A sailor from the South Korean naval unit dispatched to the Gulf of Aden on an anti-piracy mission was found dead in Oman's southern port city of Salalah, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The 27-year-old petty officer first class, only known by his family name Park, was found lying on the floor of a local swimming pool in Salalah on Tuesday afternoon (local time). He was pronounced dead on arrival to a local hospital, a ministry official said in a briefing. Cheonghae Unit sailors (Yonhap)"Th

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a press statement strongly condemning North Korea's recent multiple missile launches, South Korea's foreign ministry said Wednesday.The statement approved on Tuesday (US time) in an emergency UNSC meeting in New York expressed grave concerns over Pyongyang's "increasingly destabilization behavior" and prodded the country to comply with UNSC resolutions banning its ballistic missile launches, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and news reports

The United States denied visas for North Korean diplomats set to travel to New York for unofficial talks because the half brother of North Korea's leader was "assassinated presumably by or at the behest of North Korean authorities," a senior US diplomat said Tuesday.The remark by Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel is believed to mark the first time that a senior American official has publicly blamed the North for the Feb. 13 killing in Malaysia of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother

The United Nations urged calm between North Korea and Malaysia on Tuesday as a diplomatic row between the two countries dramatically escalated over the killing of the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader."We call for calm and for both parties to settle any differences through established diplomatic practice," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at a regular briefing.Relations between the North and Malaysia have soured seriously in the wake of the Feb. 13 killing in Malaysia of Kim Jong

Reopening talks with North Korea is the only way for the administration of US President Donald Trump to head off the specter of the communist nation perfecting its capabilities to strike the continental US with nuclear weapons, a US expert said Tuesday.Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York, made the appeal in a CNN op-ed piece, arguing that neither sanctions nor Chinese pressure will curb Pyongyang's nuclear and

The United States is working to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to defend better against missile threats from North Korea, the White House said Monday.White House press secretary Sean Spicer made the remark during a press gaggle with reporters, a day after the North fired four ballistic missiles in its second such launches since President Donald Trump took office. White House press secretary Sean Spicer (Yonhap)"The Trump administration is taking steps to enhance our ability to defend ag

North Korea's latest missile launches could have involved more missiles than the four known, but the communist nation did not attempt to carry out a threatened test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon said Monday."There were four that landed. There may be a higher number of launches that we're not commenting on. But four landed and splashed" in the East Sea, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters without elaborating, according to Reuters.(Yonhap)The remark suggests

The US State Department on Monday issued a "Worldwide Caution" advising Americans to take due caution when traveling abroad, singling out North Korea as a destination to avoid due to "the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention.""US citizens are urged to avoid all travel to North Korea/the Democratic People's Republic of Korea due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement," the department said in the advisory.(Yonhap)The North was

A US senator has urged President Donald Trump to get tough with North Korea and "stop the madman in Pyongyang" after the communist nation fired a barrage of ballistic missiles in violation of UN sanctions.The North fired four missiles Monday morning local time in the second such launches after the Feb. 12 test-firing of a newly developed intermediate-range ballistic missile. The missiles flew about 1,000 km before crashing into Japan's exclusive economic zone waters.The launches were seen as a s

After ending a bilateral visa-waiver deal and expelling the top envoy, Malaysia hinted it would take additional steps against North Korea in an escalating spat over the death of leader Kim Jong-un's half brother, a media report said Monday. On Saturday, Malaysia gave 48 hours to North Korean Ambassador to Kuala Lumpur Kang Chol to leave the country. Earlier last week Malaysia canceled a visa-free travel deal with Pyongyang in response to the North's criticism that Malaysia colluded with South Ko

The United States strongly condemned North Korea's missile launches Sunday, reaffirming its commitment to defend itself and South Korea by using the "full range of capabilities at our disposal.""The United States strongly condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launches tonight, which violate UN Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology," State Department acting spokesman Mark Toner said. (Yonhap)Toner said the US calls on all cou

A former ranking Malaysian diplomat has asserted that his country should shut down its embassy in Pyongyang as a countermeasure against North Korea's alleged assassination of Kim Jong-nam, a half brother of the North's leader Kim Jong-un, a US broadcaster reported Monday.The Pyongyang-based Malaysian mission which is virtually of no use should be surely closed as a strong message to the North that the acts it is now conducting can never be accepted, Dennis Ignatius was quoted as saying in a phon

The US Strategic Command confirmed North Korea's missile launch, but did not give any assessment on the missile's type, including whether it involved an intercontinental ballistic missile."US Strategic Command systems detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 4:34 p.m. CST (7:34 a.m. Korean time)," the command said in a statement. "The North American Aerospace Defense Command determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America." (Y

The reported US cyber strikes that disrupted a series of North Korean missile tests shows the United States is "on the cutting edge" of such technology, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday.The New York Times has reported that the administration of former President Barack Obama used cyber attacks, such as remotely manipulating data inside the North's missile systems, starting three years ago to disrupt test launches so as to delay the North's development of an intercontinental balli

Refusing to talk to North Korea won't make the nuclear and missile threats the communist nation poses go away, a US expert said, criticizing the administration of President Donald Trump for refusing to issue visas for North Korean diplomats set to visit for unofficial talks.Choe Son-hui, director-general at the North Korean Foreign Ministry in charge of US affairs, had planned to visit New York sometime this month for talks with former American officials, such as former US nuclear negotiator Rob