Read about this topic in Korean. As South Korean President Lee Jae-myung begins his term pledging dialogue and economic cooperation with Pyongyang, North Koreans—both at home and abroad—are reacting with a mix of hope, indifference, and deep-rooted skepticism. According to sources inside North Korea, the outcome of South Korea’s 21st presidential election quickly spread among the population after Lee’s victory on Tuesday. North Korean authorities confirmed Lee’s win via state media the following day, offering only a brief, commentary-free report. In interviews with RFA’s Korean Service, several North Korean citizens…
Tag: Korea
North Korean warship that tipped over during launch is upright again
Read about this topic in Korean. A North Korean warship that tipped over during its launch ceremony as the supreme leader looked on appears to have been righted, satellite imagery shows. The U.S.-based website 38 North, which specializes in North Korea, said that imagery taken on Monday showed the 5,000-ton naval destroyer now standing upright at a shipyard in the northeastern port city of Chongjin. The warship fell sideways into the sea during its launch at the shipyard on May 21, stoking the anger of leader Kim Jong Un, who…
Will South Korea’s new president restart dialogue with North Korea?
South Korea has elected a new president – liberal opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung – which represents a change in political direction for the country after the ouster of his conservative predecessor. Video: Will South Korea’s new president restart dialogue with North Korea?Tuesday’s national election follows months of turmoil after Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached for briefly imposing martial law in a move that sent shockwaves through its democracy. Lee won by a comfortable margin over his main conservative rival, Kim Moon Soo, raising questions about relations with South Korea’s key…
South Korean presidential debate mired in top contender’s alleged link to North Korea
TAIPEI, Taiwan – The final televised presidential debate ahead of South Korea’s June 3 election was dominated by fierce scrutiny over the leading candidate from the Democratic Party Lee Jae-myung’s alleged involvement in illegal cash transfers to North Korea. The topic took center stage during the foreign policy and national security portion of the debate, when Lee underscored the importance of dialogue and peaceful coexistence with Pyongyang. Stressing that South Korea’s defense budget is double that of the North’s, he argued for diplomacy. However, his remarks provided an opening for…
Fears of a purge in shipyard town after North Korea destroyer launch goes wrong
SEOUL – The mood in the North Korean port city where a warship launch went badly wrong last week is grim, local residents say, as authorities make arrests and officials scramble to find ways to salvage the 5,000-ton vessel. North Korean state media has reported that several senior officials have been detained, including Hong Kil Ho, the manager of the Chongjin Shipyard, and Ri Hyong Son, a senior military industry official in the ruling Workers’ Party. The May 21 launch was meant to be a signature event for supreme leader…
North Korean POWs in Ukraine excluded from Moscow-Kyiv prisoner swap: South lawmaker
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Two captured North Korean soldiers fighting with Russia in its war against Ukraine were not among the 1,000 prisoners of war recently repatriated by Ukraine to Russia due to a request from Seoul, said a South Korean lawmaker. The soldiers, identified as Ri and Baek, were part of the more than 12,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia’s Kursk region to fight Ukraine who occupied parts of the region in an August counteroffensive. The two were captured in January and have been in custody in Kyiv since…
North Korean warship tough to salvage after launch failure, analysts say
A newly built North Korean destroyer that was damaged during a launch attempt this week may have suffered irreparable harm, analysts said, as the communist nation’s authorities moved to arrest those responsible. According to a Thursday report from the Beyond Parallel project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, the ship “may ultimately prove to be a complete loss.” North Korea’s latest naval destroyer has been significantly damaged prior to its launch. In a rare acknowledgment, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported yesterday an incident occurred…
Too big to conceal: North Korea fesses up to botched warship launch
SEOUL/WASHINGTON – Notoriously secretive North Korea quickly owned up to the botched launch of a 5,000-ton naval destroyer ship that listed sideways in front of supreme leader Kim Jong Un because the mistake was too large to conceal, experts said. State-run Korean Central Television, or KCTV, reported Thursday that the vessel lost stability during its launch at the shipyard in the northeastern port city of Chongjin, tipping into the water as the stern-side launch sled detached prematurely. The ship had taken on water and suffered hull damage due to poor…
North Korean escapees speak at UN General Assembly, drawing anger from Pyongyang
One North Korean woman described how her father died of starvation. Another said her friends were publicly executed for watching and sharing South Korean television dramas. North Korea’s ambassador appeared unmoved. When he got up to speak, he described it as a political scheme and labeled the women as “human scum.” For the first time in its history, the United Nations General Assembly has held a high-level plenary meeting focused exclusively on human rights abuses in North Korea. Video: United Nations General Assembly holds session on human rights abuses in…
North Korea deploys handheld signal detectors to crack down on cross-border calls
SEOUL – North Korean authorities have distributed high-performance handheld radio signal detectors to border security agents as part of an intensified campaign to block residents from making unauthorized phone calls to South Korea, local sources told RFA. A source in North Pyongan province, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said officers with the Ministry of State Security in Uiju County near the border with China were issued the new devices last week. “These portable detectors are designed to track down North Koreans who use Chinese mobile phones to…