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North Korea
A Mongolian-flagged cargo ship carrying North Korean sailors has sunk off South Korea, killing at least two people.
Sixteen sailors were on board the cargo ship that went down off the southern coast of South Korea.
Sixteen sailors were on board the cargo ship that went down off the southern coast of South Korea (photo Reuters)
Three of the crew have been rescued, South Korean officials said. A search was under way for the remaining 11 crew members.
The vessel was heading from North Korea to China with a cargo of steel.
South Korea’s coast guard said 13 vessels and six aircraft were involved in the search.
It is not clear what caused the ship, which sent a distress call in the early hours of Friday, to sink.
South Korea generally returns North Korean sailors who encounter trouble in its waters, if they want to return.
Residents of five front-line South Korean islands have been forced to evacuate to shelters as the two Koreas fired artillery shells into each other’s waters Monday, South Korean officials said.
The South Korean artillery fire came after shells from a North Korean live-fire drill fell south of the Koreas’ disputed western sea boundary, an official with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. No shells from either side were fired at any land or military installations, said the official, who provided no other details and spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules.
The exchange of fire followed Pyongyang’s earlier, unusual announcement that it would conduct live-fire drills in seven areas north of the poorly marked Yellow Sea boundary between the countries. North Korea routinely test-fires artillery and missiles into the ocean, but it’s rare for the country to disclose such training plans in advance. The announcement was seen as an expression of Pyongyang’s frustration at making little progress in its recent push to win outside aid.
In addition to sending residents of five front-line South Korean islands to shelters, Lee Han-seok, an official with Ongjin county, which governs the islands, also said that ferry service linking the islands to the mainland was stopped.
North Korea and South Korea fired artillery shells into each other’s waters (photo PA)
Kang Myeong-sung, speaking from a shelter on Yeonpyeong island, which is in sight of North Korean territory, said he hadn’t seen any fighter jets but heard the boom of artillery fire.
The North in recent weeks has increased threatening rhetoric and conducted a series of rocket and ballistic missile launches that are considered acts of protest against annual ongoing springtime military exercises by Seoul and Washington. North Korea calls the South Korea-US drills a rehearsal for invasion; the allies say they’re routine and defensive.
Pyongyang threatened Sunday to conduct a fourth nuclear test at some point, though Seoul says there are no signs of an imminent detonation. Wee Yong-sub, a deputy spokesman at the South Korean Defense Ministry, said the North Korean warning about the live-fire drills Monday was a “hostile” attempt to heighten tension on the Korean Peninsula.
A woman who runs a lodging facility on another front-line island, Baengnyeong, said from a shelter that she was still hearing the sounds of artillery fire about 90 minutes after the North began its live-fire drills.
The western sea boundary has been the scene of several bloody naval skirmishes between the two Koreas in recent years, including the 2010 artillery attack by North Korea in which it killed four South Koreans on Yeonpyeong.
Last spring, tension spiked after a near-daily barrage of North Korean threats, including warnings of nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington, following international criticism of Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February of last year. North Korea has since gradually dialed down its threats and sought improved ties with South Korea in what foreign analysts say is an attempt to lure international investment and aid. There has been no major breakthrough in the North’s reported push to win outside aid, however, with Washington and Seoul calling on the North to first take disarmament steps to prove its sincerity about improving ties, analysts say.
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North Korea’s launch of two ballistic missiles earlier this week has been condemned by the UN Security Council.
The UN Security Council also said it was considering an “appropriate response”.
The Council’s president, Luxembourg UN Ambassador Sylvie Lucas, described the North Korean move as a violation of Security Council resolutions.
North Korea test-fired two medium-range Nodong missiles over the sea on Wednesday.
It was Pyongyang’s first launch of such missiles since 2009.
North Korea test-fired two medium-range Nodong missiles over the sea on Wednesday (photo Reuters)
Ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang are banned by the UN.
The Security Council held a closed debate on Thursday that included a report from the deputy secretary general for political affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, diplomats said.
The condemnation was not a formal statement but Sylvie Lucas said members had requested she read out the remarks as agreed by all participants.
She said members had agreed “to consult on an appropriate response” and said that this response “should be given quickly”.
The South Korean defense ministry said the missiles had been fired from the Suckon region north of Pyongyang and flew for about 400 miles before falling into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.
The ministry described it as a “grave provocation”.
The US State Department described the launch as “a troubling and provocative escalation”.
In recent weeks, North Korea has launched multiple short-range missiles – actions which have coincided with annual US-South Korea military exercises.
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North Korea has made an insulting attack on South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye, following her recent comments on its nuclear program.
A North Korean spokesman accused Park Geun-hye of “blabbering” like a peasant woman and described her as a “faithful servant and stooge of the United States”.
Park Geun-hye had warned on Monday that North Korean nuclear devices could end up in the hands of militants.
The North’s statement said Park Geun-hye must learn to stop reckless talk.
North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles on Wednesday, an apparent response to the meeting at the Hague between Park Geun-hye, President Barack Obama and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.
North Korea has made an insulting attack on South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye, following her recent comments on its nuclear program
They pledged co-operation in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
US and South Korean forces are continuing annual exercises on and around the Korean peninsula with the largest-scale amphibious landing by US marines in decades.
North Korea has made insulting comments about Park Geun-hye’s gender in the past with references to “the venomous swish of her skirt”.
But the two states had agreed at a rare high-level meeting last month to end cross-border slander.
North Korea’s official Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said the South Korean leader had violated that agreement during a speech at the nuclear summit in the Hague.
Park Geun-hye had called for an end to North Korea’s nuclear program, expressing fears that nuclear material could be acquired by extremists or cause an accident worse than Chernobyl.
South Korea’s government said the North Korean comments were deeply regrettable and lacking in the most basic etiquette.
New reports claim that North Korean men are now required to get the same haircut as Kim Jong-un.
The new guidelines were introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago, media reports say. They are now being rolled out across the country – although some people have reservations about getting the look.
“Our leader’s haircut is very particular, if you will,” one source tells Radio Free Asia.
North Korean men are now required to get the same haircut as Kim Jong-un (photo Getty Images)
“It doesn’t always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes.” Meanwhile, a North Korean now living in China says the look is actually unpopular at home because people think it resembles Chinese smugglers.
“Until the mid-2000s, we called it the <<Chinese smuggler haircut>>,” the Korea Times reports.
It seems that haircuts have been state-approved in North Korea for some time – until now people were only allowed to choose from 18 styles for women and 10 for men.
Earlier, North Korea’s state TV launched a campaign against long hair, called Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle.
Kim Jong-un’s father, late leader Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea for 17 years, sported a bouffant hairstyle, reportedly in order to look taller.
Two medium-range ballistic missiles have been test-fired by North Korea, just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands for talks.
It is the first launch of a Nodong missile since 2009 and marks a step up from the short-range rockets Pyongyang has fired in recent weeks.
The launches also came on the fourth anniversary of the sinking of a South Korean warship.
Washington and Seoul have condemned the launch, which violates UN resolutions.
The US State Department described the launch as “a troubling and provocative escalation”.
“We urge North Korea to exercise restraint and refrain from further threatening actions,” deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
The South Korean defense ministry said the missiles were fired from the Suckon region north of Pyongyang and flew for about 400 miles before falling into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.
“This missile is capable of hitting not only most of Japan but also Russia and China,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
The ministry described it as a “grave provocation”.
Two medium-range ballistic missiles have been test-fired by North Korea, just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands for talks
In recent weeks, North Korea has launched multiple short-range missiles – actions which have coincided with annual US-South Korea military exercises.
But this is the first launch of a Nodong missile – which has a range of about 1,000km – since 2009. A similar launch also took place in 2006.
Ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang are banned by the UN.
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, the most recent in February 2013. It is also developing a three-stage missile that experts believe could be capable of hitting parts of the US.
But it is not yet believed to have the expertise to miniaturize a nuclear weapon so it could be delivered via a missile.
The US State Department said North Korea did not issue any maritime notification warning of its latest test.
“We are closely co-ordinating with our allies and partners, including in the UN Security Council, to take the appropriate measures in response to this latest provocation and to address the threat to global security posed by the DPRK’s [North Korea’s] nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” the statement said.
The launches took place in the early hours of Wednesday, which marks four years since South Korea’s Cheonan warship sank with the loss of 46 lives near the disputed inter-Korean western maritime border.
South Korea says North Korea torpedoed the ship. North Korea denies any role in the incident.
They also came just hours after President Barack Obama met his South Korean counterpart, Park Geun-hye, and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at the nuclear summit in The Hague for talks that focused on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
It was the first meeting between Park Geun-hye and Shinzo Abe since both took office, amid strained ties over historical and territorial issues.
Barack Obama pledged his “unwavering commitment” to Tokyo and Seoul in the face of North Korea’s nuclear program.
North Korea says its rocket tests are self-defense exercises and says the military drills by Washington and Seoul are invasion preparations.
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South Korea military officials say North Korea has tested dozens of short-range rockets in the past 24 hours in an apparent show of anger with Seoul.
Analysts say the launches are Pyongyang’s way of protesting against joint military drills between the US and South Korea.
Some 16 rockets were fired into the sea early on Sunday, following the launch of 30 on Saturday.
North Korea has tested dozens of short-range rockets in the past 24 hours in an apparent show of anger with Seoul
North Korea claims its rocket tests are routine, self-defense exercises.
Pyongyang has bitterly criticized the annual war drills by Washington and Seoul, labeling them invasion preparations.
The isolated state often makes a show of force at the same time as the drills.
But this year there have been an unusually high number of rockets launched.
Experts say some 70 missiles have been fired so far this month, including the 46 from this weekend.
The South Korean military says that the North appears to be firing Frog rockets, which are unguided Soviet-developed devices that Pyongyang has had in its armory since the 1960s.
Both South Korea and the US have criticized North Korea’s missile tests.
Under UN resolutions, North Korea is required to abandon its ballistic missiles programs.
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North Korea has denied any link to Morning Glory tanker which left Libya with an oil shipment in defiance of the government, a Pyongyang official has said.
North Korea revoked the Morning Glory’s registration when it learned of the incident, Jon Ki-chol said.
Libya’s PM Ali Zeidan was dismissed by parliament on Tuesday after the ship evaded a naval blockade to set sail from a rebel-held port.
It fuelled speculation about links between North Korea and Libyan rebels.
Jon Ki-chol, deputy director-general of North Korea’s Maritime Administration, said the Morning Glory was operated by an Egypt-based company.
North Korea has denied any link to Morning Glory tanker which left Libya with an oil shipment in defiance of the government
On Wednesday, Libyan government spokesman Habib al-Amin said the navy had fired on the vessel, but failed to disable it.
It sailed eastwards towards Egyptian waters and Libya had asked Egypt and other countries to help stop it, he added.
The tanker was reported to have taken on at least 234,000 barrels of crude at Sidra’s oil terminal.
Its final destination remains unclear.
The Morning Glory was the first vessel to have loaded oil from a rebel-held port since a separatist revolt against the central government in Tripoli erupted in July 2013.
Armed separatists have occupied three major eastern ports since August.
They are seeking a greater share of the country’s oil revenues, as well as autonomy for the historic eastern region of Cyrenaica.
Libya’s parliament has ordered a special force to be deployed to “liberate” all rebel-held oil terminals.
The operation had been due to start within a week but the AFP news agency quotes the head of Libya’s interim parliament, or General National Congress, Nuri Abu Sahmein, as saying the separatists now have two weeks to lift the blockade before the military would be deployed.
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Kim Jong-un has been elected to North Korea Supreme People’s Assembly with an unanimous vote from his district, state media say.
Meanwhile, state media on Sunday identified a woman accompanying Kim Jong-un to a polling station.
Kim Yo-jong, who state media described as a “senior official”, is thought to be the younger sister of Kim Jong-un.
Various reports say Kim Jong-un’s sister may be 26 or 27 years old.
Kim Yo-jong accompanies her brother Kim Jong-un on touring campus of Kim Il-sung University of Politics in east Pyongyang
It was not her first appearance, Kim Yo-jong, who is believed to be 26 years old, was seen at her father Kim Jong-il’s televised funeral in 2011, and occasionally accompanying her brother on his “field guidance trips.”
In 2012, state TV showed Kim Yo-jong with her aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, riding a white horse, the representation of a symbol associated with the Kim family, AFP says.
In her latest appearance, Kim Yo-jong was seen in a black skirt suit, closely walking behind her brother, and casting her vote.
She is believed to be the events director in Kim Jong-un’s Secretariat office, but her price position was never detailed.
The Kim family has ruled the country for over six decades.
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North Korea is voting in a five-yearly election to approve members of the rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly.
Each of the 687 districts has only one candidate running for office, with electors required to write only “yes” or “no” on the ballot paper.
Campaign posters across the capital, Pyongyang, have urged a “yes” vote.
Observers say the candidate list is an opportunity to see who is in or out of favor with the leadership.
In the last election in 2009, turnout was 99%, with 100% of votes in favor of the given candidates.
North Korea is voting in a five-yearly election to approve members of the rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly (photo AP)
The election is the first to be held under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, who came to power in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.
Kim Jong-un is reportedly registered as a candidate in Mount Paekdu, venerated in party propaganda as the birthplace of Kim Jong-il.
The vote is being held in a holiday atmosphere in the capital, Pyongyang, with performances taking place in the street.
“Through this election we will fully display the might of the single-hearted unity of our army and people,” said Hyon Byong-chol, chairman of a preparatory committee for one of the sub-districts in the election.
He told the Associated Press news agency that North Koreans were “firmly united” behind their leader.
Pyongyang resident Ri Song-gun told AP he had cast his vote of approval for his district’s candidate.
“I will devote all my intelligence and strength to fortify our socialist system centred on the masses, which was built and developed by our great generalissimos,” he said.
The vote comes three months after the brutal and sudden execution of Kim Jong-un’s once-powerful uncle, Chang Song-thaek.
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Australian missionary John Short, who was deported from North Korea earlier this week, has spoken out about his experience in detention.
John Short, 75, was detained in Pyongyang after leaving Christian pamphlets at a tourist site.
In a statement to the Australian Associated Press, John Short said he was subjected to “gruelling interrogations”.
“There were two-hour sessions each morning, which were repeated again in the afternoons,” the Hong Kong-based missionary said.
John Short was deported from North Korea earlier this week (photo EPA)
John Short also said being confined was stressful.
“This I found to be most painful physically as an active senior person,” he said.
John Short said he told his interrogators he was not a spy.
“I confessed that I had knowingly broken the law in what I believed is my God-directed duty and as I do in every place and country I visit,” he said.
Religious activity is severely restricted in North Korea and missionaries have been arrested on many previous occasions.
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Australian missionary John Short, who was detained in North Korea last month after it was reported that he distributed religious material, has been deported.
John Short, 75, who has arrived in Beijing from Pyongyang, was detained after apparently leaving Christian pamphlets at a tourist site.
State-run KCNA news agency said John Short had admitted breaking North Korean law and apologized.
It said he was being released partly in consideration of his age.
Religious activity is severely restricted in North Korea and missionaries have been arrested on many previous occasions.
“I’m really, really tired,” John Short told reporters in China’s capital, Beijing, after arriving on a commercial flight.
John Short was detained in North Korea last month after it was reported that he distributed religious material
He was immediately escorted to a vehicle from the Australian embassy, reports say.
Earlier, KCNA reported: “Short acknowledged that his actions were… unforgivable crimes in violation of our laws, offered an apology and begged for forgiveness.”
It also said that John Short had distributed religious material on a busy underground train in Pyongyang during a previous tour in August 2012.
Australia does not have a diplomatic mission in Pyongyang and is represented there by the Swedish embassy.
In a statement on Monday, the Australian government said John Short’s release was “welcome news”.
“Australian consular officials stand ready to provide assistance to Mr. Short to ensure he can return to his home in Hong Kong as soon as possible,” it said.
“We take this opportunity to thank the Swedish government for their tireless efforts on this difficult consular case in recent weeks.”
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North Korea has fired four short-range missiles towards the sea off the country’s east coast on Thursday, according to a South Korean Defense Ministry official.
The communist country launched the missiles at 5:42 p.m. local time from a mountain site just north of the border with South Korea, the official added.
North Korea has fired short-range missiles into the sea as part of military exercises in the past, Reuters reported.
Four short-range missiles have been fired towards the sea off North Korea’s east coast on Thursday, according to a South Korean Defense Ministry official.
North Korea has fired four short-range missiles towards the sea off the country’s east coast
The communist country launched the missiles at 5:42 p.m. local time from a mountain site just north of the border with South Korea, the official added.
North Korea has fired short-range missiles into the sea as part of military exercises in the past, Reuters reported.
The move is widely seen as a response to South Korea’s military exercises with the US.
Experts say that the test-firing of the four missiles – with an estimated range of about 125 miles – is unlikely to trigger a significant rise in military tensions.
They are mainly about North Korea expressing its displeasure over the US-South Korea military drills – which Pyongyang has condemned as provocative – and a recent UN rights report which described human rights abuses in the North Korea as possible crimes against humanity.
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South Korean missionary Kim Jong-uk, who is detained in North Korea, has appeared before media to read from a statement publicly apologizing for “anti-state crimes”.
Kim Jong-uk, 50, said he was arrested after entering via China with religious materials in October.
Religious activity is restricted in North Korea, with missionaries arrested on multiple occasions in the past.
Foreign nationals arrested in North Korea sometimes make public confessions which they later say were under duress.
Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old US national, was briefly held last year. He was freed after confessing to committing crimes during the Korean War – a statement he said was given under duress.
Kim Jong-uk has appeared before North Korean media to read an apology
In his first public appearance since his arrest, Kim Jong-uk said he wanted to let his family know he was in good health.
He said he acted “under directions” from South Korea’s National Intelligence Services (NIS), setting up an underground church in Dandong, China, to collect information on life in North Korea to send back.
“I was thinking of turning North Korea into a religious country, and destroying its present government and political system,” Kim Jong-uk also told the news conference.
One report said Kim Jong-uk had been working in Dandong for seven years helping North Korean refugees.
Kim Jong-uk said he was unsure of his punishment and asked that he be released.
The North Korean state media in November said it had arrested an unnamed South Korean “spy”, a charge which South Korea’s intelligence agency denied.
On Thursday, South Korea’s Unification Ministry urged North Korea to release and repatriate Kim Jong-uk.
According to South Korean officials, a North Korean patrol boat violated a sea border with the South several times late on Monday.
The ship spent a few hours south of the border, nearing a South Korean border island, before returning after repeated warnings from the South, they added.
North Korea disputes the maritime border and has sent boats across it in the past.
The incident comes amid joint military drills between the US and South Korea which are opposed by Pyongyang.
The North Korean patrol ship crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which South Korea considers the maritime border between the two sides, at around 22:46 local time, South Korea’s defense ministry said.
The South broadcast warnings 10 times before the ship returned, at around 02:25 local time, the ministry added.
A North Korean patrol boat violated a sea border with the South several times late on Monday
The NLL was drawn unilaterally by the United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
However, North Korea has disputed the NLL and drawn its own border further south of the line.
“The North Korean ship’s NLL violation is seen as part of military drills,” defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
“It is believed that [the ship] intended to test the South Korean military.”
The ship was said to have come within 15 miles of South Korea’s border island of Baengnyeong.
Monday’s incident comes on the same day joint annual US-South Korea military exercises began.
More than 12,500 US troops will take part in the exercises, which include Key Resolve, a computer-based simulation, and Foal Eagle, which involves air, ground and naval drills.
Pyongyang is opposed to the drills and has previously called them “exercises of war”.
Tuesday is also the last day of rare family reunions for North and South Korean relatives separated after the Korean War.
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South Korea and US joint military drills have begun, amid rare family reunions between North and South Korean relatives separated for decades.
The annual military exercises will last until April 18.
They will involve Key Resolve, a computer-based simulation, and Foal Eagle, which involves air, ground and naval drills.
Pyongyang is opposed to the drills and had previously threatened to cancel the reunions if the exercises went ahead.
The military drills will involve more than 12,500 US troops.
The US and South Korea describe the annual drills as defensive in nature, but Pyongyang has described them as “exercises of war”.
Last year, the exercises led to a prolonged surge in tensions, with North Korea threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes and attacks on South Korean and US targets.
The rhetoric this year has so far been relatively mild, but the drills are scheduled to last until April, and many here see them as the toughest test yet of whether ties between the two Koreas are warming.
South Korea and US annual military exercises will last until April 18
Speaking on Monday, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said: “As of now, there are no unusual movements from North Korea. We will only take action against North Korea if it makes provocations or denunciations.”
Also on Monday, around 360 South Koreans met their North Korean relatives for the first time since the 1950-1953 Korean War, at a family reunion event in North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort.
They were the second set of relatives chosen to attend the reunions, which come amid an apparent thaw in inter-Korean ties.
Many people were separated from their relatives by the division of the Korean peninsula after the Korean War.
Pyongyang has been accused of using the family reunions, which are highly emotional events, as a bargaining chip.
North Korea has in the past canceled the reunions after the South took actions it opposed – most recently in September.
Meanwhile, South Korea also offered to assist the North with tackling an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
North Korean state media said that thousands of pigs had been affected by the disease.
South Korea, which has also been hit by outbreaks before, has offered to send aid, including medical goods and vaccines, officials said.
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The UN inquiry into rights abuses in North Korea is due to be published, and is expected to urge punishment for systematic violations by the state.
A panel of experts mandated by the UN’s Human Rights Council said North Koreans had suffered “unspeakable atrocities”.
The panel heard evidence of torture, enslavement, sexual violence, severe political repression and other crimes.
It is expected to recommend an inquiry by an international court or tribunal.
Testimony to the panel has included an account of a woman forced to drown her own baby, children imprisoned from birth and starved, and families tortured for watching a foreign soap opera.
The full report is expected to contain hundreds of pages of further evidence of a nationwide policy of control through terror, says our correspondent.
The Associated Press quoted from a leaked version of the panel’s report, which accuses the regime of taking decisions aimed at maintaining its own rule “in full awareness that such decisions would exacerbate starvation and related deaths amongst much of the population”.
For years, North Korean defectors have detailed harrowing accounts of life under the brutally repressive Kim dynasty.
The UN inquiry into rights abuses in North Korea is expected to urge punishment for systematic violations by the state
The regime keeps tens of thousands of political prisoners in camps, and divides the population up in terms of presumed loyalty to the regime.
Civilians live under a system of neighborhood surveillance where they are encouraged to denounce each other, according to defectors.
Although this information has been in the public domain for years, the panel’s inquiry is the highest-profile international attempt to investigate the claims.
North Korea refused to participate and has rejected any claims of rights violations and crimes against humanity.
Jared Genser, an international human rights lawyer who has campaigned to stop crimes against humanity in North Korea, said the findings were both ground-breaking and unremarkable.
“They’re ground-breaking in that it’s the first time that the United Nations as an institution has found that crimes against humanity are being committed against the people of North Korea,” he said.
“Of course, it puts a huge burden on the United Nations to then take the next set of steps.”
“But of course it’s also unremarkable in the sense that those of us who have worked on North Korea human rights for many, many years are aware of the sheer weight of evidence coming out of North Korea over decades now… And so the real question now is, what next?”
According to AP, which has seen an outline of the report’s findings, the document will conclude that the testimony and other information it received “merit a criminal investigation by a competent national or international organ of justice”.
However, China would be likely to block any attempt to refer the North to the International Criminal Court.
And an ad-hoc tribunal like those set up for Rwanda, Sierra Leone or Cambodia would appear unlikely without any co-operation from elements within the country.
The UN panel will formally present its findings in March, when the Human Rights Council will decide which recommendations to support.
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North Korea and South Korea are holding their first high-level talks since 2007.
The meeting – requested by Pyongyang – is taking place at the border village of Panmunjom.
No agenda has been set but the issue of family reunions planned for later this month is expected to be discussed.
Pyongyang has threatened to cancel the reunions because of the annual military exercises South Korea and the US are due to stage in February.
The morning session started at 10:00 local time and lasted for 90 minutes. Delegates then reconvened at South Korea’s side of Panmunjom in the afternoon, AFP news agency said.
South Korea’s Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Kyou-hyun is leading Seoul’s delegation at the Panmunjom talks.
North Korea and South Korea are holding their first high-level talks since 2007
Ahead of the meeting, Kim Kyou –hyun said: “This is an opportunity to open a new era of the Korean peninsula.
“I would like to attend the meeting with ‘open attitude and mind’ to study the opportunity.
“We will make an effort to proceed with the separated families reunion event as agreed.”
North Korea’s delegation has been headed by Won Tong-yon, a senior official specializing in inter-Korean ties, South Korean officials said.
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North Korea and South Korea are to hold rare high-level talks on Wednesday, Seoul has announced, ahead of family reunions planned for later this month.
The meeting will take place at the border village of Panmunjom, a South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman said.
No agenda had been set but the planned family reunions were expected to be discussed, he said.
The agreement followed a proposal from North Korea to hold talks.
North Korea and South Korea are to hold rare high-level talks ahead of family reunions
There is hope in Seoul that it might kick-start a regular dialogue, our correspondent adds.
North Korea and South Korea are due to hold reunions of families divided by the partitioning of the Korean Peninsula at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, for five days from February 20.
The last such reunions took place in 2010. But these reunions coincide with the start of US-South Korea joint military drills – annual exercises which anger North Korea.
In a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, So Se Pyong, spoke of the need to terminate all hostile military actions which he described as the main obstacles to peace.
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North Korea has decided to withdraw an invitation for US envoy Robert King to visit Pyongyang to discuss the release of American citizen Kenneth Bae who has been held in the Asian nation for more than a year, a State Department official said Sunday.
“We are deeply disappointed by the DPRK [North Korean] decision – for a second time – to rescind its invitation for Ambassador [Robert] King to travel to Pyongyang to discuss Kenneth Bae’s release,” State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said.
North Korea has decided to withdraw an invitation for US envoy Robert King to visit Pyongyang to discuss the release of American citizen Kenneth Bae
“The DPRK announced publicly in May 2013 that it would not use the fate of Kenneth Bae as a political bargaining chip.”
Ambassador Robert King is the State Department’s special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.
Jennifer Psaki added that civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has volunteered to go to Pyongyang to try to free imprisoned Kenneth Bae.
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South Korea – US have annual military drills will take place from February 24 to April 18, despite anger from North Korea.
Pyongyang warned against the planned drills last week, calling them “exercises of war”.
Meanwhile, the US said it was disappointed that North Korea rescinded an invitation to a US envoy to discuss the release of jailed US citizen Kenneth Bae.
Kenneth Bae has been held in North Korea for more than a year.
In a statement on Monday, the joint Combined Forces Command (CFC) said that Key Resolve, a computer-based simulation, and Foal Eagle, which involves air, ground and naval drills, were both scheduled to begin on February 24.
“Key Resolve is a vital exercise to strengthen readiness of the Republic of Korea and US Alliance,” CFC commander Gen Curtis Scaparrotti said.
“The scenarios are realistic, enabling us to train on our essential tasks and respond to any crisis which may arise.”
South Korea – US have annual military drills will take place from February 24 to April 18, despite anger from North Korea
Last year, the exercises led to a prolonged surge in tensions, with North Korea threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes and cutting a military hotline with the South.
North Korea’s top military body threatened last week to cancel planned family reunions with the South if the joint military exercises went ahead.
The reunions are for family members separated when the Korean peninsula was partitioned at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. However, the North has been accused of using them as a bargaining chip.
South Korean defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said on Monday: “North Korea is well aware that the South Korean-US drills are annual trainings defensive in nature.”
“So it is not appropriate to link [the drills] with family reunions.”
Separately, on Sunday, the US said it was “deeply disappointed” North Korea had decided to withdraw its invitation to US envoy Robert King for talks on Kenneth Bae.
The military exercises were “in no way linked to Mr. Bae’s case”, State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said.
“We again call on the DPRK [North Korea] to grant Bae special amnesty and immediate release as a humanitarian gesture,” she added.
North Korea also cancelled a request from Robert King to visit last August to discuss Kenneth Bae.
US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has offered to travel to North Korea for talks instead, Jennifer Psaki said.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American, was arrested in North Korea in November 2012.
Pyongyang said he used his tourism business to form groups to overthrow the government, and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May.
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US citizen Kenneth Bae, who is being held for more than a year in North Korea, has been moved back to a labor camp, US officials say.
State department officials and Kenneth Bae’s sister were quoted as saying the 45-year-old had been returned from a hospital to the camp on January 20.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May.
North Korea says Kenneth Bae used his tourism business to form groups to overthrow the government.
He was taken to hospital last year after suffering dramatic weight loss. His family says he has several health complaints including diabetes and liver problems.
State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Washington had learned about Kenneth Bae’s transfer to the camp from representatives of the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which acts on behalf of the US in North Korea.
Kenneth Bae is being held for more than a year in North Korea
Jennifer Psaki said the Swedish diplomats “have met Mr. Bae 10 times since his detention, most recently on February 7 in a labor camp”.
She added: “We continue to urge DPRK (North Korean) authorities to grant Mr. Bae special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds.”
Jennifer Psaki did not specify when Kenneth Bae had been forced back to the camp.
However, a US state department official and Kenneth Bae’s sister confirmed the January 20 date.
“He’s back to eight-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week hard labor,” Terri Chung, Kenneth Bae’s sister, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
Pyongyang has so far made no official comment on the reports.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama used the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington to say: “We pray for Kenneth Bae, a Christian missionary who has been left in North Korea for 15 months.”
“His family wants him home, and the United States will continue to do everything in our power to secure his release because Kenneth Bae deserves to be free.”
If confirmed, Kenneth Bay was returned to the camp on the same day as spoke to foreign media in North Korea under heavy prison guard – his first “press conference” since the detention.
Kenneth Bae denied media reports that he had been badly treated and called for US “co-operation” to secure his release.
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North Korea has warned South Korea it will cancel family reunions, a day after agreeing to hold them.
A top military body in North Korea said in a statement that it would reconsider the family reunions deal if joint US-South Korea military exercises went ahead.
“Dialogue and exercises of war” could not go hand in hand, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted the North Korean statement as saying.
The two Koreas last held reunions for divided families in 2010.
The next reunions – for family members separated when the Korean peninsula was partitioned at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War – are scheduled for February 20.
In the past North Korea has cancelled reunions after the South took actions it opposed.
North Korea said it would reconsider the family reunions deal if joint US-South Korea military exercises went ahead
It has been accused of using the reunions, which are highly emotional events, as a bargaining chip.
“As we were reaching an agreement on the separated families, B-52 bombers were engaging in nuclear strike drills against us above Korea’s western sea,” the statement from North Korea’s National Defense Commission said.
“As long as [South Korea] hurts our dignity and slanders our regime, we can’t help but reconsider fulfilling the agreement,” the statement added.
Major US and South Korea military drills, which are held every year around this time, are due to begin later this month. The exercises anger Pyongyang, which views them as aggressive.
Last year, the exercises led to a prolonged surge in tensions, with North Korea threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes and cutting a military hotline with the South.
A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said on Thursday that the joint drills would go ahead.
“We will proceed with our drills normally, regardless of the reunions for separated families,” said ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok.
It is estimated that there are about 72,000 South Koreans – nearly half of them aged over 80 – on the waiting list for a chance to join the family reunion events.
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North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold reunions for families separated after the Korean War in February, following calls from Pyongyang to improve ties.
If held, they would be the first reunions since 2010.
In September, North Korea cancelled a planned reunion, blaming “hostility” from South Korea.
The move comes ahead of annual US-South Korea military drills later this month, which are expected to anger North Korea.
Pyongyang has asked Seoul to cancel the annual drills – a request that has been refused.
North Korea has in the past cancelled or suspended reunion meetings in retaliation for South Korean actions it opposes. Critics have accused North Korea of using reunions as a bargaining chip.
North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold reunions for families separated after the Korean War in February
Millions were separated from their families by the division of the Korean peninsula after the 1950-1953 war.
The reunion events are highly emotional occasions where North and South Koreans meet briefly in the North before heading home again.
The program was suspended after North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean border island in November 2010.
The reunions are scheduled to be held from February 20 to February 25, at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea.
Before the meeting, Lee Duk-haeng, head of South Korea’s delegation, said: “We will make all-out efforts to come up with good results such as on a schedule for the family reunion so that we can deliver good news to separated families.
“We will do our best to start the new year off on the right foot for the South-North relationship.”
In September, Pyongyang cancelled the planned reunions of 100 families, blaming South Korea’s “confrontational attitude”.
It is estimated that there are about 72,000 South Koreans – nearly half of them aged over 80 – on the waiting list for a chance to join the family reunion events.
However, only a few hundred participants are selected each time. Most do not know whether their relatives are still alive, because the two countries prevent their citizens from exchanging mail, phone calls and emails.
Last month, North Korea began urging an end to slander and “hostile acts”, but many here remain skeptical that warmer ties are so easy to secure.
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North Korea has sent an open letter to South Korea calling for reconciliation and an end to “hostile military acts”.
The letter, published in North Korea’s state media, comes weeks before South Korea is due to hold joint military drills with the US.
South Korea dismissed the letter as having a “hidden motive”.
Correspondents say that tensions between North Korea and South Korea traditionally rise ahead of the annual drills, which Pyongyang has condemned as provocative.
Last year, the military exercises, known as “Foal Eagle”, led to an unusually sharp and protracted surge in tensions. North Korea threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes, as nuclear-capable US stealth bombers flew practice runs over the peninsula.
The military drills scheduled for next month are a source of great irritation to the North, which sees them as aggressive preparations for war.
While North Korea is appearing to offer reconciliation, its rhetoric has been accompanied by thinly-veiled threats not to “rashly reject” the proposals.
“What is important for paving a wide avenue for mending North-South relations is to make a bold decision to stop all hostile military acts, the biggest hurdle stoking distrust and confrontation,” the letter from North Korea’s National Defence Commission (NDC) said.
North Korea has sent an open letter to South Korea calling for reconciliation and an end to hostile military acts
“The DPRK [North Korea] has already unilaterally opted for halting all acts of getting on the nerves of South Korea and slandering it.”
“Regretfully, the South Korean authorities still remain unchanged in [their] improper attitude and negative stand,” it said, adding that the South “should not thoughtlessly doubt, misinterpret and rashly reject our sincere, important proposal”.
The letter was apparently sent by special order of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It calls on South Korea to take a bold decision to “stop all hostile military acts” and prevent “impending nuclear disasters”.
South Korean defense ministry spokesman Wi Yong-seop said: “The most important military tactic is to figure out the enemy’s hidden motive.”
He added that existing tensions were the result of “North Korea’s military provocations” and that “the current situation can be resolved if North Korea stops threatening and hostile rhetoric”.
This letter follows a proposal from the NDC a week ago that South Korea should cancel the annual drills with the US.
It also said the two sides should stop “all acts of provoking and slandering” each other.
Seoul has responded by warning that Pyongyang may be contemplating a provocative act aimed at triggering a confrontation.
In March 2013, North Korea made multiple threats against the South and the US following the “Foal Eagle” drill.
Pyongyang warned of a “pre-emptive nuclear strike” on the US, said it was scrapping the Korean War armistice, and closed the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park for months.
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