North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has taken the title of general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party during its latest congress. His assumption of the post, which came at the sixth-day session of the party’s eighth congress in Pyongyang on Sunday, suggests his ever-tightening grip on power. The general secretary title was previously held by Kim’s late father Kim Jong-il. Since Kim took over following his father’s death in 2011, the North has called Kim Jong-il the &ldqu

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, at the eighth congress of the Workers’ Party, instructed the military to strengthen its nuclear weapons. He said that his country had upgraded its nuclear arsenal since November 2017, when it test-fired the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile.　 Kim’s remarks show that three years of denuclearization negotiations between the US and North Korea were just for show, and he has no intention of giving up nuclear weapons.　 He instructed the milit

Efforts to build forward-looking relations between Seoul and Tokyo have been held back by issues related to Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. In a move set to further strain bilateral ties, a court here last week delivered a landmark ruling ordering Tokyo to make reparations to South Korean women forced into wartime sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers. The ruling comes amid rising tensions between the two countries over an ongoing legal process here to seize and liqui

The National Assembly passed a bill on punishment for serious industrial accidents Friday despite strong protests from business circles. Under the new law, business owners and chief executives can face at least one year in jail or a fine of up to 100 million won ($91,500) for workplace deaths. Companies are in danger of being subject to harsh punishment. The law obliges them to take necessary measures to prevent accidents. But it defines their obligations broadly, so there is room for arbitrary

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un admitted to a catastrophic failure in meeting the impoverished state’s economic goals in his opening address at the latest congress of the ruling Workers’ Party on Tuesday. He said the results of a five-year economic development drive, which ended last year, “fell extremely short of our goals,” according to the North’s state-run news agency. Describing the past five years as the “worst of the worst” times for the country,