Nongovernmental organizations should think about using not only balloons, but also drones to send leaflets of outside information into North Korea, the institute run by former U.S. President George W. Bush said.It was one of the recommendations that the George W. Bush Institute suggested to break down North Korea's information barriers, as it issued the "Light through the Darkness" report, calling for improvement in the North's human rights situation. The report called for the NGO community as w

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a newly built mushroom farm in Pyongyang, along with his aides and younger sister, Kim Yo-jung, the North's official media said Saturday. Kim was accompanied by his younger sister, who holds the post of vice department director of the Workers' Party central committee; Hwang Pyong-so, director of the Korean People's Army general political bureau; Han Kwang-sang, department director of the party central committee; and Ri Jae-il, first vice department dir

South Korea's official development assistance (ODA) to underdeveloped countries will increase nearly 5 percent this year from 2014, with more funding earmarked for Africa, the government said Friday.Seoul's ODA has been set at 2.38 trillion won (US$2.18 billion) for this year, up 4.9 percent from the previous year, according to the prime minister's office."The increase comes even under some fiscal difficulties, including more welfare spending, and the additional funds will be used to diversify (

South Korea and the United States have held their first talks to discuss the issue of growing space debris and ways to beef up cooperation, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.At the so-called space policy dialogue held in Washington Thursday, officials from Seoul and Washington exchanged views on how to cooperate with each other on the peaceful use of outer space, it said.Space debris refers to an array of now-defunct objects flying in universe such as spent satellites and used rocket parts th

Russia's former ambassador to North Korea is expected to start his job as Moscow's top envoy to Seoul starting in late January, a diplomatic source said Friday.Alexander Timonin was named as Moscow's new ambassador to South Korea in late December and will likely replace Konstantin Vnukov around Jan. 23, when he arrives here, the source said.Timonin had served as Russia's ambassador to Pyongyang since May 2012. Before that, he had experience in dealing with trilateral cooperation among the two Ko

South Korea will send its second batch of medical personnel to Ebola-hit Sierra Leone this weekend as initially planned despite concerns about the possible infection of a South Korean medical worker there, officials said Friday.A team of nine-strong medical workers will leave South Korea on Saturday on a mission to treat Ebola patients in Goderich, near Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, according to the foreign ministry.They will first depart for Britain where they will receive safety training fr

BERLIN (AP) -- The deadly shootings in Paris are prompting concerns that a fledgling anti-Islamist movement  and far-right parties may be able to harness the reaction to gain support in Europe.German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said Thursday the way two right-wing parties and the PEGIDA movement are "trying to exploit this attack for their own purposes is disgusting."Marches in Dresden by PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, have grown steadily over three months.

 South Korea and Japan agreed Thursday to ramp up efforts to boost their economic cooperation, despite strained bilateral relations stemming from a shared history.The neighbors reached the agreement during their high-level economic consultative meeting held in Seoul, the second of its kind since President Park Geun-hye took office in February 2013. The two Asian economic powerhouses have regularly held the consultative meeting since its inception in 1999. "Both sides positively assessed the sust

The South Korean government said Thursday it will publish a list of overseas Internet shopping sites that have repeated records of customer complaints, a move aimed at protecting local consumers.The move comes as part of a three-year government policy directive that will be effective from this year.Under the directive, approved at a policy coordination meeting earlier in the day, the Fair Trade Commission will monitor overseas-based shopping sites that have caused problems for local customers. T

South Korea on Thursday strongly condemned the "shocking terror attack" on a French satirical magazine a day earlier that killed 12 people, vowing to join international efforts to fight terrorism."The government cannot hide its shock over the deaths of many people including police officers in the act of terrorism on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo and strongly denounces this terrorist act," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The South Korean government prays for the repose of the victi

South Korea and Japan will hold high-level talks in Seoul this week to discuss bilateral and regional economic issues such as trade and investment, officials here said Wednesday.Ahn Chong-ghee, deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, will represent South Korea in the Thursday meeting with his Japanese counterpart Yasumasa Nagamine according to Seoul's foreign ministry. The meeting will mark the second of its kind since the inauguration of the Park Geun-hye administration in February 2013."

Germany has become the latest European country to witness mass anti-Islamic protests which have grown increasingly common across the continent. "In Europe in general, there is an anxiety, an anti-Islamic phobia, developing," said left-wing activist and Green euro MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit. He was referring to the latest protests by the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) group that gathered an unprecedented 18,000 supporters to their rally in Dresden on Monday. PEGIDA,

The United States called Tuesday for Japan to build "strong and constructive" relations with its neighbors as it welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to express remorse in a special statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II."We welcome Prime Minister Abe's comments yesterday, including the positive message on history issues and Japan's post-war contributions to peace," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a regular press briefing. "We believe that

Hong Kong will take the next step in its contentious political reform process Wednesday when the government unveils new proposals for how the city should choose its next leader.Tensions remain high following more than two months of mass protests for fully free elections that failed to win concessions for pro-democracy campaigners.China has pledged that voters in Hong Kong can elect the city's next chief executive in 2017 -- the first time there has ever been a public vote.But China insists that