South Korea is considering providing financial support for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War to visit North Korea, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Saturday.Kim‘s remarks are in line with the government’s broader push to allow South Koreans to make individual trips to the North as a way to ease tensions and facilitate stalled denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington.“The government is considering helping the elderly people with the cost of visit

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies spent $267,700 on one of its projects last year to help North Korea fight food shortages amid unfavorable weather conditions, the federation said in a recent report.The money was spent on deploying mobile water pumps, training farmers on the use and maintenance of the device and procuring spare parts in the face of little rainfall, it said in the final report on the operation to combat North Korea’s drought and food insec

North Korea placed last in a world democracy index in 2019 as it scored zero in electoral process and civil liberties, a report showed Saturday.The communist state ranked at the bottom among the 167 countries surveyed with the lowest score of 1.08 out of 10.00, according to the Democracy Index 2019 published this week by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of the British weekly The Economist.The North‘s ranking in the EIU index has not changed since the London-based age

The Global Fund, an organization set up to fight epidemic diseases, will provide $42 million to help North Korea fight tuberculosis and malaria, according to the Voice of America on Friday. In an email sent to the VOA on Thursday (US time), the Global Fund said it has agreed with Pyongyang over the financial support, and it began to make the payment of the fund to the North. The Switzerland-headquartered Global Fund has provided more than $100 million to North Korea to help cure those diagnosed

North Korea will send a delegation to the Munich Security Conference for the first time in the 56-year history of the top diplomatic gathering, organizers said Thursday.An MSC spokesperson confirmed that North Korean vice foreign minister Kim Son-gyong would attend next month's event.The announcement comes a month after Pyongyang declared it was abandoning moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.The self-imposed ban on tests had been the centerpiece of two years of nu

South Korea is keeping a close watch on North Korea over a possible meeting of its overseas diplomatic mission chiefs, a unification ministry official said Thursday, amid speculation Pyongyang could discuss its nuclear strategy during the session.Last week, top North Korean envoy to China Ji Jae-ryong and Ambassador to the UN Kim Song returned home. The North Korean ambassadors to Angola and Singapore were also seen at the Beijing airport on the same day, indicating a possible meeting scheduled

WASHINGTON -- The United States will continue "patient" diplomacy with North Korea to make clear that the regime needs to return to denuclearization talks, a senior State Department official said Wednesday.The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss last week's meetings involving the top diplomats of South Korea, the US and Japan. His remark suggests Washington is not willing to offer concessions to get Pyongyang back to the negotiation table."On North Kor

 Seoul appears to be looking to resume a joint railway project with Pyongyang as it seeks a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations, amid halted nuclear negotiations between the US and North Korea. 　South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week called for a renewed drive on various inter-Korean projects, such as cooperation on the border area, a joint bid to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics, an inter-Korean railway and road project and individual tourism. 　Ever since he floated plans for Seou

North Korean state media confirmed Wednesday the appointment of a military official who directed the construction of key tourism facilities as the country’s new defense minister.Kim Jong-gwan, vice minister of the People’s Armed Forces, was assumed to have replaced No Kwang-chol as the minister, as he was named an alternate member of the Workers’ Party politburo during a party meeting at the end of last month.The North’s Korean Central News Agency had disclosed a photo of

North Korea's official newspaper reported Wednesday on the outbreak of a new type of pneumonia-like illness in China, as a tour agency reported that the North has temporarily shut down its borders with China as a precaution.The new strain of coronavirus, also known as "Wuhan pneumonia," has killed at least six people and infected about 300 others in China alone, with countries such as the United States, Thailand, Japan and South Korea reporting its outbreak. North Korea has not reporte

North Korea's official news agency on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of a military official spearheading leader Kim Jong-un's key pet construction projects as the country's new defense minister.Kim Jong-gwan, vice minister of the People's Armed Forces, has been believed to have replaced No Kwang-chol as minister since he was named an alternate member of the politburo of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea during a key party meeting held at the end of December.On Wednesday, Pyongyang's offici

GENEVA (AFP) -- Pyongyang on Tuesday warned that it could seek a "new path" and accelerate its weapons programme, after Washington imposed fresh sanctions on North Korean companies amid stalled nuclear talks.North Korean representative Ju Yong-chol told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that his country's efforts to improve relations with Washington had been met with hostility."Although the US is talking about the resumption of dialogue, it has no intention at all from the b

WASHINGTON -- The United States reaffirmed Monday that inter-Korean cooperation should proceed "in lockstep" with progress in North Korea's denuclearization, as Seoul continued to push for individual tours to the North.Earlier, Seoul's unification ministry said it is looking at ways to hold talks with Pyongyang on allowing tours to North Korea on an individual basis. The push has gained traction after President Moon Jae-in cited it last week as a way to expand inter-Korean exchanges wi

South Korea should take an active stance in dealing with North Korea amid stalled inter-Korean ties, such as by showing its resolve to halt joint military exercises with the US, a former unification minister said Monday. “For the past 1 1/2 years since the Singapore summit, Seoul’s stance was that inter-Korean relations need to adjust to the speed of US-North Korea dialogue. But with the deadlocked denuclearization talks, inter-Korean relations are reaching their worst state,&r

South Korea is moving forward with its controversial plan to allow individual trips to North Korea by its own citizens, Seoul’s Unification Ministry confirmed Monday, reiterating that the US-led international sanctions in place against the communist state do not apply to tourism.  “We are reviewing options on individual travel to North Korea, including how we will consult with Pyongyang over the issue,” a senior official at the ministry told reporters on customary conditio