TheRepublic.com - Kim Jong-il News

Japan envoy leaves NKorea, gives no hints on talks

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:08:19 -0400

TOKYO - An adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended a visit to North Korea on Friday but would not give details of his talks with leaders in Pyongyang.

NKorea: American starts life at 'special prison'

Wed, 15 May 2013 04:52:16 -0400

PYONGYANG, North Korea - An American citizen sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for what Pyongyang has described as hostile acts against the state has started life at a "special prison," state media said Wednesday.

Missile in scrapped test was to come from Minot

Tue, 14 May 2013 07:20:22 -0400

MINOT, North Dakota - Air Force officials and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven say the intercontinental ballistic missile for a planned test launch that was scrapped last month because of mounting tensions with North Korea was to have come from the Minot Air Force Base missile field.

Japanese Cabinet adviser arrives in North Korea

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:04:07 -0400

PYONGYANG, North Korea - An adviser to Japan's Cabinet has arrived in North Korea amid a slight easing of tension on the Korean Peninsula after weeks of threats from the North aimed at Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

Spies caught in website scandal embarrass SKorea

Mon, 13 May 2013 06:33:27 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - The scandal shaking up South Korea's main spy agency is not cloak-and-dagger stuff, but the kind of low-grade trickery anyone with an Internet connection could pull off. And the target was not Seoul's opaque rival to the north, but the country's own people.

North Korea replaces hard-line defense chief

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:35:06 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has replaced its hard-line defense chief with a little-known army general.

Gates worries about escalation of Korean tension

Sun, 12 May 2013 09:10:33 -0400

WASHINGTON - A former Pentagon chief says he worries that North Korea's young leader and his generals don't realize there's been a "dramatic change" in public opinion in South Korea in how to respond to belligerent actions by the North.

SKorean leader: Nuclear-armed North unacceptable

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:03:21 -0400

WASHINGTON - South Korea's President Park Geun-hye told Congress on Wednesday that she will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea and that provocative actions by the reclusive communist country "will be met decisively."

Obama says he's never spoken to Kim Jong Un

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:26:57 -0400

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he doesn't know Kim Jong Un (kim jawng oon) personally and has never spoken to him, but says the North Korean leader can still take a different path.

Bank of China cuts off North Korea trade bank

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:49:10 -0400

BEIJING - One of China's biggest banks said Tuesday it has halted business with a North Korean bank accused by the U.S. of financing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs in the latest sign of Beijing's displeasure with its estranged ally.

Chicago case alleges ties to North Korea

Mon, 06 May 2013 20:14:20 -0400

CHICAGO - A Taiwanese businessman long suspected of ties to North Korea and his Illinois-based son have been charged in Chicago with seeking to bypass a U.S. ban on the export of weapons machinery to the hard-line communist nation, federal prosecutors announced Monday.

US calls for NKorea amnesty for sentenced American

Thu, 02 May 2013 23:55:32 -0400

WASHINGTON - The U.S. called Thursday for North Korea to grant amnesty and immediately release a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state.

Pentagon report: NKorea moving toward nuke missile

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:33:18 -0400

WASHINGTON - North Korea "will move closer" to its announced goal of being able to strike the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile if it keeps investing in tests of nuclear and missile technology, the Pentagon said Thursday in a report to Congress.

Pyongyang glitters but most of NKorea still dark

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:31:30 -0400

PYONGYANG, North Korea - The heart of this city, once famous for its Dickensian darkness, now pulsates with neon.

Hurdles to talks high after North Korea threats

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 03:48:21 -0400

PYONGYANG, North Korea - After weeks of fiery rhetoric, military posturing and threats that it's willing to strike back hard if provoked, North Korea appears to be taking a bit of a breather. The U.S.-South Korea war games it despises are winding down, and feelers are out in diplomatic circles that it might be best to open up some avenue for dialogue. If that sounds familiar, it should - it's a pattern that has been repeated for decades.

NKorean soldiers put down arms to help plant crops

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:37:34 -0400

SASI-RI, North Korea - The North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone is a hive of activity - not of fighting, but of farming.

US urges China collaboration on cyber intrusions

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:59:12 -0400

BEIJING - The top U.S. military officer said Wednesday that he has called on China to be more transparent about cyberattacks and boost collaboration with the U.S. to tackle a common threat to their economies.

US to press China over repatriation of NKoreans

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:54:47 -0400

WASHINGTON - The United States will press China over its forcible repatriation of refugees to North Korea, a U.S. human rights envoy said Monday. He likened the North's vast gulag to that operated by the Soviet Union in the 1930s.