hanne Ulaan, a company in Mongolia, to bankroll Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. He also founded a joint venture called Epsilon with a North Korean citizen, according to the South Korean F

North Korea condemned Japan on Wednesday for continuing to demand Pyongyang resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North decades ago, claiming that such a stance runs counter to Tokyo's hope for a summit with the North without preconditions. Ri Pyong-dok, a researcher at the Institute for Japan Studies of the North's foreign ministry, said the abductee issue has been "completely, finally and irreversibly" settled, accusing Japan of bringing the "unfeasib

A North Korean defectors' group said Monday it has sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets and medicine by balloons to the North, as they marked the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Park Sang-hak, head of the Fighters for a Free North Korea, told Yonhap News Agency that the organization sent 20 balloons carrying some 200,000 leaflets, 10,000 face masks, Tylenol pills and booklets from Gimpo, west of Seoul, at 10 p.m. on Sunday. Sunday marked the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War th

More than 120,000 people participated in mass rallies in the North Korean capital Pyongyang to denounce what they claim is a "war provocation of aggression" by the United States on the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, the North's state media said Monday. The Sunday rallies were attended by workers and youth, as well as secretaries of the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea Ri Il-hwan and Pak Thae-song, according to the official Korean Central News A

North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday accused Seoul and Washington of pushing tensions to "the brink of a nuclear war" akin to the 1950-53 Korean War, saying it will continue to bolster its self-defensive capabilities. In a research report released by the foreign ministry's Institute for American Studies, North Korea likened the current military tensions in the region to the night before the outbreak of the Korean War as it slammed the United States and South Korea for the

North Korea's vice foreign minister voiced his "strong" support for any decision by the Russian leadership over the recent armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group, according to the North's state media Sunday. Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il made the remarks during his meeting with Russian Ambassador to the North Alexander Matsegora earlier in the day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Im "expressed firm belief that the recent armed rebellion in R

North Korea's state media claimed Sunday that an expansion of the so-called emerging BRICS nations could challenge and eventually speed up an end of the domination of the US dollar. In an article carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency, Jong Il-hyon, an international affairs analyst of North Korea, criticized the US for using the dollar and its military might as means for "hegemonism." BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- held a meeting of its f

South Korea's human rights watchdog chief on Friday urged China not to send North Korean defectors back to their homeland, citing reports that about 2,000 North Koreans held in China face imminent repatriation. Song Doo-hwan, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, issued a statement saying the human rights of North Koreans can be seriously infringed upon if they are repatriated and that the Chinese government should comply with the United Nations' recommendation.

North Korea will likely use its nuclear weapons to coerce political concessions from South Korea and its allies, a US intelligence report said Thursday. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence noted that Pyongyang may also employ non-nuclear, non-lethal attacks to advance its goals in the future, believing that its nuclear weapons will deter counteroffensives. "We assess that through 2030, Kim Jong-un most likely will continue to pursue a strategy of coercion, potentially includ

North Korea on Wednesday called US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's latest visit to China a "disgraceful begging trip," claiming it demonstrated the US failure in its policy of putting pressure on Beijing. Jong Yong-hak, an analyst on international affairs, said Blinken flew to China to "beg for the relaxation" of worsened bilateral ties, as its pressure policy on China dealt a fatal blow to the US economy and a China-US confrontation could trigger an unprecedented mi

North Korea called the botched attempt last month to launch a military reconnaissance satellite the “most serious failure,” vowing to try a second launch without offering exact dates at the ruling party’s key meeting held from Friday to Sunday. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Monday, officials responsible for the May 31 launch were rebuked at the plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which leader Kim Jong-un

Kim Yong-chol, a former top North Korean party official in charge of affairs with South Korea, has returned to the ruling party's politburo following a year of his absence from key party posts. Kim has been elected as an alternate member of the political bureau of the Workers' Party of Korea in the latest reshuffle of party officials following a three-day party plenary meeting that ended Sunday, according to state media. A photo carried by the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newsp

North Korea called its failed attempt to launch a purported military reconnaissance satellite the "most serious" shortcoming in the first half of this year and reaffirmed its pledge to put it into orbit soon, Pyongyang's state media said Monday. The North made the assessment following a plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, attended by leader Kim Jong-un, that wrapped up the previous day, referring to its botched attempt to launch