North Korea promotes 'rich' fruit production amid food crisis North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un inspects Kwail County in South Hwanghae Province, the county whose economy is based on fruit production, in this September 2017 file photo. KCNA-YonhapBy Jung Da-minNorth Korean media are promoting the “rich” harvest from fruit farms around the country, despite droughts and floods that damaged the country's overall food production this year.The Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sept. 28, in particular, published an article titled “Harvesting thousands of tons of fruit every day” on its front page, saying this year recorded “bumper crops” in the face of high temperatures and drought.The article praised officials and agriculture workers of farms in Pukchong County, in South Hamgyong Province, and other regions for their work in improving pesticides and producing more fruit than last year, despite the challenging conditions.North Korea has implemented a policy of increasing food production to counter an ongoing food crisis. The country's leader Kim Jong-un has often inspected fruit farms and fruit processing plants in the regNov 1, 2018
Access to market key issue in North Korea's food security The 2018 International Conference on Humanitarian and Development Assistance to the DPRK was held at the Kim Koo Museum in Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-minBy Jung Da-minSome might think North Korea's food supply and demand would be unstable, but prices in the market are remarkably steady, according to Kwon Tae-jin, director of the Center for North Korean and Northeast Asian Studies at the GS&J Institute. It comes against the background that North Korea's rationing system does not work properly, Kwon said at the 2018 International Conference on Humanitarian and Development Assistance to the DPRK at the Kim Koo Museum in Seoul, Wednesday.The Korean Sharing Movement hosted the event with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Korea and Gyeonggi Province. Kwon said how to increase residents' access to the market or, more fundamentally, how to increase their incomes, was the priority. He also called for a review of the country's food security and its agricultural policies.Kwon attributed North Korea's stable food market prices to the country's unrecorded imports from neighboriNov 1, 2018
Koreas halt all 'hostile' military acts near border North Korean artillery rolls past during a parade for the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding day in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018. North Korea staged a major military parade, huge rallies and will revive its iconic mass games on Sunday to mark its 70th anniversary as a nation. Korea Times fileThe armed forces of South and North Korea on Thursday ceased all "hostile acts" against each other as part of a set of confidence-building measures under a summit deal, defense authorities in Seoul said.The comprehensive military agreement, signed on Sept. 19 during their summit talks, took effect at the beginning of the day, banning hostility in every space: land, sea and air.It also calls for the creation of buffer zones in border areas aimed at preventing accidental clashes and avoiding war.The two sides are prohibited from conducting live-fire artillery drills and regiment-level field maneuvering exercises or those by bigger units within 5 kilometers of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).No-fly zones have been established along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as well toNov 1, 2018
'North Korea closed part of nuclear and missile test sites' By Park Ji-wonNorth Korea has cleared some of its Tongchang-ri missile testing sites and shut down the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Wednesday.“The spy agency observed the North's activities which are assumed to be preparation or assumed an inspection before letting international experts in for an inspection, as part of efforts to take pre-measures for denuclearization,” the NIS was quoted as saying by Rep. Kim Min-ki of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) who was briefed by the NIS during a closed-door National Assembly audit along with Rep. Lee Eun-jae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.Upon U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's fourth visit to North Korea, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to allow international inspectors into the key nuclear testing site that the North has claimed it destroyed.The NIS said the spy agency is taking a close look into the North's nuclear- and missile-related facilities such as the Yongbyon facility while saying it is considering various possibilities of the North's moveOct 31, 2018By Park Ji-won
PHOTOS North Korea issues stamps of historic Korean figures North Korea has issued stamps featuring four historic Korean figures. Clockwise from top left are Yang Man-chun, Choi Mu-seon, Baek Seon-haeng and Nam I. KCNA-YonhapBy Jung Da-minNorth Korea recently issued a set of stamps showing four historic Korean figures, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday.The Korean Stamp Corporation released the four stamps. They feature Yang Man-chun, a general of Goguryeo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668); Nam I, a general of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910); Choi Mu-soen, inventor of gunpowder and gunpowder weapons of the late Goryeo (918-1392) and early Joseon dynasties; and Baek Seon-haeng, a patriotic business woman known for her philanthropy during the Japanese colonial era (1910-1945).The four figures are well known in South Korea but the two Koreas differ in explaining historical details such as years or places. The KCNA report stated that Goguryeo was founded in 277 B.C. and Choi Mu-seon was born in 1326 while South Korea states it as 1325. While it is known in the South that Baek was born in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and later movedOct 31, 2018
PHOTOS Kim Jong-un promotes Samjiyon as hub for potato production North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un inspected the Samjiyon Potato Farina Production Factory in Samjiyon County, Ryanggang Province, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday. KCNA-YonhapBy Jung Da-minNorth Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has visited the Samjiyon Potato Farina Production Factory for the second time this year, after a visit in July, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday. During his inspection of the factory, in Samjiyon County, Ryanggang Province, bordering China, Kim praised the county for “reaping a high yield in potato farming despite unusually unfavorable climatic conditions this year,” KCNA reported. North Korea has been promoting the policy of “bringing about a revolution in potato farming” set by former leader Kim Jong-il in 1998. Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the policy, North Korea's party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun on Oct. 1 highlighted Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un's focus on the drive “to settle the food issue of the people.”Meanwhile, Kim also inspected construction sites forOct 31, 2018
North Korea preparing for inspectors' visit to nuclear test site: spy agency This May 23, 2018 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows the nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, North Korea. Korea Times fileNorth Korea is apparently preparing for a possible visit by outside inspectors to verify the shutdown of its nuclear test site in the northeast, Seoul's spy agency said Wednesday during a parliamentary audit.After his fourth visit to North Korea in October, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had promised to let foreign inspectors visit the Punggye-ri site as soon as logistics-related details are worked out.In May, the North demolished its nuclear test site before foreign journalists but without the presence of outside experts. The North has conducted all six of its nuclear tests there, including the latest in September 2017.At the closed-door audit session, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) briefed lawmakers that it is closely monitoring the North's movement.A satellite photo of the Punggye-Ri nuclear test site in North Korea May 14, 2018. Korea Times file"Signs have been detected that North Korea is doing Oct 31, 2018
South Korea, US to launch working group on North Korea South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, left, poses with U.S. special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun for a photo during a meeting at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. AP-YonhapSouth Korea and the United States have agreed to launch a working group to improve coordination on their joint approach to North Korea, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.The agreement was reached during a trip to Seoul this week by U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, according to the department's deputy spokesperson, Robert Palladino.The announcement comes amid a perceived rift in the allies' approach to North Korea. Seoul has been pushing cross-border projects with the North in a bid to spur the denuclearization of the regime, but Washington has appeared concerned about the possible undermining of sanctions on Pyongyang.The purpose of Biegun's visit to Seoul was to discuss diplomatic efforts to achieve the "final, fully verified" denuclearization of North Korea, Palladino said."As part of that, the two governments agreedOct 31, 2018
North Korean media steps up demand for Seoul to lift sanctions PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - SEPTEMBER 12, 2018: North Korean servicemen in open body trucks in a street in the city of Pyongyang. Korea Times fileNorth Korea's propaganda outlets stepped up their demand Wednesday for South Korea to lift sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its 2010 deadly torpedo attack against a South Korean warship, calling them an "obstacle" to advancing inter-Korean relations."It is important to get rid of legal and institutional devices that stand in the way for improvement in inter-Korean relations," Uriminzokkiri, the North's external propaganda website, said. "It is so when we talk about the May 24 steps."It claimed that the sanctions were based on a "fabrication aimed at escalating confrontations and a crisis of war by blocking exchanges and cooperation altogether."The May 24 steps refer to the punitive measures announced by the conservative Lee Myung-bak government in May 2010 in the wake of the North's deadly torpedo attack on a warship that killed 46 sailors on board.Under the measures, almost all cross-border contacts and exchanges came to a halt but observerOct 31, 2018
North Korean economist calls for expanding autonomy of enterprises Workers, technicians and officials celebrate the completion of a construction project at the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex on Sept. 30. KCNA-Yonhap By Jung Da-min Ri Ki-song in Pyongyang. AP A Pyongyang economist on Monday called for changes in the regime's economic policies to expand the autonomy of enterprises and ensure the responsibility of workers.North Korea's party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun published the call in a column titled “An important demand to carry on the new strategic route of the party” by Ri Ki-song, a professor at North Korea's Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Economy, who has promoted the North Korean economy in interviews with foreign media.Ri emphasized the importance of the “socialist system of responsibility management of enterprises,” saying that national economic policies should focus more on improving the achievemOct 29, 2018
