Kim's sister criticizes Lee for peace overture, says Seoul not diplomatic counterpartThe influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday criticized President Lee Jae Myung for offering reconciliatory overtures, saying that Seoul is not a diplomatic counterpart to Pyongyang. The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday criticized President Lee Jae Myung for offering reconciliatory overtures, saying that Seoul is not a diplomatic counterpart to Pyongyang. Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the North Korean ruling party's Central Committee, said Lee is unfit to change the course of history, while continuing to denounce ongoing military drills between South Korea and the United States. Kim made the remarks during a meeting with the foreign ministry's director generals the previous day, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. "Not even a petty role would be given" to South Korea "in the regional diplomatic stage unfolding with our country at the center," Kim Yo-jong said. "The Republic of Korea cannot be our diplomatic counterpart." The remarks by Kim follow a series of Seoul's overtures to improve long-frayedAug 20, 2025By Yonhap
Presidential office calls NK leader's criticism of S. Korea-US drills 'repetitive response'The presidential office said Tuesday North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's criticism of annual joint drills between South Korea and the United States was a "repetitive response," while reiterating the drills are defensive in nature. Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung made the remarks, in response to remarks by Kim that denounced the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise as demonstrating "the most hostile and confrontational" stance by South Korea and the U.S. toward North Korea. "We always maintain the stance that the Ulchi exercise is a defensive drill," Kang told reporters. Pyongyang has long denounced the allies' joint exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion against it.Aug 19, 2025By Yonhap
Unification ministry not to publicly release annual report on NK human rightsThe government will continue compiling its annual report on North Korean human rights conditions but will halt its public release this year, a unification ministry official said Tuesday. The official disclosed the decision, citing a government assessment that the report has had little effect in improving the North Korean human rights situation. "The offensive policy on North Korean human rights, which has focused on disclosure and criticism, appears to have had little effect in actually enhancing the rights of the North Korean people," the official told reporters. Still, the government will continue compiling data for its annual inquiry into North Korean human rights conditions, but it will be transferred to the justice ministry for storage without being released publicly, the official said. The compilation began in 2018 to document rights violations by the North Korean regime under the law on North Korea's human rights. The report had, however, not been released to the public until the previous conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration made the 2023 and 2024 editions publicly available. TAug 19, 2025By Yonhap
6 surviving ex-N. Korean soldiers, spies in S. Korea seek repatriationSix former North Korean soldiers and spies who were jailed in South Korea for refusing to renounce their socialist beliefs have asked the Seoul government to repatriate them to the North, officials said Tuesday. Yang Won-jin, 96, Ahn Hak-sop, 95, and four others have recently submitted the formal request to the unification ministry, seeking to return to North Korea, a ministry official said. Known as "unconverted" long-term prisoners, they are former North Korean soldiers and spies who were arrested in the South before and after the 1950-53 Korean War, an ideologically driven conflict that left the Korean Peninsula divided into the communist North and the democratic South. Many others have died of old age or illness, still wishing to return home. They served decades in South Korean prisons for refusing to denounce their socialist beliefs at a time when South Korea was still under threat from communist ideology and have since remained unconverted. Holding a press conference the previous day, a civic group advocating Ahn's repatriation argued that he should be sent home under the Geneva ConAug 19, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea's Kim slams S. Korea-US military drills as showing will to 'ignite war'North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has denounced a joint military exercise under way between South Korea and the United States as showing their will to "ignite a war" and reaffirming the most "hostile" stance toward the North, according to Pyongyang's state media Tuesday. Kim also called for a "rapid expansion" of the country's nuclear arms as he inspected an integrated operation test of weapons systems on the North's first 5,000-ton destroyer, the Choe Hyon, the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). His remarks came as Seoul and Washington kicked off their annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise Monday to bolster their joint defense readiness against the North. The drills will run for 11 days through Aug. 28. Kim denounced Seoul and Washington as openly expressing their intent to maintain "the most hostile and confrontational" stance toward North Korea by staging the large-scale drills. "The U.S.-ROK intensified military nexus and the muscle-flexing are the most obvious manifestation of their will to ignite a war and the source of destroying the peAug 19, 2025By Yonhap
S. Korea to devise 'phased denuclearization' strategy for N. Korea: FM ChoForeign Minister Cho Hyun said Monday that South Korea will craft a "phased denuclearization" strategy for North Korea, moving in sequence from "freeze to reduction to dismantlement," and seek inter-Korean dialogue in parallel with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington. Cho made the remarks at the start of a parliamentary session on foreign affairs and unification issues, stressing that these plans will be carried out in close coordination with the United States. "Based on close coordination between the two countries, we will create conditions for dialogue on North Korean nuclear issues and seek to resume inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. talks," Cho said in the opening remarks. "Based on this, we will develop a phased denuclearization strategy and implementation plans, moving from freeze to reduction to dismantlement. ... Should dialogue advance, we will pursue inter-Korean talks and North Korea-U.S. (nuclear) negotiations in parallel," he said. Cho said in that way, the government hopes to create conditions in which the denuclearization process and establishing peace on the KoAug 18, 2025By Yonhap
Lee signals conciliatory shift on N. Korea, moves to revive past accordsPresident Lee Jae Myung directed government ministries, Monday, to prepare for the phased implementation of existing inter-Korean agreements, in a significant shift from his predecessor's hard-line stance toward Pyongyang. Presiding over a Cabinet meeting, Lee urged officials to begin with steps that could be implemented immediately, signaling his administration’s intent to ease tensions and take a more conciliatory stance toward Pyongyang. The call came on the day that South Korea and the United States launched their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise. Lee emphasized that inter-Korean relations remain critical amid a rapidly shifting security landscape. The directive marks a distinct departure from the policy of the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, which had largely dismissed previous accords with North Korea as nonbinding and often counterproductive. While Yoon had prioritized strengthening the alliance with Washington and confronting what he saw as Pyongyang’s increasingly bellicose behavior, Lee’s directive signals a pivot back toward engagement and a wAug 18, 2025By Anna J. Park
Yoido Full Gospel Church prepares to resume heart hospital construction in PyongyangYoido Full Gospel Church is taking steps to resume the construction of the cardiac hospital in Pyongyang, a project that has been on hold since 2010 as the church’s senior pastor Lee Young-hoon recently met with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young to discuss reviving the humanitarian aid effort. South Korea’s largest Protestant church said Monday that Lee had a meeting with the minister on Aug. 11 to resume the halted construction project. “Pastor Lee Young-hoon met with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young at 6 p.m. on Aug. 11 at the Somerset Palace Seoul hotel to discuss resuming construction of the Pyongyang Heart Hospital,” a church official said. “At the time, the hospital was about 70 percent complete, and the resumption date will be coordinated through consultations between the government and North Korean authorities.” The meeting focused on restarting construction that was suspended in the sinking of the Cheonan corvette by a North Korean attack in the West Sea in 2010. Church officials hope the hospital, located in the heart of Pyongyang, will contribute to inter-KAug 18, 2025By Baek Byung-yeul
Lee calls for phased steps to implement existing inter-Korean pacts to restore ties with N. KoreaPresident Lee Jae Myung on Monday called for taking steps where necessary to implement existing inter-Korean agreements, days after he reaffirmed his pledge to restore ties and trust with North Korea, including reviving the 2018 military tension reduction pact. "True security lies in safeguarding peace. What we need now is the courage to steadily take steps to ease tensions while firmly maintaining an ironclad defense posture," Lee said during a Cabinet meeting. "I ask the relevant ministries to prepare for a phased implementation of existing inter-Korean agreements, starting with those where possible," Lee said. His remarks came after he reinforced in his Liberation Day address that his government will take measures to reduce tensions and restore trust with Pyongyang. Lee said the South under his leadership will respect the North's current system and that it will not pursue any form of unification by absorption. He also said that Seoul will take "proactive, gradual steps" to restore the Sept. 19 military agreement, signed between the two sides in 2018 to reduce border tensions. "If small,Aug 18, 2025By Yonhap
Russia's Communist chief hails N. Korean troops in war against UkraineThe leader of Russia's Communist Party has hailed North Korean troops deployed in Moscow's war against Ukraine in a letter sent to the North's leader Kim Jong-un, according to the North's state media Sunday. North Korea and Russia have displayed signs of solid military cooperation in recent days in the wake of the 80th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, with Russian President Vladimir Putin sending a letter to Kim that bilateral relations have reached "full bloom." Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov, chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation's Central Committee, sent his letter to Kim to mark the anniversary, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In the letter, Zyuganov said he has highly taken note of North Korea's support for Russia's war against Ukraine, stating the war has made their bilateral ties "more bound together." Zyuganov also thanked Kim for sending North Korean troops to fight in the Kursk front-line region, saying the North's troops helped Russia "liberate" the area, according to the KCNA. Days beforAug 17, 2025By Yonhap
