Koreas to have 1st civilian exchange of year on Feb. 12 Farmers ask the govrment to sent tractors and other agricultural machines to North Korea to help speeding up cross-border reconcilation during a rally in Jeju Island, Jan. 29. / YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooA joint delegation of South Korean civic groups will visit North Korea from Feb. 12 to 13 for this year's first civilian exchange between the two Koreas.A 200-member delegation co-led by late President Kim Dae-jung's third son Kim Hong-gul, Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong and three other leaders engaging in inter-Korean reconciliatory movements will travel to Mount Geumgang Resort on the North's east coast, Feb. 12.The delegates represent a wide range of fields, including religion, economy, environment, academia, peace movement, labor rights, women's rights as well as culture and art. They will discuss how they can broaden mutual understanding and bolster cooperation in their respective fields with North Korea.The total number of delegates from both Koreas is estimated to be 400. The North said its delegation will also be led by five people, but did not say who. The two-day program will iFeb 5, 2019By Yi Whan-woo
US, South Korean diplomats meet ahead of Trump-Kim summit U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, left, talks with South Korean National Security Director Chung Eui-yong during a meeting at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. AP-YonhapSenior U.S. and South Korean officials met Sunday to discuss an expected second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, arrived in South Korea earlier amid reports that he'll meet North Korean officials soon to work out details for the summit. Trump told CBS' “Face the Nation” that “the meeting is set” with Kim, but he provided no further details about the meeting expected around the end of February. The president said there was “a very good chance that we will make a deal.” With the North under economic penalties and the U.S. unwilling to ease them under the North denuclearizes, Trump said Kim “has a chance to have North Korea be a tremendous economic behemoth. It has a chance to be one of the great economic countries in tFeb 4, 2019
Pyongyang's crackdown on mobile uses at China border intensifies A man makes a phone call next to a photo prop horse outside a portrait studio in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. AP-YonhapNorth Korea stepped up restrictions on the use of Chinese mobile networks near the border last year in an apparent effort to control the flow of outside information, human rights organization Amnesty International has said.In a recent report on North Korea's human rights situation, the group said the reclusive regime has strengthened efforts to trace the activities of smuggled mobile phones using Chinese networks and block the signals in the border areas over the past few years. "Individuals interviewed by Amnesty International in 2018 reported that the situation has not improved despite the recent dialogue between officials from the two Koreas," it said. "Rather, communications through the Chinese mobile network have become even more difficult and risky in 2018."Amnesty International said the surveillance makes it extremely difficult for families separated by the inter-Korean border to stay in contact. People wait for public trams at a stop in PyFeb 4, 2019
Seoul to push for fourth Moon-Kim summit A banner showing a photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, is displayed to wish for peace on the Korean Peninsula, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. AP-YonhapSouth Korea will begin to push for a meeting between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un following the end of the Lunar New Year's Day to help implement the North's denuclearization pledge that will likely be refined in an upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit, observers here noted Monday.The Moon-Kim summit, if held, will mark the fourth of its kind since the two leaders first met in April 2018 at the border village of Panmunjom inside the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone. They met again in May and September."An inter-Korean summit will naturally be the next step following the second North Korea-U.S. summit," an official from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said, while speaking on condition of anonymity.U.S. President Donald Trump has said his meeting with Kim will likely be held before the end of this month, while U.S. Secretary of StatFeb 4, 2019
Nuclear envoys of South Korea, US meet ahead of summit preparation talks Stephen Biegun, the U.S. envoy for North Korea, arrives at Incheon International Airport, Saturday, to hold talks with his North Korean counterpart to prepare for a second summit between Washington and Pyongyang slated for late this month. YonhapThe top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States held talks Sunday ahead of working-level negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang over a second summit between their leaders slated for late this month, Seoul's foreign ministry said.Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula and security affairs, met his U.S. counterpart, Stephen Biegun, hours after the latter arrived here for the meeting with his new dialogue partner, Kim Hyok-chol, apparently later this week.The ministry said that the two discussed the upcoming negotiations with Pyongyang aimed at fine-tuning details, including the agenda, for the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Biegun and Kim Hyok-chol are expected to meet on Tuesday at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom or in the North's capital of PyongFeb 3, 2019
US nuclear envoy to visit Seoul for talks with NK over summit U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun during his visit to Seoul in October 2018. Korea Times fileThe U.S. envoy for North Korea is set to visit South Korea on Sunday for working-level talks to prepare for a second summit between the U.S. and the North's leaders slated for late this month, sources said.Special Representative Stephen Biegun will make a three-day visit for talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol, a former ambassador to Spain, to discuss agenda items for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, they added.Biegun and Kim Hyok-chol may have a meeting at the border village of Panmunjom as early as Monday. Before the talks, Biegun plans to meet Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's top nuclear envoy, to coordinate their stance on North Korea's denuclearization.Trump said last week that a date and venue for his summit with Kim would be announced this week. The summit will be held in late February, possibly in Vietnam.The nuclear envoys of Washington and Pyongyang are expected to discuss details about denuclearizFeb 3, 2019
PHOTOS Celebrating Lunar New Year in North Korea North Korean family members enjoy the traditional yutnori game on the lunar New Year's Day, or Seollal, in this video clip uploaded on the North's state-run media DPRK Today site on Feb. 21, 2015. Screenshots from DPRK Today's YouTube channel.By Jung Da-minSeollal, or Lunar New Year's Day, is one of the most celebrated traditional Korean holidays.But it had been forgotten in North Korea until 1989, when the country's then leader Kim Jong-il resurrected the tradition of the lunar calendar.Before that, North Koreans used to celebrate on the first day of the New Year according to the solar calendar. In the South, the New Year was celebrated twice ― according to the lunar calendar and the solar calendar.But young North Koreans have got used to celebrating two New Year's Days in recent years as there has been nationwide promotion of traditional customs for the lunar Seollal, North Korean media stories show.The lunar New Year's Day scene in North Korea is similar to that in the South.Family members gather to share traditional foods like tteokguk ― traditional rice-cake soup ― and spend timFeb 3, 2019
US, N. Korea talks on second summit likely to be held in Panmunjom: Yonhap The United States and North Korea will likely hold their working-level talks on a proposed meeting of their leaders at a joint border village of the two Koreas, informed sources said Saturday.They said the talks may begin as early as Monday."The date and venue of the North Korea-U.S. dialogue have yet to be announced, but Panmunjom seems like the most likely venue for now," a diplomatic source here said.The working-level dialogue will be attended by Stephen Biegun, Washington's special representative on North Korea who is set to arrive here Sunday.While announcing Biegun's trip to South Korea, the U.S. Department of State did not mention when or where the working-level talks will be held."It is possible the working-level talks may take more than one day as there are many issues that need to be addressed before the second U.S.-North Korea summit," another source said.Panmunjom was the venue of the working-level dialogue between Biegun and his then-North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui before the first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in JFeb 2, 2019
Fake eyelashes from N. Korea cost US cosmetics firm $1 million fine In this file photo taken September 11, 2005, a model gets false eyelashes applied backstage at the Diesel Spring 2006 fashion show during Olympus Fashion Week at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. California firm E.L.F. cosmetics has agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine for importing fake eyelashes containing materials from UN-sanctioned North Korea, according to the US Treasury Department. Between 2012 and 2017, the company imported "156 shipments of false eyelash kits from two suppliers located in the People's Republic of China that contained materials sourced by these suppliers" from North Korea, the Treasury said in a statement. AFPCalifornia firm E.L.F. cosmetics has agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine for importing fake eyelashes containing materials from UN-sanctioned North Korea, according to the US Treasury Department.Between 2012 and 2017, the company imported "156 shipments of false eyelash kits from two suppliers located in the People's Republic of China that contained materials sourced by these suppliers" from North Korea, the Treasury said in a statement."EFeb 2, 2019
'NK promises to destroy all uranium enrichment facilities' U.S. President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Feb. 1 (KST). Vice President Mike Pence is at right. AP-YonhapTrump prepares to officially end Korean War, Biegun saysBy Kim Yoo-chulNorth Korea has agreed to hand over a list of its still-unknown uranium and plutonium enrichment facilities inside the country, as its leader Kim Jong-un promised to dismantle all of its such facilities, not just the regime's well-known Yongbyon site, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said, early Friday (KST). Stephen Biegun, the special representative for North Korea, said in a speech at Stanford University in California that the North has “committed to the dismantlement and destruction” of all its uranium and plutonium enrichment facilities both to U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and to leaders in Seoul.The Korea Times reported that Washington wants North Korea to provide a list of its uranium enrichment facilities as a key prerequisite in exchange for possible easing of economic sanctions. “In describiFeb 1, 2019By Kim Yoo-chul
