North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister appears to have made her debut on the political stage in what may be an attempt by the Kim family to cement its power. Kim Yo-jong, 26, accompanied her brother on his trip to a polling station in Pyongyang for an election of the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday, state media reported. She was described as a “responsible worker of the (ruling Workers’) Party’s central committee,” alongside Kim Kyong-ok and Hwang Pyong-so, deputy directors in the

Pyongyang on Thursday turned down Seoul’s proposal for working-level talks to discuss ways to regularly hold reunions of families separated by the Korean War, citing the absence of the necessary political environment and atmosphere. But North Korea apparently indicated its willingness to engage in a higher-level dialogue in the future. “Given the current state of inter-Korean relations, such a critical humanitarian issue as regular family reunions is not a matter to be resolved through consultat

Seoul on Wednesday proposed working-level talks with Pyongyang on March 12 to discuss ways to regularly hold reunions of families separated by the Korean War.The Unification Ministry said it suggested through a border telephone line that the two sides’ Red Cross officials meet at the Southern side of the truce village of Panmunjeom to confer on “fundamental measures” to resolve the separated families issue. The move was a follow-up to President Park Geun-hye’s proposal for regular family gatheri

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urged Tokyo to take steps to resolve its mobilization of sex slaves at a U.N. session on Wednesday, denouncing a recent series of revisionist moves and remarks by Japanese officials and politicians. It was the first time a top South Korean diplomat raised the issue and criticized Japan by name at the U.N., reflecting Seoul’s toughened stance in line with Tokyo’s accelerating swing to the right. In his keynote speech at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Yun sa

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se plans to ratchet up pressure on Japan over its wartime enslavement of women and call for global efforts for better human rights conditions in North Korea at a U.N. session on Wednesday, officials said Tuesday. Yun departed for Geneva early Tuesday morning for a U.N. Human Rights Council session scheduled for March 3-28. He will be the first South Korean top diplomat to attend the meeting since 2006, and the first ever to raise the sex slavery issue there. His three-

Red Cross officials from Pyongyang and Tokyo on Monday held their first talks in nearly two years in China to discuss the return of the remains of Japanese nationals who died in the communist country during Japan’s occupation of the peninsula. A four-member delegation from each side gathered in the northeastern city of Shenyang for the three-day meeting led by Ri Ho-rim, secretary-general of the North Korean Red Cross’ central committee, and Osamu Tasaka, director-general of the Japanese Red Cro

The Global Green Growth Institute on Monday tapped as its new director general Yvo de Boer, former executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Seoul-based organization said. He will replace Howard Bamsey, who plans to return to his native Australia after a one-year stint. De Boer, currently the global chairman of climate change and sustainability services at KPMG International, one of the world’s largest accounting and consulting networks, is due to begin his four

This is the second installment in a new series featuring the growing number of United Nations offices in Korea. ― Ed. With a steady influx of North Korean defectors into the South, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees is ramping up diplomatic efforts and public campaigns to ensure their safe passage and preclude any repatriation, its Seoul chief said. Calls have been growing for multinational bodies to take bolder steps to protect North Koreans in the face of dire living conditions, rampant hum

In line with global efforts to curb their ecological footprints, a growing number of businesses at home and overseas have been introducing products designed to last longer and reduce waste. Some toothbrushes naturally break down on their own, while a rocking chair powers a smartphone or lamp. Used coffee grounds, which would otherwise go in the trash, are transformed into mushroom compost, mugs and even lamp shades; old banners and car seat belts become stylish yet strong clothes and purses. Wha

MOUNT GEUMGANGSAN, North Korea ― Kim Young-hwan, 90, could not let go of the shriveled hands of his son whom he had left in North Korea 60 years ago as they reunited at this snowy mountain resort on Thursday. “I’m sorry, so sorry,” Kim said, bursting into tears immediately after recognizing the face of his gray-haired son, Dae-sung, who was only 5 when the father crossed the border at the height of the 1950-53 Korean War. Joining the tearful reunion was his wife in the North, Kim Myung-ok. The o

MOUNT GEUMGANGSAN, North Korea ― Hundreds of elderly Koreans from both sides of the border reunited Thursday at a North Korean mountain resort, embracing each other in tears after 60 years of separation. Eighty-two South Koreans accompanied by 58 family members met about 180 relatives from the North in the first round of the six-day event. They will spend about 11 hours together in six sessions until Saturday. In the first encounter at 3 p.m., the participants rushed into each other’s arms, stro

Some 140 South Koreans gathered at a resort on the country’s east coast on Wednesday, gearing up to reunite with loved ones they were separated from during the Korean War at the North’s Mount Geumgangsan resort. Eighty-two participants and 58 people accompanying them will meet with about 180 separated family members for a first round of the event, from Thursday to Saturday. From Sunday to Tuesday, an additional 360 South Koreans will gather with 88 North Korean relatives for a second round. The

Senior diplomats of Seoul and Tokyo on Tuesday held the first bilateral talks since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s December trip to a controversial war shrine that further strained the two countries’ ties.The meeting took place here between Lee Sang-deok, new director-general for Northeast Asian affairs at South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, and Junichi Ihara, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The two diplomats were expected to focus on ways to r

Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis reportedly claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a tourist bus on the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday that killed three Koreans and an Egyptian driver and injured 14 others. The explosion took place at about 9:20 p.m., Korean time, in a border town of Taba as 35 people including two Egyptian assistants were crossing into Israel.The attack came amid growing Islamist insurgency since the July ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.Army Radio and othe

The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold a new round of reunions of families separated by the Korean War and halt slander as a first step to building mutual trust. At the second round of the first high-level inter-Korean dialogue since 2007, senior officials from each side also pledged to continue discussions over pending issues, make “active efforts” for better relations and meet again soon. The meeting opened at the truce village of Panmunjeom to iron out differences over South Korea-U.S. military

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday urged South Korea and Japan to work to overcome historical animosities and improve their relations to better counter North Korean threats and other challenges together. After their talks in Seoul, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Kerry also renewed calls for Pyongyang to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization through actions. Though Kerry displayed respect for “deeply felt historical differences,” he said that positive relations between Seo

The two Koreas will reopen talks on Friday on the planned reunions of separated families after their first high-level dialogue in seven years ended with no agreement due to differences over upcoming Seoul-Washington military drills, the Unification Ministry said Thursday. The meeting will start at the border village of Panmunjeom at 10:00 a.m., led by Kim Kyou-hyun, vice chief of the South’s presidential National Security Office, and Won Dong-yon, deputy head of the United Front Department of th

The two Koreas failed to reach an agreement during their first high-level talks in seven years on Wednesday due to differences over planned Seoul-Washington military drills.Senior officials from the two sides met at the truce village of Panmunjeom to discuss pending issues ahead of reunions of separate families slated for Feb. 20-25.During the 12-hour marathon talks, the North “constantly demanded” Seoul’s postponement of the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises until after the event. The joint

The two Koreas will hold their first high-level talks in seven years on Wednesday, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday, as the North ramps up efforts to put their strained relations back on track. The meeting will open at the truce village of Panmunjeom at 10:00 a.m. led by Kim Kyou-hyun, vice chief of the presidential National Security Office, and Won Dong-yon, deputy head of the United Front Department in the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. The vice ministerial contact will mark the first hig

An adviser to Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe held a meeting with North Korean officials in China in October, a news report said Tuesday, kindling speculation that Tokyo is seeking to reopen talks with Pyongyang over the issue of Japanese abductees. In response to the Kyodo News report, South Korea cautioned against any unilateral move by Japan regarding Pyongyang. “Japan’s talks with North Korea should be conducted in close communication and coordination with South Korea and the United States,” For