North Korea

An unprecedented growth in the ownership of mobile phones is putting technology laggard North Korea “on the cusp of digital transformation”, according to a new report on the development of technology in the country. The research from The Nautilus Institute concludes that an increase in the availability and ownership of mobile phones–which has seen the main operator post 361 percent subscriber growth–is forcing the communist state to change the way it monitors and addresses citizen...Read Full Story

Turkey's top military council will discuss next week plans to acquire long-range missiles as Ankara seeks to improve national missile defense capacities, a news report said on Wednesday. The Supreme Military Council (YAŞ), set to convene next week, will discuss the issue, with a final decision expected to be made by the Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSİK) by end of the month, daily Akşam reported. Turkey agreed to host an X-band radar system at a military base in the eastern town of K...Read Full Story

The United States and North Korea will meet in Geneva on Monday for their second round of direct talks aimed at reviving long-stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations. While analysts expect no breakthrough during the two-day meeting, they see engagement between the two parties as a positive step as well as a way to stop Pyongyang from making rash moves. "I don't think there will be anything concrete at the end of the meeting but the fact that they are talking is a good development," Mark...Read Full Story

The Associated Press The Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea North Korea has expelled all remaining South Korean workers from a stalled joint tourism resort in the North. The resort's South Korean tour operator says that 14 South Korean and two Korean-Chinese workers at the Diamond Mountain resort returned to the South on Tuesday. North Korea on Monday ordered them to leave. Pyongyang is angry that South Korea refuses to resume the joint tour...Read Full Story

Pin it As part of the country’s 100 days of mourning, cellphones have been banned within its borders. If you’re caught pulling out a portable to make a call, send a text or get directions to the nearest statue of the departed dictator you’ll be charged as a war criminal — that means serious time in a labor camp or death. Fun! Then again, in a nation where the average income is about $1 a month and cellphone ownership is a highly restricted privilege, we can’t imagine too many people have...Read Full Story

The Associated Press The Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea North Korea has again threatened to destroy the United States and South Korea. The communist North issued its latest war rhetoric on the eve of its army's anniversary. The official Korean Central News Agency says that People's Armed Forces Minster Kim Yong Chun issued the warning Sunday in a Pyongyang national meeting ahead of the army's founding anniversary...Read Full Story

SEOUL ( Reuters ) - The world's most closed country North Korea has nothing to reform or open up, the ruling party's newspaper reported on Tuesday, accusing the United States of trying to impose its own ways to stifle socialism. But in a rare concession, the Worker's Party official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, indirectly admitted something the rest of the world has been saying for decades: its economy is in trouble. "'Reform' and 'opening' much touted by the imperialists and reactionaries are not...Read Full Story

SEOUL ( Reuters ) - U.S. rights envoy Robert King on Friday won the release of an American citizen detained in North Korea on unspecified charges for the past six months, as he wrapped up a visit to the secretive state to assess its pleas for food aid. The U.S. State Department said it had been informed by Sweden , which looks after U.S. interests in North Korea in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, that Jun Young Su would be freed. "We welcome North Korea's decision to release him on...Read Full Story

North Korea test-fires short-range missile , North Korea test-fires missile North Korea test-fires short-range missile The launch was seen as a routine test to improve the country s missile capability, the sources said, declining to give details. The defence ministry had no comment. Yonhap news agency quoted an intelligence source as saying that the North fired the KN-06 missile into the Yellow Sea in the middle of last week, apparently to test efforts to increase its range. It was...Read Full Story

The Republic of Korea (ROK) deployed an advanced tactical missile system capable of hitting Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a government source said on Friday, after tensions rose last year. The missiles, with a range of 165 kilometers that can be nearly doubled when modified with boosters, were deployed near the demilitarised zone that divides the Korean peninsula after the North's bombardment of a southern island last year, the source with direct...Read Full Story