River cruise tour in Pyongyang River cruise tour in Pyongyang: A ferry cruise floats on the Taedong River in Pyongyang, Aug. 3. Sources familiar with North Korea say the river cruise package including dinner served with seafood, Pyongyang cold noodles, which is the country's signature dish, and other fine cuisine is becoming popular recently. Korean Central News AgencyAug 12, 2018
N. Korea smuggles cookware from joint industrial park By Yi Whan-wooCuckoo rice cookerNorth Korea has been smuggling electric rice cookers made by South Korean firms at the suspended Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) to China, according to a source familiar with the matter.The cookers include the premium brand Cuckoo that is famous in South Korea and China for quality and its signature Korean voice navigation.The smuggling comes as South Korean tenant companies at the joint factory park in Gaeseong, North Korea, hang on to a slim hope of resuming business there amid the reconciliatory mood on the Korean Peninsula.The GIC shutdown in February 2016 inflicted heavy economic loss on 124 tenant companies, all small and medium enterprises whose assets, including finished goods, were seized by North Korea. The Ministry of Unification said last week reopening the factory park should be considered after the U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea are lifted, but progressive politicians want a prompt reopening. “A trading company affiliated with the North Korean military has been smuggling electronic rice cookers out to China little by little sinAug 12, 2018
Koreas confirm list of delegates for high-level talks: ministry South and North Korea have confirmed a list of delegates for high-level talks next week which have been scheduled to discuss preparations for a new meeting between their leaders and review implementation of their previous summit agreements, the unification ministry said Saturday. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the South Korean delegation with Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, as his counterpart for the meeting slated for Monday on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, which separates the two Koreas, according to the Ministry of Unification. Also included in South Korea's four-member delegation are Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung and Nam Gwan-pyo, a senior director from the presidential National Security Office. The North's five-member delegation includes Pak Yong-il, vice chairman of the reunification committee, Vice Railroad Minister Kim Yun-hyok and Pak Ho-yong, vice minister for land and environmental protection. Monday's talks will be the fourth of their kind since the start of this year. TAug 11, 2018
US backs South Korea amid illegal imports of North Korean coal The United States voiced its continued support for South Korea Friday after three South Korean businesses were caught importing North Korean coal and iron in possible violation of U.N. sanctions. The firms brought in 35,038 tons of the commodities on seven occasions between April and October last year, according to the Korea Customs Office. The imports, worth a combined 6.6 billion won (US$5.86 million), violated South Korean law and possibly a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted last August for the North's test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The resolution calls for a ban on North Korea's exports of coal, iron ore and other mineral resources that could generate revenue for the regime's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. "The Republic of Korea (South Korea) is a faithful and reliable partner in the maritime implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions," Katina Adams, a State Department spokesperson, said in response to a Yonhap query. "The United States and the ROK work closely together on North Korea issues, and remain in close contaAug 11, 2018
'NK will not give up nuclear science' By Yi Whan-wooNorth Korea will not give up its nuclear science even in the event of denuclearization, the country's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said, according to Iranian media reports.Speaking in Tehran, Thursday, Ri speculated the U.S. will remain hostile toward North Korea even after their leaders held a summit in June and said his country needs a safeguard.Ri, who arrived in Iran on Tuesday, made his remarks as Pyongyang and Washington accuse each other of dragging their feet in implementing the agreement reached at the summit on the North's denuclearization. His remarks also came after the government of U.S. President Donald Trump issued a fresh round of nuclear sanctions against Iran, Tuesday.The Trump administration previously broke the 2015 nuclear deal among Iran and the six major powers _ the U.S., China, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and Germany. The Tuesday sanctions heightened Iran's distrust toward the U.S. nuclear policy.“Although North Korea has agreed on disarmament to deliver on its commitments in negotiations with the U.S. we will preserve our nuclear scAug 10, 2018
Two Koreas to discuss 3rd Moon-Kim summit on Monday The rival Koreas plan to hold high-level talks on Monday to prepare for a third summit between their leaders, as Pyongyang called on the United States to reciprocate its ``goodwill measures'' by easing sanctions and stopping demands that the North denuclearize first.The plans by the Korean leaders to meet come as Washington and Pyongyang try to follow through on nuclear disarmament vows made at a U.S.-North Korea summit in June between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.In the most recent sign of growing frustration between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea criticized senior American officials for insisting that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons first before easing sanctions. Notably, the statement didn't directly criticize Trump.North Korea said in a statement Thursday that ``some high-level officials within the U.S. administration'' were making ``desperate attempts at intensifying the international sanctions and pressure.''``We hoped that these goodwill measures would contribute to breaking down the high barrier of mistrust'' between Pyongyang and Aug 10, 2018
S. Korea approves trip to Pyongyang for tech university operation South Korea has approved a request by officials of a private foundation to visit North Korea to discuss the operation of a tech and science university the two Koreas jointly opened about a decade ago, the unification ministry said Friday.The three officials of the Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture were permitted to travel to Pyongyang from Monday to Thursday next week, according to the ministry.The two Koreas opened the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in Pyongyang in 2010. The foundation is a joint operator of the school.They and the university are expected to discuss preparations for the autumn semester and events to mark the 10th anniversary of its foundation, the ministry said.Their trip will mark the first of its kind since October 2015, when officials of the foundation traveled to Pyongyang to attend a seminar hosted by the anniversary. (Yonhap)Aug 10, 2018
North Korea calls off joint survey on roads with South North Korea has called off a planned joint field survey of cross-border roads for a modernization project, a unification ministry official said Friday.The North informed the South late Thursday that it wants to postpone the survey, scheduled to start from Friday, but didn't provide reasons, according to the official.The inspection was supposed to be carried out from Friday until next Friday on the North Korean section of the road running from the border town of Kaesong to Pyongyang.The survey was in line with the agreement reached by the two Koreas in June to work together in modernizing and eventually connecting roads across their western and eastern borders.Under the agreement, they promised to work together in examining the conditions of those roads from Friday to Aug. 30. (Yonhap)Aug 10, 2018
US, North Korea talk 'virtually every day' U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather NauertThe United States and North Korea continue to have conversations "virtually every day" in the wake of their leaders' nuclear summit in June, the State Department said Thursday.U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Singapore and agreed to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S.But skepticism has grown about the implementation of the deal."I can tell you, we continue to have conversations, virtually every day, every other day or so," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a regular press briefing.She was asked if the two sides are planning another round of follow-up negotiations."When I say conversations, that can be by phone. That can be by message. That can be email," she added. "They take different forms, those conversations do."U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said this week that Trump offered in his latest letter to Kim to send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang again.Nauert said she has Aug 10, 2018
North Korea FM: 'We will hold onto nuclear knowledge even after denuclearization' North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, left, talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the Iranian capital Tehran on August 8. / YonhapNorth Korea's top diplomat has said that the country will hold onto its nuclear knowledge, saying that it will serve as a means to gird for the U.S.' possibly continued hostile policy toward Pyongyang, according to Iranian media reports.North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho made the remarks during his three-day trip to Iran that began Tuesday, according to local media."Since we know that the U.S. will never give up its hostile policy toward us, we will hold onto our nuclear knowledge," he was quoted by local media as saying during his meeting with Ali Larijani, speaker of Iran's parliament."It is hard to deal with the U.S.," he added. "In order to realize our major objective of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. should make good on its part of the promise, but it has rejected to do so."His remarks came amid growing concerns over the stalled process of "complete" denuclearization agreed by their leaders during a historic summAug 10, 2018
