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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday slapped sanctions on five North Korean officials in its first response to Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile test.
The Treasury Department announced it was imposing penalties on the officials over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North’s missile programs.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday its leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful flight test of a hypersonic missile he claimed would remarkably increase the country’s nuclear “war deterrent.”
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into its eastern sea, its second launch in a week, following leader Kim Jong Un’s calls to expand its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international opposition.
UNIITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and five allies urged North Korea on Monday to abandon its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs and called on the U.N. Security Council to oppose Pyongyang’s “ongoing, destabilizing and unlawful actions,” including missile launches.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea dismissed North Korea’s claim to have recently launched a hypersonic missile as an exaggeration on Friday, saying it was a normal ballistic missile that could be intercepted.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday said it would skip next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the COVID-19 pandemic and “hostile forces’ moves,” a largely redundant statement since the country has already been banned from the Games by the IOC.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea claimed Thursday to have conducted the second successful test flight of a hypersonic missile, days after leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his military forces despite pandemic-related difficulties.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, its first weapons launch in about two months and a signal it isn’t interested in rejoining denuclearization talks anytime soon and would rather focus on boosting its weapons arsenal.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military apologized Wednesday for causing public concern about its security readiness, days after it failed to stop a suspected North Korean defector who crossed the heavily fortified border to return to the North.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A person who crossed the border from South Korea into North Korea on New Year’s Day was likely a defector who had slipped through the same heavily fortified frontier in the other direction to settle in South Korea in late 2020, the military said Monday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military said Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea.
The person was earlier spotted by surveillance equipment at the eastern portion of the border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, but avoided capture by South Korean troops on Saturday night.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further bolster his military capability, maintain draconian anti-virus measures and push hard to improve the economy during a speech at a key political conference this week, state media reported Saturday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday urged its 1.2 million troops to unite behind leader Kim Jong Un and defend him with their lives, as the country celebrated the 10th anniversary of Kim’s ascension to supreme commander of the military.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea opened a key political conference Monday to review past projects and discuss new policies amid the pandemic and a diplomatic deadlock with the United States.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un presided over a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party.
NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — Eiko Kawasaki stood at the port of Niigata, the place from which she left for North Korea more than 60 years ago, and tossed chrysanthemum flowers into the sea to pray for her peers who could not come back.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday commemorated the 10th anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il’s death with calls for greater public loyalty toward his son and current leader Kim Jong Un, who is struggling to navigate the country out of deepening pandemic-related hardships.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As Kim Jong Un marks 10 years in power this week, the world still doesn't quite know what to make of the North Korean leader.
Is he the playful scamp who once gave an underling a piggyback ride after a rocket engine test?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Friday marks 10 years since Kim Jong Un, the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, took power after his father's sudden heart attack.
Initially considered inexperienced, Kim quickly showed his ruthless willingness to consolidate his rule by having his powerful uncle and other potential rivals executed or purged.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia and South Korea signed a $720 million defense deal Monday as South Korean President Moon Jae-in became the first foreign leader to visit Australia since the pandemic began.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Too young. Too weak. Too inexperienced.
Since taking power following his father’s sudden death 10 years ago this week, Kim Jong Un has erased those widespread doubts that greeted his early attempts to extend his family’s brutal dynastic grip over North Korea.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. issued financial sanctions and visa bans on former and current government officials and entities in nine countries Friday — including China, Myanmar and Russia — as part of coordinated actions with Canada and the U.K.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in South Korea on Wednesday for annual security talks expected to bolster the countries' decades-long military alliance in the face of North Korean nuclear threats and mounting challenges from China.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, at his first troop review Saturday, renewed his pledge to consider “all options,” including acquiring enemy base strike capability, and vowed to create a stronger Self-Defense Force to protect the country amid growing threats from China and North Korea.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Cabinet on Friday approved a 770 billion yen ($6.8 billion) request for an extra defense budget through March to expedite the purchase of missiles, anti-submarine rockets and other weapons amid rising concern over the escalation of military activities by China, Russia and North Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean governing party's presidential candidate said Thursday he will continue a conciliatory approach toward North Korea if elected and questioned the effectiveness of U.S.-led economic sanctions in pressuring the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S.-sponsored show of alliance with Japan and South Korea stumbled Wednesday when American diplomats couldn't convince their Asian allies to share a news conference stage.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was due to hold the press conference at the State Department with her counterparts, Choi Jong Kun of South Korea and Mori Takeo of Japan.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bill Richardson's success in helping secure journalist Danny Fenster's release from a Myanmar prison is the latest demonstration of the former New Mexico governor's knack for flying into some of the most closed societies on earth and persuading those in charge to do Washington a favor.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has returned from a monthlong break from public view to inspect a major development project near the border with China, which he said epitomizes his country’s “iron will” to achieve prosperity in the face of international isolation and pressure.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s main opposition presidential candidate said Friday he will strengthen military cooperation with the United States and Japan if elected to better cope with North Korea's nuclear threat and would strive to make the North a leading foreign policy priority for the U.S.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Senior U.S. and South Korean diplomats discussed how to restart stalled talks with North Korea on Thursday, days after the North conducted artillery firing drills in its latest weapons tests.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has rejected refugee status for ethnic Chinese people who have been “stateless” since they fled North Korea years ago, two of the applicants and an activists’ group said Wednesday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has conducted artillery firing exercises to bolster its defense capability, state media reported Sunday, its latest weapons test as Pyongyang continues to pressure Washington and Seoul to abandon what it calls their hostile policy.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s conservative former top prosecutor, who has called for a stronger U.S. security guarantee to neutralize North Korean nuclear threats, won the main opposition party’s hotly contested nomination for next March’s presidential election on Friday.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China and Russia are urging the U.N. Security Council to end a host of sanctions against North Korea including a ban on exports of seafood and textiles, a cap on imports of refined petroleum products and a prohibition on its citizens working overseas and sending home their earnings.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has recently lost about 20 kilograms (44 pounds), but remains healthy and is trying to boost public loyalty to him in the face of worsening economic problems, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Thursday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president said Monday he’ll keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May, after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat on Sunday urged North Korea to refrain from additional missile tests and resume nuclear diplomacy, days after the North fired off its first underwater-launched ballistic missile in two years.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Saturday accused the Biden administration of raising military tensions with China through its “reckless” backing of Taiwan, and said that the growing U.S. military presence in the region constitutes a potential threat to the North.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea hit back at U.S. criticism over its test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile this week, saying it was rightfully exercising its rights for self-defense and that the weapon doesn’t specifically target the United States.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and several European countries on Wednesday condemned North Korea’s recent missile tests and said Pyongyang’s technical advances demonstrate the urgent need to ramp up implementation of U.N.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday that it had test-fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine, in its first such underwater test-launch in two years and one it says will bolster its military's undersea capabilities.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile, which South Korea’s military said was likely designed to be launched from a submarine, in what is possibly the most significant demonstration of the North’s military might since U.S.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's new prime minister interrupted his first day of election campaigning and returned to Tokyo on Tuesday to deal with rising regional tensions following North Korea's test-firing of a missile earlier in the day.
GWANGYANG, South Korea (AP) — Abandoned, he feels, by three countries, Cho Guk-gyeong shows a visitor his South Korean alien registration card, which describes him as “stateless.” It’s an apt description for what his life is like in South Korea, 15 years after he fled North Korea.

