SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - A direct flight linking Pyongyang and Moscow will be launched later this month, Russia's Transport Ministry said Monday. According to the ministry, Russian carrier Nordwind Airlines will offer the first-ever direct passenger flights to Pyongyang twice a week starting in late July, connecting the two countries' capitals. The non-stop route, which takes about eight hours, was approved last week by Russia's aviation authorities following a request

SEOUL, July 13 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday in Wonsan, reinforcing a growing partnership between Pyongyang and Moscow amid heightened global tensions, Pyongyang's state media the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday. Lavrov's visit, which followed the second foreign ministerial strategic dialogue between the two countries, was marked by a show of unity on key international and region

SEOUL, July 11 (AJP) - North Korea will continue to strengthen its ties with China, the state-run Rodong Sinmun reported on Friday, as two countries marked the anniversary of a treaty signed decades ago. Coinciding with the 64th anniversary of the treaty signed on July 11, 1961, by North Korean regime founder Kim Il-sung and then-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, the daily hailed the treaty for laying the groundwork to strengthen "strategic cooperation" between Pyongyang and Bei

SEOUL, July 9 (AJP) - North Korea is expected to embrace new technologies with universities likely to offer courses related to artificial intelligence (AI). The move was part of an educational reform discussed at a recent two-day Workers' Party gathering which was held late last month and attended by leader Kim Jong-un, the state-run Rodong Sinmun reported on Wednesday. The daily further explained that universities have reorganized their study programs by consolidating depart

SEOUL, July 8 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the mausoleum of his grandfather and regime founder Kim Il-sung to mark the 31st anniversary of his death, state media reported on Tuesday. Kim junior visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang around midnight, accompanied by senior party officials, according to the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). He "paid high tribute to the statues of the great leaders" and made "a d

SEOUL, July 7 (AJP) - Six North Koreans who were rescued after drifting into South Korean waters earlier this year are expected to be repatriated to North Korea soon. The Ministry of Unification here said on Monday that it plans to send them back to the North as early as this week, as they have expressed their willingness to return to their country. "They have expressed their strong desire to return to North Korea, so we decided to repatriate them promptly from a humanitaria

SEOUL, July 07 (AJP) - North Korea is ramping up memorial activities ahead of the 31st anniversary of founding leader Kim Il-sung's death on July 8, with state media reinforcing his legacy and ideological vision. In a two-page article titled "Only for the people, relying on the people," published by the ruling Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Monday, Kim was hailed as a "peerless great man" whose life was guided by the principle of Iminwi Cheon,

SEOUL, July 4 (AJP) - North Korea on Friday slammed the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad over its "coercive" demand for the isolated country's complete denuclearization, calling it a "provocation" that infringes on its sovereignty. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) accused the informal alliance, which was formed among Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, of "reckl

SEOUL, July 3 (AJP) - North Korea issued a sharp rebuke on Thursday to the United States over joint military exercises with South Korea and the deployment of strategic assets in the region, calling them “provocative acts” that aggravate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. In an editorial carried by the state-run Rodong Sinmun, Pyongyang claimed that the U.S. has “repeatedly staged acts of provocation” through combined military drills since the end of the Kore