TheRepublic.com - North Korea News

Will Senate bid lure Rogers from his House seat?

Wed, 22 May 2013 03:19:20 -0400

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Mike Rogers has pulled off a rare feat in a bitterly divided Congress - a working, productive relationship with Democrats in overseeing the nation's 16 spy agencies.

Japan mulls talks with NKorea, surprising allies

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:16:21 -0400

TOKYO - Japan's government is looking into re-opening official talks with North Korea to resolve questions over the abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago, raising concerns among allies who fear Tokyo's focus on that issue might weaken efforts to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

North Korea sends leader's special envoy to China

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:29:57 -0400

PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dispatched a high-profile official and close confidant to travel to China on Wednesday as a special envoy while Beijing is under pressure to rein in its belligerent neighbor.

State media shows NKorea has new military chief

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:55:58 -0400

PYONGYANG, North Korea - A North Korean state media dispatch shows that leader Kim Jong Un has named a hardline general as his new military chief.

Owner: Chinese boat's captain beaten by NKoreans

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:49:21 -0400

BEIJING - Gunmen wearing North Korean military uniforms released a Chinese fishing boat after holding its crew for two weeks, beating up the captain and stealing the vessel's fuel, the boat's owner said. He added that the hijackers did not get the 600,000 yuan ($100,000) ransom they had demanded.

Court rules against man for emailing NKorean spy

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:58:05 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's Supreme Court has upheld a ruling sentencing a man to a year and half in prison for exchanging emails with an alleged North Korean spy and praising Pyongyang on his website.

China's Xi will meet Obama earlier than expected

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:56:39 -0400

BEIJING - China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier than expected, as both sides seek to stem a drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North Korea.

Gov't presses ahead on another leak case

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:01:02 -0400

WASHINGTON - In another case of the Obama administration investigating classified information improperly disclosed to reporters, the government is prosecuting a State Department expert on North Korea in a probe that appears to step into uncharted territory - by declaring that a journalist is committing a crime in disclosing leaked information.

Postponed US long-range missile test due Tuesday

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:38:18 -0400

WASHINGTON - The Air Force says its test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had postponed in April because of tensions with North Korea, is now scheduled to happen on Tuesday.

Seoul: Day 3 of NKorea tests of short-range weapon

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:32:45 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea continued firing short-range weapons over its own eastern waters Monday after a weekend of what it called "rocket launching tests" intended to bolster deterrence against enemy attack. South Korean officials were investigating exactly what it was that the North was testing.

SKorea analyzing NKorea's 4 projectile launches

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:20:07 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea is analyzing whether projectiles North Korea fired into its eastern waters over the weekend are short-range missiles or a new type of artillery the country may be developing, officials said Monday.

Myanmar leader, Obama to meet while reforms stall

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:56:55 -0400

WASHINGTON - Myanmar President Thein Sein's historic White House visit next week is the culmination of U.S. outreach to a former pariah regime. That's been based on a principle of taking "action for action" by deepening ties in response to democratic reforms.

UN panel: Sanctions delaying NKorea nuke program

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:23:56 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - North Korea is still trying to import and export nuclear and ballistic missile-related items but financial and trade sanctions are slowing progress on development of their prohibited weapons, U.N. experts say in a new report.

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.

US envoy: China content to continue NK sanctions

Wed, 15 May 2013 07:56:15 -0400

BEIJING - The top U.S. envoy on North Korea says China has indicated it will continue to implement sanctions against 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.

China-based company promotes North Korea day trip

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:20:07 -0400

BEIJING - A Western tour company in China said Tuesday it has obtained permission from North Korea for Westerners to make day trips into the country from the Chinese border.

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.

US envoy praises China's penalty against NKorea

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:59:06 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - The top U.S. envoy on North Korea is calling a Chinese bank's decision to close the accounts of Pyongyang's main foreign exchange bank a "very hopeful sign" in efforts to end the North's nuclear ambitions.

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.

Cyr: S. Korean president's White House visit a sign of...

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:48:12 -0400

By ARTHUR I. CYR - South Korean President Park Geun-hye's visit to the White House on Tuesday underscores the remarkable success and influence of her nation. Her election last December added one more name to the world's expanding roster of women leaders of nations.

NKorea nuke arsenal seen as matter of when, not if

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:06:27 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - For 20 years, fears about North Korea's headlong pursuit of nuclear bombs have been deflected by admonishments not to overestimate an impoverished dictatorship prone to bragging and tantrums.

NKorea calls US-SKorea summit prelude to war

Fri, 10 May 2013 03:02:22 -0400

SEOUL, South Korea - Ahead of a nuclear-powered U.S. carrier's visit to South Korea, North Korea on Friday called this week's summit between the U.S. and South Korean presidents a prelude to war against Pyongyang. Yet it also said it was waiting "with patience" to see if Seoul changes its policies.