Blinken determined to appoint envoy for North Korea rights In this March 9, 2017, file photo, a North Korea flag flies next to barbed wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Reuters-YonhapU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday the Biden administration is determined to appoint an envoy responsible for monitoring the human rights situation in North Korea, but that he was not able to offer a timeline for this.Blinken was asked about the administration's plans for such an appointment at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the U.S. State Department's annual budget request."We will be coming forward with that. I can't put a timeline on it. We're determined to do that," Blinken said, while adding the vetting process had become ever more complicated and time consuming. (Reuters)Jun 8, 2021
North Korea faces serious humanitarian crisis: report In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, attends a meeting with senior ruling party officials in Pyongyang, June 7. AP-YonhapNorth Korea faces a serious humanitarian crisis due to food insecurity and limited health care, aggravated by global sanctions and the coronavirus, an international nongovernmental organization has said.According to the latest Inform Severity Index report compiled by the Geneva-based Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), North Korea faces a "high" level of humanitarian crisis severity.This represented the second-highest level of a six-tier crisis evaluation scale. The report also ranked North Korea among the countries with "high constraints" in humanitarian access."The humanitarian situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is driven by political and economic factors as well as natural hazards," the report said, using North Korea's official name."Chronic food insecurity and limited access to basic services, such as healthcare and clean water, have left more than 10 million people in needJun 8, 2021
US will work for family reunion of Korean-Americans with relatives in North Korea: Blinken U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken / ReutersU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged Monday to work with both South Korea and North Korea to help realize long-awaited reunions of Korean-Americans with their loved ones in the North, calling it a "heart wrenching" issue.The top U.S. diplomat also said he is "deeply sensitive" to the issue."This is just heart wrenching, knowing that people have been not only separated but don't even know the fate of their loved ones," Blinken said in a hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee.Earlier reports have said as many as 100,000 Americans of Korean descent are believed have relatives living in the reclusive North.Seoul and Pyongyang have held some 20 rounds of family reunions between their separated families, but none of the reunions had included those in the U.S., according to Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY)."So what I can pledge to you is that we will absolutely work on this, including with our South Korean partners, to make sure that the interests of Korean-Americans who have been separated from families are reflected in the effortJun 8, 2021
Seoul pushes for reviving inter-Korean tour programs Unification Minister Lee In-young, right, bumps fists with Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun during their meeting at the ministry in Seoul, June 1. YonhapExperts pessimistic over unification ministry's drive By Kang Seung-wooThe government is re-igniting its drive for inter-Korean tourism projects as part of efforts to improve ties with North Korea, but is not expected to achieve its desired result, according to Pyongyang watchers, Monday. Unification Minister Lee In-young met with Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, June 1, and reiterated his commitment to resuming a long-suspended tourism project at North Korea's Mount Geumgang. Hyundai began the tour program to the scenic mountain in 1998, but it was halted in 2008 when a South Korean tourist was killed by a North Korean border guard.In addition, the minister also held a meeting, Friday, with Lee Joong-myung, chairman of Ananti, which used to run a golf course at the mountain resort, and discussed the two Koreas co-hosting a world golf championship in the North in 2025. The minister is scheduled to meet with Ahn Young-bJun 7, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Pro-North Korean paper says Pyongyang continues to pursue unification of Korean Peninsula President Moon Jae-in, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hug each other during their meeting at the truce village of Panmunjeom on April 27, 2018. YonhapA pro-North Korea newspaper said Monday that North Korea will continue to push for unification of the Korean Peninsula, refuting claims that Pyongyang has abandoned the long-held wish in its latest revision to the ruling party's rules. North Korea held a rare congress of the Workers' Party in January and revised the party rules, deleting such expressions as "uriminzokkiri," or between our Korean people, and including such phrases as "coexistence" of the compatriots.The changes have been seen by some experts here as signaling that North Korea has given up on its push for the unification of the Korean Peninsula and is now instead seeking the coexistence of the two Koreas."The path toward building a socialist powerhouse with the banner raised high for our nation-first philosophy does not run counter to the fight to resolve our (Korean) people's problems," the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korea newspaper in Japan, said."The unstoppJun 7, 2021
Putin calls for guaranteeing North Korea's security to resolve nuclear quandary Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 4. AP-YonhapRussian President Vladimir Putin called for guaranteeing the security of North Korea to resolve the standoff over its nuclear program, stressing that pressure and sanctions alone were not going to solve the quandary.Putin made the remarks during a virtual meeting with the heads of global news agencies at an annual economic forum in St. Petersburg, Friday, (local time), as nuclear negotiations between the North and the United States remain deadlocked after the breakdown of the Hanoi summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump in early 2019. "The North Korean nuclear problem is not going to be resolved by pressuring the North and toughening the sanctions against it," Putin said through an interpreter when asked by Cho Sung-boo, CEO and president of Yonhap News Agency in Seoul to comment on Moscow's stance on North Korean nuclear issues."Only by ensuring the security of its people, and with patience Jun 5, 2021
North Korean leader presides over politburo meeting in first public appearance in a month North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported June 5 that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a politburo session of the Workers' Party the previous day. YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a politburo session of the Workers' Party in his first public appearance in a month and discussed convening a key party meeting and organizational matters, the North's state media reported Saturday.During the session, the politburo agreed to hold a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Party in early June to take "additional state measures for solving pending problems urgent for the economic work and people's living," the official Korean Central News Agency said."Positively appreciating that a lot of planned works are being sped up on a long-term basis, thanks to the ideological enthusiasm and fighting spirit of self-reliance of the entire Party and all the people which were considerably raised by the 8th Congress of the Party, though the smooth development of the state affairs are being seriously challenged and restricted due to the prevailing unfaJun 5, 2021
UN may probe possible sanctions violations by South Korean firms involving oil tanker transfer to North Korea gettyimagesbankBy Nam Hyun-wooThe United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea may begin investigating allegations that at least two oil tankers previously owned by S. Korean companies were transferred to North Korea, which is a violation of U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang. According to a report by Radio Free Asia, Friday, a spokesman for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “Should these allegations be brought to the attention of the committee, they will be investigated and appropriate action will be taken.” Norway is the chair of the committee. The spokesman declined to comment directly on the allegations, but was quoted as saying, “We encourage the submission of relevant information and reports,” adding, “Norway takes any possible violations of the sanctions regime seriously.”The allegations were raised in a June 1 report released by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), an arm of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a U.S.-based think tank. The report said that Pyongyang had added two neJun 4, 2021By Nam Hyun-woo
New party rules show North Korean leader breaking away from predecessors North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during the sixth Conference of Cell Secretaries of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang, April 6, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooThe latest revisions to North Korea's ruling Workers' Party regulations indicate that its leader Kim Jong-un is cementing his own leadership style in the reclusive state, according to Pyongyang watchers here.The changes discarded the past ideologies of the North's founder Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il ― the current leader's father ― but the creation of a new No. 2 position in the party under Kim Jong-un has little to do with a succession plan to the “Supreme Leader,” they added. According to sources, the North Korean regime ratified the amendments at its eighth congress ― the first in five years ― held in January, indicating that Kim is trying to step out of his predecessors' shadows and craft his own image among the people“At the seventh party congress in 2016, Kim Jong-un designed his own leadership system and at the eighth congressJun 3, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea faces food shortage of 1.35 million tons: think tank This file photo taken on Feb. 16, 2019, shows Korean People's Army soldiers paying their respects before the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang. North Korea is expected to face a food shortage of about 1.35 million tons this year affected by last summer's typhoons, flooding and a lack of farming materials amid the global pandemic, a state-run think tank said June 3. AFP-YonhapNorth Korea is expected to face a food shortage of about 1.35 million tons this year affected by last summer's typhoons, flooding and a lack of farming materials amid the global pandemic, a state-run think tank said Thursday.According to a report by the Korea Development Institute, North Korea is presumed to have produced about 4.4 million tons of grains last year, down around 240,000 tons from a year earlier.Given that the North is thought to be in need of at least 5.75 million tons of food annually to feed its population, last year's estimated production marked a shortage of 1.35 million tons. The report said that the estimated shortage is beyond the NorJun 3, 2021
