WASHINGTON -- Congress is expected to take up legislation banning tourist travel to North Korea in the wake of the death of American college student Otto Warmbier shortly after his comatose release from North Korea.The House Foreign Affairs Committee will mark up the bill early next month, CNN reported. Introduced by a bipartisan group of congressmen, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the North Korea Travel Control Act (H.R.2732) calls for prohibiting travel to the North by Americans without permi

North Korea on Wednesday warned of capital punishment against a former South Korean president and former spy chief for their alleged plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.The angry statement came after a Japanese media report that former South Korean President Park Geun-hye had instructed former National Intelligence Service Director Lee Byung-ho to oust Kim by any means -- including assassination.  The latest claim came amid lingering tensions on the Korean peninsula over North Ko

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday defended the government's decision to temporarily suspend the construction of two nuclear reactors, saying it was made after "painstaking deliberations."On Tuesday, Cheong Wa Dae announced that the government will halt the construction of the reactors in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, while it collects public opinion over the fate of the reactors. The final decision will be made by a group of "citizen jurors," it said. This image, pro

South Korea's Navy announced a plan Wednesday to replace its naval patrol ships operating near the tense inter-Korean sea border with upgraded ones.The Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the country's arms procurement agency, said it has signed a 256-billion-won ($223 million) agreement with Hanjin Heavy Industries, a local shipyard, for four 200-ton high-speed patrol boats. An image of a Gumdoksuri-class high-speed patrol boat (Defense Acquisition Program Administration)The Gumdoksuri

HADONG -- The town of Hadong in southeastern South Korea will sell canned fresh mountain air in a tie-up with a Canadian company amid growing concerns about air pollution, municipality officials said Wednesday.The municipality said it will hold a ceremony on Friday to mark the dedication of a plant on a site of 99 square meters in the town's Uisin Village to produce canned air coming from Mount Jiri in the region.According to them, the can of pure air with the trademark of Jiri Air, which carrie

South Korea's top diplomat will meet her US counterpart to fine-tune details related to the upcoming summit between their leaders scheduled later this week, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is to meet US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson early Wednesday (local time) in Washington just ahead of the talks between President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.  Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha delivers her inauguration speech in Seoul on June 19, 2017.

SEONGNAM AIRPORT -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet his US counterpart Donald Trump this week in a summit largely expected to focus on how to strengthen their countries' alliance and put their joint strength to use in ridding North Korea of its nuclear arms, Seoul officials said Wednesday.The two leaders will hold their first summit talks Friday (US time), following a dinner hosted by Trump and his wife, Melania, at the White House the day before.The most urgent issue for the meetin

The percentage of elderly South Koreans receiving public or private pensions stood at 30 percent in 2016, a government report showed Wednesday.The report by the Board of Audit and Inspection, which analyzed data by the NPS and private insurance companies, showed many people remaining unprotected by the country's social security net, although measures are being taken to correct the situation. The government expects the coverage will likely rise to 37 percent in 2020, 42.3 percent in 2030 and 55.5

The number of newborn babies in South Korea dropped for 17 months in a row in April, a government report showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that underscores challenges in boosting its low birthrate.About 30,400 babies were born in April, down 13.6 percent, or 4,800, from 35,200 tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.Childbirths have been on the decline since a 3.4 percent on-year gain in November 2015, along with a double-digit drop for five straight months startin

NEW YORK (AP) -- A subway train derailed Tuesday as it entered a station, tossing people to the floor, forcing hundreds of shaken-up passengers to evacuate through darkened tunnels and delivering another jolt to a transit system plagued by aging equipment and reliability problems.Nearly three dozen people suffered minor injuries in the derailment, which happened in Harlem just before 10 a.m.Photos of the train posted on social media showed its metal side deeply scraped and dented from being drag

North Korea is building children's traffic parks to offer safety education amid increasing traffic across the country, the country's state media have reported.The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Workers' Party of Korea, said Tuesday the North has completed the construction of the new park in Pyongyang that could contribute to the cultivation of awareness of traffic safety among children.According to the report, Pyongyang Children's Traffic Park, which was built on a site of 12,000

South Korea said Wednesday it plans to repatriate eight recently rescued North Korean fishermen across the de facto maritime border in waters off the country's east coast this week.Earlier in the day, the government notified North Korea of its plan to send them back Thursday, but North Korea did not respond, according to the Ministry of Unification.A ship carrying the North Koreans was found drifting near Ulleung Island in the East Sea on June 23 suffering from an engine breakdown. All of them v

WASHINGTON -- The United States designated North Korea on Tuesday as one of the world's worst countries for human trafficking for the 15th straight year.The State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report 2016" put North Korea in the lowest Tier 3 of its classification of countries. The North has been classified in the lowest category since the annual report began including it in 2003."The government-sponsored human trafficking through its use of forced labor in prison camps and labor t