PAJU/SEOUL, July 19 (Korea Bizwire) — About four years ago, the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom was brimming with renewed hopes for peace, as a rare summit between the two Koreas took place there, diluting its image of cross-border tension, albeit temporarily. But such hopes appeared to be fading amid COVID-19 and uncertainties in inter-Korean [...]
SEOUL, July 14 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has formally recognized the independence of two pro-Russian separatist “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine, becoming the world’s third nation to do so, according to the North’s state media Thursday. The North’s Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui sent letters to her counterparts in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the [...]
SEOUL, July 7 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 40 percent of North Koreans are undernourished, a U.N. report showed Thursday amid concerns of food security in the impoverished country. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 report co-published by U.N. agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.N. [...]
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The outgoing U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea’s human rights situation made clear Wednesday that North Korea is responsible for the killing of a South Korean fisheries official in 2020 and stressed that the bereaved family has the right to know details of how the death occurred. “I have [...]
SEOUL, June 21 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea appears to be using its ongoing battle against COVID-19 to tighten Kim Jong-un’s grip on power based on the ruling Workers’ Party, experts said Tuesday during a forum. “I think North Korea seems to be using the COVID outbreak to strengthen party control across the board,” Rachel [...]
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea spent over US$640 million in 2021 to further its nuclear ambition, a global nonproliferation organization said Tuesday. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) also said the North is estimated to have 20 assembled nuclear weapons in its annual report, titled, “Squandered: 2021 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending.” [...]
SEOUL, June 12 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday expressed full support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the country’s state media reported, despite international condemnation for his invasion of Ukraine. The Russian people have “achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Just a month since disclosing a coronavirus outbreak, North Korea claims new infections are markedly slowing down, but the outside world raises a question about the credibility of a puzzling number of “fever” cases announced on a daily basis. Others question how the country’s antivirus fight will affect the [...]
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) toward the East Sea on Sunday, a day after South Korea and the United States wrapped up their joint drills near the peninsula involving a U.S. aircraft carrier, according to the South’s military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the [...]
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea reported 73,780 more suspected COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the total number of fever cases to over 4 million. More than 73,780 people showed symptoms of a fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data [...]