ANSEONG, July 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Three North Korean defectors who recently arrived in South Korea after living on the run in China said their ordeal significantly worsened due to strict restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a rare glimpse of how they went through hardships during the period. The three women — who, respectively, [...]
SHENYANG, July 9 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea’s mask imports from China tumbled 78 percent in May from a month earlier, trade data showed Sunday, as it appears to have recently eased strict COVID-19 restrictions. The North’s mask imports from China stood at US$28,746 in May, the lowest level in seven months, according to the [...]
SEOUL, July 4 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea, which had maintained its rigid COVID-19 restrictions long after most countries eased pandemic measures, appears to have lifted its mask mandate this month, state media footage and photos showed Tuesday. News footage that aired on the North’s Korean Central TV on Monday showed hundreds of young people [...]
SEOUL, June 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has blocked local access to three YouTube channels, presumably run by North Korea for propaganda purposes, upon request by Seoul’s spy agency, amid concerns over the North’s psychological warfare against the South, officials said Friday. As of 2:00 p.m., the three YouTube channels — the Sally Parks [...]
SEOUL/PYEONGTAEK, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean military has retrieved a sunken part of an ill-fated North Korean space rocket from the Yellow Sea, officials said Friday, capping a weekslong salvage operation hamstrung by poor underwater visibility, fast currents and other obstacles. It raised the wreckage, presumed to be part of the rocket’s [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Approximately 16,000 elderly South Koreans are presumed to have died over the past five years while awaiting reunions with family members in North Korea who were separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, data showed Sunday. According to data from the unification ministry, around 3,400 to 3,700 people have died [...]
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Around one in six North Korean children under the age of 5 suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition, an international report showed Saturday. The stunting rate of the children in the age group in the impoverished state was estimated at 16.8 percent, or 285,000 children, in 2022, according [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Seven in 10 South Koreans support the Yoon Suk Yeol government’s efforts to shed light on North Korea’s dire human rights situation, a poll showed Thursday. In a survey on 1,000 adults conducted by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC) from March 24-26, 70.5 percent of the respondents said [...]
SEOUL, May 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Former South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) have again won a damages suit filed against North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un for their forced labor during captivity there. The Seoul Central District Court on Monday ordered North Korea and Kim to pay 50 million won (US$37,900) each to [...]
SEOUL, April 23 (Korea Bizwire) — About 56 percent of South Koreans support developing nuclear weapons to counter North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats, a survey showed Sunday. The survey of 1,008 adults, conducted by pollster Realmeter last week, found that 56.5 percent of respondents say they support building own nuclear weapons and the issue needs [...]