North Korea ranked No. 3 in the rate of deaths related to air pollution, according to a new report Friday.Radio Free Asia said North Korea recorded 202 pollution-related deaths per 100,000 population, in a report “Pollution and Health Metrics” released on Wednesday by Global Alliance on Health and Pollution. The communist country was ranked behind Chad and Central African Republic, which stood at 287 and 251 deaths per 100,000, respectively. In North Korea, 51,391 died due to polluti

South Korea’s top negotiator for the defense cost-sharing deal with the United States said Thursday that Seoul has made clear it cannot pay for the cost of maintaining US troops stationed outside the country, a concession that Washington is seeking. A day before, Jeong Eun-bo, Korea’s chief negotiator, and his US counterpart, James DeHart, ended their two-day talks without an agreement on renewing the defense cost-sharing deal, called the Special Measures Agreement. “The SMA is

Signs of the resumption of activity at some military test sites in North Korea have been observed, less than two weeks before the year-end deadline the regime set for denuclearization negotiations with the United States. Amid speculation that the North may carry out a military provocation, experts say its actions may involve tests for the development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads.According to a report releas

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo called Monday for the military to thoroughly prepare for next year’s assessment for the transfer of wartime operational control from Washington. Presiding over the second meeting to assess the military’s preparedness for the envisioned OPCON transfer, Jeong highlighted the military should be aware that the most important task next year is to successfully complete the Full Operational Capability assessment. Seoul and Washington have been working

Under a joint plan in 2003 to relocate most of the US military bases in South Korea to a sprawling military complex south of Seoul, dozens of sites around the country are being vacated after being occupied by US troops for decades. But the transfer process has been drawn out as a result of disputes over who should shoulder the costs of cleaning up the contaminated soil and other environmental pollution the US military left behind. When the US returned four bases to Korea last week, the envi

US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a “close coordination” with allies amid the deadlock in the denuclearization talks with Pyongyang just weeks before the communist regime’s year-end deadline. A day before, North Korea issued statements to announce that it had carried out “another crucial test” at a satellite launching site, warning the United States to “hold off” any action to “rattle&

Minor activity has resumed at a submersible test stand barge at Nampo Naval Shipyard in North Korea, and there is the possibility that Pyongyang might test a submarine-launched ballistic missile before its year-end deadline, a US-based think tank said Sunday.Satellite imagery collected in the last several months indicate that minor activity has resumed as of Dec. 2, after a two-month hiatus since September, said Joseph Bermudez and Victor Cha of Beyond Parallel, a team that specializes in North

South Korea and the US have finalized the return of four US military sites here and will start the return process for Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul, the government said Wednesday.In a joint ministry briefing, the government announced that the US handed over control of the four sites previously used by US Forces Korea: Camps Eagle and Long in Wonju, Gangwon Province; parcels of Camp Market in Bupyeong, Incheon; and the Shea Range parcel located at Camp Hovey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province.

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo confirmed Tuesday that the “very important test” North Korea claimed to have conducted at its satellite launch site over the weekend was a rocket engine test, and urged the communist regime to stop raising military tension. Jeong made the remarks during a joint meeting with his Australian counterpart, Linda Reynolds, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her counterpart, Marise Payne.  North Korea said it performed a “very impor

The Food and Agriculture Organization has once again designated North Korea as a food-deficit country in need of external aid. The UN agency also announced a weak outlook for food security in North Korea. In its latest report released Wednesday, FAO included North Korea on its list of 42 countries that need external assistance in food resources, according to Voice of America, a US-based news outlet, on Friday.  North Korea is expected to experience food shortages and an economic slump, said

Two Defense Intelligence Command officers are being investigated by the military prosecution for allegedly raping a North Korean defector multiple times, the Defense Ministry confirmed Thursday. The North Korean defector brought charges against a first sergeant surnamed Kim and a lieutenant colonel surnamed Sung, both working for the DIC, for repeated offences that took place over a period of more than a year.  The Defense Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Command in late November ref

North Korea will hold a plenary meeting around the end of December to decide on “crucial issues,” its state-run news agency said Wednesday.On the same day, the Korean Central News Agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rode up Paektusan on a white horse accompanied by military commanders, raising speculation that the communist regime may take more provocative military actions as the year-end deadline it set for denuclearization talks with the US quickly approaches.North

Paul Nakasone, US director of the National Security Agency, has arrived in South Korea to discuss the two countries’ alliance and cyber cooperation, government officials here confirmed Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, Nakasone, who is also the commander of the US Cyber Command, met with Chun Jung-soo, commander for Korea’s Cyber Operations Command, to discuss reinforcing cooperation in the area of cybersecurity, a military official said. Earlier in the day, US Ambassador to South Korea H

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry once again pressed the US for a decision on their denuclearization talks on Tuesday, ahead of the year-end deadline given by the regime. In a statement issued by Ri Thae-song, North Korea’s vice minister of foreign affairs in charge of US affairs, Pyongyang criticized the US for using their denuclearization negotiations to influence domestic politics.“The US is keen on earning time needed for it, talking about the ‘sustained and substantial

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry has come under fire for its handling of a case involving North Korean defectors who were caught while attempting to flee to South Korea via Vietnam and who possibly face deportation to North Korea. A human rights group has accused the Foreign Ministry of lack of action, but the ministry said it has been working on the case since it was reported.On Friday, about 10 North Korean defectors were caught for the second time by Vietnamese guards in Lang Son at the border