The Donald Trump administration may go ahead with imposing secondary sanctions on Chinese companies and build up US military power to increase pressure on the Asian rival in a bid to rein in an increasingly wayward North Korea, a South Korean think tank predicted Thursday.Forecasting the Trump administration's North Korea policy direction, Asan Institute for Policy Studies' researcher Go Myong-hyun said in a report that the US policy on North Korea will be formulated under the administration's b

Two South Korean pastors have been arrested by Chinese police for providing protection for North Korean defectors in China, a group of anti-North Korea activists here said Wednesday.One pastor was arrested on Feb. 18 with his wife and two children at an airport in the northeastern Chinese city of Qingdao prior to a flight to South Korea, according to the group "Justice for North Korea."The other minister was caught with his wife at a hotel in the city of Qinhuangdao in China's northern province

Malaysia has confirmed the identity of the slain half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un using a DNA sample from one of his children, foreign media reported Wednesday.Investigators "confirmed the identity of the body as Kim Jong-nam based on the sample obtained from his child," Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted as saying by AFP.Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (R) (Yonhap)Reuters also reported that the sample was taken from one of Kim's children, citin

The State Department on Tuesday urged North Korea to free an American college student detained in the communist nation for more than a year. The University of Virginia student, Otto Warmbier, was arrested in January 2016 while on trip to the North for allegedly stealing a political propaganda sign from a hotel. He has since been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. The State Department (Yonhap)"We believe that he's being held unjustly. He's gone through the criminal process, and he's been detain

The United States should not rush to re-designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism because the move could deteriorate the already-high tensions on the Korean Peninsula to spin out of control, a former senior US diplomat said Tuesday.Calls for adding Pyongyang back to the State Department's list of terrorism sponsoring nations have gained significant traction in the wake of the killing in Malaysia of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. An image of Kim Jon

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Tuesday that the body of Kim Jong-nam, who was killed last month, has been embalmed to better preserve it, and that about 50 North Koreans whose work permits have expired will be deported.News of the deportations was a surprise as the countries have barred each other’s citizen from leaving amid a diplomatic standoff over Kim's death. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Tuesday that the body of

The UN special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights situation has called for all parties concerned to cooperate in the ongoing probe into the murder of Kim Jong-nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half brother, a US broadcaster reported Tuesday.Tomas Ojea Quintana made the call at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Voice of America said.Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights, speaks during a press conference at a Seo

The United States should consider "aggressive movement" toward North Korea, including issuing a warning that it will shoot down any missile the communist nation test-fires, a former senior defense official said Monday.Mary Beth Long, who served as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 2007-2009, made the case during a Council on Foreign Relations discussion, saying diplomatic approaches have failed to resolve the situation."I think everyone can conclude there's b

Defusing tensions over North Korea and the deployment of a THAAD missile defense battery will be key topics when US President Donald Trump holds a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House said Monday.White House press secretary Sean Spicer made the remark in response to news reports that Trump plans to host Xi at his Florida resort next month. Spicer said the two sides are working to set up a meeting, but no dates and other details have been determined yet."Planning is ongoing f

A South Korean temple with stone Buddhas and pagodas has been added to UNESCO's tentative list of world cultural heritage sites, officials here said Monday.The Cultural Heritage Administration said the South Korean government's request in January to include Unjusa Temple in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul, to the tentative list has been approved by the United Nations' specialized agency. It will be officially listed as "Stone Buddhas and Pagodas at Hwasun Unjusa

Regarding the whereabouts of Kim Han-sol, the son of Kim Jong-nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother who was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia on Feb. 13, the Dutch Embassy in Seoul told The Korea Herald said it is “aware of these reports” but added that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs “will not comment on this matter.” A 40-second clip was posted on YouTube on Wednesday in which a man claiming to be the son of the late Kim says in English, “My nam

The Netherlands' Embassy in South Korea declined to comment Thursday on its alleged involvement in helping the son of the slain half brother of the North Korean leader escape from the North's threat. Kim Han-sol, the 22-year-old son of Kim Jong-nam, appeared in a recently posted YouTube clip in which he said he is with his sister and mother but didn't mention where. This image captured from a video posted on YouTube on March 8, 2017 shows a man believed to be the son of Kim Jong-nam, the murdere

The US ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday rejected calls for opening negotiations with North Korea to defuse escalating tensions, saying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "not a rational person." Amb. Nikki Haley also turned down China's suggestion that the US halt annual joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for Pyongyang's suspension of its nuclear and missile activities. She also said the US is reviewing all options on the table."I appreciate all of my counterparts

US senators have strongly criticized China for raising unfair objections to the deployment of the US THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, saying it's a defensive system designed to guard against a threat that Beijing has long abetted.China angrily reacted to the arrival in South Korea earlier this week of the first elements of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery that the US and the South agreed to install to bolster defenses against growing missile threats from North Korea.Beij

A statue of a girl symbolizing victims who were sexually enslaved by Japanese troops during its occupation of the Korean Peninsula (1910-45) was erected in Germany's southeastern municipality of Wiesent on Wednesday. The erection ceremony of the "comfort women" statue was held at the Nepal Himalaya Pavillon, a park in Wiesent, which is part of the district of Resenburg. It was attended by some 100 local German officials and representatives from the Suwon City government and civic groups from Sou