North Korea Archives - Defence Monitor

26 Dec

South Korea’s Unification ministry reviewing permitting public access to North Korea’s newspaper

Seoul, Dec 26 (IANS) South Korea's unification ministry said Friday it is in talks with related government agencies to review measures to allow public access to the Rodong Sinmun, the main newspaper of North Korea's ruling Worker's Party, and other North Korean materials. In South Korea, public access to North Korean media and publications, including the Rodong Sinmun, is denied as they are classified as "special materials" due to concerns that they include content praising and promoting North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung took issue with a ban on public access to the North's…

10 Nov

South Korea’s senior official reaffirms no unification by absorption or hostile acts toward North Korea

Seoul, Nov 10 (IANS) South Korea will pursue neither unification by absorption nor any hostile acts toward North Korea, the vice unification minister said Monday, reaffirming the policy of President Lee Jae Myung's government of building peace on the Korean Peninsula. Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-jung made the remarks during a meeting with residents of border areas at Camp Greaves, a former US military base-turned-field-trip site in the western border city of Paju, just below the Demilitarised Zone separating the two Koreas, Yonhap News Agency reported. "To achieve a peaceful Korean Peninsula without the need for conflict, the Lee Jae…

28 Jun

South Korean Minister vows efforts to bring North Korea back to dialogue with ‘patience’

Seoul, June 28 (IANS) Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho on Friday said the government will make efforts with "patience" to create conditions to bring North Korea back to the dialogue table while bolstering trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan against Pyongyang's military threats. Kim made the remark during an annual peace forum organised by Yonhap News Agency and co-hosted by the Unification Ministry to discuss ways to bolster trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan amid deepening security challenges. "After defining inter-Korean ties as those between two states hostile to each other, North Korea has continued to take…

29 Jul

Kim Jong-un meets Chinese delegation after armistice anniversary

Seoul, July 29, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met a Chinese delegation, a day after commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, Pyongyang's state media reported on Saturday. During Friday's meeting, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing their bilateral relations, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The Chinese party-government delegation arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday to attend anniversary celebrations held the following day, reports Yonhap News Agency. Led by Li Hongzhong, a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo, the delegation was one of the first foreign groups to visit Pyongyang since…

13 Jul

N.Korea confirms test-firing of Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile

Seoul, July 13, North Korea on Thursday confirmed that it test-fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the previous day, with its leader Kim Jong-un vowing to take "stronger" military offensive until the US abandons its hostile policy against Pyongyang. Guided by Kim, the North launched a new type of the Hwasong-18 missile in a test aimed at reconfirming the technical creditability and operational reliability of the country's core weapon system, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It marked the North's second solid-propellant ICBM launch following its first test-firing on April 13,reports Yonhap News Agency.A solid-fuel…

24 Jun

N.Korea’s food prices rise, suggesting supply shortages

Seoul, June 24 (IANS) Food prices in North Korea have increase to higher than the pre-pandemic levels, suggesting supply shortages, a US website monitoring the country has said. The report by 38 North released on Friday added to recent concerns of food shortages in the reclusive country, which has faced economic hardship from sanctions and self-imposed Covid-19 border restrictions, Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday. "The overall picture suggests that market prices, since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resulting border closure by the North Korean government, have moved to a consistently higher level, which indicates that the country's…

01 Jun

N.Korea will correctly place spy satellite into orbit soon: Kim Jong-un’s sister

Seoul, June 1 (IANS) The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed that Pyongyang will "correctly" place a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit soon, state media reported on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang's attempt to launch a spy satellite failed. Kim Yo Jong made the remarks as she slammed the US for its denouncement of North Korea's botched launch on Wednesday of what it claimed to be a "space launch vehicle," according to a statement carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "If North Korea's satellite launch should be particularly censured, the US and all…

02 May

Japan PM Kishida to make 2-day visit to S.Korea

Tokyo, May 2 (IANS) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he is planning to make a two-day visit to South Korea early next week to meet President Yoon Suk Yeol, as the two nations improve bilateral ties in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, the media reported on Tuesday. According to Japan's Kyodo News, the upcoming visit, which will take place on May 7-8, will be a "good opportunity" for the two sides to "frankly exchange opinions" on ways to develop South Korea-Japan relations and how to handle the rapidly changing global security environment, Kishida told reporters. Yoon…

02 Apr

Its nuclear capabilities ‘not empty talk’ : N.Korea

Seoul, April 2 (IANS) North Korea is not making "empty talk" about its nuclear capabilities, Pyongyang's state media said on Sunday, adding that the US and South Korea are engaging in "wrong behaviour of bringing themselves to a grave danger." In a commentary, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) strongly criticised the allies' ongoing joint military drills and their scheme to hold a massive live-fire exercise in June, Yonhap News Agency reported. "The warmongers' desperate acts are going to the extremes," it said in the English-language commentary. It cited the 11-day Freedom Shield exercise held in March. "Their war hysteria is…

25 May

N.Korea fires 3 ballistic missiles toward East Sea: S.Korean military

Seoul: North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, just a day after US President Joe Biden wrapped up his Asia trip highlighting America's security commitment to Seoul and Tokyo. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at around 6 a.m., 6:37 a.m. and 6:42 a.m., respectively, which marked the North's 17th show of force this year, Yonhap news agency reported. "While reinforcing monitoring and vigilance activities, our military, in close cooperation with the United States, is maintaining a full readiness posture," the…