North Korea goes all-out against COVID-19 A picture of a quarantine official measuring drivers' temperatures with an infrared thermometer was printed in North Korea's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun, July 31, amid the regime's declaration of a national emergency in response to COVID-19. / YonhapBy Park Han-solNorth Korea has expanded its anti-COVID-19 efforts on inbound traffic to its capital city amid growing fears following the return of a defector allegedly displaying virus symptoms.Pyongyang's emergency anti-epidemic headquarters has installed additional guard posts at major entryways and transit points including train and bus stations to restrict access to the city, according to North Korea's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun, Friday.The newspaper also released an unusually long and highly critical piece that rebuked workers and organizations that have not properly adhered to the enacted quarantine measures, citing specific "evidence." These include lack of proper sanitizers placed at a building entrance, a series of in-person meetings in an enclosed office, and failures to check temperatures of doctors and patients iJul 31, 2020By Park Han-sol
'Window of opportunity for dialogue between North Korea, US still open' North Korea watchers believe Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is keeping the possibility of continued dialogue with the United States alive. / Korea Times fileBy Kang Seung-wooDespite deadlocked nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States, Pyongyang has not fully ruled out the possibility of resuming talks with Washington ― in particular, ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, according to experts, Friday. While Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, downplayed the possibility of her brother meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump again in a statement July 10, she unexpectedly requested a DVD of U.S. Independence Day celebrations, which hinted that the reclusive state was keeping their bilateral talks alive.“She's saying that somebody comes to bring that tape to Pyongyang, and that's me. She's saying, invite me to United States right, that's sort of the way I looked at it,” Andrew Kim, a former head of the CIA's Korea Mission Center, told Voice of America. While in office, he accompanied U.SJul 31, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
North Korean economy rebounds in 2019 on exports: Bank of Korea In a photo taken on July 27, 2020, people watch a firework display before the Juche tower on the occasion of 67th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice agreement in Pyongyang. AFPNorth Korea's economy is estimated to have expanded 0.4 percent from a year earlier in 2019, marking its first positive growth in three years on increased exports that came despite a wide range of international sanctions that limit trade, South Korea's central bank said Friday."North Korea's real gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4 percent in 2019. (It) turned narrowly positive for the first time in three years since 2016 when it expanded 3.9 percent," the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a report.The South Korean central bank annually offers the North's growth estimates based on related data, also mostly estimates.The reclusive state stopped publishing its growth rates in the early 1960s and now rarely provides any economic data to global agencies, including the United Nations.The BOK said the communist state's exports are estimated to have surged 14.4 percent on-year to some US$280 miJul 31, 2020
Pompeo reaffirms US goal of North Korea's complete denuclearization U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on the State Department's 2021 budget on Capitol Hill Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Washington. APU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday reaffirmed America's goal of North Korea's compete denuclearization, amid stalled nuclear negotiations with the communist country.The reaffirmation came during a Senate hearing where Republican Sen. Cory Gardner asked Pompeo if Washington still pursues the "complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization (CVID) of the Korean Peninsula.""It does," Pompeo responded.The top U.S. diplomat's answer appears to reiterate Washington's basic stance against Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons, but it came despite the recalcitrant regime's strong aversion to the CVID concept.In consideration of Pyongyang's opposition to the term that it views as a unilateral disarmament process, Washington has used the "final, fully verified denuclearization" or "complete denuclearization."In a statement earlier this month, Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North KoJul 31, 2020
North Korea intensifies antivirus efforts in Pyongyang after border town's lockdown People wearing face masks walk away after paying their respects before a sculpture entitled "Victory" at the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum on the occasion of 67th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice agreement in Pyongyang, July 27, 2020. AFPNorth Korea has intensified antivirus efforts in Pyongyang by installing more guard posts to restrict access to the capital city, state media reported Friday after leader Kim Jong-un sealed off a border town following the return of a defector from South Korea.North Korea declared a state of emergency over the weekend and put the border town of Kaesong on lockdown after a "runaway" defector returned home from the South with coronavirus symptoms. State media earlier said the defector has been put under "strict" quarantine after several medical checkups produced an "uncertain result.""Pyongyang City Emergency Anti-epidemic Headquarters has installed more guard posts at major entry and border points in Pyongyang including subway stations and long-haul bus stops," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling partyJul 31, 2020
Defector may be used in regime promotion By Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea is highly expected to use a defector who recently returned to the North with alleged coronavirus symptoms to promote its regime's healthcare system, according to watchers of the reclusive state, Wednesday.This photo shows a culvert in the northern part of Ganghwa Island that may have been used by a North Korean defector to return home. The other side has been blurred for security purposes. / YonhapPyongyang's Korean Central News Agency broke the news, Sunday, saying the defector surnamed Kim who fled here in 2017 has returned to the North. In the wake of the abrupt border crossing, its leader Kim Jong-un adopted the “maximum emergency system” against COVID-19, placing the border city of Gaeseong under lockdown. Until then, the totalitarian state had claimed to have kept the number of infections at zero thanks to its early border closure. Since its first report, the North has not reported follow-up news regarding the “runaway,” raising speculation that he may be undergoing virus testing. After the North's report, the South Korean gJul 29, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
North Korean leader says there will be no more war thanks to nuclear weapons Participants of the 67th anniversary ceremony of the end of the Korean War held at Pyongyang's April 25 House of Culture fervently respond to a greeting from the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who is at the center of the stage. KCNA-YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un. KCNA-YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said there will be no more war as the country's nuclear weapons guarantee its safety and future despite unabated outside pressure and military threats, state media said on Tuesday.Kim made the remarks as he celebrated the 67th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which fell on July 27, with a reception for veterans, the official KCNA news agency said.The country developed nuclear weapons to win "absolute strength" to stave off another armed conflict, Kim said in a speech carried by KCNA, emphasising the defensive nature of the programmes."Now we are capable of defending ourselves in the face of any form of high intensity pressure and military threats from imperialist and hostile forces," he said."Thanks to our reliable and effective self-defensive nuclear dJul 28, 2020
Gov't, military hit for poor security, defector management A missed delivery notice is attached to the door of an apartment in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, belonging to a North Korean defector who is suspected of having fled to the North while police were investigating rape allegations made against him earlier this month. YonhapBy Jung Da-min The South Korean military and police are facing criticism for failing to notice that a North Korean defector had returned to the North, only becoming aware after the situation was reported by North Korean state media.The military failed to prevent the border crossing, and the police neglected to properly manage the defector, whose identity has not yet been confirmed. However, both the police and the military believe the defector in question is a man surnamed Kim, 24, who has been under police investigation following sexual violence allegations against him.“The combat readiness inspection office of the JCS is checking the military's overall readiness and other conditions including if surveillance equipment and video recording were operating correctly,” the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (Jul 27, 2020
North Korea marks 'victory' anniversary North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, smiles with leading commanding officers of the country's armed forces after he gave them “Paektusan” (Mount Paektu) commemorative pistols during a ceremony held at the country's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee headquarters in Pyongyang, Sunday. The occasion marked the 67th anniversary of what the North celebrates as a victory in the “Fatherland Liberation War,” which fell Monday. South Korea marks the day as the 67th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement that ended combat in the 1950-53 Korean War. YonhapJul 27, 2020
Defector case may lead to virus aid to North Korea This photo shows fields in North Korea's Kaepung County on the western front-line border with South Korea, Monday, seen from Ganghwa Island in the South. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea watchers show mixed expectations on how inter-Korean relations will develop in the wake of a North Korean defector's return to the North, who, according to the reclusive country, showed symptoms of COVID-19 and could become the country's first officially confirmed case of the virus.Some say the North may belatedly accept South Korea's offer for inter-Korean cooperation in quarantine and healthcare to cope with the pandemic.According the North's Korean Central News Agency, Sunday, its leader Kim Jong-un adopted the maximum emergency system against coronavirus following a defector's return from the South with virus symptoms. Since earlier this year, President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly offered cross-border cooperation in a bid to resuscitate North-South ties, and since the coronavirus pandemic emerged, healthcare cooperation has been at the top of the agenda.“It is a possible scenario for interJul 27, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
