Some private companies from Iran, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries were found to have been operating North Korean flag vessels in violation of the latest U.N. Security Council resolution, news reports said Tuesday. At least four ships -- including the Deniz, the Yekta and the Al Iman -- had been reflagged to the communist country since last year and making port calls at Iran, Iraq and Somalia in care of Iranian and UAE firms, Japan’s Kyodo News and the U.S.’ Voice of A

GURAGE/KITENGELA, Ethiopia/Kenya -- Fatima Surel, 30, walks four hours twice daily to get water, carrying her 2-year-old son Fuad on her back far away from her small village in Adoshe, some 170 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa. Yet the water that filled her two 1-gallon (3.8 liters) bottles was barely transparent, tainted with red clay, dirt and other indiscernible substances. She knows the water cannot be safe, but it is the only source she can access. “It’s really heavy to carry these, and

ADDIS ABABA/BOLE -- More than 60 years ago, Kostle flew thousands of kilometers away from his homeland to fight in the Korean War while serving as a young bodyguard of then Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Until he passed away a year ago after suffering a stroke, he vividly remembered the snowy winter during which the whole world turned sheer white, and how he had developed skills to fix telephone lines amid the chaos. In one heartwarming episode recounted to his son, he gave his rations to oth

With Japan welcoming U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima later this month, a frosty and bitter air has gripped diplomatic and academic circles in Seoul. The White House gave reassurances that there would be no apology for the U.S. nuclear bombing 71 years ago or a major speech during his visit. Yet concerns persist that the stopover itself would be tantamount to indulging a government that has been accused of raising the specter of militarism through its revisionist moves. The Hiros

KAMPALA/MPIGI/MUGONGO, UGANDA -- “I work first! I serve first! I sacrifice first!”About 35 community leaders of this rural district of Mpigi stood up, clenched their fists and chanted this slogan after mapping out challenges faced by their villages and detailing action plans to tackle them. The leaders, some as young as 25 and up to 70 years old, were handpicked by their own people to spearhead rural development, taking a page from the Saemaul (new village) movement that unfolded in the 1970s in

Relations between the two Koreas are set to go farther downhill as no fresh reconciliatory gestures are coming out of the North’s ongoing party congress, while defiant leader Kim Jong-un has reasserted the country’s commitment to nuclear weapons. The unrelenting tension, which intensified after Pyongyang’s latest nuclear and missile tests early this year, poses a deepening challenge to President Park Geun-hye as she may conclude her five-year term without a solid legacy in cross-border ties -- d

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong reiterated the country’s commitment to its nuclear program on Thursday, calling it the only means to counter U.S. nuclear threats magnified by joint war games with South Korea. He delivered a keynote speech at a high-level meeting of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals at the U.N. in New York, amid prevalent concerns that the communist state will carry out a fifth nuclear test ahead of a major party congress and in protest against recent international

South Korea plans to provide Ecuador with humanitarian assistance totaling $700,000, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, joining global efforts to support the Latin American country’s search and rescue operations following a massive earthquake. Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck (Yonhap)Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor was the nation’s worst disaster in decades, leaving more than 480 killed and thousands wounded or missing. In all, the quake has affected some 450,000 Ecuadorians, with aro

The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday announced a roster of new ambassadors to 15 countries including Vietnam, Singapore, Uzbekistan and Finland as part of a regular reshuffle of senior envoys. Lee Hyuk, ambassador for international relations to Incheon City and former representative to the Philippines, was tapped to head the embassy in Vietnam. Lee Sang-deok, former director general for Northeast Asian affairs at the ministry, was appointed the new ambassador to Singapore. President Park Geun-hye (

Despite global monitoring efforts led by the U.N., the human rights situation in North Korea appears to have barely improved, a Seoul-based think tank said Monday, pointing to unabated torture, public executions and political oppression. The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights unveiled its findings after analyzing 52,735 cases included in its archive according to nine areas specified in the U.N. Commission of Inquiry report, seeking to find any development over the two years following

Work appears to be continuing at North Korea’s nuclear site, Seoul’s military officials said Sunday, prompting speculation that the communist state is counting down to a fresh underground blast to celebrate the birthday of its late founding father and a forthcoming party congress. The South Korean military has in recent weeks been bolstering surveillance as they had detected a sharp rise in the movement of labor, vehicles and other equipment in and out of the Punggye nuclear site in the country’

“We will make sure to get rid of our arrogance and self-righteousness by gravely reflecting upon the warning issued by the people through this election,” read a group text message a defeated Saenuri Party candidate sent to his constituents on Thursday.Such humble words were echoed by a number of his colleagues, as the ruling party was reeling from the crushing defeat that stripped it of the status of majority and No.1 parliamentary party. Indeed, protracting economic doldrums, the party’s factio

Following the opposition camp‘s election sweep, the government is expected to face mounting calls for an overhaul of North Korea and other diplomatic and security policy, as well as a far-reaching Cabinet reshuffle, to include the foreign minister. Cheong Wa Dae appeared devastated the day after the Wednesday vote, which deprived President Park Geun-hye’s Saenuri Party of not only the majority, but also the largest share of the 300-strong National Assembly, with one official saying, “I can’t fig

The Wednesday general election was held in familiar territory when it comes to political parties stoking ideological debate, this time driven by North Korea’s nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier in the year.Controversy persisted over Seoul’s unveiling of the joint arrival of 13 North Korean defectors just days before polls were cast, with the attention returning to how ideological battles during past election seasons played out. In throngs, ruling Saenuri Party contenders chanted c

For foreign affairs and unification correspondents in Seoul, the defection of North Koreans has long been one of the trickiest subjects to write on. Apart from the murkiness associated with the escapees’ often months-long, arduous journey away from their oppressive homeland, reporters are not allowed to meet with or speak to those fresh off the boat -- at least during the joint questioning that opens upon their arrival and an ensuing three-month mandatory education period at the Hanawon resettle

South Korea has joined hands with the U.N. and other international organizations to launch a table tennis project for people with disabilities in Nepal, as part of efforts to support the South Asian country in the aftermath of a massive earthquake last year. Dozens of senior diplomats, officials from the involved institutions and Nepalese citizens gathered for the launching ceremony of the “NepAll” initiative in Kathmandu on April 6, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.  Wilfried Lemke (third f

A ranking official at North Korea’s military spy agency and two diplomats working outside the country have defected to the South, the government confirmed Monday, days after the joint arrival here of 13 workers from a North Korean restaurant in China. The colonel-level intelligence officer came to Seoul last year and gave a “detailed testimony” on the Reconnaissance General Bureau’s espionage operations against the South, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unnamed source with knowledge on th

A ranking official at North Korea’s military spy agency and two diplomats working outside the country have defected to the South, the government confirmed Monday, days after the joint arrival here of 13 workers from a North Korean restaurant in China. The colonel-level intelligence officer came to Seoul last year and gave a “detailed testimony” on the Reconnaissance General Bureau’s espionage operations against the South, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unnamed source with knowledge on th

In the wake of last week’s mass defection, additional exoduses may come about among North Koreans working overseas as the impact of U.N. resolutions and unilateral sanctions takes shape, top Seoul officials said Sunday. A group of a male manager in his 30s and 12 female employees in their early 20s who had served at a North Korean restaurant arrived in Seoul on Thursday, the Unification Ministry announced late Friday. Officials declined to unveil the detailed time line of their journey or the lo

President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping displayed their commitment to an “outright, full” enforcement of the latest U.N. sanctions on North Korea, during their first meeting on Thursday in Washington since Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test. The two presidents’ seventh one-on-one talk came as part of Park’s relay meetings with leaders of the U.S., Japan and other countries on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit, focusing on consolidating a united front against the No