SEOUL, March 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The foreign ministry will scale back the bureau handling the North Korean nuclear issue and create a broader strategy department focused on foreign policy intelligence-gathering, officials said Thursday, a major shakeup that mirrors the prolonged impasse in nuclear talks with Pyongyang. The tentatively named Office of Strategy and Intelligence [...]
WASHINGTON, Mar. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — U.S. officials’ recent focus on the idea of “interim steps” for a path towards North Korea’s ultimate denuclearization is raising a flurry of questions about their intentions and the direction of America’s policy on the recalcitrant regime. The idea has come into the spotlight in South Korea as some [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent tractors to the northeastern province of Ryanggang, state media said Wednesday, in an apparent move to boost crop output amid chronic food shortages. Without disclosing the number of tractors sent, the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that a ceremony took place [...]
SEOUL, March 3 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s first military spy satellite has successfully transmitted “good-resolution” images of central Pyongyang back home following the satellite’s launch in December, military sources said Sunday. The first indigenous South Korean military spy satellite was placed into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Dec. 2, allowing [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has begun the construction of factories, state media reported Thursday, as its leader Kim Jong-un called for the development of backward provinces amid prolonged economic difficulties. Kim attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the regional industrial factories in Songchon County, South Pyongan Province, on Wednesday, [...]
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — With South Korea and the United States estranged from North Korea, cautious hopes are reemerging that Japan’s diplomatic outreach to Pyongyang could lead to an opening for the resumption of long-stalled diplomacy for peace with the recalcitrant regime. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has repeatedly expressed his intention to [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has received a Russian-made car from Russian President Vladimir Putin as a gift demonstrating the special bonds between the two leaders, state media reported Tuesday. The gift serves as a “clear demonstration of the special personal relations between the two leaders and as the [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has given no reaction yet to South Korea’s establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, but the surprise announcement is a blow to Pyongyang that has long boasted brotherly ties with the Caribbean nation. South Korea forged diplomatic ties with Cuba on Wednesday (New York time), making Cuba [...]
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Former President Donald Trump’s recent controversial remarks on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is stoking a renewed yet consequential question for South Korea: Would America’s security commitment remain steadfast in the midst of seemingly unbridled North Korean threats? During a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday, Trump [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea’s provincial committees have discussed measures to carry out the national policy of developing regional economies, state media said Tuesday, amid worsening inequality in the North’s capital and rural areas. The respective committees held enlarged plenary meetings to discuss measures to “establish realistic goals corresponding to regional traits” [...]