South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to visit troops to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the country’s army as he lauded the “irresistible might” of his nuclear-armed military, state media said Wednesday.

The visit came amid indications North Korea is preparing to stage a massive military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where it could showcase the latest hardware of a growing nuclear weapons program that stokes the concern of its neighbors and the United States.

SEOUL, Feb 7 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to expand military drills and beef up the country's war readiness posture, state media reported on Tuesday, as Pyongyang prepares to mark a military anniversary.

Kim presided over the meeting of the central military commission of the ruling Workers' Party on Monday where officials discussed "major military and political tasks" for this year and the "long-term issues concerning the orientation for army building," KCNA news agency said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean coast guard vessels and aircraft on Sunday were searching for nine fishermen who disappeared after their boat capsized off the country’s southwestern coast.

The coast guard from the southwestern port city of Mokpo said that three crew members were rescued by a nearby commercial vessel following the accident late Saturday near Daebichi Island in the sea county of Sinan.

Survivors said the boat’s engine room had quickly filled with water before the 24-ton vessel tipped over, according to the coast guard.

SEOUL, Feb 2 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday that drills by the United States and its allies have reached an "extreme red-line" and threaten to turn the peninsula into a "huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone."

The Foreign Ministry statement, carried by state news agency KCNA, said Pyongyang was not interested in dialogue as long as Washington pursues hostile policies.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court ruled Wednesday that a 14th century Korean Buddhist statue should be sent back to a Japanese temple from where it was stolen in 2012.

The statue’s return had been put on hold for years after a South Korean temple claimed ownership of it, insisting that it was likely looted by medieval Japanese pirates before it ended up at a temple on Tsushima island, presumably in 1527.

The South Korean temple is likely to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russia’s embassy in North Korea says the country has eased stringent epidemic controls in capital Pyongyang that were placed during the past five days to slow the spread of respiratory illnesses.

North Korea has not officially acknowledged a lockdown in Pyongyang or a re-emergence of COVID-19 after leader Kim Jong Un declared a widely disputed victory over the coronavirus in August, but the Russian embassy’s Facebook posts have provided rare glimpses into the secretive country’s infectious disease controls.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government said Friday it will promote civilian efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea in hopes of softening a diplomatic freeze deepened by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s growing nuclear ambitions.

South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Youngse didn’t specify the type of aid he sees as conceivable or whether it was realistic to expect those exchanges to induce meaningful diplomatic breakthroughs.

SEOUL, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Authorities in the North Korean capital Pyongyang have ordered a five-day lockdown due to rising cases of an unspecified respiratory illness, the Russian embassy and Seoul-based NK News reported on Wednesday, citing a government notice.

The notice, shared by the embassy on its Facebook page, said that a "a special anti-epidemic period has been established" and it called on foreign delegations to keep employees inside. The order also called for individuals to measure their temperatures four times a day and report the results to a hospital by phone.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ships searching in wind-whipped waters between South Korea and Japan have picked up at least 14 of the 22 crew members from a cargo vessel that sank early Wednesday, killing at least two, officials said.

South Korean officials said nine of those rescued remain unconscious, but they did not immediately confirm any deaths. Ten crew members were later airlifted to Nagasaki in southern Japan for treatment, but two of them were confirmed dead on arrival, Japanese officials said.

SEOUL, Jan 20 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s central bank supplied 4.2 trillion won (3.4 billion U.S. dollars) worth of fresh banknotes, to meet cash demand ahead of the Lunar New Year’s holiday, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said today.

The fresh banknotes have been put into circulation through local banks and other financial institutions, for the past 10 working days until today, to meet cash demand during the holiday, scheduled to last from tomorrow to Tuesday.