North Korea nuclear test site to close in May, South Korea says North Korea’s nuclear test site will close in May, the South Korean president’s office has said. A spokesman said the closure of the Punggye-ri site would be done in public and foreign experts from South Korea and the US would be invited to … Read more
There is widespread speculation that a senior North Korean official who made a surprise day-long visit to Beijing was Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Japanese media outlets first reported that a high-profile figure had arrived via a North Korean diplomatic train and was met with tight security. South Korea said it did not know the official’s … Read more
North Korea will participate in the Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, according to South Korea’s news agency. The two countries have been discussing North Korea’s involvement at the border village of Panmunjom. The decision follows the North’s participation in the Olympics, widely seen as successful piece of diplomacy which brought a hint of rapprochement. However, … Read more
It would be the first summit in more than a decade between Korean leaders. Mr Moon said the Koreas should “make it happen” and encouraged the north to return to negotiations with the US. The handwritten invitation was delivered by Mr Kim’s influential sister, Kim Yo-jong, at a landmark meeting in the presidential palace in … Read more
North Korea appears to have held a low-key military parade, a day ahead of the Winter Olympics, South Korean media said. Its timing drew criticism from the US as it’s the first time in 40 years the annual event has been held in February. Early on Thursday state television began showing patriotic films in what … Read more
North Korea appears to have held a low-key military parade, a day ahead of the Winter Olympics, South Korean media said. Its timing drew criticism from the US as it’s the first time in 40 years the annual event has been held in February. Early on Thursday state television began showing patriotic films in what … Read more
North Korea launched a ballistic missile Friday, the Pentagon said, just weeks after Pyongyang tested an intercontinental rocket capable of hitting parts of the United States. South Korea’s military and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also confirmed the launch. In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils. Pentagon spokesman Navy … Read more
The Pentagon has picked up signs that North Korea is prepping for another missile test, a US defense official said Tuesday, as the United States cited progress in pushing China to impose tough new UN sanctions. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told AFP that if the test goes ahead, it would “probably” occur … Read more
Speculation intensified Tuesday that North Korea is preparing another missile launch to coincide with a military anniversary, just weeks after conducting its first successful test of an ICBM that experts warned could reach Alaska. US and South Korean media reports cited intelligence and military officials as saying transporter vehicles carrying launching equipment had been seen … Read more
South Korean pop star T. O.P received Thursday a 10-month suspended jail sentence for smoking marijuana multiple times last year, weeks after being hospitalised for a drugs overdose. The 29-year-old rapper of K-pop boy band Big Bang had admitted in court to smoking marijuana on four occasions in his home in Seoul last October. “As … Read more
North Korea has not responded to South Korea’s offer to hold military talks Friday, Seoul said, dimming prospects of any ease in tensions after Pyongyang tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile. “There has been no response yet,” defence ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun told journalists, adding that preparations were still underway in case the proposed meeting … Read more
South Korea’s disgraced former president Park Geun-Hye on Wednesday again refused to testify in the corruption trial of the heir to the Samsung business empire, citing poor health. For the second time in a fortnight Park rejected a court order to give evidence in the case of Lee Jae-Yong, the vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics. Lee … Read more
An undersea earthquake off the coast of North Korea was not caused by a nuclear test, the South’s media reported Thursday. The 5.9 magnitude quake struck about 190 kilometres (120 miles) south east of the reclusive state’s third largest city, Chongjin, in the early hours of Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey. North … Read more
US bombers carried out a rare live fire drill in South Korea Saturday, flying close to the DMZ in a show of force after Pyongyang’s latest missile test, the South’s defence ministry said. After the drill, the B-1B Lancers, deployed from the Anderson Air Base in Guam, flew close to the tense and heavily militarised … Read more
Five North Koreans in a small boat crossed the sea border into South Korean waters Saturday, a Coast Guard official said, in an apparent bid to defect to the South. The five people, including four men and one woman, have expressed their wish to live in the South as defectors, the Yonhap news agency reported. … Read more
South Korean President Moon Jae-In is returning from an official visit to Washington with two ancient royal seals looted during the Korean War, reports said Saturday. The repatriation of the Chosun dynasty antiques, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, comes after years of campaigning by the South Korean government, which said they were stolen … Read more
South Korea’s new government will seek to sign a peace treaty with the North if it abandons its nuclear weapons, a minister said Thursday. Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-Sung’s comments came hours before South Korea’s new leader Moon Jae-In — who backs engagement with Pyongyang — was set to hold his first summit with US … Read more
The world’s biggest smartphone maker Samsung will next week start reselling refurbished Galaxy Note 7 devices after a humiliating recall over exploding batteries last year, news reports said Tuesday. Samsung Electronics declined to comment on the reports. The recall debacle cost the Korean giant billions of dollars in lost profits and hammered its global credibility. … Read more
A North Korean soldier defected to the South after crossing the heavily fortified border, a defence ministry spokesman said on Saturday, the second soldier to defect this month. “A North Korean soldier defected to one of our Guard Posts at around 9:30 p.m. on Friday at the middle section of the border,” the spokesman said, … Read more
A North Korean soldier escaped to South Korea Tuesday evening by walking across the Demilitarised Zone that bisects the peninsula, Seoul’s defence ministry said. The soldier, who has not been publicly identified, approached a South Korean border guard post and expressed a wish to defect, the ministry said in a statement. “We are holding him … Read more