Criticism is rising on the peninsula and abroad as North Korea continues to churn out a deluge of scathing invectives against the leaders of South Korea and the U.S. and other parts of what it calls hostile forces. Pyongyang’s state media is notorious for vitriolic remarks and warlike rhetoric against the allies. But its tone appears to have grown more hateful, especially since their summit in Seoul late last month, during which U.S. President Barack Obama warned the communist state against a fo

Seoul and Tokyo plan to hold working-level talks Thursday on the long-standing issue of Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, the Foreign Ministry here said Tuesday.The meeting will mark a second round of consultations aimed at improving the two countries’ relations frayed by revisionist moves by Japanese officials and politicians. Lee Sang-deok, director general for Northeast Asian affairs at Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, is scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Thursday for a t

The U.S. has spotted a tarpaulin over a tunnel entrance at North Korea’s nuclear test site, a news report said Tuesday, adding to concerns that Pyongyang is preparing a fourth nuclear weapons test. The tarp was spotted by a spy satellite late last week at the nuclear site in the northeastern town of Punggye, CNN quoted a senior Washington official as saying. A similar cover was used ahead of the North’s third detonation in February 2013, in an apparent attempt to hide the atomic device during it

The defense ministry is considering reducing the civilian control area south of the Demilitarized Zone and easing regulations on other military reservation zones for the convenience of residents, a senior official said Wednesday.The latest move, part of President Park Geun-hye’s deregulation initiative, is aimed at making it easier for residents to exercise their land and property rights, officials said. “We are reviewing ways to reduce or scrap some military reservation zones and adjust the civ

A reporter for an online news outlet was booked Monday without detention for defaming the family of a high school student missing in the ferry accident, Daegu police said. The 47-year-old man, identified only by his surname Seo, on his Facebook page on April 19 harshly criticized an interview with the mother of a missing Danwon High School student, in which she blamed the government and president for their sloppy response to the disaster. He called the mother “insane” and the interview “a play o

North Korea on Tuesday lashed out at U.S. President Barack Obama’s warning against its fourth nuclear test during his tour of Asia last week, vowing to continue its experiment that has no “statute of limitations.” Concerns have been growing since Pyongyang threatened a “new form” of underground blast on March 30 in protest against the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of its firing of midrange ballistic missiles.In Seoul on Friday, Obama warned that the communist state will face further press

The National Assembly passed a resolution Tuesday on the establishment of a memorial park and monument for scores of teenage students killed in the sinking of a ferry off Korea’s southwest coast nearly two weeks ago.The resolution calls for efforts to build the park and monument in the grief-stricken city of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, home to a school hit hardest by the tragedy.More than 300 people were confirmed dead or missing after the ferry Sewol capsized and sank on April 16. Most of the vic