SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea has reopened a cross-border communications channel with South Korea nearly two years after the shutdown of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Two Koreas had their first contact via a hotline that has been suspended for 23 months on Wednesday. The surprising news came only hours after a senior North [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has said it could send a delegation to the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympics, giving a boost to the bi-annual sporting event. In a New Year message on Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hinted at sending a delegation to South Korea during the upcoming Winter Olympics, while wishing [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – A private task force on Friday pressed the government to launch a probe into the shutdown of an inter-Korean joint factory park in North Korea. South Korea pulled the plug on the factory park in the North’s border city of Kaesong in February 2016 to punish the North for [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Another North Korean soldier defected to the South on December 21, making him the 15th defector this year. The number of North Korean defections has tripled from last year, leading some to speculate on the reasons behind the increase. Unlike his compatriot who made a daring run to freedom [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – Amidst reports that prices of local accommodations are skyrocketing, South Koreans will now have the option of making a day trip to the Winter Games for a mere 33,000 won thanks to special Olympics ticket deals announced by South Korea’s railroad operator. The tickets, called the “Pyeongchang 2018 Winter [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — The U.S. flew two B-1B supersonic bombers over Korea on Thursday, the second sortie carried out here this week by the Guam-based aircraft, a defense official said. The Lancer bombers trained with more than 20 of the allies’ fighter jets as part of their annual Vigilant ACE air force [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – President Moon Jae-in reiterated his determination to peacefully end North Korea’s nuclear ambitions Wednesday, saying the communist state is walking on the ice, but a peaceful solution is still possible. “The South-North Korean relations are still not so good. The tension between the South and the North is at its peak, and so it is a very cautious situation as if we are walking on [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – Despite growing tensions with North Korea, the number of visitors to the DMZ has more than doubled this year, according to a travel agency. Cosmojin Travel Agency, which specializes in packages for international tourists in South Korea, said on Tuesday that the number of visitors to the Demilitarized Zone had [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Senior diplomats of South Korea and France agreed on Tuesday to intensify coordination against North Korea’s nuclear threats in order to resolve the current stalemate through peaceful methods, the foreign ministry here said Tuesday. The agreement was made at a meeting held in Seoul between Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea and the United States kicked off a major air force exercise here Monday against North Korea’s threats, with two dozen U.S. stealth jets mobilized. The five-day Vigilant ACE (air combat exercise) comes less than a week after the North fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and declared the completion of its [...]