A North Korean ranking military official’s planned visit to the PyeongChang Olympics in South Korea is fueling concerns and outrage here and the South Korean government is struggling to calm the waves.  North Korea`s general reconnaissance bureau head Kim Yong-chol will be part of the closing delegation at the 2018 Winter Olympics. (Yonhap)Gen. Kim Yong-chol, head of the North Korean ruling party’s United Front Department and former chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, is a known hard-lin

A North Korean hacking group has broadened its scope of attack from the South Korean government and private sector to other nations as well, according to a top cybersecurity firm report.  Workers at the Korea Internet and Security Agency in Seoul, South Korea, monitored the spread of ransomware cyberattacks. (Yonhap)US cybersecurity firm FireEye said the state-backed “Reaper” hacking organization, which it dubbed “APT 37,” expanded its target list to include Japan, Vietnam and the Middle East la

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, revealed to Seoul officials during her trip to South Korea this month that she is pregnant with her second child, local media reported Tuesday.  Kim Yo-jong (left), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un`s sister talks to South Korean President Moon Jae-in (right). (Yonhap)According to reports citing unnamed sources, Kim Yo-jong told South Korean officials that she was with her second child during her Feb. 9-11 visit to the South. Kim, who cam

Despite an inter-Korean detente that came with North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics, uncertainty continues to loom over the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon visits a 94-year-old member of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War on Feb. 13, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. The South Korean members, mostly in their 70s and 80s, have lost contact with their families in the North after the reunion events

North Korean taekwondo performers returned home on Thursday, wrapping up their nine-day trip to South Korea.The 28-member group crossed the inter-Korean border to the North via Dorasan Customs, Immigration and Quarantine office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas. North Korean taekwondo performers and officials return to the North via western land route. (Yonhap)The North Korean-led International Taekwon-Do Federation team led by chief Pak Yong-chil pa

Seoul’s Unification Ministry has scheduled meetings with Japan and China’s top envoys to South Korea to discuss inter-Korean issues and results of North Korean high-level delegation’s recent visit to the South, officials said Tuesday. Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine meets with Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung on Tuesday. (Yonhap)Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung held a closed door meeting with the Japanese ambassador on Tuesday and is scheduled to hold another c

With the visit by the North Korean high-level delegation having set the stage for the first inter-Korea summit in more than a decade, experts say dispatching a special envoy to Pyongyang will be a key step in building the “right climate” for the meeting. Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister who identified herself as a special envoy to the South, personally delivered her brother’s invitation to Pyongyang to South Korean President Moon Jae-in. She told Moon that they would like to

North Korea’s high-level delegation, including the sister of the North Korean leader, wrapped-up its three-day trip in South Korea on Sunday, after extending an invitation to President Moon Jae-in for a summit in Pyongyang.President Moon Jae-in (second from right) talks with Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un‘s sister, during a performance by North Korea’s Samjiyon art troupe at the National Theater of Korea in central Seoul on Sunday. (Yonhap)　The 22-member delegation led by the count

As the two Koreas have agreed to hold an array of joint events for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the Seoul city government has provided a total of 1.2 billion won ($1.1 million) to finance such projects. North Korea`s Samjiyon art troupe performs the Gangneung Arts Center in Gangneung on Thursday. (Yonhap)The cost will be covered with the city’s inter-Korean cooperation fund, which was established in 2004, under the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, said the city government on Sunday. The

North Korea’s high-ranking delegation arrived in South Korea on Friday to attend the PyeongChang Olympics’ opening ceremony. The delegation includes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong, in a move thought to be part of the communist nation’s Olympic peace offensive. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un`s sister, Kim Yo-jong, arrived at Incheon Airport in South Korea on Friday. (Yonhap)A North Korean private jet carrying the 23-member delegation for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics arri

With North Korea’s decision to dispatch Kim Jong-un’s sister to an international event hosted in South Korea, experts here are interpreting her visit as a diplomatic breakthrough that could lay the foundations for a possible inter-Korean summit. Kim Yo-jong (right) is seen with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at an event in Pyongyang on Dec. 30, 2017. (Yonhap)North Korea informed the South on Wednesday that its leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister Kim Yo-jong, first vice director of the Central C

North Korea said its high-level delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will fly to South Korea, while Seoul is working with the United Nations to temporarily lift a travel ban on a sanctioned North Korean official planning to attend the Winter Games. North Korea told South Korea that it plans to send its high-level delegation by plane to Incheon Airport this week, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said Thursday.The delegation led by the country’s nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam will arrive

North Korea has requested South Korea provide additional fuel for its vessel currently docked in the South, as it serves as accommodation for its art troupe visiting the South, Seoul‘s Ministry of Unification said Wednesday, in a move likely to present the South with complications linked to international sanctions.  North Korea’s Mangyongbong-92 (Yonhap)North Korea’s Mangyongbong-92, serving as both means of transportation and accommodation for the 140-member Samjiyon art troupe has been docked

A 280-member North Korean delegation, including 229 cheerleaders, arrived in South Korea on Wednesday to participate in events leading up to and throughout the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The delegation, headed by Sports Minister Kim Il-guk, crossed the border to the South via a western land route -- which goes through a now-closed inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong -- at 9:28 a.m., according to a pool report. The delegation also includes four officials from the National Olympic Committ

The North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 carrying the 140-member Samjiyon art troupe arrived in South Korea at 5 p.m. on Seoul’s blessing to temporarily lift sanctions on the vessel. The North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 arrives in Mukho, a South Korean port, on Tuesday. (Yonhap)The ship crossed a de facto maritime border in the East Sea around 9:50 a.m., sailing at its maximum speed of 13 knots or about 24 kilometers per hour as it headed to Mukho port on the east coast, according to the Unifica

North Korea’s release of key notifications around midnight -- including a notification on its participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics -- is calculated to ensure the US receives its messages, South Korean experts say. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Yonhap)As of Tuesday, North Korea had sent three messages within that timeframe, with the latest on late Sunday night announcing the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam’s visit to the Winter Games. The notifications last month were

The North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 carrying the 140-member Samjiyon art troupe crossed a de facto maritime border in the East Sea around 9:50 a.m., sailing at its maximum speed of 13 knots or about 24 kilometers per hour as it headed to Mukho port on the east coast, according to the Unification Ministry. North Korea`s Mangyongbong-92 (Yonhap)Although South Korea’s unilateral sanctions ban North Korean vessels from entering its waters, Seoul made an exemption for Mangyongbong-92 as part of an

North Korea notified South Korea that it plans to send its 140-member art troupe by ferry, Seoul officials said Monday, in apparent disregard for Seoul’s unilateral sanctions.  Twenty-three members of the advance team for North Korea‘s art performances in the South board a bus in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday after crossing the border. (Joint Press Corps - Yonhap)The announcement came a day ahead of the Samjiyon art troupe’s scheduled arrival here Tuesday for performances ahead of the Pyeon

North Korea raked in nearly $200 million last year by exporting items banned by United Nations sanctions, media reports said, citing a UN panel of experts. A new report, authored by a panel of experts, has been delivered to a UN committee on North Korea as the US-led pressure campaign against the rogue nation has been ramping up. A coal truck crosses the North Korea-China border. (Yonhap)North Korea “continued to export almost all the commodities prohibited in the resolutions, generating nearly

Thirty-two North Koreans, including 10 athletes, landed in South Korea at around 6:09 p.m., Thursday, Seoul’s Unification Ministry confirmed, to compete in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The North Koreans took off from Kalma Airport in Kangwon Province, North Korea along with the South Korean ski team that had traveled to the North on Wednesday aboard a chartered Asiana Airlines plane for a joint ski training session. The same aircraft was used to transport the group back to South Kor