US supports provision of COVID-19 vaccine to North Korea This file photo taken on Nov. 21, 2017, shows a general view of a public square in North Korea's northeastern border city of Rason. AFP-YonhapThe United States has no immediate plan to directly provide COVID-19 vaccine to North Korea but supports international efforts to assist the impoverished country cope with the pandemic, the State Department said Monday."While we have no plans to provide vaccines to the DPRK, we continue to support international efforts aimed at the provision of critical humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable North Koreans," a department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency, asking not to be identified.DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.The remarks come after South Korean President Moon Jae-in said his country will help push for international support for the North if Pyongyang asked."If North Korea agrees, (we) will push proactively for cooperation on vaccine supplies for it," Moon said in a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Van der Bellen, in Vienna.North Korea claims to have detecJun 15, 2021
Kim Jong-un calls K-pop 'vicious cancer': report North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talks with South Korean entertainers, including members of K-pop group Red Velvet, after their concert in Pyongyang, in this April 2018 file photo. YonhapBy Yoon Ja-youngA recent media report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un defined K-pop as a “vicious cancer” is shedding spotlight on the regime's culture war.The New York Times reported on June 11 that Kim called South Korean pop music a “vicious cancer” corrupting young North Koreans, declaring a war to stop it, with its state media warning that the South's entertainment business would eventually make North Korea “crumble like a damp wall.”The report reflects the far-reaching influence of South Korean pop music in North Korea. According to a 2018 survey on North Korean defectors by Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, 41.4 percent said that they frequently consumed South Korean TV programs, films, dramas and songs, while 40.2 percent said that they had consumed those just once or twice. Only 18.4 percent said that they had no Jun 14, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
'Talking about mountains:' Swiss mountaineers visit peaks of North Korea for exhibition A North Korean work brigade on Mount Paektu / Courtesy of Swiss Alpine MuseumBy Kwon Mee-yooSwiss Alpine Museum Director Beat HachlerNorth Korea is one of the most reclusive countries in the world. Totalitarian dictatorship, human rights abuses, food crises and aggressive military posturing are some of the things that come to mind when people hear "North Korea." However, a group of researchers at the Swiss Alpine Museum in Bern, a museum dedicated to the nature and culture of the Swiss Alps as well as other mountains around the world, thought differently. As mountains and hills take up a large portion of the territories of both Switzerland and North Korea, they decided to focus on how mountains shape the identity, culture and economy of North Korea.The museum is currently presenting an exhibition titled "Let's Talk about Mountains: A Filmic Approach to North Korea," shedding light on North Korea from a fresh perspective.Beat Hachler, director of the museum who also organized the exhibition, picked the project as the most laborious and difficult one the museum has ever done, though heJun 13, 2021By Kwon Mee-yoo
North Korean leader presides over Central Military Commission meeting, calls for 'high alert posture' North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, presiding over a Central Military Commission meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, called for a "high alert posture" against the "fast-changing" situation on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported Saturday. KCNA-YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a Central Military Commission meeting of the ruling Workers' Party and called for a "high alert posture" against the "fast-changing" situation on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported Saturday.During the meeting held Friday, Kim also discussed "important tasks" to make "a fresh turn in the overall work of national defense," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said without elaborating on what the important tasks were."The enlarged meeting set forth important tasks for ... bringing about a fresh turn in the overall work of national defense as required by the recent fast-changing situation around the Korean peninsula and the internal and external environment of our revolution," the KCNA said.Kim analyzed the prevailing situation and the "real state" of the work of the People'Jun 12, 2021
Recent inter-Korean 'significant communication' leads to rampant speculation National Intelligence Service Chief Park Jie-won speaks during a meeting with lawmakers at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. YonhapBy Kang Seung-woo A recent reference by National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won to “significant communication” taking place between South and North Korea around the time of the South Korea-U.S. summit last month has left Pyongyang watchers scrambling to find out the North's real intentions. Inter-Korean ties have been deadlocked since February 2019, when a summit between North Korea and the United States ended without a deal, as evidenced by the North cutting off all government and military communication channels with the South, and blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Gaeseong in June 2020.On Wednesday, South Korea's top intelligence official told lawmakers in the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee that inter-Korean communication took place before or after the May 21 summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C.However, he did not specify when they coJun 11, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
North Korean missiles pose increasing threat to US, allies: Secretary Austin U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testifies before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Pentagon's budget request, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 10. Reuters-YonhapNorth Korea continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, posing an increasing threat to the United States and its allies, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday."Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, posing an increasing threat to regional allies and partners and with ambitions to be able to strike the U.S. homeland," Austin said in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee before a hearing on the Defense Department's request of a $715 billion budget for fiscal year 2022.Austin named North Korea as one of four countries that pose threats to the United States, along with China, Russia and Iran.Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed the North poses a "real danger" to the U.S.He said the North "continues to enhance its ballistic missile capability and possesses the technical capacity toJun 11, 2021
South Korea refrains from commenting on Kim Jong-un's apparent weight loss North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears in a news report by North Korea's KCTV on June 5. YonhapBy Yoon Ja-youngThe Ministry of Unification has refrained from commenting on a recent media report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have lost weight ― news that sparked speculation about his health.According to Yonhap News Agency in Seoul, a ministry official told reporters Thursday that it analyzes Kim's photos every time new ones appear in North Korea's state media. But the official said the ministry's analysis of Kim's health is not something it would make public.The comment comes following a recent report by NK News, an English-language news site specializing on North Korea, which said June 8 that Kim Jong-un looked thinner based on an image released by North Korea's Korean Central Television (KCTV), in which he is presiding over a June 4 politburo meeting.The report focused on his wrist, on which he was wearing what seemed to be a Portofino Automatic watch by Swiss company IWC Schaffhausen. It noted that the length of the strap past the buckle appeared longer than in prJun 11, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
North Korea stresses cooperation with Red Cross amid global virus pandemic North Korean workers disinfect a public facility in Dancheon, North Korea, in this 2020 December file photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. YonhapNorth Korea held a Red Cross meeting and stressed the importance of cooperation with international aid organizations amid the global coronavirus pandemic, state media said Thursday.During the meeting held Tuesday and Wednesday, the North highlighted the need to closely cooperate with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other international organizations to achieve its "strategic goals," according to the official Korean Central News Agency."To successfully achieve the Red Cross' goals from 2021 to 2030, all officers and volunteers must work as one," the paper said.The meeting also called on North Koreans to "stay ready to effectively respond to various disasters" and to "fulfill one's respective duties according to the national crisis control system."The meeting came as the North is expected to receive vaccines and coronaviruJun 10, 2021
US seeks to make progress with North Korea through diplomacy: State Dept. The U.S. flag and the North Korean flag are put together at a store in Hanoi, Vietnam, in this 2019 February file photo. AP-YonhapThe United States seeks to engage with North Korea diplomatically to make progress toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday.Ned Price also said the newly appointed special U.S. representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, will continue to work toward that end."So the policy that we have spoken to calls for what we have deemed a calibrated, practical approach, that explores diplomacy, that is predicated on diplomacy with the DPRK to make tangible progress, that increases the security for our people, for our allies in the region, as well as for deployed forces," the department spokesman said in a press briefing, referring to the new U.S. policy toward North Korea.DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name."And we did announce that Ambassador Sung Kim will serve as the special representative for the DPRK, and Ambassador Kim will, for our part, continue to be deeply Jun 10, 2021
Seoul attempts to call Pyongyang every day through Panmunjom hotline to no avail: official gettyimagesbankSouth Korea has been attempting to call North Korea via a cross-border communication line every morning for the past year, but there has been no response from the North, a unification ministry official said Wednesday.Last year, the North vowed to cut off all communication lines with the South and even blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in its border city of Kaesong in anger over anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets coming in from the South.Still, a communication line set up at the border village of Panmunjom remains active as it has a dial tone. The South has used the line to try to call the North at 9 a.m. every working day, but all calls have gone unanswered, the ministry official said."Regardless of what North Korea's response is, we continue to send a signal at 9 a.m. every day as part of the officer's basic duties and based on the view that the channel for the two Koreas must remain open," the official said. (Yonhap)Jun 9, 2021
