SEOUL, July 4 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea is believed to have almost doubled the number of landmines it has planted in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that bisects the two Koreas this year from the previous year, South Korean military officials said Sunday. Since April, the North has placed more than 4,000 new landmines in [...]
WASHINGTON, July 1 (Korea Bizwire) – The United States designated North Korea as one of the world’s worst countries for human trafficking for the 14th straight year on Thursday, saying the communist nation subjects its people to forced labor at home and abroad. The State Department’s annual “Trafficking in Persons Report 2016″ put North Korea [...]
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s unification ministry on Thursday said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has completed the process of taking absolute control over the country through the latest parliamentary gathering. On Wednesday, the Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, selected the North’s leader as the chairman of the newly created [...]
PAJU, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s military is keeping close tabs on water levels at a dam near the inter-Korean border, and is ready to step in if Pyongyang suddenly discharges water down the Imjin River. Sources reported that the water level at the North’s Hwanggang Dam bordering South Korea has risen to [...]
WASHINGTON/SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) – The United States, South Korea and Japan conducted their first joint missile-tracking exercise off Hawaii on Tuesday in an effort to better defend against threats from North Korea, officials said. The “Pacific Dragon” exercise came as the North has been carrying out a series of test firings of the [...]
SEOUL, June 28 (Korea Bizwire) – ‘Under the Sun’ is a 2015 Russian documentary film written and directed by Vitaliy Manskiy, which follows the story of a North Korean girl who prepares to celebrate the Day of the Shining Star, the birthday of Kim Jong-il, the late father of current leader Kim Jong-un. The film’s [...]
SEOUL, June 28 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea food supplements sold abroad are contaminated with excessive levels of heavy metals, a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The announcement comes as South Korean health authorities collected 13 types of food supplements that are currently being circulated abroad and found that of the samples of [...]
SEOUL, June 27 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea has mobilized residents and school children to pick wild greens for soldiers to make up for the country’s food shortage, the U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Monday. A North Korean source told the RFA that the impoverished country has brought in middle and high school students [...]
HONG KONG, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) – High quality U.S. counterfeit notes are circulating in North Korea, raising speculation that the reclusive country may be manufacturing them and handing them off to unsuspecting visitors, sources in Hong Kong said Sunday. Sources who are familiar with the North said a Hong Kong businessmen who visited Pyongyang [...]
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s next move after the recent “successful” Musudan missile launch is drawing keen attention as it could help the outside world gauge the future direction of the reclusive country, Pyongyang watchers in the South said Sunday. Observers said the actions Kim takes will be of [...]