South Korea's spy agency is analyzing a soil sample collected from around North Korea's nuclear test site, which Pyongyang demolished in May, lawmakers said on Nov. 2, 2018.In a briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee this week, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) also said

The United States said on Nov. 1, 2018 that sanctions on North Korea will remain in place until it gives up its nuclear weapons program, remarks following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sharp rebuke of "vicious sanctions."The two sides have been working to implement a deal reached by U.S. P

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said Wednesday that Seoul and Washington will make a decision on plans for next year's major exercises before Dec. 1 after a working-level review.Jeong made the remarks after the 50th annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with his U.S. counterp

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States on Oct. 31, 2018 signed a strategic guideline on how their combined defense mechanism will operate after the planned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON).The guideline, called "Alliance Guiding Principles," contains a set of commit

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will likely meet with his North Korean counterpart in New York next week to continue discussions on a potential second summit between their leaders, sources said on Oct. 30, 2018.The high-level talks are being planned for around Nov. 9 after the U.S. midterm elect

South Korea and the United States have agreed to launch a working group to improve coordination on their joint approach to North Korea, the U.S. State Department said on Oct. 30, 2018.The agreement was reached during a trip to Seoul this week by U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Bi

An effort to address North Korea's human rights situation would be a clear signal of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's seriousness to dismantle the country's nuclear weapons program, a former CIA analyst said on Oct. 29, 2018.Jung Pak, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thi

South Korea and the United States will hold their annual defense ministers' talks in Washington this week over a range of bilateral issues, such as the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON), Seoul officials said on Oct. 29, 2018.Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and his U.S. counterpar

Some 400 South Koreans who had been stranded on a typhoon-hit Saipan arrived home safely on Oct. 28, 2018 via two commercial flights, with roughly 200 others to land by midnight, foreign ministry officials said.The first batch of roughly 1,600 South Koreans, who were left aground on the Pacific isla

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun arrived in South Korea on Sunday to discuss cooperation with South Korea over North Korea's nuclear disarmament, Seoul officials said.He was accompanied by Allison Hooker, a National Security Council official who specializes in Korea aff

The news media in Seoul have begun expressing doubts over the way the government has been handling North Korea. Standing out from the problems is the alleged hiding of information by the Ministry of National Unification (MNU) which concerns the use of government budget in helping North Korea.In one

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will travel to South Korea next week to coordinate steps for the full dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, the U.S. State Department said on Oct. 25, 2018. Biegun will visit Seoul on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30 to meet with hi

The Koreas will hold general-grade military talks on Oct. 26, 2018 over the enforcement of last month's agreement aimed at reducing tensions and preventing accidental clashes, Seoul's defense ministry said. The talks will be held at Tongilgak, a North Korean building in the truce village of

The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday unveiled a set of strict measures to eradicate irregularities and enhance accounting transparency at private kindergartens.Government and DP officials held a meeting amid growing public uproar sparked by a lawmaker's revelation of w

The United States has not changed its position that sanctions on North Korea must remain in full force despite the two Koreas' push to reconnect railways and roads across their border, a U.S. government spokesperson said on Oct. 24, 2018. South Korea and North Korea plan to hold a groundbreaking

North Korea's human rights situation has not changed despite its recent diplomatic engagements with South Korea and the United States, a United Nations expert said on Oct. 23, 2018. Speaking to reporters in New York, Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea's human rig

South Korea's defense ministry plans to propose to North Korea that vice minister-level officials head a joint military committee to be formed to carry out a set of tension reduction measures agreed to at last month's summit, officials said on Oct. 24, 2018. The South will put forward detail

U.S. President Donald Trump's strategy on North Korea's denuclearization is "going very hard and seeing what happens," analogous to his handling of trade deals with other countries, a former U.S. diplomat said on Oct. 22, 2018. During a lecture in Seoul, Joseph Yun, former U.S. special rep

The two Koreas and the U.S.-led U.N. Command agreed Monday to withdraw firearms and guard posts at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) this week, Seoul's defense ministry said. It is part of the results of the second round of working-level talks among North Korea

Officials from the presidential office, the government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) held a meeting Sunday to discuss ways to tackle irregularities at private kindergartens. The closed-door meeting came amid growing public uproar sparked by revelations of preschool owners' corruption by a