SEOUL, May 13 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has executed its defense chief on charges of treason, South Korea’s spy agency said Wednesday, in the latest sign of a reign of terror by leader Kim Jong-un. Hyon Yong-chol, the chief of North Korea’s People’s Armed Forces, was executed by firing squad using an anti-aircraft gun [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea said Monday it will take stern actions against North Korea’s recent military provocation, but it will also seek to boost inter-Korean civilian exchanges to help restore national unity. North Korea said Saturday that it successfully test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine, raising tension on the divided [...]
SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s provincial governments Sunday unveiled plans to resume long-suspended aid to and exchange projects with North Korea under a new inter-Korean reconciliation policy by the Park Geun-hye government. Last week, the Ministry of Unification announced plans to promote inter-Korean exchanges in such areas as culture, sports and history to [...]
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Cuckoo rice cookers are gaining massive popularity among North Koreans, according to a recent report from the National Intelligence Service. The wealthy elite are known to prefer South Korean-made products, which are banned in North Korea. North Koreans looking for South Korean products use specific phrases, such as ‘anything better [...]
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) – In North Korea, products made in South Korea are officially prohibited, but they are spread widely especially among members of the wealthy elite living in Pyongyang. Since South Korean products are banned, North Koreans cannot talk about them openly at black markets, and use slang expressions instead. So how [...]
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea said Thursday that the volume of inter-Korean trade hit a record high in 2014 on growth in exchanges at a joint industrial complex in the North despite Seoul’s punitive sanctions on Pyongyang. The value of inter-Korean trade reached US$2.343 billion last year, up 106.2 percent from a [...]
SEOUL, April 28 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea has started to offer a remote test system for students who take college entrance exams, according to North Korea’s state-run weekly, Tongil Sinbo. The North Korean weekly quoted an official from the North Korean Committee for Education saying, “As a part of our education policy reforms, North Korea introduced [...]
GUNSAN, Apr. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — A teenager who threw a home-made bomb at a forum about North Korea held by Shin Eun-mi, an American-Korean activist, has been sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison. The teenager, known by his surname Oh, said at his trial at Jeonju District Court on April 23 [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea said Thursday it has decided to establish a special tourist zone in a district near the peninsula’s highest peak, a move seen as intended to earn hard currency. North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly on Wednesday promulgated a decree designating some areas of the Mubong workers’ district near [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — One of six North Korean children under age 5 have been suffering from chronic malnutrition, a report showed Wednesday, raising alarm over food situations in the North. The portion of underweight children suffering from malnutrition accounted for 15.2 percent of all of North Korea’s children under age 5 as [...]