No detection of suspected bombing attack near Pyongyang: Spy agency Flooded fields in Anbyon County in the eastern Gangwon Province after Typhoon Khanun swept through the Korean Peninsula are seen in this Aug. 14 photo captured from footage of North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. YonhapSouth Korea's spy agency said Friday it has not detected the occurrence of a suspected terrorist bombing attack near Pyongyang but is monitoring related situations.Citing a source familiar with North Korea's situation, the Donga Ilbo, a local newspaper, reported that there were signs of a suspected terrorist attack involving an explosive in the vicinity of the North's capital one or two months earlier. "The outbreak of a bombing attack has not been identified, but (we) are tracking related situations," the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in response to the report.In a closed-door briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee in May, the NIS said the number of violent crimes had tripled in North Korea from a year earlier."Large-scale and organized" crimes were also committed, including the throwing of homemade bombs in attempts to extort goAug 18, 2023
N. Korea blasted at UN for arms buildup while people suffer Kim Il-hyeok, a North Korean defector, speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Thursday, Aug. 17, at United Nations headquarters. AP-YonhapNorth Korea was accused at the U.N. Security Council Thursday of spending heavily on its nuclear arms program while its people go hungry and lack basic necessities.Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the council that people in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have experienced increasingly severe political repression while economic conditions have worsened, with widespread systematic human rights violations."Many of the violations I have referred to stem directly from, or support, the increasing militarization of the DPRK," he said.He cited widespread use of forced labor, including by children, to "support the military apparatus of the state and its ability to build weapons."The hearing, requested by the United States, was the first in the Security Council on human rights in North Korea in six years, and came as PyongyanAug 18, 2023
NK preparing ICBM launch for trilateral summit: spy agency National Intelligence Service officials and lawmakers attend a parliamentary intelligence committee meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Aug. 17. Yonhap North Korea is preparing to carry out various military provocations, including the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), on the occasion of the upcoming trilateral summit among South Korea, the United States and Japan or the South Korea-U.S. military exercise, a lawmaker said Thursday. Rep. Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) made the remarks, citing what the National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported to a closed session of the parliamentary intelligence committee."Active activities of vehicles supporting ICBM launches have been detected in Pyongyang. We are continuously identifying signs of preparation for an ICBM launch, such as the frequent movements of propellants out of liquid fuel factories," Yoo said.He also said the North is expected to conduct a joint military exercAug 17, 2023
N. Korean leader bolsters personality cult with use of title 'President': Seoul North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, presides over a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party at the party's headquarters in Pyongyang, Aug. 9, in this photo provided by the North's Korean Central News Agency. YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reduced his public activity in recent years but has accelerated his personality cult by using the title reserved for the country's late founder, South Korea's unification ministry said Thursday.Kim was referred to with the title "President" on 26 occasions in state media reports in the first seven months of this year, up from 23 in 2022 and four in 2020, according to data from the ministry.Since 2020, the secretive regime has used the title for Kim Jong-un and bolstered the frequency of its use as a way to cement the dictatorship, the ministry said."Great President" is a title used to idolize the country's late founder, Kim Il-sung, who is also known as the incumbent leader's role model.The North's leader has conducted public activities on 57 occasions so far this year. In the first half of this year, the numAug 17, 2023
NK athletes, believed to be attending taekwondo event in Kazakhstan, arrive in Beijing A North Korean inside the bus carrying a delegation of athletes headed to attend an international taekwondo event in Kazakhstan this weekend, looks out the window in Beijing, Aug. 17. YonhapA group of North Korean athletes, who are believed to be attending an international taekwondo event in Kazakhstan this weekend, arrived in Beijing on Thursday, according to scenes witnessed by Yonhap News Agency. The arrival of the North Korean team in Beijing is seen as another step in the North's reopening after senior Russian and Chinese officials participated in a military parade in Pyongyang last month. The North's team boarded a sleeper train at around 6:18 p.m. Wednesday in the Chinese border city of Dandong and arrived at a station in Beijing at 8:47 a.m. the following day. The North Korean athletes were spotted waiting for all the other passengers in the train to get off before boarding two 38-seat buses parked at a platform in Beijing at around 9:12 a.m.A bus carrying a delegation of North Korean athletes apparently headed to attend an international taekwondo event in Kazakhstan this weeAug 17, 2023
US slaps sanctions on entities over alleged arms deals between NK, Russia In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center right, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center left, visit an arms exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, July 26. AP-YonhapThe United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between North Korea and Russia as Washington cracked down on those seeking to support Russia's war in Ukraine.The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said that Russia has increasingly been forced to turn to North Korea and other allies to sustain its war in Ukraine as it expends munitions and loses heavy equipment on the battlefield.The action is the latest by Washington, which has imposed rafts of sanctions targeting Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin since the start of the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and turned cities to rubble.“The United States continues to root out illicit financial networks that seek to channel support from North Korea to Russia's war machine,” Treasury's Under Secretary for Aug 17, 2023
Seoul urges Beijing to stop repatriating North Koreans Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks during a press conference on the possible resumption of China's deportation of North Koreans against their will at the Press Center in Seoul, Wednesday. YonhapUnification minister asks China to abide by UN treaties on refugees, tortureBy Jung Min-hoSeoul urged Beijing, Wednesday, to stop repatriating North Korean escapees against their will amid signs that China is about to resume the practice, which would put the lives of those people in grave danger after returning to their homeland.At a press conference on the issue in Seoul, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho asked Chinese authorities to abide by U.N. treaties on human rights the country signed and to recognize North Korean escapees as refugees.“The forcible repatriation of people against their will is a violation of the spirit and principle of the international law that bans it,” Kim said during the event held at the Press Center. “All North Koreans in China should be treated based on the international human rights standard and be allowed into the countries they wish. I askAug 16, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Two buses detected crossing into China from N. Korea Two buses cross a railway bridge from North Korea's northern city of Sinuiju into the Chinese border city of Dandong, Aug. 16. YonhapA pair of buses were detected crossing from the North Korean border city of Sinuiju into China on Wednesday, in a rare move that was apparently made to transport its athletes to an upcoming taekwondo match.The buses were spotted crossing a railway bridge over the Amnok River from the Chinese border city of Dandong into the North at around 10:15 a.m. (local time) and returning at around 11:20 a.m.Sources said the North's rare border crossing into China could be related to the dispatch of its athletes to the ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships, slated for this week in Kazakhstan, though the identities of those on the buses remain unconfirmed.On Tuesday morning, a bus and a van were also seen crossing the border and returning to Dandong later.North Korea has imposed border lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020. Railroad freight traffic between Pyongyang and Beijing resumed in January 2021 after being halted in August the previous year. (YoAug 16, 2023
US focused on bringing Pvt. King home safely: Pentagon This family photo shows a portrait of American soldier Travis King displayed at the home of his grandfather Carl Gates, Wednesday, July 19, in Kenosha, Wis. AP-YonhapThe United States remains focused on ensuring the safe return of a U.S. service member who crossed the inter-Korean border into North Korea last month, a U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson said Tuesday.The remark comes shortly after North Korea claimed Pvt. Travis King has expressed a willingness to seek asylum in the North or a third country."We cannot verify these alleged comments," the Pentagon spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency when asked about the North's claim, carried by the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency."The department's priority is to bring Pvt. King home, and we are working through all available channels to achieve that outcome," the official added.King crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the North while on a group tour to the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone on July 18.The U.S. said earlier that it has reached out to North Korea through various communication channelsAug 16, 2023
NK says Travis King wants refuge from mistreatment, racism in US U.S. Army soldier Travis King appears in this unknown location and undated photo. Reuters-YonhapNorth Korea concluded that Travis King wants refuge there or in another country because of "inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination" in the U.S. and the military, state media said on Wednesday, Pyongyang's first public acknowledgement of King's crossing from South Korea on July 18..A private in the U.S. Army, King dashed into the North while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) on the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.U.S. officials have said they believe King crossed the border intentionally, and have declined so far to classify him as a prisoner of war.U.S. officials have said they believe King crossed the border intentionally, and have declined so far to classify him as a prisoner of war.North Korean investigators have also concluded that King crossed deliberately and illegally, with the intent to stay in the North or in a third country, state news agency KCNA said."During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to thAug 16, 2023
