Page 5 - North Korea

South Korea seeks to lower inheritance tax in first revision since 2000

High inheritance taxes have been cited by analysts as a factor behind the "Korea discount", which refers to South Korean firms' comparatively lower valuations.

North Korea drops trash balloons near President's compound in South Korea

Since May, North Korea has dropped more than 2,000 balloons filled with wastepaper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts, and manure on South Korea

N Korea's trash balloons fall on South Korea's presidential office compound

Yonhap news agency says North Korean trash-carrying balloons have fallen on the compound of South Korea's presidential office. Yonhap gave no further details. But other South Korean media reported the balloons have caused no damages. South Korea's military earlier said North Korea flew more balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea on Wednesday. It said the North Korean balloons were flying north of Seoul on Wednesday morning after crossing the border. North Korea flew more balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea on Wednesday, Seoul officials said, days after South Korea boosted its frontline broadcasts of K-pop songs and propaganda messages across the rivals' heavily armed border. The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns between the Koreas are inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with the rivals threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the North Korean balloons were flying north

N Korea to launch major tourism site in 2025 despite blocking tourists

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a major tourism site being constructed on the country's eastern coast and discussed steps to open the zone by next year, state media reported Thursday, though the country still blocks visits by most foreign tourists. The Wonsan-Kalma zone is one of Kim's most talked-about tourism projects. For years North Korea has been building luxury hotels and recreational facilities there to create a key attraction for international visitors. But the project reportedly suffered setbacks due to shortages of construction materials as a result of toughened UN sanctions and COVID-19 restrictions. Kim toured the Wonsan-Kalma zone with top deputies on Tuesday and discussed preparations for its opening by May 2025 as decided by a ruling party meeting in January, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. A coastal wonderland to be known to the world as the best tourist resort of (North Korea) would be successfully built, Kim was quoted as saying by KCN

Senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defects to South Korea

Any high-level defection can be an intelligence bonanza for South Korea, allowing it to look at the workings of North Korea's secretive government

Sister of Kim Jong hints at resuming flying trash balloons toward S Korea

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Sunday to respond to what she called a fresh South Korean civilian leafleting campaign, signalling North Korea would soon resume flying trash-carrying balloons across the border. Since late May, North Korea has floated numerous balloons carrying waste paper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts and even manure toward South Korea on a series of late-night launch events, saying they were a tit-for-tat action against South Korean activists scattering political leaflets via their own balloons. No hazardous materials have been found. South Korea responded by suspending a 2018 tension-reduction deal with North Korea and resumed live-fire drills at border areas. In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong said that dirty leaflets and things of (the South Korean) scum were found again in border and other areas in North Korea on Sunday morning. Despite the repeated warnings of (North Korea), the (South Korean) scum are not ...

US, South Korea sign joint nuclear guidelines amid North Korean threats

The US and South Korea signed joint nuclear deterrence guidelines, weeks after North Korea and Russia struck a defence pact that deepened concerns in the region about the North's growing nuclear threats. Meeting Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington, President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol commended what they called the tremendous progress that their countries' alliance have made a year after creating a joint Nuclear Consultative Group. Last year, the US and South Korea launched the bilateral consultation body to enhance information-sharing on nuclear and strategic operations. The US will retain the control of its nuclear weapons, and the body's establishment was meant to ease South Korean worries about North Korean nuclear threats. The two leaders authorised the US-ROK Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula that was signed by their defence officials earlier Thursday, according to South Korea's ...

N Korea balloons, GPS interference raise safety risks for S Korean airspace

Hundreds of balloons landed in the South during seven waves between May 29 and June 27, including one on a runway at Incheon airport

Sister of Kim Jong calls S Korea's live-fire drills 'suicidal hysteria'

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called South Korea's recent front-line live-fire drills "suicidal hysteria" as she threatened unspecified military steps on Monday if further provoked. The warning by Kim Yo Jong came after South Korea performed firing exercises in its tense land and sea borders with North Korea in the past two weeks. The exercises were the first of their kind since South Korea suspended a 2018 agreement with the North aimed easing frontline military tensions in June. "The question is why the enemy kicked off such war drills near the border, suicidal hysteria, for which they will have to sustain terrible disaster," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. She accused South Korea's conservative government of deliberately escalating tensions as a way to escape a domestic political crisis. She said the riskiness of the South Korean drills is clear to everyone as they happened amid "a touch-and-go situation" established after the US,

North Korea claims new ballistic missile capable of carrying huge warhead

North Korea said Tuesday it had test-fired a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a huge warhead, as the country is pushing to modernise its weapons arsenal to cope with what it calls US-led threats. The North's official Korean Central News Agency called the weapon Hwasongpho-11Da-4.5 which can carry 4.5 ton-class super-large warhead. It said the test-fire on Monday was meant to verify flight stability and hit accuracy at the maximum range of 500 kilometres (310 miles) and the minimum range of 90 kilometres (55 miles). South Korea's military earlier said that North Korea launched two ballistic missiles from one of its southwestern towns in a northeastern direction on Monday and that the first missile flew 600 kilometres (370 miles) and the second missile 120 kilometres (75 miles). The second missile's flight distance was too short to reach the waters off the North's east coast, a typical landing site for North Korean test missiles. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff

Lawsuit accuses Iran, Syria, and N Korea of backing Hamas' Oct 7 attack

Victims of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel sued Iran, Syria and North Korea on Monday, saying their governments supplied the militants with money, weapons and know-how needed to carry out the assault that precipitated Israel's ongoing war in Gaza. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks at least $4 billion in damages for a coordination of extrajudicial killings, hostage takings, and related horrors for which the defendants provided material support and resources. Iran's mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the allegations, while Syria and North Korea did not respond. The United States has deemed Iran, Syria and North Korea to be state sponsors of terrorism, and Washington has designated Hamas as what's known as a specially designated global terrorist. Because such countries rarely abide by court rulings against them in the United States, if the lawsuit's plaintiffs are successful, they could seek compensation from a fund created by Congress that all

In a first, North Korean officials seen wearing lapel pins with Kim's image

For the first time, North Korean officials have been seen wearing lapel pins with the image of leader Kim Jong Un, another sign the North is boosting his personality cult to the level bestowed on his late dictator father and grandfather. North Koreans are required to wear pins over their hearts which for decades bore images of either the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, or his son Kim Jong Il, or both. The existence of pins dedicated to Kim Jong Un had not been verified until state media published photos on Sunday showing officials wearing his pins at a ruling Workers' Party meeting. The pins are part of a state-sponsored mythology surrounding the Kim family which treats Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il like gods. They are memorialised with numerous statues across North Korea, their birthdays are two of the country's main holidays and their portraits are hung in all homes and offices. Few question current leader Kim Jong Un's hold on power, but few images honouring the 40-year-old have be

N Korea launches ballistic missile toward sea, after US-S Korea-Japan drill

North Korea launched at least one short-range ballistic missile off its east coast Monday, South Korea's military said, a day after the North vowed offensive and overwhelming responses to a new US military drill with South Korea and Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's southeastern town of Jangyon at 5.05 am. It said an additional, unidentified ballistic missile launch trajectory was detected 10 minutes later, a suggestion that North Korea might have performed two missile launches. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea's military has boosted its surveillance posture and is closely exchanging related information with the United States and Japan. The launch came two days after South Korea, the US and Japan ended their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region. In recent years, the three countries have been expanding their trilateral security partnership to better cope with North Korea's evolving nuclear threats and China's ...

US to confront Russia at UN Security Council over North Korean weapons

The meeting of the 15-member council comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Pyongyang last week to sign a pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

North Korea says it tested multiwarhead missile, Seoul tags it as failiure

North Korea said Thursday it had successfully tested a multiwarhead missile in the first known launch of a developmental weapon coveted by leader Kim Jong Un to overwhelm US and South Korean missile defences. South Korea quickly dismissed the claim as deception to cover up a failed launch. North Korea's state media said the launch Wednesday tested the separation and guidance control of individual mobile warheads to ensure the capability of the Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles. It said the separated warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets" and a decoy that separated from the missile was verified by radar. If confirmed, it would be North Korea's first public launch event related to the development of a multiwarhead missile, though at a preliminary stage. South Korea's military said later Thursday that a joint analysis by South Korean and US authorities assessed that the North Korean missile launch failed. Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon

N Korea tests multiwarhead missile, Kim covets weapon to overwhelm US

North Korea said Thursday it had successfully tested a multiwarhead missile, a sophisticated weapon coveted by leader Kim Jong Un to overwhelm missile defenses in the continental United States. The statement contradicted South Korea's assessment of a failed launch Wednesday of a different type of weapon. The launch tested the separation and guidance control of individual mobile warheads to ensure the capability of the Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets" and a decoy that separated from the missile was verified by radar, it said. It was North Korea's first known launch event related to the development of a multiwarhead missile, though outside experts believe it was a preliminary test. KCNA, citing the country's Missile Administration, said it was significant to bolstering North Korea's missile forces and developing missile technologies that testi

Suspected North Korean hypersonic missile exploded, says South Korea

A North Korean ballistic missile test on Wednesday likely ended in failure, South Korea's military said, days after the U.S. deployed an aircraft carrier for a new trilateral military drill with South Korea and Japan. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea launched a ballistic missile from its capital region around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It said the missile was launched toward the North's eastern waters, but the launch was suspected to have ended in failure. It gave no further details like whether it assessed the North Korean missile likely crashed on the ground or exploded in mid-air. Japan's Defense Ministry said earlier Wednesday that it also detected a suspected ballistic missile by North Korea. The North's reported launch also came hours after South Korea said North Korea floated huge balloons likely carrying trash across the border for a second consecutive day. South Korea's earlier threatened to retaliate with anti-Pyongyang front-line ...

S Korea's Incheon airport briefly shuts down runways due to trash balloons

One balloon landed on the tarmac near passenger Terminal 2 and the three runways at Incheon were temporarily shut down

N Korea fires suspected ballistic missile, says Japan; suggests precaution

However, the PMO issued instructions to dedicate efforts to gather and analyse information and provide speedy and adequate information to people

N Korea launches more trash balloons; South calls it 'irrational'

South Korea threatened on Tuesday to restart anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts in the latest bout of Cold War-style campaigns between the rivals after North Korea resumed its trash-carrying balloon launches. On Monday night, North Korea floated huge balloons carrying plastic bags of rubbish across the border in its fifth such campaign since late May an apparent response to South Korean activists flying political leaflets via balloons. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called North Korea's balloon activities a despicable and irrational provocation. In a speech marking the 74th anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War, Yoon said Tuesday that South Korea will maintain a firm military readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations by North Korea. South Korea's military said North Korea floated about 350 balloons in its latest campaign, and about 100 of them eventually landed in South Korean soil, mostly in Seoul and nearby areas. Seoul is about 40-50