SEOUL, July 31 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea’s shutdown of borders may help prevent the spread of the coronavirus but is likely to increase the mortality rates of those with chronic illnesses as the border closure could lead to shortages of medicines and other necessities, a professor said Friday. Lee Yo-han, a public health professor [...]
SEOUL, July 31 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has intensified antivirus efforts in Pyongyang by installing more guard posts to restrict access to the capital city, state media reported Friday after leader Kim Jong-un sealed off a border town following the return of a defector from South Korea. North Korea declared a state of emergency [...]
SEOUL, July 10 (Korea Bizwire) — An association of South Korean firms involved in a long-suspended tour program to North Korea’s Mount Kumgang urged the government on Friday to push for legislation that would mandate financial compensation for losses from the suspension. The association, comprised of 49 companies who invested in the tour program, made [...]
SEOUL, July 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Two South Korean men who were once prisoners of war (POWs) taken to North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War on Tuesday won a landmark damage suit filed against North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un for the forced labor they endured while in captivity there. The Seoul Central [...]
SEOUL, July 3 (Korea Bizwire) — When Shin Han-yong crossed the inter-Korean border into the North Korean city of Kaesong in 2018, he thought the opening of an inter-Korean liaison office could eventually lead to the resumption of a joint factory park. The liaison office in the western border city was a follow-up on an [...]
SEOUL, June 25 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea is preparing for a mass gymnastics performance to mark the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party, state media said Thursday, despite concerns over the new coronavirus. The Pyongyang Times, an English-language weekly, carried a report introducing Pak Un-sun, a department director of Korea University [...]
SEOUL, June 24 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea’s decision to hold off on military action plans against South Korea appears aimed at “taking a breather” to avoid provocations that may further strain its economy, experts said Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the official Korean Central News Agency reported that leader Kim Jong-un presided over a [...]
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The memoir of former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton is feared to worsen distrust between the United States and North Korea amid their stalled nuclear diplomacy, as it reveals that President Donald Trump’s policy was driven by what Bolton calls “reelection calculations.” In his upcoming book, “The Room [...]
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The Air Force is planning to put the advanced unmanned aircraft Global Hawk into operational deployment as early as next month, with the fourth and last unit to arrive here soon, sources said Monday. Under a 2011 deal with the United States, South Korea bought four RQ-4 Block 30 [...]
SEOUL, June 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite South Korea’s unrelenting drive for reconciliation, North Korea is pivoting to brinkmanship tactics with its venomous rhetoric, demolition of a joint liaison office and military steps in anger over propaganda leaflets sent from the South. The deepening Sino-U.S. rivalry is muddling the prospects of cooperation for regional stability, [...]