PANMUNJEOM ― The two Koreas tentatively agreed on Sunday to reopen their joint industrial park in Gaeseong “when ready” after more than three months of suspension.They also decided to allow factory owners on Wednesday to check and repair their facilities and ship out goods, materials and equipment. The two sides will meet again at the complex that day to discuss how to avoid unilateral suspension in the future, according to the four-point deal reached after 16 hours of marathon talks on the Nort

BEIJING (AP) ― The remains of hundreds of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War may finally return home, 60 years after an armistice ended the fighting.On a visit to China, South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered to send back the remains of about 360 Chinese solders buried in a cemetery outside the city of Paju, a friendly gesture highlighting warming ties between the former combatants.The bodies are buried on a quiet hillside just south of the heavily guarded border with North Korea. M

GENEVA (AP) ― The head of a new U.N. probe into suspected human rights abuses in North Korea said Friday it is examining ways to carry out its work even without Pyongyang’s cooperation.The probe’s chairman, Australian retired judge Michael Kirby, said that there are approximately 40,000 North Koreans living outside of the country, some of whom might be able to provide useful information, possibly through the use of public hearings. Investigators hope to visit North Korea before going to South Ko

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ― A special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in North Korea on Saturday on a sports diplomacy mission that he said would include discussions about promoting sports for women, the disabled and the disadvantaged.Wilfried Lemke, Ban’s special adviser on sport for development and peace, is making a four-day trip to North Korea in what is the highest-level U.N. visit in nearly two years.The visit takes place in the wake of tightened U.N. sanctions on t

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei ― The foreign ministers of Seoul and Tokyo held their first talks on Monday in an apparent effort to mend bilateral relations strained by historical and territorial feuds.The 25-minute conversation between Yun Byung-se and Kishida Fumio took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei. It is the region’s largest security conference with 27 countries participating, including North Korea, the U.S., China and Russia. Yun scrapped a trip to Tokyo in April

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei ― China, the U.S, South Korea and Japan on Monday urged North Korea to relinquish its nuclear programs and return to dialogue for substantive progress. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he reaffirmed the four countries’ commitment to a nuclear-free Korea with his counterparts, urging Pyongyang to meet its obligations specified in a 2005 agreement. He met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shortly after arriving here for the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei and

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei ― South Korea, the U.S., China and other regional powers beefed up diplomatic efforts on Sunday as North Korea intensifies its peace offensive despite the persistent nuclear standoff. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Brunei ahead of the ASEAN Regional Forum and other conferences hosted by the 10-nation Southeast Asian coalition for three days from Sunday. The region’s biggest security forum with 27 participating countrie

China faces a strategic dilemma as South Korea and the U.S. remain steadfast despite North Korea’s peace offensive, while its balky ally covertly continues to ramp up its nuclear capability, extending the standoff and imperiling regional stability. Beijing has long defended Pyongyang against international sanctions using its veto power in the U.N. Security Council and provided economic assistance crucial for its survival. As tensions escalated on the peninsula this year, however, Chinese Preside

South Korea and the U.S. remained unwavering in their demands for North Korea’s sincerity toward denuclearization despite the communist state’s peace offensive intensified by a top envoy’s rare news conference at the U.N. over the weekend.North Korean Ambassador Sin Son-ho in New York on Friday reaffirmed Pyongyang’s offer of senior-level talks with Washington to defuse tension, discuss a peace mechanism to replace the 1953 armistice and resolve the nuclear weapons issue. The event came shortly