The Chungju Global Partnership Day program, held Oct. 6-7, drew praise from participants for its diverse activities, thoughtful organization and opportunities for exchange with local officials, including Chungju Mayor Lee Dong-seok and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. At Chungju City Hall in North Chungcheong Province, Ban addressed climate change following a presentation on carbon neutrality. Citing increasingly frequent extreme weather events, including heat waves, cold spells, drought

CHUNGJU, North Chungcheong Province — One moment, foreign diplomats were looking out over Chungju from one of the world's tallest elevator test towers. Hours later, they were clapping along to samulnori at a Buddhist temple, sipping locally distilled soju and eventually getting on their feet to dance to jazz. By the following morning, many had traded diplomatic attire for colorful hanbok. A total of 24 participants, including former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 18 members of the

The Seoul-Kyiv agreement to keep the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war confidential was to be kept indefinitely to protect the soldiers and their families, a senior government official said Friday. The official said the government had never planned to publicly announce the transfer, stressing that confidentiality had been a central condition of the agreement between the countries. "We intended to keep it confidential until the very end, if possible," the official told reporters, on c

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to further deepen relations with China to a "new strategic level" in a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping marking China's National Day, state media reported Thursday, underscoring increasingly close ties between the two neighbors. Kim sent his "warmest congratulations and best wishes" to Xi and the Chinese people on the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, according to the Korean Central News Agency. In the message, Kim

● Updated Law: Framework Act on Firefighting Services What it does: Requires liability coverage for damage arising from firefighters' activities and strengthens preparations for emergency response Took effect: Sept. 3 South Korea will require authorities to obtain liability coverage for damage arising from firefighters' activities in the field. Under the revised law, the commissioner of the National Fire Agency and provincial and metropolitan governors must obtain insurance or mutual aid coverag

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Thursday called for a thorough investigation and appropriate measures in response to a recent land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone, while cautioning against politicizing the incident. "Rather than engaging in wasteful political disputes, we must deeply reflect on why such tragic incidents continue to occur and seek fundamental solutions," Chung wrote on Facebook. "A thorough investigation should establish the facts, and appropriate measures will

Border blast dispute: North Korea denied responsibility for the Sept. 21 DMZ explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers, rejecting Seoul’s finding that North Korean mines were highly likely to blame. Retaliation threat: Kim Yo-jong warned of “immediate and merciless” retaliation if South Korean troops fire directly on North Korean soldiers working near the border. East-west mismatch: The blast occurred on the western front, but Kim’s warning focused on the eastern sector facing South Kor

North Korea on Wednesday denied involvement in a recent explosion at the inter-Korean border, accusing Seoul of making false accusations while warning of "immediate and merciless" retaliation if South Korean troops open fire on its soldiers working near the border. The unusually swift warning from Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a department director of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee, came after South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North

South Korea's ambassador to the United States reaffirmed Seoul's willingness to help revive dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang, saying maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula remains a key policy focus. Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha made the remarks Tuesday at an event in Washington marking South Korea's National Day and Armed Forces Day, amid renewed attention to the prospects for US-North Korea diplomacy as US President Donald Trump has expressed hopes of meeting North Korean leader Kim J

North Korea operates a secret detention facility beneath its embassy in Beijing where diplomats and other nationals suspected of attempting to defect are detained, interrogated and prepared for forced repatriation, a Seoul-based human rights watchdog claimed Tuesday. The Transitional Justice Working Group said in a report that multiple sources had identified the basement of the consular section of the North Korean Embassy in Beijing as a “black site” used to hold people outside formal legal proc

South Korea summoned Ukraine's acting ambassador to Seoul on Monday to protest Kyiv's disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea and demanded an official explanation and apology over what Seoul says was a breach of a confidentiality agreement. First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo called in Andrii Vieshkin, Ukraine's charge d'affaires in Seoul, to the Foreign Ministry on Monday afternoon and conveyed the government's "grave position" on the controversy, ac

A row over whether Ukraine broke an agreement by disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea is fueling speculation over why Seoul had hoped to keep the matter confidential. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed the transfer during his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Soon afterward, President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret over the disclosure, saying that the two sides had agreed not to publicize the matter. Cheong

Opposition lawmakers over the weekend accused the Lee Jae Myung administration and military authorities of deliberately delaying an investigation into two suspected land mine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone, as South Korean and United Nations Command personnel began preparations for an on-site probe five days after the blast. The allegations came as South Korean and UNC personnel conducted a joint on-site investigation in the DMZ on Sunday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The team h

North Korea said Thursday it had successfully tested an enhanced 240 mm multiple-launch rocket system with greater range and precision, while calling for its most destructive weapons to be deployed along the inter-Korean border. The test, conducted Tuesday, involved newly developed guided rockets that Pyongyang claims can travel as far as 115 kilometers, potentially broadening the area within reach of its frontline artillery, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency. The upg

For millions of South Koreans, Chuseok means packing bags, loading up the car and joining the “great migration” as families crisscross the country to reunite with relatives. Across the border, Chuseok looks both surprisingly familiar and markedly different. North Koreans also make songpyeon, visit their ancestors' graves, share food with relatives and play traditional games such as ssireum and yutnori. But there is no comparable nationwide homecoming rush. Chuseok is generally observed as a sing