The proportion of North Korean defectors here who are female has steadily risen in recent years, topping 80 percent for the first time this year, government data showed Sunday, pointing to lighter surveillance of women than men amid a perceived tightening of overall border controls. Of the 535 people who fled the North between January and May this year, 444 were women, accounting for nearly 83 percent, according to statistics from the Unification Ministry. The figures marked the highest portion

The Navy on Wednesday launched new search and rescue squads at all three of its bases to reinforce its emergency response capabilities in the wake of the deadly sinking of the Sewol ferry last year. Led by a captain, each team consists of 15 to 17 deep-sea divers and will operate a 15-seater speed boat, mobile decompression chamber, surface-supported diving system, side scan sonar, scuba equipment and other diving and search gear.  Members of a new search-and-rescue team pose after their team’s

 South Korea will purchase four units of Airbus’ in-flight refueling tankers by 2019 to help boost the country’s air defense, officials said Tuesday, marking the first introduction of European warplane here in more than 20 years. Airbus’ A330 MRTT tanker engages in an aerial refueling mission. (Airbus)The National Defense Acquisition Program Committee picked the winner of the 1.49 trillion won ($1.34 billion) project at a session presided over by Defense Minister Han Min-koo. The France-headquar

Defense Minister Han Min-koo warned of stern retaliation against any provocation from North Korea as South Korea commemorated the 13rd anniversary of a deadly cross-border naval skirmish Monday. The Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, named after a frontline island in the West Sea, was initiated after two North Korean patrol vessels violated the Northern Limit Line, a de facto maritime frontier, on June 29, 2002. It killed six South Korean seamen and wounded 18 others aboard a warship that later sank a

The widow of former President Kim Dae-jung is seeking to visit North Korea as early as next month and possibly meet with leader Kim Jong-un, Seoul officials said Friday. Lee Hee-ho, wife of the deceased president who took the reign from 1998 to 2003, has requested approval for her trip from the Unification Ministry, spokesperson Lim Byeong-cheol said. In line with Pyongyang’s proposal, five officials from each side have agreed to meet on June 30 in Gaeseong to discuss details of her visit, accor

South Korea on Friday imposed financial sanctions on six Taiwanese individuals and entities and a Syrian institution over suspicions that they traded arms and gave support to North Korea. The Taiwanese people are Tsai Hsein Tai, Su Lu-Chi and Chang Wen-Fu and the organizations are Global Interface Company Inc., Trans Merits Co. and Trans Multi Mechanics Co., the Foreign and Finance Ministries said in a statement. Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center was also put on the list. Based on t

North Korea declared Thursday that inter-Korean relations had “reached a point of no return” following the opening of a U.N. office in Seoul to monitor the human rights situation under the reclusive regime.“The South must be aware that it has now passed the point of words,” North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement, adding that “only the ultimate standoff” remains, indicating a possible provocation.The remarks followed a recent barrage of threats fr

North Korea introduced its first pair of female pilots of supersonic fighters during a flight drill attended by leader Kim Jong-un, state media reported Monday. Jo Kum-hyang and Rim Sol stepped into the limelight in November after respectively carrying out a solo take-off and landing exercise with the subsonic MiG-15 chasers, prompting the young ruler to laud them as “phoenixes,” the media said.Kim called for the cultivation of female aviators during a pilot rally in Pyongyang in April 2014, a r

Newly instated Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn apologized Friday for the government’s slipshod response to the Middle East respiratory syndrome epidemic, placing top priority on “all-out efforts” to rein in the spread. “As the new prime minister, I apologize to the people that there were flaws in authorities’ early response that are directly linked with their safety,” the former justice minister said during a parliamentary session, citing “insufficient information and knowledge about MERS.”The firs