North Korea goes to polls to approve new parliament lineup North Korean leader Kim Jong-un casts a ballot during the election at a polling station in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 10. YonhapNorth Korea held parliamentary elections Sunday, a key political event likely to cement national unity and leader Kim Jong-un's grip on power amid uncertainty over tough nuclear negotiations with the United States.The communist state will elect new deputies for the 14th Supreme People's Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, in the polls held every five years. They will replace those picked in the first parliamentary elections under the current leader in March 2014.North Korean voters, aged 17 or order, were scheduled to cast their ballots between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.Kim also participated at a polling station at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang after arriving there at 11 a.m., the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.The leader voted for Hong So-hon, the president of the university who is a parliamentary candidate."He gave a pep talk to (Hong), asking him to work well so that the university could fulfill its responMar 10, 2019
Kim Jong-un touts economic growth amid rocket launch speculation North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves as he arrives to board his his train at the Dong Dang railway station in Lang Son on March 2, 2019. AFP-YonhapNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un is continuing to stress economic development as the most urgent task facing his country, state media said Saturday, amid speculation that the North may launch a rocket. In a letter to a national conference of propaganda officials held in Pyongyang earlier this week, Kim stressed the need to concentrate all efforts on building a “socialist economy.He called on party officials to spur efforts to handle ideology education for citizens to ensure that " great progress will be made in socialist economic construction," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.It was Kim's first message made public since he returned home empty-handed following the breakdown of last week's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi.It also came amid reports that there are signs of North Korea restoring part of the Dongchang-ri missile test site that it began to dismantle last year.U.S. President Donald Trump and NMar 9, 2019
UN grants sanctions exemption for video reunions of separated families People ride on a trolley bus in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, March 7, 2019. AP-Yonhap The United Nations Security Council granted a sanctions waiver Friday for the shipment of equipment to North Korea for video reunions between families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, according to diplomatic sources.The U.N. sanctions committee on North Korea approved South Korea's request to permit relevant equipment to be sent to the North for the video reunions on humanitarian grounds.The equipment includes cameras and video conferencing equipment.President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at their third summit in Pyongyang in September last year to make efforts to allow separated families to hold video reunions and exchange video messages.Video conferencing rooms in South and North Korea need repairs as they had not been used since the last reunions in 2007. Adopted in 2005, the video-based reunions have been held seven times.The separateMar 9, 2019
Seoul to consult closely with US for peace on peninsula: envoy to Washington In this Feb. 28, 2019 file photo, U.S President Donald Trump, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take a walk after their first meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel, in Hanoi, Vietnam. AP-Yonhap South Korea will consult closely with the United States as it seeks to bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula, Seoul's top envoy to Washington said Friday.Ambassador Cho Yoon-je reaffirmed the countries' close ties in the wake of last week's second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which failed to produce an agreement on denuclearizing the North."Although the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi did not bring about the result we had hoped for, the U.S. and North Korea both expressed their commitment to continuing their talks," he said at an event marking the 100th anniversary of Korea's March 1 Independence Movement against Japan's colonial rule of the peninsula.The ambassador compared the diplomatic effortMar 9, 2019
UNSC asked to tackle North Korea human rights U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Dec. 5, 2018. / AP-YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooThe United Nations' human rights watchdog has asked the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) to refer people responsible for human rights violations in North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands. This is not the first time that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), along with General Assembly and other U.N. bodies, have brought up the issue of ICC referral, apparently targeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But the OHCHR's step this year drew attention as it came after U.S. President Donald Trump suffered a blow for defending Kim in the case of an American college student who died after being released from jail in the North.During their summit in Hanoi last week, Trump said he took Kim's word that he did not know what happened to Otto Warmbier, who was believed to have been tortured while in North Korean custody and died Mar 8, 2019By Yi Whan-woo
N. Korea denuclearization still achievable in Trump first term: US official The US still believes "final, fully verified denuclearization" of North Korea is possible by the end of President Donald Trump's "first term" in 2021, despite the collapse of the latest summit with Kim Jong Un, a senior official said Thursday.The official also confirmed that Washington would seek from Pyongyang "clarifications on the purposes" of rebuilding a long-range rocket launch site, adding so far the US has not reached "any specific conclusion about what's happening there."The specialized website 38 North and the Center for Strategic and International Studies used commercial satellite imagery to track construction at the site -- which they said began before last week's aborted summit in Hanoi between Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.Images taken on March 6 showed that a rail-mounted structure to transfer rockets to the launching pad appeared to have been completed and "may now be operational."Kim had agreed to shutter the Sohae Satellite Launching Station at a summit with the South's President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang as part of confidence-building measures.The official, whMar 8, 2019
US to seek 'clarification' from N. Korea on rocket site: official The United States will ask North Korea for clarification on the purposes of its reassembly of a key missile facility, a senior U.S. official said Thursday as President Donald Trump expressed repeated disappointment over the activity.North Korea began to rebuild parts of the missile engine testing site in Dongchang-ri in the runup to Trump's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27-28, according to two U.S. think tanks earlier this week.By Wednesday, commercial satellite imagery showed that the facility may have been restored to normal operational status following its partial dismantlement last year, they said.Trump said Wednesday he would be "very, very disappointed" with Kim if the reports were true, and on Thursday added he was "a little disappointed" by Kim and the reported activity."We don't know why they are taking these steps," the State Department official told reporters on background.But the U.S. will ask the North for "clarification on the purposes," he said.The U.S. has yet to draw a conclusion on what is happening at the site, he addMar 8, 2019
Bolton: 'Trump is open to talking to North Korea again' In this file photo taken on January 28, 2019 National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks during a briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. AFPU.S. President Donald Trump is open to talking to North Korea again after the breakdown of their second summit last week, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Thursday.Bolton made the remark in an interview on Fox News, noting that the president had been ready for a "big deal" to exchange North Korea's complete denuclearization for a "bright future" for the country."President's obviously open to talking again," the adviser said. "We'll see when that might be scheduled or how it would work out. But he thinks the deal is there if North Korea is prepared to look at the big picture."Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27 and 28, but failed to reach an agreement on dismantling the regime's nuclear weapons program."I think the North Koreans obviously would like to give up as little of their nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and ballistic missMar 8, 2019
'Artificial' tremor detected in North Korean mining town The epicenter is marked in red. Captured from Google MapBy Park Si-soo A moderate 2.1-magnitude earth tremor was detected in North Korea's mining town of Pyonggang around noon Thursday. The Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) said it was “artificial” seismic activity, presumed to be the result of an explosion inside a mine. “The epicenter is measured to be near the land surface,” a KMA official said.It took place two days after South Korea's spy agency revealed North Korea was rebuilding part of a dismantled long-range missile test launch site in Sohae. U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would be “disappointed” if the report is true. Mar 7, 2019
'Pyongyang still running uranium enrichment facilities' Suh Hoon, chief of the National Intelligence Service, at the floor meeting of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. YonhapNorth Korea seems to be operating uranium enrichment facilities normally at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, South Korea's spy agency was quoted as saying by lawmakers."(North Korea's) uranium enrichment facilities were known to be in normal operation even before the recent summit between the leaders of between the United States and North Korea," Suh Hoon, chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), was quoted as telling lawmakers at the closed-door briefing Tuesday.The spy agency said that North Korea stopped the operation of its 5-megawatt reactor at its sprawling nuclear complex in Yongbyon late last year with no signs of reprocessing activities.At a press briefing Tuesday, lawmakers said the North has been keeping the nuclear reactor dormant, but they did not make public the North's uranium enrichment activities at Yongbyon.The Yongbyon complex includes the 5-megawatt reactor, spent fuel reprocessing facilities and research and uranium Mar 7, 2019
