North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament will hold its second meeting of this year Thursday amid stalled denuclearization talks.The Supreme People’s Assembly revises the North’s constitution and laws. It also sets basic policy principles, makes major personnel appointments and approves budget plans. As it is rare for the assembly to be held twice a year, attention is on what decisions will be made Thursday. The meeting comes after South Korea-US military drills, which Pyongyang ha

Some 60,000 students of elementary, middle and high schools said they had been victims of school violence, according to a survey released by the Education Ministry on Tuesday.This is about 1.6 percent of the 3.72 million students, from fourth graders to high school seniors, who took part in the monthlong survey in April, up from 1.3 percent (50,000 students) last year and 0.9 percent (37,000 students) in 2017. There are about 4.1 million fourth graders through high school seniors here. Psycholog

North Korea said Thursday it had no interest in dialogue as long as military hostilities continue, mentioning South Korea’s introduction of F-35A stealth fighters.A spokesperson for the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that South Korea violated inter-Korean agreements by continuing to bring in the high-tech weapons from the US.The statement came a day after two additional F-35A fighter jets arrived in South Korea, raising the total number of the stealth fighters in the co

North Korea continued and further developed its nuclear program last year at a 5-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in its annual report.According to the IAEA report, which will be submitted to the 74th United Nations General Assembly in New York next month, the agency observed through satellite imagery “indications that were consistent with the operation of the Yongbyon Experimental Nuclear Power Plant (five-megawatt) reactor until mid-August 2018.&r

Justice Minister nominee Cho Kuk is in a corner over mounting corruption allegations involving his family ahead of his confirmation hearing, which hasn’t even been scheduled yet.The main opposition Liberty Korea Party filed a complaint against the former senior presidential secretary and his family on Monday over what the party called questionable investments in a private equity fund.The latest of the allegations involves Cho’s 28-year-old daughter, who received scholarships to atten

North Korea said on Friday that it has no desire to talk with South Korea, criticizing President Moon Jae-in’s Liberation Day speech and blaming Seoul for its joint military exercise with the US. The spokesperson of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country said in a statement that it was delusional to think that inter-Korean talks could resume after the military drills, calling Moon an “impudent guy rare to be found.”“South Korean aut

The Ministry of National Defense Ministry said Thursday that it has not yet decided on sending the anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit to the Strait of Hormuz in response to Washington’s request to forge a coalition against Iran’s military activities amid heightened tensions with Tehran.“Sending (Cheonghae Unit) to the Strait of Hormuz has not been decided. … We are considering various ways to protect our vessels in the area, and are closely observing the situation,” the mi

Rallies denouncing the Shinzo Abe administration for Tokyo’s economic retaliation against Seoul are set to take place Thursday on Liberation Day, along with events reflecting on the 74th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule.A movement for joint action to resolve the wartime forced labor and other historical issues with Japan -- set up by some 10 civic groups, including Movement for One Korea and the Center for Historical Truth and Justice -- will begin a

The Supreme Court ruled that a former chief executive who was fined for making his employee work longer than the legally permitted 52 hours a week was not guilty, saying waiting time did not count as work hours.The top court said Tuesday it has overturned a lower court ruling that imposed a fine of 500,000 won ($410) on Kwak No-sang, former chief executive of Korail Networks. It sent the case back to the Suwon District Court for retrial. The Korail Networks employee surnamed Yoon, who drove a sh

US President Donald Trump ridiculed South Korea at his reelection campaign fundraiser Friday, saying it was very easy to force Seoul to hike its share of costs for stationing American troops here.According to the New York Post, Trump referred to how as a boy he used to accompany his father to collect rent, saying: “It was easier to get a billion dollars from South Korea than to get $114.13 from a rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn, and believe me, those 13 cents were very important.&rdq

A senior US official said Wednesday that South Korea and Japan should do some “soul-searching” about the political decisions that have damaged their ties, and called for calm words from its leaders.Marc Knapper, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, told a US think tank that it was critical to ensure “productive and constructive relationships” between the US allies in the face of “shared challenges posed by North Korea, Russia and China.” &ldqu

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo said Wednesday that the ministry is planning a special campaign to promote local tourism around the Liberation Day holiday Aug. 15, as more South Koreans boycott travel to Japan in response to Tokyo’s recent decision to impose retaliatory export restrictions.“If we could turn the falling demand for overseas travel into domestic travel, it would greatly help stimulate regional economies and boost domestic demand,” Park said d

The court of the Presbyterian Church of Korea ruled early Tuesday that a megachurch pastor’s succession to the post previously held by his father was invalid, in what is seen as a warning about the widespread practice of hereditary leadership in Korean churches.Rev. Kim Sam-hwan, the founder of Myungsung Church in southeastern Seoul, which has a membership of 100,000, named his eldest son, Rev. Kim Ha-na, as his successor in 2017, giving him control over the church’s massive finances

The ruling Democratic Party was hit with a barrage of attacks from opposition parties over a report by its think tank on South Korea’s conflict with Japan over Tokyo’s export restrictions and how the responses of the various political parties might affect the parliamentary elections next year. The Institute for Democracy distributed the report to DP lawmakers Wednesday, and then said in a statement Thursday that “inappropriate content was distributed in an inappropriate way.&rd

Hundreds of personnel continued the search Wednesday for a teenage girl who went missing eight days ago while hiking with her family in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.Cho Eunnuri, 14, was last seen near the upper part of a stream in Naeam-ri, Gadeok-myeon in Cheongju at around 10:40 a.m. on July 23. She has intellectual disabilities. About 151 centimeters tall, Cho was wearing a gray, short-sleeved T-shirt, black skirted leggings, gray-colored aqua shoes and blue horn-rimmed glasses at the