North Korea continues to seek sanctions lifting, recognition as nuclear state North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks a defense development exhibition held in commemoration of the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Sunday, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the next day. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea has doubled down on its ambition to be declared a nuclear state, while urging the United States to change its “hostile” policy toward the country, and offer sanctions relief. The country's leader Kim Jong-un made the remarks in a speech at a defense development exhibition to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Sunday. In the speech, Kim accused Seoul of being “hypocritical” and having “double standards” for continuing to boost its military capabilities while talking ostensibly of “peace, cooperation and prosperity.”Expressing “strong regrets,” Kim said the North will respond with "strong actions" if South Korea continues to "infringe upon our rights to self-defense."His remarks come as theOct 12, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Eliminating prejudice, discrimination should be policy goal for North Korean defectors: resettlement agency chief Jung In-sung, president of Korea Hana Foundation / YonhapThe ultimate goal of policy on North Korean defectors living in South Korea should go beyond helping their economic stability but making them accepted as "ordinary neighbors" facing no prejudice and discrimination, the head of South Korea's state-run resettlement agency said.Jung In-sung, president of the Korea Hana Foundation, vowed to continued efforts to expand communication and exchanges between North Korean defectors and South Korean citizens to ensure that the defectors can become part of the South Korean society and serve as a strong foundation for future unification between the two Koreas.The Korean Hana Foundation was established in 2010 by the unification ministry to help the resettlement of North Korean defectors whose number stands at around 34,000. Jung, a former senior Won Buddhism official, took office as head of the foundation in March 2020."Previous support for North Korean defectors had been focused on helping them secure economic self-reliance," Jung told Yonhap News Agency in a recent interview in his officeOct 12, 2021
North Korean leader says boosting military capabilities is 'not for war with South or US' North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches the opening ceremony of a defense development exhibition on the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, Oct. 11. YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for boosting the country's military capabilities to counter what he called "hostile forces" against Pyongyang but said the move is not aimed at a war against South Korea or the United States.Kim made the remarks Monday in a speech at a defense development exhibition to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, criticizing Seoul and Washington over their combined military exercises and weapons development."The United States has been frequently signaling that it's not hostile to our country, but there has been no behavioral ground to believe that it is not," Kim said. "For our descendants we need to be strong. We need to first be strong." The remarks came less than two weeks after North Korea tested a new anti-aircraft missile in its fourth missile launch in September alone. "The military threats our country is facing is different from what we saw 1Oct 12, 2021
North Korean leader urges improvement in people's lives on party's founding anniversary North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during the event marking the 76th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, according to its Korean Central News Agency, Sept 10. YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed the need for improving people's livelihoods, as he held a lecture to mark the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party, state media said Monday.He delivered the message during his "important" speech, titled "Let us further improve party work in line with the demands of the period of fresh development of socialist construction," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).Kim said that the party has defined the "the popular masses' independence" as the essence of the socialist construction and urged officials to serve the people like "God," it added.He then emphasized that the party remains determined to efficiently push ahead with the five-year national economy plan set forth at the party congress in January and called on officials to solve people's food and housing problems.Kim also told party officials to "always consider whether tOct 11, 2021
Disagreement on North Korea sanctions feared to weaken Seoul-Washington alliance GettyimagesbankExperts mixed on partial lifting of economic penalties By Kang Seung-wooAs ever-tightening U.S. sanctions have yet to achieve its policy goals, a discrepancy between South Korea and the United States in their respective views on whether to continue full implementation of economic punishment against North Korea is coming to the fore. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said earlier this month that the time was ripe for the consideration of sanctions relief, the latest move by the Moon Jae-in administration to engage the North on denuclearization.However, the U.S. State Department stressed the need to fully implement United Nations (U.N.) Security Council sanctions on the “rogue” state a few days later, a sign that the Joe Biden administration will not partially lift sanctions anytime soon in order to restart denuclearization talks that have been deadlocked since the collapse of a Hanoi summit between the U.S. and North Korea in February 2019.“There has been a rift between Washington and Seoul over sanctions on North Korea for quite some time. But more broaOct 11, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea remains low-key on party founding day North Korea held a military parade at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang on Sept. 9, to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the country's founding, shown in this photo released by the North's state media organization, the Korean Central News Agency. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea did not mark the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party with a military parade, Sunday. Instead, the totalitarian state was focused on bolstering ideological education in what seemed to be a move to tighten leader Kim Jong-un's grip on power.According to military sources, the North Korean regime showed no signs of preparation for the military parade, which has been a fixture on official memorial days, where new or updated versions of the country's missiles, strategic weapons and other military hardware are usually shown.However, speculation that Pyongyang might skip a military parade had been widespread, as traditionally, it has celebrated the anniversary in a larger manner in years ending with a five or zero.Plus, North Korea previously staged a toned-down midnight military parade on Sept. 9 Oct 10, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea unveils new apartment construction site under plan to build 10,000 homes this year This 2019 September file photo shows under-construction apartments in North Korea's northern city of Samjiyon. AFP-YonhapNorth Korea is accelerating the drive to construct new apartment buildings in its capital city, state media showed Sunday, as it aims to provide 10,000 new homes within this year and 40,000 more by 2025.North Korea has cleared tens of thousands of square meters of land in the western Pyongyang area of Mangyongdae to build more homes, according to its official Rodong Sinmun newspaper and Uriminzokkiri, a propaganda website.North Korea claims Mangyongdae is the birthplace of Kim Il-sung, its founding leader and the late grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.The Rodong Sinmun also said the North has recently completed the construction of new apartment buildings of more than 100 units in the eastern district of Pyongyang.During the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party meeting in January, the North decided to build 50,000 apartments in Pyongyang by 2025, with the goal of creating 10,000 units annually.In March, Kim attended a ceremony to break ground on builOct 10, 2021
North Korea quietly marks 76th founding anniversary of ruling party In this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves to the crowd during a military parade at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, Sept. 9, to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the country's founding. YonhapNorth Korea appears to be marking the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party on Sunday without a military parade or any other provocative show of force.State media carried several articles stressing the ruling party and leader Kim Jong un's devotion to the country, but no major celebrations or party meetings were reported as of early Sunday morning.The Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling party, rallied support for Kim and highlighted his efforts in helping people recover from economic challenges, such as recent flooding and the border closure due to COVID-19.No signs of the North preparing for a military parade were detected, according to military sources.Pyongyang may be skipping the military parade as this year's anniversary does not fall on a fifth or 10th anniversary and as it staged a scaled-Oct 10, 2021
Behind-the-scenes in North Korea through diplomat's wife's lens A young couple hold hands as they pass the Rodong Sinmun building, home to the official newspaper of the Workers' Party of Korea, in this August 2018 photo. Courtesy of Lindsey MillerBy Kwon Mee-yooLindsey Miller, author of "North Korea: Like Nowhere Else" / Courtesy of Lindsey MillerNorth Korea test-fired four weapons in September, with footage from North Korea's state media showing people gathered in the city center and applauding the announcement. However, Lindsey Miller, who lived in North Korea from 2017 to 2019 with her diplomat husband at the British Embassy there, has her own, different memories of similar past occasions. "In 2017, there were nuclear tests and announcements. I remember any time when there would be a launch of some kind or a test, I would always try to get out and see what it felt like. And actually, a lot of the time, it felt very normal," Miller told The Korea Times during a Zoom interview, Sept. 28. Miller is currently living in Taipei with her husband."We see often on state media people clapping and jumping. In Pyongyang when these things happen, people weOct 9, 2021By Kwon Mee-yoo
Six in 10 Americans support US troop intervention in case of Korean conflict: survey A visitor uses a smartphone to film North Korea from the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Oct. 5. AP-YonhapMore than six out of every 10 American adults believe the United States should get involved when and if there is an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula, a survey showed Thursday.In an annual survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 63 percent of respondents said they would support using U.S. troops to defend South Korea in case North Korea invaded.The figure marks the highest among four hypothetical instances that also asked those surveyed if they would support using U.S. troops to defend Taiwan from China, Israel from its neighboring countries and a European ally from a Russian invasion.For Israel, 59 percent of respondents said they would support using U.S. troops, while 52 percent said the same about Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion.The figure for South Korea also marks the second highest since at least 1982 after 64 percent tallied in 2018.The survey also showed 77 percent of Americans hold "net favorable views" of Koreans, notiOct 8, 2021
