Families of the victims of the 1987 terror attack orchestrated by North Korea filed a lawsuit against Kim Hyon-hui, who was convicted of the attack, on Monday for libel and obstruction of business, nearly three decades after the incident took place. The bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 shocked the nation, as the flight exploded mid-air over Myanmar on its way from Baghdad, Iraq, to Seoul, killing all 115 passengers and crew aboard, who were mostly South Koreans. (Yonhap)The Chun Doo-hwan adminis

North Korea July 23, 2018

DAEJEON -- A unified Korean mixed doubles ping-pong team advanced to the finals Friday, propelled by thunderous cheers and applause from South Korean spectators. At the semifinals that kicked off around noon, the impeccable teamwork of Jang Woo-jin of South Korea and Cha Hyo-sim of North Korea caught Taiwan’s Chen Chien-An and Cheng I-Ching off guard with a score of 3-2 (6-11, 11-5, 16-14, 11-6, 11-4) at the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour Platinum Korea Open in Daejeon, 160 kil

North Korea July 20, 2018

North Korea’s media on Friday called on South Korea to swiftly repatriate a group of restaurant workers and warned that a delay in the process could negatively impact inter-Korean ties, along with the upcoming reunion of families separated by the Korea War.North Korea has been ramping up its demand that Seoul return 12 North Korean women who came to South Korea in April 2016 after the restaurant manager who came with the women told a local broadcaster in May that the South’s intelligence agency

North Korea July 20, 2018

Local media on Thursday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un summoned his ambassadors and heads of overseas missions back to Pyongyang, amid a shift in the atmosphere surrounding Kim’s diplomacy. Earlier in the day, the South’s media outlets reported that the heads of the North’s embassies and other missions were called in for what is “presumed to be an ambassadorial meeting,” citing unnamed sources.  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un prepares to take a photo with officials, when he recalled

North Korea July 19, 2018

South Korea will tap into a state fund to help cover the costs to reunite families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, scheduled for next month, the Ministry of Unification said Wednesday.  Following a series of panel meetings held from July 11-16, the Seoul government decided to offer about 3.2 billion won ($2.83 million) to cover costs for the Aug. 20-26 reunions, according to the ministry. Event preparations will receive support of about 2 billion won, while 1 billion won will go to repairin

North Korea July 18, 2018

South Korea plans to revise a law to bolster ties with North Korea and protect local businesses involved in inter-Korean economic projects, the Ministry of Unification said Tuesday.The revision would require the government’s bans or restrictions on economic projects with North Korea to be subject to a Cabinet review. It would also help normalize the operations of companies if they suffer damages from the government’s unilateral decisions.  Kaesong Industrial Complex (Yonhap)“Procedures for a Cab

North Korea July 17, 2018

North Korea will issue special pardons for prisoners to mark the 70th anniversary of the regime, North Korean state media said Monday, which experts see as Kim Jong-un’s effort to bolster domestic solidarity amid a shift in political atmosphere following last month’s US-North Korea summit. “The DPRK will grant amnesty to those who have been convicted of crimes against the state and people on the occasion of the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK,” the Korean Central News Agency said, referrin

North Korea July 16, 2018

A major South Korean pro-unification organization, chaired by a son of late President Kim Dae-jung, is set to visit North Korea this week to discuss a joint project of bringing home the remains of victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, the group said in a statement released Sunday. (Yonhap)The Ministry of Unification on Thursday approved a four-day trip to Pyongyang by five members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, inclu

North Korea July 15, 2018

With the controversy surrounding the arrival of North Korean restaurant workers in 2016 snowballing, a lawyers’ group on Sunday urged the South Korean government to confirm the facts before it is “too late.”The narrative involving the 2016 incident took a sharp turn in May, when restaurant manager Heo Gang-il claimed in an interview with local network JTBC that he had tricked the workers into traveling to South Korea and that the South’s National Intelligence Service had orchestrated their defec

North Korea July 15, 2018

South Korea said Thursday it will allow the country’s major pro-unification civic group, chaired by a son of late President Kim Dae-jung, to visit North Korea next week to discuss with its North Korean counterpart cross-border cooperation and exchange. Five members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation including Kim Hong-gul, head of the group, will visit Pyongyang from Monday to Thursday, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Unification.  Kim Hong-gul, head of

North Korea July 12, 2018

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation will visit North Korea’s port city of Rason and attend a seminar hosted by Russia, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification said Wednesday. The Unification Ministry greenlighted an 11-member delegation, including the committee’s Chairman Song Young-gil, to visit North Korea on Friday and Saturday. Song Young-gil, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation (left) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimi

North Korea July 11, 2018

With representatives of South Korean broadcaster JTBC beginning their trip to North Korea on Monday to discuss possible establishment of a Pyongyang bureau, speculations are rampant on how both sides will reach a consensus, with the existing gap on the role of the media. Last week, the South’s Ministry of Unification approved JTBC’s application to send an eight-person team to North Korea from Monday to Thursday to discuss cooperation on the media sector and the possible launch of a Pyongyang bur

North Korea July 9, 2018

In line with the 20th anniversary of Astana as its capital, Kazakhstan took a step forward in becoming a key hub for Islamic and Silk Road finance with the official launch of the Astana International Financial Center. The AIFC was inaugurated Thursday with the blessings of the country’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the international Expo venue, where the center is to operate. “Astana should become the main financial center of the Central Asian region and in the future be included in the lis

Diplomatic Circuit July 9, 2018

Even as North Korea engages in diplomacy with the US for denuclearization, US intelligence officials have spotted evidence that points to the communist nation’s unwillingness to fully dismantle its nuclear program while concealing key parts, the Washington Post said Sunday. The assessment contradicts US President Donald Trump’s remarks that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,” following a landmark summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore.  Satellite i

North Korea July 1, 2018

With the two Koreas having confirmed a slew of plans for cross-border sports exchange last month, July is to see many of the plans materializing. Inter-Korean basketball games this week at the North’s capital of Pyongyang will kick off a series of sport exchanges, signaling the beginning of a summer filled with South-North friendlies and joint teams.  The two Koreas play against each other at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. (Yonhap)Four basketball games will be held over the course of

North Korea July 1, 2018