North Korea

WASHINGTON—North Korea has told the United States for the first time that it is prepared for their meeting to discuss its promise of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets President Donald Trump, a U.S. official said on Sunday. U.S. and North Korean officials have held secret contacts recently […]

SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, were among the hundreds in Pyongyang on Sunday watching South Korean K-pop singers perform in the North for the first time in more than a decade as tensions between the two countries thaw. It was the first time a North Korean leader had […]

SEOUL/WASHINGTON–U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first U.S.-North Korea summit, marking a potentially dramatic breakthrough in nuclear tensions with Pyongyang. Kim has “committed to denuclearization” and to suspending nuclear and missile tests, South Korea’s National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong told reporters at […]

President Donald Trump’s administration imposed its largest set of sanctions yet on the North Korean regime on Friday, Feb. 23, targeting shipping and trade companies tied to the communist regime. The goal of the sanctions, imposed by the Treasury Department, is to prevent illegal coal and fuel shipments going to North Korea, and to stop […]

SEOUL/WASHINGTON—The White House said any talks with North Korea must lead to an end to its nuclear program after senior officials from Pyongyang visiting South Korea said on Sunday their government was open to talks with the United States. The North Korean delegation, in Pyeongchang for the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, met at […]

WASHINGTON–The Trump administration and key Asian allies are preparing to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating sanctions on North Korea, a plan that could include deploying U.S. Coast Guard forces to stop and search vessels in Asia-Pacific waters, senior U.S. officials said. Washington has been talking to regional partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia […]

North Korea made a last minute cancellation to a meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at the Winter Games, Pence’s office said on Feb. 20. Pence was scheduled to meet with Pyongyang officials, including Kim Jong Un’s sister, on Feb. 10, a day after the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. But according to officials, North […]

The sister of North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong Un is pregnant with her second child, according to her statements to Seoul officials during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. According to The Korea Herald, Kim Yo Jong told officials that she felt some discomfort during her three-day visit and that she was pregnant. Kim Yo Jong […]

WASHINGTON/SEOUL—U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to meet with North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, while in South Korea for the Winter Olympics this month but the North Koreans canceled at the last minute, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. “North Korea dangled a meeting in hopes of the Vice President softening […]

Washington — The U.S. director of national intelligence warned on Tuesday that time was running out for the United States to act on the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. North Korea presents “a potentially existential” threat to the United States and is likely to conduct more weapons tests this year, Dan Coats […]

SEOUL, South Korea–North Korea has no intention of meeting U.S officials during the Winter Olympics that start in South Korea on Friday, state media reported, dampening hopes the Games will help resolve a tense standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons program. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who described North Korea as the world’s most tyrannical […]

SEOUL–South Korea said on Monday that North Korea last year stole cryptocurrency from the South worth billions of won and that it was still trying to hack into its exchanges. “North Korea sent emails that could hack into cryptocurrency exchanges and their customers’ private information and stole (cryptocurrency) worth billions of won,” said Kim Byung-kee, […]

BERLIN–North Korea has been using its embassy in Berlin to procure parts for its missile program, the head of Germany’s BfV domestic intelligence agency told a German broadcaster. No one at the North Korean embassy in Berlin was immediately available to comment on the allegation. In a program to be aired on NDR television on […]

WASHINGTON—In a moment of triumph, Ji Seong Ho hoisted his old, wooden crutches high above his head, to the thunderous applause of both sides of Congress during the State of the Union on Jan. 30. Seong Ho looked every bit the survivor and conqueror, and he has earned it. President Donald Trump relayed Seong Ho’s […]

North Korea’s communist regime issued a typical bombastic statement on Tuesday to mock the false missile alarm sent to Hawaii residents ten days ago. In the statement issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the regime said that Americans are “trembling in fear” of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency mistakenly sent out […]

South and North Korea announced on Jan. 17 that their Olympic teams will march together under a unified flag at next month’s Winter Olympics in Seoul. The move was welcomed by the White House as an opportunity for North Korea to see the value in ending its nuclear weapons program. The complete denuclearization of North […]

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, Jan. 17, that Russia is helping North Korea get supplies in violation of international sanctions and that Pyongyang is getting “closer every day” to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States. “Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea,” Trump said during an Oval Office interview with Reuters. […]

SEOUL–While Seoul forges ahead with plans to use the upcoming Winter Olympics to showcase inter-Korean unity, some South Korean athletes are “furious” at proposals to form joint teams with North Koreans, highlighting a broader lack of enthusiasm for some of the government’s peace-making plans. Officials from both countries are still engaged in talks over exactly […]

With sanctions now sinking their teeth into North Korea, the United States and its allies will discuss a naval blockade that could end North Korean smuggling, bringing the maximum pressure campaign towards its endgame. The United Nations Security Council passed a new round of tougher sanctions just before Christmas, ratcheting down permitted North Korean trade […]

Nuclear-capable U.S. military B-2 stealth bombers are headed to Guam — the U.S. territory closest to North Korea. The Pacific Air Forces announced the deployment of three B-2 Spirit aircraft, along with 200 U.S. Air Force airmen on Jan. 9, according to the Washington Examiner. The B-2s will supplement the Andersen Air Force Base’s supply […]

North Korea is fuming over news Japan is making a series of investments in its self defense force that give it better offensive capabilities in the face of threats from North Korea. Among the upgrades, Japan could convert its helicopter carriers into aircraft carriers with the purchase of F-35B vertical-takeoff strike fighters. The Japan Times […]

A surge of North Koreans tried to flee the prison state over the New Year, hoping security would be lightened during celebrations, according to sources in Ryanggang Province, in the northeast of North Korea. Many of them were arrested. Defections from the hermit kingdom have plummeted under Kim Jong Un since 2012 as border security […]

SEOUL–South Korean President Moon Jae In credited U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday for helping to spark the first inter-Korean talks in more than two years, and warned that Pyongyang would face stronger sanctions if provocations continued. The talks were held on Tuesday on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone, which has divided […]

News Analysis North Korea’s new willingness to hold talks with South Korea is either a ploy to buy time or hold off a possible U.S. invasion—or both—according to two experts. Much has been made of North Korea’s sudden willingness to talk to South Korea. Some commentators are calling it a diplomatic breakthrough. Meanwhile, the participation […]

SEOUL–A cybersecurity company said it has found software that appears to install code for mining cryptocurrency and sends any mined coins to a server at a North Korean university, the latest sign that North Korea may be searching for new ways to infuse its economy with cash. The application, which was created on Dec. 24, uses […]

SEOUL–North Korea said during rare talks with the South on Tuesday it will send a delegation of high-ranking officials, athletes and a cheering squad to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, according to a senior South Korean official. Seoul proposed inter-Korean military talks to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula and a […]

North Korea is a regime sustained largely on criminal enterprises, from slavery to illegal arms deals, with a carnivorous economy now left gnawing at bones due to international sanctions. A hint at the size of the problem comes from Kim Jong Un’s recent New Year’s speeches where he mentioned his recent nuclear advances just 42 […]