North Korea fires two projectiles, vows no talks with Seoul This photo released by North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Aug. 10 shows North Korea test firing a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) which resembles the U.S. Army's tactical missile system. North Korea again fired two projectiles speculated to be SRBMs Friday, Seoul's JCS said, six days after the previous launch. KCNA-YonhapProjectiles speculated to be short-range ballistic missiles By Jung Da-min North Korea fired two projectiles into the East Sea Friday morning from the northern side of Tongchon in Gangwon Province according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). This was the sixth weapon test by Pyongyang in the past 23 days, with the previous launch of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) taking place six days ago on Aug. 10. The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the same day snubbed President Moon Jae-in's remarks that Seoul would carry on its peace efforts for dialogue and cooperation with Pyongyang in Thursday speech to mark the 74th National Liberation Day. “He (President Moon) said the dialogue atmosphere was not marAug 16, 2019
Cheong Wa Dae urges North Korea to stop launches of 'projectiles' Chung Eui-yong, head of Cheong Wa Dae's national security office / Korea Times fileThe office of President Moon Jae-in called on North Korea on Friday to halt launches of projectiles, expressing concern that such acts would escalate military tensions on the peninsula.Briefing media on the results of an hourslong emergency National Security Council (NSC) session held via videoconferencing, Cheong Wa Dae characterized two projectiles fired earlier in the day as "short-range" ones but stopped short of revealing other details.The NSC standing committee session was presided over by Chung Eui-yong, head of Cheong Wa Dae's national security office.Chung and other national security officials, who attended the meeting, made a "general review of military security conditions" on the Korean Peninsula, according to Cheong Wa Dae.On North Korea's launches of missiles and other projectiles in recent weeks, they noted that they were aimed at protesting ongoing combined command-post military drills between South Korea and the United States.They cited worries that the North's behavior could sharpen teAug 16, 2019
North Korea says it has no intention to talk with South Korea In this file photo taken on June 30, 2019, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea. AFPNorth Korea said Friday that Pyongyang has no intention to talk with South Korea again, calling it a "senseless" hope to expect talks to be resumed when Seoul's joint military exercise with the United States is over.The remarks were made by a spokesperson of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, as North Korea fired two more unidentified projectiles into the East Sea, the sixth such launch in about three weeks, the same day."The South Korean authorities are snooping about to fish in troubled waters in the future DPRK-U.S. dialogue, dreaming that the phase of dialogue would naturally arrive after the joint military exercises just as the natural change of the time of the year. He had better drop that senseless lingering attachment," the statement said, according to the Korean Central News Agency.DPRK is the abbreviation for the NortAug 16, 2019
North Korea fires two unidentified projectiles into East Sea: JCS In this file photo taken on June 30, 2019, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un is seen before a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea. AFPNorth Korea fired two unidentified short-range projectiles into the East Sea on Friday, South Korea's military said, the sixth such launch in about three weeks.The firing came shortly after a warning that North Korea could end dialogue with South Korea in apparent protest against the Seoul-Washington military exercise and Seoul's defense plan, announced earlier this week, outlining its five-year major weapons procurement projects.The two projectiles were fired at around 8:01 and 8:16 a.m. from its eastern coastal county of Tongchon in Kangwon Province into the East Sea, and both flew around 230 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 30 km and a top speed of around Mach 6.1, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)."Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches while maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS said, adding that South KoreanAug 16, 2019
North Korea slams Japan over forced laborer issue on Liberation Day University students stage a flash-mob protest calling for Japan's apology over forced conscription of Koreans during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation, in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Wednesday, a day before the 74th anniversary of the National Liberation Day of Korea. YonhapPyongyang also condemns Tokyo’s “retaliatory” trade restrictions on Seoul By Jung Da-minNorth Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Thursday condemned Tokyo for evading responsibility for its use of Korean forced laborers during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation. The article came as the two Koreas were commemorating the 74th anniversary of National Liberation Day.“We cannot but emphasize the Japanese imperialists dragged about 8,400,000 Korean young and middle-aged people to the sites of the war for overseas aggression and hard-work sites in order to invade the continent, compelled 200,000 Korean women to suffer the miserable fate as sexual slaves for the Imperial Japanese Army and mercilessly killed more than one million people,” read the statement by a spokesperson for the AssociAug 15, 2019
'China, Russia loosening noose on North Korea again' North Korean sand, a U.N.-banned item, will be shipped to China, in what is seen as Beijing's possible defiance of the sanctions on Pyongyang amid a Washington-Beijing trade row, according to sources familiar with the North. / YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooChina appears to be loosening the noose on North Korea, casting a shadow over the nuclear sanctions on the North amid the ongoing Washington-Beijing trade dispute, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.They said Russia also appears to be going easy on the North in what is interpreted as a plot to maintain leverage on Pyongyang after their leaders' April meeting in Vladivostok.“A North Korean trading company signed a contract with a Chinese trading company to export 1 million cubic meters of North Korean sand,” a source directly involved with the matter told The Korea Times.Used in construction, sand is one of the banned items under U.N. Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2397 imposed against North Korea in December 2017 over its ballistic missile tests. Resolution 2397 is touted as the toughest among the UNSC's nine major Aug 13, 2019By Yi Whan-woo
Extremely poor defector mother, son found dead Korea Times fileA defector from North Korea and her son were found dead in their home in southwestern Seoul last month, police said Tuesday.The bodies of the 42-year-old woman identified by her family name Han and her six-year-old son identified as Kim were found by a janitor of the apartment in Bongcheon-dong, southern Seoul, on July 31.He entered the house after a water serviceman reported that it smelled badly. Water supply had been cut off because of unpaid bills.Police said there were no traces of suicide or homicide. Based on neighbors' statements, police suspect they died two months ago.According to a newspaper report, the woman arrived in South Korea with her Korean-Chinese husband in 2009. The couple gave birth to a son and moved to China. After a divorce, she and her son return to South Korea late last year and had lived in extreme poverty, according to the report.Police are still investigating the cause of their death and have not ruled out the possibility that they starved to death as there was no food in the house when they were found.They are waiting for the result of aAug 13, 2019
Trump considering North Korea envoy as next ambassador to Russia U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, right, talks with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon during their meeting at the foreign ministry in Seoul on May 10, 2019. ReutersStephen Biegun, the diplomat who has been leading efforts to revive stalled U.S. denuclearization talks with North Korea, is under consideration to be President Donald Trump's next ambassador to Russia, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.The current ambassador to Moscow, Jon Huntsman, is due to step down in October after two years in the post, the State Department said last week, amid speculation he plans to run for Utah governor.Vox news on Friday quoted two people familiar with internal White House discussions as saying that Biegun, the current U.S. special representative for North Korea, was Trump's likely choice for Moscow.A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Biegun's name was under consideration.Biegun did not immediately respond when asked about the Vox report. The State Department said it had no admiAug 13, 2019
President Moon's mediator role being threatened President Moon Jae-in, right, shakes hands with North Korea's Kim Jong-un in the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjeom, June 30, when the third U.S.-North Korea summit was held there. To Kim's left is U.S. President Donald Trump. Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jinBy Jung Da-minPresident Moon Jae-in's role as a mediator between North Korea and the U.S. in denuclearization talks is being threatened, amid the North's repeated "warning" that it would exclude the South from the ongoing denuclearization negotiations.Cheong Wa Dae dismissed such concerns Monday, answering questions on a North Korean foreign ministry statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the day before. It warned the South saying if the North is to resume dialogue in the future, "this dialogue would be held strictly between the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the U.S., not between the North and the South.""It is important to get the real meaning of such statements. The message of North Korean foreign ministry spokesman's statement seemed to be that the North would Aug 12, 2019
Yet another 'Korea passing'? North Korean leader Kim Jong-un smiles as he guides missile testing at an unidentified location in North Korea, in this undated image provided by KCNA on Aug. 7. YonhapA North Korean official threatened Sunday to exclude South Korea from future negotiations with the United States over ongoing joint military drills between Seoul and Washington, D.C.Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the North Korean foreign ministry's department of American affairs warned that future discussions would be held "strictly between DPRK and the U.S., not between the north and the south" if the exercises continue."Given that the military exercise clearly puts us as an enemy in its concept, they should think that an inter-Korean contact itself will be difficult to be made unless they put an end to such a military exercise or before they make a plausible excuse or an explanation in a sincere manner for conducting the military exercise," he said.Kwon accused South Korea of attempting to disguise the intentions of the military exercises by changing their name from "Alliance 19-2" to "South Korea-U.S. Combined CAug 12, 2019
