SEOUL, March 6 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has abruptly suspended the entry of foreign tourists after reopening foreign tourism for the first time in about five years due to COVID-19, according to tour agencies Thursday. Koryo Tours, a China-based agency specializing in North Korean tours, said on its website the previous day that “We [...]
SEOUL, March 5 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea’s crop yields and production were “generally favorable” last year despite torrential rains that flooded parts of the country, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed Wednesday. “Last July, torrential rains triggered flooding, which caused localized crop losses in western and central parts of the [...]
SEOUL, March 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Around 1,500 North Korean soldiers who were believed to be additionally deployed to Russia have been already on front lines to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker who recently visited Kyiv said Wednesday, citing Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency. Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the ruling People Power [...]
SEOUL, March 4 (Korea Bizwire) — A North Korean soldier caught alive by Ukraine has told a South Korean lawmaker that he wants to go to South Korea, asking whether he could “live as I wish with the rights” he hoped for once in Seoul, according to the lawmaker Tuesday. Rep. Yu Yong-weon made the [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, although the number of recently deployed troops is being assessed, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday. “Following about a monthlong lull, North Korean troops were placed back in the frontline region of Kursk starting in [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — A high-ranking delegation from North Korea’s Workers’ Party has arrived in Moscow for a visit at the invitation of Russia’s ruling party, state media reported Tuesday. The delegation, led by Ri Hi-yong, a member of the party’s Central Committee Politburo, landed in Moscow the previous day at the invitation [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine has expressed his wish to go to South Korea, a news report said Wednesday, in what would be the first known case for a North Korean captive to voice an intent to defect to the South. A North Korean [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has deployed a new homegrown bunker buster missile capable of striking underground enemy targets, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Tuesday, in its efforts to deter North Korean military threats. The military has deployed the Korean Tactical Surface to Surface Missile (KTSSM), capable of conducting simultaneous [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign tour agents have entered North Korea for the first time since it closed its borders to tourism in 2020 due to COVID-19, to inspect new tourism sites, a tour agency’s website said Friday, amid signs of Pyongyang reopening to foreign tourists. Koryo Tours’ staff crossed into North Korea’s [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea demanded during inter-Korean talks in 1990 that South Korea dismantle a barricade it had installed along their border, calling it “a disgrace” to the Korean people, according to an official dossier declassified Thursday. The information was disclosed in the unification ministry’s official documents recording inter-Korean talks held [...]