North Korea also struggling with heatwave North Korean farmers irrigate a dried paddy in this photo released by the Rodong Sinmu on Thursday. / YonhapNorth Korea on Thursday urged its people to ramp up efforts to reduce damage from an unusually long heat wave that has gripped many parts of the country, taking its toll on crops and boding ill for harvests.In an editorial, the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, made the plea, detailing struggles and hardships confronting farmers due to the prolonged extreme weather conditions. "Extreme high temperatures and droughts have begun affecting farming crops, including rice and corn in Hwanghae provinces and other areas," the newspaper said. "We should muster all our power and capacity to fight high temperatures and droughts."It has been reported that the North has been grappling with hot weather from late July as has been the case with other neighbors such as South Korea and Japan.Some major cities and towns saw temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. Making matters worse, there have been seasonally small amounts of rainfall, posing challeAug 2, 2018
PHOTOS Remains of Korean War dead arrive in Hawaii Military members carry transfer cases from a C-17 at a ceremony marking the arrival of the remains believed to be of American service members who fell in the Korean War at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. North Korea handed over the remains last week. / APMilitary members carry transfer cases from a C-17 at a ceremony marking the arrival of the remains believed to be of American service members who fell in the Korean War at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. North Korea handed over the remains last week. / APU.S. Vice President Mike Pence attends a ceremony with Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Adm. Phil Davidson marking the arrival of the remains believed to be of American service members who fell in the Korean War at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. / APDecades after the end of the Korean War in 1953, the remains of dozens of presumed U.S. war returned Wednesday to Hawaii for analysis and identification. The U.S. military believes the bones are those of U.S. servicemen and potentiaAug 2, 2018
US sends recovered war remains back home By Kim Bo-eun, Joint Press CorpsThe remains of U.S. troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War that were recovered from North Korea were sent back to the U.S., Wednesday. The United Nations Command (UNC) and the defense ministry held a repatriation ceremony at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, for 55 sets of remains that North Korea handed over last week.Defense Minister Song Young-moo, UNC Commanding General Vincent Brooks, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris and Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Deputy Director Jon Kreitz were among the participants.“For the warriors, this is a cherished duty, a commitment made to one another before going to battle and passed on from one generation of warriors to the next. And for all in attendance, this is a solemn reminder that our work is not complete until all have been accounted for no matter how long it takes to do so,” Brooks said during the ceremony. The remains will be met by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, whose father was a Korean War veteran, at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in HawaiiAug 1, 2018By Kim Bo-eun
INTERVIEW 'North Korea will soon open commercial bank, mobile banking' A North Korean man buy a government bond at an international trade bank in downtown Pyongyang in this 2003 file photo. YonhapBy Jung Da-minKim Young-hui.North Korea seems to be ready to establish its first commercial bank, Korea Development Bank (KDB) researcher Kim Young-hui told The Korea Times, Tuesday.“I think it could happen in the near future, within a year at most,” said Kim, Senior Research Fellow at KDB's Korean Peninsula New Economy Center.Kim's forecast is based on the latest edition of the North Korean quarterly journal Economic Research, issued in June, which was about establishing a mobile banking system for smartphone users. The contents of the quarterly were reported by Yonhap. “A commercial bank should be established first to enable customers to use mobile banking services,” she said. “Once it is established, individuals will be able to make transactions through their smart phones through their own bank accounts.”In North Korea, the concept of individuals opening a bank account is alien.Most of North Korean residents deposit their Aug 1, 2018
North Korea provided just 1 dog tag with 55 sets of war remains Crew and officials from the United Nations Command and U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency secure UNC flags over transit cases of remains thought to be of U.S. soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, before returning them to the United States for further processing and identification, in Wonsan, North Korea, July 27. Courtesy U.S. Forces Korea/Handout via ReutersWhen North Korea handed over 55 boxes of bones that it said are remains of American war dead, it provided a single military dog tag but no other information that could help U.S. forensics experts determine their individual identities, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday.The official, who discussed previously undisclosed aspects of the remains issue on condition of anonymity, said it probably will take months if not years to fully determine individual identities from the remains, which have not yet been confirmed by U.S. specialists to be those of American servicemen.The official did not know details about the single dog tag, including the name on it, or whether it was even that of an American military member. During thAug 1, 2018
N. Korea urges South to resume Gaeseong, Geumgang projects A commentary of North Korea's state-run media Rodong Sinmun titled “what hinders new journey of North-South relations” in its July 31 edition / Rodong SinmunBy Park Ji-wonA North Korean newspaper urged South Korea, Tuesday, to take substantive measures to revive the now-dormant Gaeseong Industrial Complex and tours to Mount Geumgang in North Korea.The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Central Committee of North Korea's Workers' Party, released a commentary titled “What Hinders New Journey of North-South Relations,” blaming the South's slow actions for a delay in resumption.“Although the owner of the presidential office has changed, it is adding new sanction lists jumping on the foreign bandwagon, rather than coming up with measures to resolve the suspension of the operation of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and the tour program of Mount Geumgang, which former conservative governments left behind,” the newspaper reported Tuesday.“The South Korean government is having trouble speaking their own words and moving their own limbs to read the moJul 31, 2018
Infant death rate in North Korea 8 times higher than South By Kim Jae-heunNorth Korea's infant mortality rate is eight times higher than that of the South, according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA), Tuesday. The institute's report, based on World Health Organization data, showed 24 out of every 1,000 North Korean newborns died in 2017. In South Korea, only three out of every 1,000 died last year. Data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs showed 25 percent of the North Korean population, including 1.7 million children, did not receive basic medical services last year. It warned they were exposed to the risk of contracting fatal diseases. “North Korea suffers from poor infrastructure and limited supply of medical services, which make infants and children vulnerable to serious diseases,” Cho Sung-eun, a chief researcher at KIHASA said. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 5.7 percent of North Korean babies weighed less than 2.5 kilograms at birth in 2010, presumably due to the undernourishment of their mothers, fecundity and the poor economic sJul 31, 2018
Indonesia invites Kim Jong-un to Asian Games A team of Indonesian officials visited North Korea this week to extend an invitation from President Joko Widodo to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to attend the Asian Games opening ceremony in Jakarta in August, Indonesia's National Police said. Coordinating Human Development and Cultural Affairs Minister Puan Maharani was accompanied by several other Indonesian government and police representatives on the visit to Pyongyang, according to a news release issued by the National Police late on Monday. "The main reason for us coming (to Pyongyang) is to convey an official invitation to the President of North Korea to attend the Asian Games Opening Ceremony on August 18," Maharani was quoted as saying in the release. Maharani and the Indonesian delegates met Kim Yong Nam, the nominal head of state and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, on Monday, it said. She also discussed North and South Korea relations during the visit, as well as regional issues and the performance of Indonesia's police in countering militancy. North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Ri Ryong Nam,Jul 31, 2018
North Korea resumes production of intercontinental ballistic missiles: report A satellite image shows the Sanumdong missile production site in North Korea on July 29, 2018. / ReutersU.S. spy satellites have detected renewed activity at the North Korean factory that produced the country's first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, a senior U.S. official said on Monday, in the midst of talks to compel Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arms. Photos and infrared imaging indicate vehicles moving in and out of the facility at Sanumdong, but do not show how advanced any missile construction might be, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the intelligence is classified.The Washington Post reported on Monday that North Korea appeared to be building one or two new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles at the large research facility on the outskirts of Pyongyang, citing unidentified officials familiar with intelligence reporting.According to the U.S. official who spoke to Reuters, one photo showed a truck and covered trailer similar to those the North has used to move its ICBMs. Since the trailer was Jul 31, 2018
Two Koreas hold general-level military talks on reducing tension South Korean Maj. Gen. Kim Do-gyun, left, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart An Ik-san at the Peace House, a South Korea-controlled building at the village inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Tuesday. / Joint Press CorpsThe two Koreas held general-grade military talks Tuesday at the border truce village of Panmunjom to discuss measures to enforce the military part of their April summit agreement.The meeting, the first one since June 14, took place at the Peace House, a South Korea-controlled building at the village inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas."We will make our best efforts to ensure that we can craft practical measures to reduce military tensions and build trust between the two Koreas through this meeting," Major Gen. Kim Do-gyun, the chief of the five-member South Korean delegation, told reporters before departing for Panmunjom.Kim's delegation joined the North Korean delegation led by Lt. Gen. An Ik-san for the talks aimed at fleshing out the summit agreement to make joint efforts to alleviate tensions and "practically eliminate the daJul 31, 2018
