NK leader orders special aid for Kaesong on coronavirus lockdown North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during an executive policy council meeting of the Worker's Party. YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened an executive policy council meeting of the Worker's Party and ordered special aid to the city of Kaesong under lockdown over coronavirus concerns, state media reported Thursday.Last week, North Korea declared a state of emergency and said that it has put Kaesong on lockdown, claiming that a "runaway" defector suspected of COVID-19 infection recently came back from the South.Yonhap"Then the meeting heard a report on the anti-epidemic work and the situation in Kaesong City that is completely locked down under the state's maximum emergency system, discussed and decided on the Party Central Committee's special supply of food and funds to the city to stabilize the living of its citizens, and instructed relevant field to take immediate measures in this regard," the Korean Central News Agency said.The North also decided to launch "a new department within the Central Committee of the Party and studied and discussed the ways to radically improAug 6, 2020
N. Korea's COVID-19 test results for first suspected case 'inconclusive': report A North Korean defector who crossed the inter-Korean border back to his homeland was tested for the new coronavirus, but the results were inconclusive, a media report said Wednesday.This photo shows a North Korean defector surnamed Kim who is suspected of having fled back to the North recently. / YonhapOn July 18, the 24-year-old man, surnamed Kim, fled back to the North after swimming across the border from the western border island of Ganghwa. His case became known after North Korea reported on July 26 that a "runaway" returned home in the border city of Kaesong with COVID-19 symptoms.It was the first time that the North officially mentioned a suspected COVID-19 case. The North then locked down the city and adopted the "maximum emergency system" against COVID-19, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency."The person was tested for COVID-19, but test results were inconclusive," Edwin Salvador, WHO representative for North Korea, was quoted as saying by Reuters.Up to 64 first contacts and 3,571 secondary contacts of the defector have been identified and quarantinedAug 5, 2020
'October surprise' summit between US, North Korea unlikely: Moon's adviser Chances are low for another summit between the United States and North Korea before November's U.S. presidential election, a special adviser to President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday, amid speculation U.S. President Donald Trump could use such a summit as a pre-election "October surprise."Moon Chung-inMoon Chung-in, special adviser for diplomatic and security affairs, made the assessment during a virtual forum, saying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is unlikely to agree to such a meeting short of concrete conditions for a deal."I'm skeptical about the October surprise, not simply because of the tight schedule ahead of the election, but in terms of what the Trump administration can give to the North," Moon said at the forum hosted by the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. Moon said that neither side would likely be up for such talks short of concrete conditions for a deal."Kim will never come out. He lost faith in Hanoi. He cannot afford another mistake." Talk of a possible third summit between Trump and Kim gained traction as South Korea's government under Moon has steAug 5, 2020
North Korea under triple threat with heavy rain Two edited photos from North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, Wednesday, show maintenance workers checking a water drainage system, as the country is hit by heavy rain and prepares for flooding. YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooHeavy rainfall is adding another problem for North Korea which is already struggling with poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic.The North's Korean Central Television (KCTV) citing its weather agency said Tuesday “many parts of the country” have been experiencing the downpour since Monday and that it will continue through Thursday, under the influence of Typhoon No. 4.A red alert warning ― the highest possible level ― was issued for the inter-Korean border city of Gaeseong, North and South Pyongan provinces, North and South Hwanghae provinces, the southern area of Chagang province and the interior of Kangwon Province.Each of the seven regions is expected to receive a cumulative rainfall of more than 500 millimeters.Flood alerts were also issued near the Taedong River, the Chongchon River and the Ryesong River for Thursday and Friday.This downpour comes after the North adoptedAug 5, 2020By Yi Whan-woo
Why do NK defectors flee to destitute North? By Jung Da-minThe latest incident of a North Korean defector's reentry to the North has raised the question among people over why some defectors choose to go back to their reclusive homeland from which they escaped to seek relief from poverty or political persecution.Defectors who return are unlikely to be very welcomed back by the regime, which considers them “traitors.” They could face punishment including imprisonment and would again face the same conditions they originally fled from. But still, at least 11 North Korean defectors have returned to the North over the past five years, according to the unification ministry's data, excluding the latest event that is still being investigated. However, North Korea watchers say there may have been more returning to the North, as other government data showed 891 defectors' whereabouts were not known, as of July last year.The most recent returned defector, a 24-year-old man surnamed Kim, came to the South in 2017. He was under police investigation following sexual violence allegations made by another defector against him and is Aug 2, 2020
2.0 magnitude quake hits N. Korea's southeastern region A 2.0 magnitude earthquake hit North Korea's southeastern region close to the inter-Korean border Saturday, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.The quake occurred at 2:58 a.m., 29 kilometers north-northwest of Pyonggang County in Gangwon Province, at a depth of 17 km, according to the KMA. Pyonggang is located just across the border from South Korea's Cheorwon, 90 km northeast of Seoul.The epicenter was at 38.65 degrees north latitude and 127.16 degrees east longitude, the agency said, noting that damage is not expected from the quake.The maximum magnitude measured by regional observation equipment was 1, it added."No damage is expected from the quake," a KMA official said, adding, "It is analyzed to be a natural one." (Yonhap)Aug 1, 2020
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
