Seoul ponders if N. Korean athletes' acceptance of Samsung phones violates UN sanctions

SEOUL, August 8 (AJU PRESS) - South Korea will figure out whether North Korean athletes participating at the Summer Olympics in Paris, France violate United Nations Security Council resolutions by accepting smartphones from Samsung Electronics, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday. Samsung, the official sponsor of this year's Olympics, provided its special edition "Galaxy Z Flip 6" foldable smartphones to all athletes and personnel participating in the

August 8, 2024

N. Korean envoy arrives in Viet Nam amid Pyongyang's move to resume diplomacy

SEOUL, August 8 (AJU PRESS) - North Korea's new ambassador to Viet Nam arrived in Hanoi earlier this week, becoming the isolated country's first envoy abroad since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Ri Sung-kuk replaces his predecessor Kim Myong-gil, who returned to Pyongyang in April 2019. The post had remained vacant since then. His appointment and arrival at the overseas mission came after Ri Ryong-nam was appointed as ambassador to China in 2021. Vietnam'

August 8, 2024

N. Korea deploys hundreds of missile launchers to frontline units

SEOUL, August 5 (AJU PRESS) - North Korea said it has deployed 250 new mobile launchers for ballistic missiles to frontline military units, the reclusive country said Monday. Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim attended a ceremony the previous day to commemorate the transfer of the new launchers. It quoted Kim as saying, "If the U.S. ignores our repeated warnings and continues to attempt to undermine the security of the region, it will have di

August 5, 2024

North Korean leader denounces 'fabricated' flood reports in South

SEOUL, August 03 (AJU PRESS) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday accused South Korea of fabricating the scale of recent floods in his country, state media reported. It was his first public reaction to Seoul’s offers of aid. In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, Kim branded South Korea an “unchangeable enemy” and dismissed claims of widespread devastation in North Phyongan province as a “wicked” attempt to tarnish the Nor

August 3, 2024

N. Korean garbage balloons land inside presidential office in Seoul

SEOUL, July 24 (AJU PRESS) - Trash-filled balloons sent southwards by North Korea, landed inside the presidential office's compound in Seoul's Yongsan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday. Pyongyang has been sending balloons carrying wastepaper and other garbage, including human feces, to South Korea since May this year in retaliation against South Korean activist groups, mostly consisting of defectors, sending propaganda leaflets to the North. Thousands of Nor

July 24, 2024

Suspicious border activities in N. Korea suggest growing instability amid elite defections

SEOUL, July 23 (AJU PRESS) - North Korea has been building walls and digging holes along the border with South Korea, recent satellite images suggest. An analysis of satellite photos from American earth-imaging company Planet Labs shows newly-elected structures resembling walls along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), an area already heavily-fortified with landmines and high fences. Construction of these structures seemed to have started early this year, as they were not seen until at l

July 23, 2024

N. Korean athletes arrive in Paris for first Olympic appearance in 8 years

SEOUL, July 22 (AJU PRESS) - North Korean athletes arrived in Paris on Sunday, about a week ahead of the Summer Olympics in the French capital. Upon arrival at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, about two dozen North Koreans, including sports officials, avoided media encounters by using separate gates while the French police kept onlookers from approaching them. The isolated country's Olympic participation marks its return after eight years, following its absence from the

July 22, 2024

S. Korea unwilling to stop activist groups from sending propaganda leaflets to N. Korea

SEOUL, July 19 (AJU PRESS) - The Unification Ministry said on Friday that it has no plans to stop activist groups from sending propaganda leaflets to North Korea to guarantee their freedom of speech. The ministry cited a September 2023 ruling by the Constitutional Court of Korea, which struck down a 2020 law that defined sending such leaflets to the North as "criminal activity." Sending balloons over the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a decades-old practice. South Korean ac

July 19, 2024

Trump speaks on Kim Jong-un in acceptance speech

SEOUL, July 19 (AJU PRESS) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the current White House's foreign policy on North Korea on Thursday, boasting about his ties with the isolated country's leader Kim Jong-un. In a lengthy, off-script speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin accepting his official GOP nomination for the upcoming presidential election in November, Trump said, "I get along with him, he'd like to see me back too. I thi

July 19, 2024

UN report condemns forced labor in N. Korea

SEOUL, July 17 (AJU PRESS) - North Korean has committed grave human rights abuses by subjecting its people to a "controlled and exploited" system of forced labor, according to a fresh U.N. report released on Tuesday. Based on 183 interviews conducted between 2015 and 2023 with victims and witnesses of such labor system, UN Human Rights Office highlighted the renegade country's serious human rights violations in the report. "The testimonies in this repor

July 17, 2024