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North Korea
The mother of US citizen Kenneth Bae who is imprisoned in North Korea is being allowed to visit him, his family says.
Terri Chung, the sister of Kenneth Bae, said their mother was in Pyongyang and due to meet him on Friday morning.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American, was arrested last November and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May.
North Korea said that Kenneth Bae – described as both a tour operator and Christian missionary – had used his tourism business to plot sedition.
In a video statement made prior to her departure, Myunghee Bae said she expected to be in North Korea for five days.
“I don’t really know what to expect for my trip. All I know is that I want to see my son,” she said.
She said she was grateful to the North Korean authorities for allowing her to visit and expressed shock at the appearance of her son in an interview from prison on July 3.
The mother of US citizen Kenneth Bae who is imprisoned in North Korea is being allowed to visit him
“He looked so different and he lost so much weight. I could not believe that prisoner was my son,” she said.
Kenneth Bae’s family say his health has deteriorated in recent months and he is suffering from diabetes, an enlarged heart and back pain.
Two months ago, he was transferred from a prison camp to a hospital, they said.
Kenneth Bae (known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho) was arrested in November 2012 as he entered the north-eastern port city of Rason, a special economic zone near North Korea’s border with China.
His trial and conviction came at a time of high tension between the US and North Korea, in the wake of the communist state’s third nuclear test on February 13.
It also came as the US and South Korea conducted annual large-scale military exercises, which angered Pyongyang.
Tensions have since eased somewhat. In August, North Korea issued and then revoked an invitation for US envoy Robert King to travel to Pyongyang to seek Kenneth Bae’s release.
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytizing.
They were released after visits to Pyongyang by high-profile officials, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
The US accuses North Korea of using detained citizens as bargaining chips.
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North Korea was due to open its first multi-million dollar Masik Pass ski resort on Thursday, but there are doubts whether it will be ready in time.
Masik Pass will have ski runs, ski lifts, resort chalets and sleigh rides.
However, its two hotels are little more than empty shells, while the access road is filled with potholes, the AP news agency reported after a visit to the site in September.
There are also questions about who will use the resort once it is completed.
It is estimated that there are only about 5,500 North Korean skiers in a country with a population of 24 million people – equivalent to about 0.02% of the total.
Correspondents say that the Masik Pass ski resort – located in the secluded depths of North Korea’s east coast – is the country’s latest megaproject, the product of 10 months of intensive labor.
It is intended to show that Communist North Korea is as civilized and culturally advanced as any other country, despite its reputation for poverty and isolation.
North Korea was due to open its first multi-million dollar Masik Pass ski resort on Thursday, but there are doubts whether it will be ready in time
Billboards around the construction site urge workers to finish the job by Thursday’s deadline, the 68th anniversary of the formation of the Korean Workers’ Party. But the construction has reportedly been delayed by heavy rains and landslides.
“Full attack. March forward. Let’s absolutely finish building Masik Pass ski resort within this year by launching a full aggressive war,” one sign reads.
Masik Pass ski resort is believed to be a pet project of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who reportedly skied when he attended secondary school in Switzerland under an assumed name.
An AP reporter who recently visited Masik’s ski runs says that they consist of long stretches of bright-brown dirt dotted with rocks, weeds and patches of stubborn grass. The pistes cut their way through the trees to converge at the hotel construction site below.
Foundations were still being dug. Two simple lifts were being installed, but neither was working at the time.
Correspondents say that North Korea is eager to build the resort because it wants to win more medals in the Winter Olympics. Sport is seen as a useful way of mobilizing the masses and Pyongyang wants to encourage more tourism.
“It will have a big impact on the economy,” North Korean Academy of Social Science economist Ri Ki Song told AP.
“We are now trying to build a lot of tourism sites, and skiing is the kind of sport that developed countries enjoy. It will also be a place for our own people to use.”
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North Korea has decided to indefinitely postpone scheduled reunions of families separated by the Korean War, a government statement has said.
The statement did not provide details other than accusing unidentified conservatives in South Korea of “hostility” towards Pyongyang.
North Korea regularly makes such claims about the South.
The postponement is an apparent setback after weeks of gradually improving ties between the two countries.
The South Korean government has not yet responded to the announcement.
Relations reached a low point earlier this year when the North cut a military hotline to the South in March. That followed its third nuclear test in February, which triggered international sanctions.
The two Koreas were due to hold six days of family reunions from 25-30 September for people separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, following which millions of people were separated from their families by the dividing of the peninsula.
North Korea has decided to indefinitely postpone scheduled reunions of families separated by the Korean War
But the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea was quoted as saying: “We postpone the impending reunions of separated families until a normal atmosphere is created for talks and negotiations to be able to move forward.”
“As long as the South’s conservatives deal [with] inter-Korean relations [with] hostility and abuse… such a basic humanitarian issue as family reunions cannot be resolved.”
Correspondents say the reunions would have been a highly symbolic event and would have been the first in three years for families separated by the war.
The reunion programme was suspended after the North’s shelling of a South Korean border island in November 2010.
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.
But 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.
The reunions are often tearful and emotional occasions, correspondents say, in which North and South Koreans usually meet in the North for two or three days before the South Koreans head home again.
The reunion programme began in 2000 and sporadic events since then have seen about 17,000 relatives briefly reunited.
South Korean soldiers have shot dead a man trying to swim across a border river into North Korea, officials say.
Troops opened fire after the man jumped into the Imjin River and ignored repeated warnings to stop.
North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.
There are thousands of North Korean defectors living in South Korea, but few attempt to make the journey the other way.
Instances of trying to cross the heavily-militarized border in broad daylight are extremely rare.
The incident comes as South Korean workers returned to the Kaesong industrial park in North Korea, five months after work was halted amid high political tension.
South Korean soldiers have shot dead a man trying to swim across a border river into North Korea
The man, who has not yet been identified, was spotted by guards near the western border in Paju, north of Seoul, at around 14:23 local time.
Soldiers fired off warning shots and told him to return to the South. When he disobeyed the order and jumped into the river, he was shot dead, military officials told Yonhap news agency.
A military spokesman also told the AFP news agency that the man’s body has been retrieved.
The shooting comes amid a thawing of ties between the North and the South as more than 800 South Koreans poured into the jointly-run Kaesong industrial complex.
The zone, just inside North Korea, is home to 123 South Korean factories that employ more than 50,000 North Koreans.
It is the last functioning inter-Korean joint project and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
But the North withdrew all of its workers in April, as ties between the two Koreas deteriorated in the wake of Pyongyang’s February 12 nuclear test.
Reopening Kaesong complex has taken months of negotiation.
South Korean workers have crossed the North Korean border to return to the Kaesong industrial park, five months after work was halted amid high political tension.
Trucks and cars began crossing the border into North Korea at exactly 08:00 a.m. local time.
More than 800 South Koreans were due to cross to the jointly-run centre for what is being called a trial restart.
The zone, just inside North Korea, is home to 123 South Korean factories that employ more than 50,000 North Koreans.
It is the last functioning inter-Korean joint project and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
North Korea withdrew all of its workers in April, as ties between the two Koreas deteriorated in the wake of Pyongyang’s February 12 nuclear test.
Reopening the complex has taken months of negotiation.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said a total of 820 managers and workers planned to cross into the complex on Monday, with 400 to stay there overnight.
They will be inspecting production facilities to assess how quickly a full restart can be implemented after five months of inactivity.
South Korean workers have crossed the North Korean border to return to the Kaesong industrial park after five months
The restart is being described as a trial but more than half of the South Korean companies had asked North Korean employees to report for work, the ministry said.
Negotiations on resuming operations at the complex faltered for weeks on South Korea’s insistence that safeguards must be in place to prevent any future unilateral shut-down of the site by North Korea.
But the two sides have now set up a joint management committee to run operations at Kaesong, which last week set a restart date for the complex.
The committee has also reached agreement on smoother access to the site for South Koreans by expanding permitted border crossing times and is negotiating about improving communications there.
The Koreas have also agreed to open the site to foreign investors – a move seen as making it harder for North Korea to unilaterally close the complex again.
South Korean firms will be exempt from taxes for the rest of the year, to offset losses incurred while the complex was closed.
But some local businessmen remain worried about the risks of doing business with Pyongyang.
“Honestly, I still feel a bit nervous, because you never know whether the North will change its mind in the future,” a textile company manager told the French news agency AFP.
“Who knows if a crisis like this won’t happen again?” he said.
The shutdown was the first for the Kaesong complex since it was opened more than a decade ago.
It came during a period of very high tension on the Korean peninsula.
The February 12 nuclear test led to expanded UN sanctions which, along with an annual US-South Korean joint military drill, angered Pyongyang.
It threatened attacks on multiple targets in the region, prompting warnings – and displays of high-tech military hardware – from the US.
Tensions have eased somewhat in recent weeks, however.
North Korea and South Korea have also recently agreed to hold the first reunion of families separated by the division of the peninsula after the 1950-53 Korean War later this month. It will be the first such reunion in 10 years.
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According to a US institute, steam has been seen rising from North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility, suggesting that the reactor has been restarted.
The color and volume of the steam indicated that the reactor was in or nearing operation, the institute said.
Pyongyang vowed to restart facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex in April, amid high regional tensions.
The reactor can produce plutonium, which North Korea could use to make nuclear weapons.
Analysts believe North Korea already possesses between 4 and 10 nuclear weapons, based on plutonium produced at the Yongbyon reactor prior to mid-2007, when the facility was closed down.
The report, which was published on the 38 North website on Wednesday, was written by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The institute uses satellite imagery to monitor developments in North Korea.
Pyongyang vowed to restart facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex in April, amid high regional tensions
The reactor uses steam turbines to generate electricity, and the steam seen in satellite imagery from August 31 indicated that the electrical system was about to come online, the report said.
“The reactor looks like it either is or will within a matter of days be fully operational, and as soon as that happens, it will start producing plutonium,” said report author Jeffrey Lewis.
“They really are putting themselves in a position to increase the amount of material they have for nuclear weapons, which I think gives them a little bit of leverage in negotiations, and adds a sense of urgency on our part,” he added.
The five megawatt reactor can produce spent fuel rods that can be made into plutonium, which experts believe North Korea used for its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. North Korea conducted its third, most-recent test in February, but it is not clear whether plutonium or uranium was used.
In a November 2010 reportfollowing a visit to Yongbyon, US scientist Siegfried Hecker said that based on what he saw he believed North Korea could “resume all plutonium operations within approximately six months” at Yongbyon, then shut down, if so inclined.
Analysts at the Institution for Science and International Security, a think tank, said it would take a considerable amount of time before North Korea could use any new plutonium in nuclear weapons.
“Given that North Korea will likely need two-three years before it discharges irradiated fuel containing plutonium and another six to 12 months to separate the plutonium, there remains time to negotiate a shutdown of the reactor before North Korea can use any of this new plutonium in nuclear weapons,” it said in a report.
Analysts say the reactor can produce six kg (13 lbs) of plutonium a year – enough to make one to two nuclear bombs.
Both the US State Department and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service have declined to comment directly on the report, saying they do not comment on intelligence matters, AP news agency reported.
North Korea closed the Yongbyon reactor in July 2007 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
The cooling tower at the facility was later destroyed, but then the disarmament deal stalled, partly because the US did not believe Pyongyang was fully disclosing all of its nuclear facilities.
In 2010, North Korea unveiled a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon to Siegfried Hecker.
Siegfried Hecker said that while the facilities appeared to be for electricity generation purposes, it could be readily converted to produce highly-enriched uranium for bombs.
North Korea and South Korea have agreed to restart operations at the shuttered Kaesong industrial zone, Seoul has announced.
The two sides set a date for a “trial” restart of September 16 after talks that went through the night, the South’s Unification Ministry said.
Work at the complex stopped in April when the North withdrew its workers amid high political tension.
Kaesong industrial zone, just inside North Korea, is home to 123 South Korean factories that employ more than 50,000 North Koreans.
It is the last functioning inter-Korean joint project and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
Operations will “resume on a trial basis from 16 September”, a statement from the Unification Ministry said.
South Korean firms will be exempt from taxes for the rest of the year to offset losses incurred while the complex was closed, it said.
The two sides also agreed to measures to make access to the site easier for South Korean businessmen, Yonhap news agency reported.
North Korea and South Korea have agreed to restart operations at the shuttered Kaesong industrial zone
The Unification Ministry also said that the two Koreas planned to host a roadshow to try and attract foreign investors to the zone in October.
Allowing foreign investors into Kaesong is seen by Seoul as a way of ensuring Pyongyang does not unilaterally close the complex again.
“The institutional foundation has now been laid for Kaesong to develop into an internationally competitive and stable industrial complex,” the ministry said.
Pyongyang’s removal of its workers in April came amid high tensions on the Korean peninsula in the wake of North Korea’s third nuclear test on February 12.
The test resulted in the imposition of expanded UN sanctions. Shortly afterwards, South Korea and the US launched annual military drills, angering Pyongyang.
In recent months, however, tensions have eased somewhat.
The two Koreas have conducted multiple rounds of talks on reopening Kaesong, but were deadlocked for some time on Seoul’s insistence that guarantees were needed to prevent any future suspension of operations.
Last month, the ministry said a five-point accord had been agreed on re-opening the complex but no date was set.
Owners of South Korean businesses at the zone have been calling for a deal and North Korea said re-opening Kaesong was in both nations’ interests.
In recent weeks, the two Koreas have also agreed to hold a reunion of families separated by the division of the Korean peninsula after the 1950-53 Korean War.
The meeting – set to take place at the end of this month – will be the first such reunion since 2010.
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North Korea has marked the 65th anniversary of its founding with a huge military parade.
The country held its second mass parade in little more than a month, with leader Kim Jong-un presiding over a display of goose-stepping paramilitary troops, marching bands and flower-waving civilians.
North Korea has marked the 65th anniversary of its founding with a huge military parade
At the start of the ceremony, tens of thousands of guards gathered in tight formation in Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square, with hundreds of thousands more civilians in the background carrying brightly colored flowers in the pattern of a giant national flag.
Kim Jong-un’s arrival on the viewing platform with senior party and military officials was greeted with the usual thunderous applause and cries of Mansei.
Leading the parade were the Worker-Peasant Red Guard – a civilian militia with an estimated strength of more than three million active members.
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Hyon Song-wol, long-term mistress of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was executed by firing squad along with 11 others, Reuters reported.
The group was “accused of filming and selling s** tapes of themselves” while some of them “allegedly possessed bibles, which is a political crime”.
The women were machined-gunned with their families forced to watch. Their families were then sent to prison camps because of North Korea’s policy of “guilt by association”.
Hyon Song-wol, a singer in North Korea’s famed Unhasu Orchestra, was killed along with 11 other members of the orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band, another popular state-run music group, according to a report in The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest daily newspaper.
The report, which cites an anonymous source in China, says the group was arrested on August 17. The clip reportedly found its way across the border to China. Their families were forced to watch the execution, which took place three days later, and were then sent to the country’s notorious prison camps, the source said.
Hyon Song-wol, long-term mistress of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was executed by firing squad along with 11 others
Hyon Song-wol was a famous performer whose fame peaked around 2005 with the popular song Excellent Horse-Like Lady. She is said to have dated Kim Jong-un in the early 2000’s, after the young leader returned from boarding school in Switzerland. But she disappeared from the public eye around 2006, near the time Kim Jong-il began grooming his son to be Supreme Leader. Kim Jong-il reportedly disapproved of the relationship and ordered Hyon Somng-wol to leave the orchestra to keep her away from his son.
Shortly after the breakup, HyonSong-wol is said to have married an officer in the North Korean army and given birth to his son. But after Kim Jong-il’s death in late 2011, rumors spread among Pyongyang’s military elite that Kim Jong-un and Hyon Song-wol had rekindled their romance.
A young woman photographed next to Kim Jong-un at a concert in Pyongyang last summer was thought by South Korean intelligence officials to have been Hyon Song-wol. Experts speculated that the photos were circulated as a play to make Kim Jong-un seem more approachable. However, reports later said the woman was Ri Sol-ju, Kim Jong-un’s current wife.
Ri Sol-ju was also a member of the Unhasu Orchestra before she married Kim Jong-un, but it’s unclear if she knew Hyon Song-wol personally. Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju have a baby daughter called Ju-ae together, as retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman confirmed.
Hyon Song-wol’s ties to Kim Jong-un raise the question whether it’s possible there is an ulterior motive for the execution. In North Korea, executions have been carried out as a way to eliminate perceived threats to the power of the Supreme Leader and his inner circle, but with such a dearth of facts in this case, it is hard to say anything for certain.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has a baby daughter called Ju-ae, Dennis Rodman says.
Dennis Rodman, who was in North Korea last week on a “basketball diplomacy tour”, made the comments in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.
He said that he spent time with Kim Jong-un’s family by the sea, and described him as “a good dad”.
Kim Jong-un leads one of the most secretive countries in the world, with relatively little known about his personal life.
“The Marshal Kim and I had a relaxing time by the sea with his family,” Dennis Rodman said.
Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju have a baby daughter called Ju-ae
“I held their baby Ju-ae and spoke with [Kim Jong-un’s wife] as well. He’s a good dad and has a beautiful family,” he said.
Last year, photos of Ri Sol-ju, Kim Jong-un’s wife, prompted speculation that she was pregnant, although there was no official confirmation.
North Korea only confirmed Ri Sol-ju was Kim Jong-un’s wife in July 2012, a month after she was first seen in public with him.
Dennis Rodman, who has visited North Korea twice this year, remains the most high-profile American to meet Kim Jong-un since the leader took over after his father died in 2011.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Saturday, after his return from North Korea, Dennis Rodman angrily rejected calls to lobby for the release of American citizen Kenneth Bae detained in North Korea.
“That’s not my job to ask about Kenneth Bae,” he said.
Kenneth Bae (known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho) was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May.
Last month, North Korea revoked an invitation for Robert King, the US special envoy for North Korean rights, to visit Pyongyang to discuss the case.
South Korean officials announce that North Korea has agreed to restore a military hotline with the South as tensions between the two ease.
North Korea cut the connection in March following its third nuclear test in February and the international sanctions that followed.
Two other hotlines cut off at the same time were restored in June and July.
However, the joint industrial park at Kaesong, closed as part of the same dispute, has yet to reopen.
North Korea has agreed to restore a military hotline with the South as tensions between the two countries ease
The hotline is used to facilitate the travel of South Korean workers to Kaesong, a rare symbol of North-South co-operation.
In the past few weeks, the two Koreas have agreed to work towards restarting production at Kaesong, which has been closed since April.
About 53,000 North Korean workers were employed at Kaesong, working for more than 120 South Korean factories.
The military hotline will reopen on Friday, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
Two other hotlines have been reconnected, one with the Red Cross and another used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone which divides the two Koreas.
North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict, although an armistice was signed.
Dennis Rodman is visiting North Korea for the second time this year to meet leader Kim Jong-un.
The retired basketball player said meeting “my friend Kim”, who is a basketball fan, was part of his “basketball diplomacy tour”.
Dennis Rodman told reporters he would not be discussing the case of jailed Korean-American Kenneth Bae with Kim Jong-un.
Last week, North Korea revoked a trip by a US envoy seeking Kenneth Bae’s release.
Dennis Rodman, a former NBA star, spent time with Kim Jong-un in March while filming a documentary with a US media company.
He visited with members of the Harlem Globetrotters team, who played a game with members of North Korea’s “Dream Team”.
Dennis Rodman is visiting North Korea for the second time this year to meet leader Kim Jong-un
Dennis Rodman remains the most high-profile American to meet Kim Jong-un since the leader took over after his father died in 2011.
On his way from Beijing, China, to Pyongyang, North Korea, on Tuesday, Dennis Rodman told reporters: “I just want to meet my friend Kim, the marshal, and start a basketball league over there.”
“I have not been promised anything. I am just going there as a friendly gesture.”
Asked if he was going to discuss the jailed American, Dennis Rodman said: “I’m not going to talk about that.”
Last week, North Korea revoked an invitation for Robert King, the US special envoy for North Korean rights, to visit Pyongyang.
Robert King was expected to appeal for the release of Kenneth Bae, 45, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in May, on humanitarian grounds.
North Korea said Kenneth Bae, described as both a Christian missionary and tour operator, used his tourism business to plot sedition.
Kenneth Bae (known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho) was arrested in November 2012 as he entered the north-eastern port city of Rason, a special economic zone near North Korea’s border with China.
His trial and conviction came at a time of high tension between the US and North Korea, in the wake of the communist state’s third nuclear test.
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Switzerland has decided to block a deal to sell ski lifts to North Korea in the latest setback for leader Kim Jong-un’s pet ski resort project.
The Swiss government cited expanded sanctions on luxury exports to North Korea.
Heavy rains and landslides have already delayed the project, viewed as a response to South Korea hosting the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
Kim Jong-un has ordered the army to complete the resort by year’s end.
Switzerland has decided to block a deal to sell ski lifts to North Korea in the latest setback for leader Kim Jong-un’s pet ski resort project
The North Korean leader has repeatedly visited the Masik ski resort site and promoted it as an attempt to enhance the lifestyle of the nation’s citizens.
But Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) labelled the resort a “prestigious propaganda project for the regime”.
“It is inconceivable that this resort will be used by the general public,” Seco spokeswoman Marie Avet said.
It is thought Kim Jong-un learned to ski in Bern, where he attended secondary school without revealing his true identity.
The ski lift deal with Swiss company Bartholet Maschinenbau, valued at more than $7 million, is reportedly the third to fall through due to sanctions.
Austrian and French manufacturers also turned down deals, citing political reasons.
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South Korea and the United States have begun a new round of joint military exercises on Monday, officials say, the second round to take place this year.
Thousands of soldiers are taking part in computer-aided drills designed to test defense capabilities.
South Korea says that North Korea, which was angered by the previous drill, was notified well in advance.
The drills come as the North agreed to family reunions and reached a deal with the South on an industrial zone.
The drills, known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, are expected to last for 12 days and mobilizes about 50,000 members of the South Korean military and 30,000 US servicemen, reports Yonhap news agency.
South Korea and the US have begun a new round of joint military exercises on Monday, the second to take place this year
They are intended to help “ensure stability and security on the peninsula and reaffirm the US commitment to the north-east Asia region”, says a statement from the United States Forces Korea.
The drills come as tensions are starting to ease in the peninsula.
On Sunday, North Korea agreed to a South Korean proposal to resume in September reuniting families separated since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Many families were separated at the end of the war by the dividing of the peninsula. The two sides remain technically at war, because the conflict ended in an armistice and not a peace deal. The last reunions were held in 2010.
Last week, officials of the two Koreas also reached an agreement about re-opening the Kaesong joint industrial zone – the last functioning inter-Korean joint project and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex, which lies just inside North Korea, is home to 123 South Korean factories which employ more than 50,000 North Korean workers.
North Korea withdrew its workers in April, angered by the expansion of UN sanctions after its February 12 nuclear test and annual US-South Korea military drills.
The accord came after six rounds of talks ended unsuccessfully.
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North Korea has agreed to South Korea’s proposal to resume reunions of families separated since the 1950-1953 war, official media in Pyongyang say.
The reunion meetings would take place in the Chuseok holiday on September 19.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye called last week for the resumption of the reunions, last held in 2010.
Her appeal followed an agreement to reopen a joint industrial plant, the latest step in the easing of tension between the two countries.
The latest statement on the reunions came from North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea.
North Korea has agreed to South Korea’s proposal to resume reunions of families separated since the 1950-1953 war
It said: “The reunion of separated families and their relatives shall be made in Mt Kumgang resort on the occasion of the upcoming Harvest Moon Day.”
Talks will take place on August 23 at Mt Kumgang to prepare for the reunions.
The statement also called for the resumption of tourist trips to Mt Kumgang.
It said: “The Kaesong Industrial Zone and the tours to Mt Kumgang resort are valuable works common to the nation which should not be delayed as they are symbols of reconciliation, unity, reunification and prosperity.”
The Kaesong Industrial Complex is home to 123 South Korean factories which employ more than 50,000 North Korean workers. The inter-Korean joint project is a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
North Korea withdrew its workers in April, angered by the expansion of UN sanctions after its 12 February nuclear test and annual US-South Korea military drills.
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North Korea and South Korea have reached an agreement about re-opening the Kaesong joint industrial zone, officials from Seoul say.
Operations there have been suspended since April when North Korea withdrew its workers amid rising political tensions.
On Wednesday the South’s Unification Ministry said a five-point accord had been agreed, but it remains unclear when operations might resume.
It comes after Seoul called for “final talks” following six previous rounds.
The agreement was signed by the chief delegates from the two Koreas, reports the Yonhap news agency. There are few details about the accord, but Yonhap says the deal is believed to ensure that a similar suspension of operations could not be repeated.
North Korea and South Korea have reached an agreement about re-opening the Kaesong joint industrial zone
“The South and the North will prevent the current suspension of the Kaesong industrial complex caused by the workers’ withdrawal from being repeated again,” the Agence France-Presse news agency also quoted from the agreement.
A joint committee will also be set up to discuss compensation for economic losses, AFP reports.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex, which lies just inside North Korea, is home to 123 South Korean factories which employ more than 50,000 North Korean workers.
It is the last functioning inter-Korean joint project and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
North Korea withdrew its workers in April, angered by the expansion of UN sanctions afters its 12 February nuclear test and annual US-South Korea military drills.
Tensions have eased somewhat since then.
Pyongyang agreed to Wednesday’s talks hours after Seoul said it would start distributing compensation payments to South Korean firms hit by the stoppage – a move seen as a precursor to formal closure of the zone.
On Tuesday, the owners of South Korean businesses at the zone called for a deal.
North Korea said last week that reopening Kaesong was in both nations’ interests.
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North Korea announces it has produced its first home-grown smartphone – Arirang – but experts have disputed its origins.
The Arirang handset, described as a “hand phone” in state media, was shown to leader Kim Jong-un during a factory tour.
North Korea has had a mobile network since 2008, but activity is heavily monitored and restricted.
Last year North Korea launched a tablet, but it later emerged it was likely to have been made in China.
Clues to the tablet’s origin were uncovered by Martyn Williams, an expert on North Korean technology, who noted that parts of the tablet’s software code suggested links to a manufacturer in Hong Kong.
The Arirang smartphone, named after a popular folk song, was unlikely to have been made in the country, Martyn Williams added.
He noted that actual manufacturing was shown, and that the device was “probably made to order by a Chinese manufacturer and shipped to the May 11 Factory where they are inspected before going on sale”.
Kim Jong-un demoing the Arirang smartphone, which appeared to be running a version of Google’s Android mobile operating system
Kim Jong-un was accompanied by the Korean Workers’ Party propaganda chief and the head of the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a hint that the devices could be used for widespread dissemination of government information.
The North Korean leader was seen to be demoing the device, which appeared to be running a version of Google’s Android mobile operating system.
There are no further details available about the smartphone’s exact specifications, but the KNCA reported that Kim Jong-un praised the “high pixels” of the built-in camera.
The article said Kim Jong-un had high hopes for the “educational significance in making people love Korean things”.
He advised that factory workers should “select and produce shapes and colors that users like”.
Mobile phones in North Korea have been available since 2008. The national network is maintained thanks to a joint operation by the North Korean government and Egyptian telecoms company Orascom.
Phones on the network are heavily restricted. They cannot access the internet and can only make calls within North Korea.
For a short time, foreigners in the country were able to use mobile internet, but this access was later revoked.
It is believed that many in North Korea, particular those near the borders, use illegally owned mobiles to contact people outside the country.
Being found in possession of a foreign phone would be a very serious crime.
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The family of Kenneth Bae, the American missionary who was detained in North Korea last year, says he is seriously ill and has been moved from a labour camp to a hospital.
Kenneth Bae, 45, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for trying to overthrow the North Korean government, has diabetes and an enlarged heart.
His sister says he is now too weak to work.
The US government has appealed to North Korea to release Kenneth Bae.
Kenneth Bae (known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho) was detained last year after entering North Korea as a tourist and sentenced in May this year.
Kenneth Bae was detained last year after entering North Korea as a tourist and sentenced in May this year
He was said to have used his tourism business to form groups to overthrow the government.
Kenneth Bae’s sister, Terri Chung, said on Saturday he had recently been visited by a Swedish diplomat and that her brother was now in a hospital.
“We’re terribly worried about his health. I think it has been deteriorating,” Terri Chung told the KING5.com news website in the US.
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism.
They were released after visits to Pyongyang by high-profile officials, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
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South Korea has proposed “final talks” on reopening the joint Kaesong industrial zone, amid deadlock with North Korea.
Kaesong Industrial Complex has been closed since April, when North Korea withdrew its workers.
The two sides have held six rounds of talks on a restart, but are deadlocked on Seoul’s insistence that Pyongyang agree not to unilaterally close the complex again.
On Sunday Seoul’s unification minister said a written guarantee was needed.
“We want a clear answer from the North on preventing a recurrence,” Ryoo Kihl-jae said.
“Otherwise, we will be left with no choice but to make a grave decision to prevent even bigger damages on our companies in the future.”
North Korea blames the shut-down on South Korean provocations, including military exercises.
Kaesong Industrial Complex has been closed since April, when North Korea withdrew its workers
The proposal for “final talks” was formally communicated to North Korea on Monday via the communication line at the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korean media reported.
It did not include a date or time for the mooted talks, Yonhap news agency reported citing the Unification Ministry.
The Kaesong industrial zone, which lies just inside North Korea, is a major symbol of inter-Korean co-operation and a key earner for Pyongyang.
More than 120 South Korean manufacturers employ some 53,000 North Koreans at the zone, which has been in operation for a decade.
But work stopped in April when North Korea ordered its workers out.
The move came amid high tensions on the peninsula in the wake of North Korea’s February 12 nuclear test and then annual US-South Korea military drills.
Tensions have decreased somewhat in recent weeks, but the two Koreas have not yet found a mutually acceptable solution to the Kaesong issue, despite multiple rounds of working-level talks.
On Sunday Ryoo Kihl-jae met representatives of the South Korean firms, which have now been shut down for four months.
“It’s been almost 120 days. As you mentioned, I think the support [of the government] is not enough. We have not any income for four months,” said Han Jae-kwon, president of the association representing South Korean companies in Kaesong.
North Korea is holding a huge parade to mark the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.
State TV showed soldiers and military hardware parading through the capital Pyongyang in a carefully choreographed display.
Troops and spectators shouted their allegiance to North Korea’s young ruler, Kim Jong-un.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce although North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war.
Correspondents say the lavish parade of weapons and goose-stepping soldiers is reminiscent of marches held by the Soviet Union and China at the height of the Cold War.
The TV pictures showed Kim Jong-un walking up to the podium on a red carpet with a military band playing in the background. The North Korean leader oversaw the parade flanked by military and ruling party leaders.
North Korea is holding a huge parade to mark the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War
Large banners hung from gas-filled balloons and the main square in Pyongyang was filled with North Korean flags.
Over the past week North Korea has staged mass rallies and fireworks displays to commemorate the anniversary.
It comes as North and South Korea try to restore ties following a period of high tension.
Earlier this month, they ended a third round of talks on the re-opening of a jointly-run industrial zone without reaching a deal.
Work at Kaesong has been suspended since mid-April when North Korea withdrew its workers.
The move came amid tense relations between the two Koreas after Pyongyang’s nuclear test in February.
In South Korea, the anniversary was marked with a speech by President Park Geun-hye.
Park Geun-hye vowed not to tolerate provocations from North Korea but also said Seoul would work on building trust with the North.
“I urge North Korea to give up the development of nuclear weapons if the country is to start on a path toward true change and progress,” she said.
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Panama has charged the crew of the seized North Korean ship after it was found to be carrying Cuban weapons.
Prosecutor Javier Caraballo accused the 35 crew members of endangering public security by illegally transporting war material.
Panama has charged the crew of the seized North Korean ship after it was found to be carrying Cuban weapons
The charges came just hours after North Korea urged Panama to release the ship and its crew without delay.
Police found the weapons under bags of sugar. Cuba has said it had sent the weapons for repairs to North Korea.
Panama has asked the UN to investigate whether there has been a breach of sanctions against North Korea.
The UN sanctions prohibit the supply of arms to Pyongyang in the dispute over its controversial nuclear programme.
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North Korea has demanded the release of its ship detained in Panama with what appear to be missile radar and other weapons loaded in Cuba.
The communist country says its ship was sailing under a legitimate deal and calling the initial suspicion of drugs on board “a fiction.”
“The Panamanian investigation authorities rashly attacked and detained the captain and crewmen of the ship on the plea of ‘drug investigation’ and searched its cargo but did not discover any drug,” North Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
“This cargo is nothing but aging weapons which are to send back to Cuba after overhauling them according to a legitimate contract,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.
“The Panamanian authorities should take a step to let the apprehended crewmen and ship leave without delay.”
North Korea has demanded the release of its ship detained in Panama
Panamanian authorities seized the North Korean freighter and found what appeared to be components for Soviet-era missile radar system under sacks of brown sugar.
The ship was stopped last week as it headed into the Panama Canal and authorities arrested the crew on Monday after finding undeclared missile-shaped objects, a potential violation of UN sanctions linked to the North’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Panama said on Wednesday that it had asked the UN to determine the legality of the cargo.
Cuba, which has close diplomatic ties with North Korea, said the cargo contained “obsolete defensive weaponry” being sent back to North Korea for repairs and included anti-aircraft missile batteries, disassembled rockets and fighter jet parts.
Security experts said there was a possibility North Korea was trying to import the equipment and the explanation about repairing the items may be a disguise.
Some reports claim the ship appears to have violated U.N. arms embargo on North Korea.
North Korea has been under wide-ranging sanctions under Security Council resolutions since 2006 that ban trade of most types of weapons after conducting missile and nuclear tests in defiance of international condemnation.
It tested a nuclear device for the third time in February that led to the adoption of the latest Security Council resolution that tightened the sanctions regime.
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Cuba has admitted providing a stash of weapons found on board a North Korean ship seized in the Panama Canal.
The Cuban foreign ministry said the ship was carrying obsolete Soviet-era arms from Cuba for repair in North Korea.
The North Korean ship was seized by Panama last week after “undeclared military cargo” was found hidden in a shipment of sugar.
United Nations sanctions prohibit the supply of arms to North Korea in the dispute over its nuclear programme.
Cuba has admitted providing a stash of weapons found on board a North Korean ship seized in the Panama Canal
A Cuban foreign ministry statement said Cuba reaffirmed its commitment to “peace, disarmament, including nuclear disarmament, and respect for international law”.
It said the vessel was carrying 240 tonnes of obsolete defensive weapons – two anti-aircraft missile complexes, nine missiles in parts and spares, two MiG-21bis fighter planes and 15 MiG engines.
The Cuban statement said they were all made in the mid-20th Century and were to be repaired and returned to Cuba.
“The agreements subscribed by Cuba in this field are supported by the need to maintain our defensive capacity in order to preserve national sovereignty,” the statement went on.
Cuba said the ship’s main cargo was 10,000 tonnes of sugar.
The vessel, called Chong Chon Gang, left Russia’s far east on April 12 and travelled across the Pacific Ocean before entering the canal at the start of June, with Cuba as its stated destination.
Panamanian officials said the ship was carrying a cargo of sheet metal on its journey through the canal.
However, the vessel disappeared from satellite tracking systems after it left the Caribbean side of the canal, resurfacing on July 11.
Experts say this may indicate that the crew switched off the system that automatically communicates details of their location.
Panamanian officials tried to communicate with the vessel, suspecting it could be carrying illegal goods initially thought to be drugs.
The crew did not respond, so the ship was boarded and the weaponry was uncovered.
North Korea and Cuba are both nominally communist states and are known to have relatively close relations.
A high-level military delegation from North Korea visited at the end of June and was received by President Raul Castro.
Cuban media said they discussed “the historical ties that unite the two nations and the common will to continue strengthening them”.
Arms trafficking expert Hugh Griffiths told the BBC the ship’s voyage could be seen in the wider context of renewed military co-operation between the two nations.
Announcing the seizure of the vessel on Tuesday, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said it contained suspected “sophisticated missile equipment”.
Ricardo Martinelli posted on his Twitter account an image of a large green object inside a cargo container.
However, the Cuban statement suggests that the cargo was five decades old Soviet-era weaponry.
Panamanian officials said they had so far searched just one of the ship’s five container sections, and a full inspection would take at least a week.
The crew faces possible charges of illegal weapons smuggling in Panama.
Ricardo Martinelli said the 35-strong crew had resisted the search and the captain had tried to kill himself.
The US “commended” Panama for its actions, and said it strongly supported a full inspection of the ship.
The vessel was stopped near Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal last week.
Panama released details of the find on Tuesday.
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North Korea and South Korea have started in-depth talks on reopening joint-project Kaesong Industrial Complex.
The two Koreas agreed in principle to restart operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex after marathon negotiations over the weekend.
South Korea says it wants assurances that Pyongyang will not unilaterally close the factory zone again.
Work at the Kaesong zone has been suspended since mid-April, when North Korea withdrew its workers.
The move came amid high tensions after Pyongyang’s February 12 nuclear test.
The Kaesong complex, which is located just inside North Korea, is home to more than 120 South Korean factories which employ some 53,000 North Korean workers.
The joint project is both a symbol of inter-Korean co-operation and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
Sun Ho, who led the South Korean delegation, said his team would strive to accomplish “developmental normalization” of the complex “in accordance with common sense and international rules”.
Another official at the Unification Ministry said: “The weekend marked the first step, but the difficult part starts now.”
North Korea and South Korea have started in-depth talks on reopening joint-project Kaesong Industrial Complex
On Tuesday, a small team of South Koreans crossed into North Korea to check communication and power lines. It was the first time South Koreans had entered the zone in two months.
On Wednesday, around 100 delegates, including dozens of government officials and businessmen and engineers, entered North Korea to begin formal talks.
Pyongyang has agreed to allow the businessmen to inspect their factories and retrieve finished goods.
Both sides blame the other for the suspension of operations at Kaesong, and South Korea is now demanding safeguards as a condition for reopening the zone.
“The South wants the North to announce solid actions that will convince everyone that it has no intention of taking unilateral action to prevent movement or pull out its laborers in the future,” Sun Ho said.
“Pyongyang must take responsibility for its actions that caused considerable damage to South Korean companies with factories at the border town,” he added.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s chief delegate, Park Chol-su, said he hoped both sides would “promptly proceed” with restarting the zone.
“It is raining heavily, so I am very worried about those companies’ facilities and raw materials,” he said.
Pyongyang is reportedly expected to request that operations resume at once and that its workers receive higher pay.
Last week, some South Korean firms threatened to abandon the zone entirely and relocate their equipment.
A spokesman representing electronic and machinery makers in Kaesong had said: “Kaesong must be reopened or [the factories] have to move elsewhere.”
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North Korea and South Korea have agreed in principle to reopen the Kaesong industrial complex after official talks.
The deal, which includes facilities inspections, was reached after marathon talks held at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone.
Work at the factory park was halted in April amid high regional tensions.
Correspondents say the closure of Kaesong, seen as a symbol of inter-Korean ties, showed how serious this year’s political tensions were.
The industrial complex is a major source of income for the North.
Attempts to hold high-level talks last month failed on procedural grounds.
The meeting on the North Korea side of Panmunjom started on Saturday and lasted at least 15 hours.
North Korea and South Korea have agreed in principle to reopen the Kaesong industrial complex
Officials will meet at Kaesong on Wednesday to “restart operations, prevent an operation suspension in the future and normalize the zone as soon as both sides are ready to do so”, South Korea’s chief delegate Suh Ho told reporters after the talks.
“We got an impression that the North was very willing to resolve the Kaesong issue and is making great efforts as well,” Suh Ho said.
As part of the deal, both sides agreed to allow South Korean company managers to inspect their factories, as well as retrieve finished goods and raw materials.
Prior to operations being suspended, there were around 120 South Korean businesses in the factory park. The firms have been unable to reach their goods for three months.
Some have since threatened to abandon the zone entirely and relocate their equipment.
Seoul suggested the working-level talks on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang said Seoul businessmen could visit the closed complex to inspect and maintain equipment.
Late on Thursday, North Korea accepted the offer, the South said.
Pyongyang withdrew its 53,000 workers from the complex in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test in February, and annual South Korea-US military drills.
North Korea also prevented South Korean workers from entering the joint commercial zone.
The last South Korean workers left the zone on May 3.
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