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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

N. Korea vows to build up military

U.S. President Donald Trump poses with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit on Sentosa Island in Singapore, June 12, 2018. AP-YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooNorth Korea said Friday it will not talk with the United States if it sticks to hostile policies, casting doubt over the future of their denuclearization dialogue on the second anniversary of the first summit in Singapore between the leaders of the two countries. In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Foreign Minister Ri Son-gon said the North would never again gift U.S. President Trump with high-profile meetings and concessions he could boast of as foreign policy achievements unless it “receives something substantial.”Ri said the North would instead build up its military force “to counter U.S. threats.”The statement comes after Pyongyang began ratcheting up its rhetoric and measures against both Seoul and Washington. This week, it severed all official cross-border communication lines with the South, and threatened to disrupt the U.S. presidential election in N

Jun 12, 2020By Yi Whan-woo
N. Korea vows to build up military
  • North Korea tells South to 'stop nonsensical' talk about denuclearization

N. Korean leader sends congratulatory message to Putin

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday on the occasion of the country's national day, according to state media.In the letter, Kim expressed his belief that the two countries would continue to maintain friendly relations, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said."The Russian people have achieved great successes in the struggle for building a powerful and prosperous Russia while overcoming all kinds of challenges and trials under the energetic leadership of the Russian president," Kim was quoted as saying in the report.Kim said "he reminisced with joy" about his first summit with Putin held in April last year in the Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok.He added that he had a "firm belief that the joint recognition and agreements between him and the Russian president would be implemented without fail to dynamically promote the development of the strategic and traditional relations of friendship between the DPRK and Russia."DPRK is the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.Last mon

Jun 12, 2020
  • North Korea says little reason to maintain Kim-Trump ties

North Korea says little reason to maintain Kim-Trump ties

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon. YonhapNorth Korea sees little use maintaining a personal relationship between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump if Washington sticks to hostile policies, state media reported on Friday - the two-year anniversary of the leaders' first summit.U.S. policies prove Washington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people and North Korea will develop more reliable military forces to counter that threat, Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.Trump and Kim exchanged insults and threats during 2017 as North Korea made large advances in its nuclear and missile programme and the United States responded by leading an international effort to tighten sanctions.Relations improved significantly around the Singapore summit in June 2018, the first time a sitting American president met with a North Korean leader, but the statement that came out of the meeting was light on specifics.A second summit in February 2019 in Vietnam failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over U.S.

Jun 12, 2020
North Korea says little reason to maintain Kim-Trump ties
  • N. Korean leader sends congratulatory message to Putin

Political dynamics of propaganda leaflets and inter-Korean relations

Park Sang-hak, fifth from left, head of the Fighters for Free North, a North Korean defectors' group in the South, shows propaganda leaflets the group recently sent to the North, during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, June 8. Fourth from left is Rep. Ji Seong-ho, a defector-turned lawmaker with the main opposition United Future Party. YonhapBy Jung Da-min While South Korea wants to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first-ever inter-Korean summit on June 15 which it believes helped “thaw” inter-Korean relations, North Korea is increasing its vitriol toward the South over the sending of propaganda leaflets across the border by a defectors' group.On May 31, members of the Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, flew balloons carrying propaganda leaflets from the border city of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. They accused North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un of being a hypocrite in the leaflets, and also sent USB storage devices containing news and information about prosperous South Korea.Four days later, Kim Yo-jong

Jun 11, 2020
Political dynamics of propaganda leaflets and inter-Korean relations
  • 50% of South Koreans support law banning sending anti-NK leaflets

NK increases aggression against South, US

Officials and members of North Korean women's unions stage a mass rally outside a museum in Sinchon, South Hwanghae Province, Tuesday, to denounce the South Korean government and North Korean defectors here for their anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns. / Yonhap By Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea is ratcheting up its hostile rhetoric against South Korea in its latest expression of anger over the latter's “failure” to curb North Korean defectors' anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns.Now, its fury has expanded to the United States as the Kim Jong-un regime has threatened to interfere in its presidential election in November if Washington continues to meddle in inter-Korean affairs. The threat came after the U.S. State Department expressed disappointment, Tuesday, over Pyongyang's decision to cut off all communication lines between the two Koreas.“They (South Koreans) have never abandoned their ugly intentions to destroy our country,” the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North

Jun 11, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
NK increases aggression against South, US

Legal complaint against leaflet-sending defector groups still in process

Members of North Korean defector groups handle giant balloons containing anti-Pyongyang leaflets as they are about to send them up in the air from Paju, Gyeonggi Province, June 4. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukThe unification ministry is still reviewing details in preparation to file a complaint with police against two North Korean defector groups for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, a ministry official said.On Wednesday, the unification ministry said it will file a complaint against two defector groups, Fighters for Free North Korea and Keunsaem, for violating the inter-Korean exchange and cooperation act that bans sending goods to North Korea without government permission.The ministry also said it will take action to revoke business permits granted to the groups.The decision came two days after the North vowed to cut off all inter-Korean communication lines over such leafleting."Although I would like to tell you the complaint will be filed within this week, I heard we are still 'in the process' as we have a few details to review," the official said. "We will pr

Jun 11, 2020
Legal complaint against leaflet-sending defector groups still in process
  • Moon's peace drive buffeted by NK offensive

US says full normalization of ties with North Korea requires improving human rights

North Korean youth and students march from the Pyongyang Youth Park Open-air Theatre to Kim Il Sung Square during a protest demonstration to denounce South Korean authorities' policy against North Korea and defectors from the north, in Pyongyang, North Korea Monday, June 8, 2020. The signs read "Give us an order (to punish South Korea)." APThe United States has made clear to North Korea that an improvement in human rights conditions, including religious freedom, will be required for a full normalization of bilateral ties, a State Department report said Wednesday.According to the annual International Religious Freedom Report, the North Korean government continued to deny its people the right to religious freedom and committed violations that constituted crimes against humanity.The report covered the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019, and mostly summarized observations made by nongovernmental organizations and news media."There were reports the government continued to deal severely with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, torture, beatings, and

Jun 11, 2020
US says full normalization of ties with North Korea requires improving human rights

Moon's peace drive buffeted by NK offensive

By Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea's decision to sever all official communication channels with South Korea is further weighing on President Moon Jae-in, who was already frustrated by Pyongyang's lack of response to his inter-Korean peace initiative.President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting with his senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. / YonhapExperts advise Seoul to take a “timeout” from repeatedly offering something to engage the Kim Jong-un regime, while bracing for any possible fallout from increasing tension on the Korean Peninsula.On Tuesday, the North cut off all cross-border communication lines, including the hotline between Moon and Kim, due to its apparent anger over the South's “failure” to prevent North Korean defectors and activists from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border tethered to balloons. In addition, the North said “the work toward the South should thoroughly turn into the one against an enemy.” At the start of the year, the Moon administration emphasized the importance of inter-Korean exchanges and cooperati

Jun 10, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Moon's peace drive buffeted by NK offensive
  • Main opposition party presses for realignment of Seoul's N. Korea policy
  • Unification ministry to file legal complaint against leaflet-sending defector groups
  • S. Korea vows to fully implement inter-Korean military deal despite NK threats
  • Legal complaint against leaflet-sending defector groups still in process

Inter-Korean tension heightening as North Korea shuts communication channels

A phone set up at Cheong Wa Dae as a hotline between leaders of two Koreas. North Korea said, Tuesday, it would cut all communication lines with the South, including the hotline. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooInter-Korean relations are again returning to the era of constant tension, with North Korea cutting all communication lines with the South and defining the country once more as an “enemy.” Experts think that the North may take further measures as it has vowed, including military provocations.The tension-stoking move came days after Pyongyang strongly complained about Seoul failing to stop North Korean defectors and activists from flying anti-North leaflets across the border tethered to balloons.“The disgusting riff-raff has committed hostile acts against North Korea by taking advantage of the South Korean authorities' irresponsible stance and with their connivance. They dared to hurt the dignity of our supreme leadership and mock the sacred mental core of all our people. This was a sign of hostility to all our people,” the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCN

Jun 9, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Inter-Korean tension heightening as North Korea shuts communication channels
  • North Korea voices frustration over slow progress: experts
  • North Korea's fury over leafleting shows it can never take mudslinging of Kim's leadership

North Korea's fury over leafleting shows it can never take mudslinging of Kim's leadership

North Korean youth and students march from the Pyongyang Youth Park Open-air Theatre to Kim Il Sung Square during a protest demonstration to denounce South Korean authorities policy against North Korea and defectors from the north, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Monday, June 8, 2020. APNorth Korea's anger at propaganda leaflets flown across the border from South Korea shows how sensitive the autocratic regime is to criticism of leader Kim Jong-un, especially at a time of economic difficulties deepened by the coronavirus and sanctions.Pyongyang said earlier in the day it will cut off all phone lines with Seoul starting Tuesday noon, accusing Seoul of turning a blind eye to North Korean defectors and activists sending propaganda leaflets criticizing its leadership. Branding leafleting as a hostile act, the North also vowed to treat the South as an "enemy." "The disgusting riff-raff have committed hostile acts against the DPRK by taking advantage of the South Korean authorities' irresponsible stance and with their connivance," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, using the acrony

Jun 9, 2020
North Korea's fury over leafleting shows it can never take mudslinging of Kim's leadership
  • North Korea refuses to answer calls from South Korea after vowing to sever phone lines
  • Inter-Korean tension heightening as North Korea shuts communication channels
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