American student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested in North Korea, has appeared on state media admitting to trying to steal a piece of propaganda from a hotel.
Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia student, said he was asked by a US church to bring back the “trophy”.
He had been on a tourist trip to North Korea in January.
Otto Warmbier was arrested on 2 January as he was about to leave.
At the time, North Korea said the US government had “tolerated and manipulated” the student.
Otto Warmbier was charged with committing a “hostile act”.
At a news conference in Pyongyang, Otto Warmbier said a member of the Friendship United Methodist Church had promised to give him a used car worth $10,000 if he brought back a propaganda sign from his North Korea trip.
“I committed the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel,” North Korea’s KCNA news agency quoted Otto Warmbier as saying.
“The aim of my task was to harm the motivation and work ethic of the Korean people. This was a very foolish aim,” the student was quoted as saying.
Otto Warmbier said his crime was “very severe and pre-planned” and that he “never should have allowed myself to be lured by the US administration to commit a crime in this country”.
CNN, which received a copy of the video, said Otto Warmbier sobbed as he begged for forgiveness, saying he had made “the worst mistake of my life”.
It was not clear whether Otto Warmbier had made the statement voluntarily, but foreign detainees in North Korea have previously recanted confessions, saying they were made under pressure.
The US state department strongly advises Americans against travelling to North Korea, which sometimes uses the detention of foreigners as a means of exerting pressure on its adversaries.
North Korea has used 70% of wages earned by workers at Kaesong complex for its weapons program and luxury goods for the elite, South Korea claims.
Last week, South Korea suspended its operations at the jointly-run industrial park following North Korea’s recent rocket and nuclear tests to cut off the money supply.
Pyongyang has called the shutdown “a declaration of war”.
Kaesong was one of the last points of co-operation between the two Koreas.
North Korea reacted to the shutdown by expelling all South Koreans from the complex and freezing the assets of South Korean companies. It has also vowed to cut key communication hotlines with South Korea.
Kaesong saw thousands of North Koreans working for South Korean businesses, making clothing, textiles, car parts and semi-conductors.
On February 14, South Korea’s unification ministry said in a statement the wages, in US dollars, had been paid to the government instead of directly to the workers.
“Any foreign currency earned in North Korea is transferred to the Workers’ Party, where the money is used to develop nuclear weapons or missiles, or to purchase luxury goods,” said Hong Yong-pyo, the unification minister, in a televised interview, referring to Pyongyang’s ruling communist party.
Hong Yong-pyo added that 70% of the money was kept by the North Korean government while workers were given tickets to buy food and essential items, and local currency. The South Korean government cited “multiple channels” as its sources for these claims but did not divulge how it had arrived at the percentage.
South Korea estimates about 616 billion Korean won ($508 million) had been paid to North Korea over the years.
Hong Yong-pyo was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying that South Korea did not suspend operations earlier at Kaesong because “the international community recognized its significance”, and it shut it down this time because “North Korea was only going to intensify its weapons development, and we needed to make a decisive move to alleviate our people’s security concerns”.
North Korea has announced it is cutting two key communication hotlines with South Korea, amid rising tensions after Pyongyang’s recent rocket and nuclear tests.
The move comes after South Korea suspended its operations at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park in North Korea.
Kaesong complex is one of the last points of co-operation between the two Koreas and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
North Korea has called the shutdown “a declaration of war” and has designated Kaesong as a military zone.
South Korea says the suspension is aimed at cutting off money North Korea uses for nuclear and missile development.
Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test last month, and launched a satellite into space on Sunday, drawing international condemnation.
North Korea previously cut communication hotlines with the South in 2013, but reopened them after relations improved.
The hotlines, which are intended to defuse dangerous military situations, include one used by the military, and another used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A third hotline is maintained by the Red Cross.
On February 11, North Korea vowed to seize the assets of South Korean companies in Kaesong, and said all workers from the south had to leave by 17:30 local time.
South Korean companies had already started withdrawing managers, equipment and stock after Seoul announced the suspension.
According to South Korean officials, all 280 workers who had been at the facility finally crossed into the South several hours after the deadline expired.
The current Kaesong shutdown came as the US Senate voted unanimously in favor of tougher sanctions against North Korea.
The draft legislation targets any person or entity trading or financing anything related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms proliferation, North Korea’s nuclear program, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses, activities that threaten US cyber security, and the import of luxury goods.
All were already sanctioned, but the measures aim to tighten the restrictions.
The bill also authorizes $50 million for radio broadcasts into North Korea and humanitarian aid programs.
The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. The two will now have to be reconciled into a final measure needing President Barack Obama’s sign-off.
South Korea is shutting down its operations in the Kaesong industrial park jointly run by the two Koreas.
On February 10, South Korea announced it would suspend its activity there because of North Korea’s recent rocket launch.
Seoul had already restricted some South Korean activity there following Pyongyang’s nuclear test in January.
It is unclear how long the shutdown will last, which Seoul said was aimed at cutting off money North Korea used for nuclear and missile development.
About 124 mostly South Korean companies operate in Kaesong employing thousands of North Koreans.
The companies operating in Kaesong have started taking out easily-moveable equipment and stocks of finished goods and raw materials.
Many North Korean workers failed to turn up for work on February 11. Their South Korean managers cleared their desks and started to leave.
Opened in 2004, the Kaesong complex is the only point of co-operation between South Korea and North Korea.
In April 2013, North Korea shut down the complex for more than four months, after heightened tensions sparked by military drills by Seoul and Washington.
The current shutdown came as the US Senate voted unanimously in favor of tougher sanctions against North Korea.
The draft legislation targets any person or entity trading or financing anything related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms proliferation, North Korea’s rocket program, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses, activities that threaten US cyber security, and the import of luxury goods.
All were already sanctioned, but the measures aim to tighten the restrictions.
The bill also authorizes $50 million for radio broadcasts into North Korea and humanitarian aid programs.
The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. The two will now have to be reconciled into a final measure needing President Barack Obama’s sign-off.
Republican Senator Cory Gardner, one of the authors of the latest sanctions bill, criticized President Barack Obama’s policy of “strategic patience”.
“The situation in the Korea peninsula is at its most unstable point since the armistice,” he said, referring to the deal to end hostilities in the Korean War in 1953.
Republican senators and presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio interrupted campaigning to go back to Washington DC for the vote.
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders did not return, although he did express his support for the bill in a statement.
According to unconfirmed South Korean reports, North Korea’s military chief of staff, General Ri Yong-gil, has been executed.
However, senior officials in North Korea have previously been absent from view for long periods only to reappear.
Ri Yong-gil would be the latest of several high-ranking North Korea officials to be purged under leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korean media reported that Gen. Ri Yong-gil had been executed earlier this month for corruption and “factional conspiracy”.
Last week, a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party attended by Kim Jong-un discussed how to deal with corruption.
While no individuals were mentioned, state news agency KCNA reported at the time that those at the meeting criticized “the practices of seeking privileges, misuse of authority… and bureaucratism manifested in the party”.
According to analysts, Gen. Ri Yong-gil had fallen from favor first surfaced late last year.
If this is the case, Ri Yong-gil will be the fourth chief of staff since Kim Jong-un took over in 2011, as opposed to three during his father Kim Jong-il’s 17 years in power.
The reports of Ri Yong-gil’s execution come days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, which critics say is a test of banned missile technology.
On January 6, North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test.
Some observers say the regime’s recent behavior may be linked to Kim Jong-un wanting to shore up his position ahead of a rare congress of the Workers’ Party due in May.
In May 2015, South Korea’s spy agency told parliament that North Korea’s Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol had been executed for showing disloyalty to Kim Jong-un.
The agency said Hyon Yong-chol was killed by anti-aircraft fire in front of an audience of hundreds – it later said it was yet to verify the information. That news came weeks after the reported execution of 15 senior officials.
Also on February 10, South Korea announced it was suspending operations at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park in North Korea following the North’s recent rocket launch and nuclear test.
Seoul said all operations at the Kaesong complex would halt, to stop North Korea using its investment “to fund its nuclear and missile development”.
The suspension will mean North Korea will lose the income it currently gains from the site, which comes to $100 million a year.
South Korea has decided to suspend operations at Kaesong complex following North Korea’s recent rocket launch and nuclear test.
Kaesong is a jointly-run industrial park in North Korea, the last points of co-operation between the two Koreas and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
South Korea said all operations at the complex would halt, to stop the North using its investment “to fund its nuclear and missile development”.
It came as Japan imposed new sanctions against North Korea following the launch.
They include a ban on North Korean vessels coming into port in Japan and on vessels from other countries that have visited the state,
The US warned on February 9 that North Korea could soon have enough plutonium for nuclear weapons.
South Korea, the US, Japan and others see February 7 rocket launch – ostensibly to put a satellite into space – as cover for a banned test of missile technology.
Tensions have risen over the past month since North Korea carried out a fourth nuclear test in early January.
“All our support and efforts… were taken advantage of by the North to develop its nuclear weapons and missile programs,” South Korea’s Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo told reporters.
The announcement came amid reports that North Korea’s military chief, Ri Yong-gil, had been executed on corruption charges.
South Korea’s state news agency Yonhap quoted unnamed sources saying the general, who was appointed in 2013, had been deemed guilty of corruption and pursuing personal gains.
According to US intelligence chief James Clapper, North Korea has restarted a plutonium production reactor that could provide a stockpile for nuclear weapons.
James Clapper also said North Korea had taken steps towards making an intercontinental ballistic missile system.
His announcement comes days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, which critics say is a test of banned missile technology.
In September 2015, Pyongyang said its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon had resumed normal operations.
The reactor there has been the source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test on January 6, 2016.
“We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor,” James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor’s spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months.”
According to James Clapper, Pyongyang was also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile “capable of posing a direct threat to the United States”.
James Clapper said it had publicly displayed a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile system and had taken “initial steps toward fielding this system, although the system has not been flight-tested”.
Experts have said that, when fully operational, the Yongbyon reactor could make one nuclear bomb’s worth of plutonium per year. About 4kg of plutonium is needed in order to make a bomb that would explode with a force of 20 kilotons.
Pyongyang has pledged several times to stop operations at Yongbyon and even destroyed the cooling tower in 2008 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
In March 2013, following a row with the US and with new UN sanctions over a third nuclear test, it vowed to restart all facilities at Yongbyon.
Six-nation talks involving South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia aimed at ending the North’s nuclear programme have been stalled since 2009.
North Korea says it has made a device small enough to fit a nuclear warhead on to a missile, which it could launch at its enemies. However, US officials have cast doubt on the claim.
South Korea’s defense ministry and Japanese media say North Korea appears to be preparing to launch a long-range missile.
Activity has been spotted at a launch station on the North Korea’west coast of the isolated nation.
Earlier this week Pyongyang announced it was planning to launch a satellite at some point in February.
North Korea’s announcement was internationally condemned – critics saying it is a cover to test banned missile technology.
The isolated country also conducted its fourth nuclear bomb test on January 6.
UN sanctions against North Korea prohibit it from carrying out any nuclear or ballistic missile tests.
South Korean state news agency Yonhap quoted defense ministry officials on February 4 as saying activity had been spotted at a site in Dongchang-ri, where the Sohae launching station is located.
Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun also said South Korea’s military was ramping up its air defense readiness so it was ready to intercept any missile or debris falling in its territory. The South has already ordered certain commercial flights to divert their routes.
Japan’s national broadcaster NHK, citing unnamed officials, also reported similar news about activity at Dongchang-ri, and added that a mobile launcher carrying a ballistic missile had also been seen moving near the east coast.
Separately, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a statement reported by Yonhap that any long-range missile launch by the North “should never be condoned as it poses a threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and the world”.
Park Geun-hye said the move was “a desperate measure” by the North to maintain its regime, and showed Pyongyang was not afraid of UN sanctions.
The US-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said recent satellite images show recent activity at Sohae suggesting launch preparations.
These include heightened activity at a building used to receive rocket stages, and a complex that appears ready to conduct engine tests.
North Korean state news agency KCNA reported on February 4 that the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea was holding a meeting among central and army committee members where they discussed how to “further strengthen” the party ahead of a rare political meeting scheduled for May.
Analysts say North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile activity could be a build-up to the upcoming seventh party congress – the first to be held since 1980 – where leader Kim Jong-un is expected to show off the nuclear program.
The United States and China say a new UN resolution against North Korea is needed, following Pyongyang’s claim that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this month.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Beijing for talks, called North Korea’s nuclear ambitions a “threat to the world” and urged new sanctions.
However, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi suggested China would not support any sanctions.
China is North Korea’s main ally, but has condemned Pyongyang’s nuclear test.
On January 6, a 5.1 magnitude tremor was detected in North Korea – which said it had successfully conducted an underground hydrogen bomb test.
However, nuclear experts questioned North Korea’s claim, saying the size of the blast was not large enough to have been from an H-bomb.
Speaking on January 27 after talks with Wang Yi, John Kerry said that both sides agreed on the need for a “strong” resolution against North Korea, and said that limiting the trade of goods and services across China’s border with North Korea was one potential measure.
However, Wang Yi said that while China supported the need for a new resolution, it “should not provoke new tension in the situation, still less destabilize the Korean peninsula”.
“Sanctions are not an end in themselves,” he added.
China is Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner, and major ally – although relations have cooled since Kim Jong-un succeeded his father.
Nonetheless, experts say China is wary of destabilizing North Korea, fearing that millions of North Korean refugees could pour across China’s borders if the regime collapsed.
The two sides also discussed the disputed South China Sea, where China has multiple competing territorial claims with other countries.
China has angered several neighbors by constructing artificial islands on claimed reefs, and building runways and other facilities on them.
John Kerry called on China to stop construction and land reclamation in disputed areas.
However, Beijing said such activity was within its legal rights to protect its territorial sovereignty.
John Kerry, who will also meet China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi and President Xi Jinping, is on an Asia tour that has included Laos and Cambodia.
American student Otto Frederick Warmbier has been arrested in North Korea for committing a “hostile act” against the state.
Otto Frederick Warmbier is a University of Virginia student, says state news agency KCNA.
He had entered North Korea as a tourist with the intention “to destroy the country’s unity”, said KCNA, which added that the US government had “tolerated and manipulated” him.
The agency did not give further details, but said he was now under investigation.
An official at the US embassy in the South Korean capital, Seoul, told Reuters it was aware of the arrest.
North Korea sometimes uses the detention of foreigners as a means of exerting pressure on its adversaries.
China-based tour agency Young Pioneer Tours released a statement confirming that Otto Frederick Warmbier had been detained while on one of their tours in Pyongyang, and said his family had been informed.
It had earlier told Reuters that Otto Frederick Warmbier was arrested on January 2.
“We are in contact with the Swedish Embassy… who are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address the case. We are also assisting the US Department of State closely with regards to the situation,” it said in the statement.
“In the meantime we would appreciate Otto’s and his family’s privacy being respected and we hope his release can be secured as soon as possible.”
Sweden represents US interests in North Korea as Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.
Otto Frederick Warmbier, listed by the University of Virginia’s directory as an undergraduate commerce student, is the third Westerner known to be held in North Korea.
Hyeon Soo Lim, a Canadian pastor of South Korean origin, was sentenced to life imprisonment in December for an alleged plot to overthrow the government.
A Korean-American is also thought to be in North Korean detention on charges of spying.
The latest incident comes amid escalating tensions, after North Korea said it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. The claim has not yet been confirmed.
South Korea has resumed propaganda broadcasts over the border, while North Korea has been dropping propaganda leaflets on the South.
The US is leading calls for new UN economic penalties against North Korea in the wake of the nuclear test.
The state department strongly advises Americans against travelling to North Korea.
In 2014, North Korea released three Americans it was holding in detention – Matthew Todd Miller, Jeffrey Fowle and Kenneth Bae.
According to Pyongyang reports, North Korean scientists have invented a hangover-free alcohol.
The state-run Pyongyang Times says the “suave” liquor will spare you wincing when you wake, despite boasting 30%-40% alcohol.
The brew is reportedly made from a type of indigenous ginseng called insam and glutinous rice, and cultivated by an organic farming method.
North Korean media is known for making often outlandish claims about its domestic achievements.
In 2015, North Korea said medical products containing extracts from the insam plant could cure MERS, SARS and even AIDS.
Photo AP
The Pyongyang Times said the new alcohol “exudes national flavor”, without dampening your national fervor the following morning.
Among its other unique selling points, according to the paper – the spirit “is highly appreciated by experts and lovers”.
The newspaper article, titled, Liquor wins quality medal for preserving national smack, says the Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory has been working for years on the elixir.
The drink derives from Kaesong Koryo insam – a natural herb thought to have medicinal properties. According to the Pyongyang Times, replacing sugar with the scorched, glutinous rice removed the bitterness from the insam and, crucially, the hangover.
“Koryo Liquor, which is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam, known as being highest in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover,” the article reads.
The liquor “has already been registered as a national scientific and technological hit”, it adds.
South Korea has fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone flown across the DMZ.
Soldiers fired about 20 rounds before the craft turned back, Yonhap news agency said citing South Korean officials.
Earlier, South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye urged China to impose the strongest possible sanctions against North Korea, following its apparent nuclear test.
North Korea claims it has tested a hydrogen bomb.
That claim is doubted by experts, who say the blast, though probably nuclear, was not big enough to have been a thermonuclear explosion.
In her annual press conference, President Park Geun-hye said the international community’s response to North Korea “must differ from the past”, without giving details.
Park Geun-hye said new sanctions on Pyongyang must go further than before, with China’s support crucial. She also warned of possible further action by North Korea, including “cyber terrorism”.
China, North Korea’s closest ally, has repeatedly condemned North Korea’s nuclear tests but is often accused of doing little to try and stop them.
Park Geun-hye stressed China’s past statements but added: “I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn’t followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North’s fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.”
“I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further.”
Last week Secretary of State John Kerry also urged China to take a tougher line, telling his Chinese counterpart the relationship with North Korea cannot be “business as usual”.
President Park Geun-hye also spoke about the steps South Korea was taking with the US to “neutralize North Korea’s provocative actions” including additional deployments of American military assets on the Korean peninsula.
Answering a question about whether Seoul would consider ending its involvement in the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone, just north of the border, Park Geun-hye said its future depended on Pyongyang’s actions.
Seoul has already limited access to Kaesong from South Korea, to only those directly involved in its operations.
Kim Yang-gon, a top aide to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has died in a car crash on December 29, state news agency KCNA has said.
Kim Yang-gon, 73, was the director of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers’ Party and was in charge of ties with South Korea.
He was part of a high-level delegation from North Korea that helped ease a stand-off with South Korea in August, after an exchange of artillery fire.
KCNA called Kim Yang-gon Kim Jong-un’s “closest comrade and a solid revolutionary partner”.
“Comrade Kim Yang-gon, a Workers’ Party secretary and member of the party Central Committee Politbureau… died in a traffic accident at 6:15AM, Tuesday, at age 73,” KCNA said, without giving details.
It added that Kim Jong-un would lead an 80-member state funeral for Kim Yang-gon on December 31.
Tension between North Korea and South Korea increased in August when a border blast injured two South Korean soldiers.
Meetings at that time eventually led to the two Koreas stepping away from a military confrontation.
Kim Ynag-gon was succeeded by Jun-Scol Nic as director of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party.
Canadian Christian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim has been sentenced by North Korea’s Supreme Court to a life term of hard labor for “crimes against the state”.
Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, was arrested in Pyongyang after he traveled there in January for humanitarian work.
The Toronto-based pastor, who is of South Korean origin, was shown at a news conference earlier confessing to a plot to overthrow the government and set up a “religious state”.
North Korea bans religious activity.
The authorities periodically detain foreigners for religious or missionary activity and similar cases have seen staged public confessions from prisoners.
Photo YouTube
Hyeon Soo Lim was sentenced after a 90-minute trial at the North Korean Supreme Court.
He was convicted of joining the US and South Korea in an anti-North Korea human rights “racket” and fabricating and circulating false propaganda materials tarnishing the country’s image.
The pastor was also accused of funding and helping “defectors” to escape, in some cases through Mongolia.
Hyeon Soo Lim entered and left the court in handcuffs flanked by two public security officers in uniform, the Associated Press reports.
The handcuffs were removed in court during the trial, it adds. The pastor kept his head bowed most of the time and answered questions in a subdued tone.
Hyeon Soo Lim and his colleagues traveled to Pyongyang on January 31st as part of a humanitarian mission. His family said it was to support a nursing home, nursery and orphanage.
The pastor, who heads the Light Korean Presbyterian Church, had made numerous humanitarian aid missions to North Korea for nearly two decades, the Church said.
He was detained in February and in July a KCNA report said he had given a press conference in Pyongyang where he admitted to using humanitarian work as a “guise” for “subversive plots and activities in a sinister bid to build a religious state”.
Hyeon Soo Lim also reportedly admitted to giving lectures that “North Korea should be collapsed with the love of <<God>>”, and to helping the US and South Korea to aid North Korean defectors.
North Korean pop group Moranbong has halted its goodwill tour of China – before it even began.
The all-female band unexpectedly turned up at Beijing’s main airport just hours before their first concert and flew back to Pyongyang.
Moranbong were due to play three shows to help improve ties between China and North Korea.
It is not yet clear why the performances were canceled.
Moranbong is one of North Korea’s most popular bands. Its members were reportedly handpicked by the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, himself.
The band plays a mixture of Western and traditional Korean tunes, and has been happy to perform the theme from the movie Rocky alongside patriot songs praising North Korea’s communist rulers.
Photo Getty Images
Moranbong members play a range of instruments, including electronic violins.
In North Korea, the Moranbong musicians are also known for wearing revealing outfits and sporting fashionable hairstyles.
The women were waved off for their first-ever foreign tour from Pyongyang railway station on December 9 by senior leaders.
Dressed in military uniforms, they smiled and waved to fans when they came and went from their hotel after arriving in China.
There was no hint of trouble when they practiced in Beijing’s National Center for Performing Arts on December 11.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the performances were aimed at improving ties between China and North Korea. She also joked that she did not know where to get hold of a ticket for the concerts.
However, on December 12, the band unexpectedly arrived at Beijing airport and boarded a plane back home – a scheduled flight whose departure was delayed for several hours.
Moranbong’s stage set was dismantled and its concerts were canceled. Neither China nor North Korea has given an official reason for the abrupt end of the tour.
China and North Korea are allies. China’s Chairman Mao once said they were as close as lips and teeth.
However, they have not always seen eye-to-eye over recent years. China has been particularly angry at three nuclear tests carried out by North Korea, the last in 2013.
Kim Jong-un has appeared to suggest North Korea possesses a hydrogen bomb, in comments published on state media.
North Korea was “ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb”, KCNA quoted Kim Jong-un as saying.
If true, the development would mark a significant advancement in North Korean nuclear capabilities.
However, the claim has not been independently verified and has drawn skepticism from experts.
The North Korean leader made the remarks as he inspected a historical military site in the capital Pyongyang.
The work of his grandfather Kim Il-sung had turned North Korea into a “powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation”, Kim Jong-un is quoted as saying.
While North Korea has made previous claims about its nuclear weapons capabilities this is thought to be its first reference to an H-bomb.
Such devices use fusion to create a blast far more powerful than a more basic atomic bomb.
North Korea has carried out three underground nuclear tests before, but experts cast doubt over the latest suggestions.
Independent observers are rarely allowed access to the secretive communist state, making verifying the authorities’ claims difficult.
North Korea has been hit with new US sanctions over its alleged weapons proliferation activities.
The US sanctions target the North Korean army’s Strategic Rocket Force, as well as two banks and three shipping companies allegedly involved in arms trade.
The sanctions bar American citizens or companies from engaging in any transactions with the companies.
North Korea already faces sanctions from several other countries and the UN.
The Strategic Rocket Force is accused of performing several missile tests last year, while the shipping companies – linked to other already-sanctioned firms – are accused of transporting illicit arms.
The US Treasury also blacklisted officials of previously sanctioned North Korean Banks.
The sanctions freeze any US assets the blacklisted companies and individuals have. It is not clear how much, if any, they have in the United States.
Five of the individuals added to the blacklist – two in Syria and two in Vietnam – are representatives of the Tanchon Commercial Bank, which is already on the US sanctions list. It performs financial activities for the Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation, which is responsible for North Korea arms exports.
North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank also had one representative, based in Russia, added to the sanctions list. The company itself was also already covered by US sanctions.
North Korea is building a new tunnel at its nuclear test site, recent satellite images indicate.
A report on 38 North, a website run by the US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, studied images taken between April and November.
These appeared to show work in a new area of the Punggye-ri nuclear zone.
However, the report said, there is no sign that any nuclear test is imminent.
North Korea carried out three underground nuclear tests at Punggye-ri in 2006, 2009 and 2013. The country’s nuclear program has been a source of great concern for the international community.
The tunnel identified in the latest imagery is in a new area of the site, separate from three other tunnels that North Korea has excavated or used for tests in the past, the report said.
“While there are no indications that a nuclear test is imminent, the new tunnel adds to North Korea’s ability to conduct additional detonations over the coming years if it chooses to do so,” it added.
The commercially-available satellite imagery on which the researchers based their conclusions appear to show a new tunnel entrance, the site’s fourth, as well as signs of construction work taking place as recently as October and November.
The report says some analysts believe each entrance connects to a single tunnel but there is debate about the exact nature and structure of the underground testing facility.
It is not the first indication of construction activity at the site. In October, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean government source saying there were workers constructing a new tunnel at Punggye-ri.
In September, North Korea said that its reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear facility, the source of plutonium for the country’s nuclear weapons, had resumed normal operations.
Yongbyon’s reactor was shut down in 2007 but Pyongyang vowed to restart it in 2013, following its third nuclear test and amid high regional tensions.
Kim Jong-un’s aunt, Ko Yong-suk has filed a defamation case against three North Korean defectors who “spread false stories” about her.
Ko Yong-suk claims the defectors – who fled to South Korea in the 1990s – lied about her having plastic surgery and managing a secret fund.
Her lawyer says she is seeking 60 million won ($51,600) in a South Korean court.
The move is unusual – ruling family members living outside North Korea tend to avoid the public eye.
The defectors appeared on talk shows and claimed that Ko Yong-suk used plastic surgery to hide after having Kim Jong-un’s half-brother expelled from North Korea, her lawyer said.
“These defectors who often make appearances on TV are not in a position to know about her directly and what they are saying is not true,” he told Reuters.
“She and her husband find it very unpleasant.”
Ko Yong-suk took asylum in the US with her husband in 1998. She took care of Kim Jong-un when he was a teenager studying in Switzerland, according to her lawyer.
It is not clear if she will appear in court.
Ko Yong-suk’s lawyer told AFP news agency: “I’m not 100% sure, but her husband indicated she could come.”
North Korean and South Korean officials are holding rare talks aimed at improving long-strained ties, after a military stand-off in August.
The meeting is taking place at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone.
Tension between North Korea and South Korea ramped up in August when a border blast injured two South Korean soldiers.
Meetings at that time eventually led to the two Koreas stepping away from a military confrontation.
The two sides are expected to discuss details such as the timing and agenda of higher-level talks, reported South Korean news agency Yonhap.
South Korea’s chief negotiator, Kim Ki-woong, told reporters before the meeting: “We are resolved to maintaining the momentum for dialogue that was started by the August agreement.”
In June 2013, North Korea and South Korea agreed to hold what would have been the first high-level dialogue for six years. However, just the day before the scheduled meeting, Pyongyang canceled it, citing the seniority of the South Korean negotiator.
On August 4, two South Korean soldiers by the border were seriously injured by a landmine blast, which was blamed on the North. North Korea denied planting the landmine.
South Korea began propaganda broadcasts into the North, infuriating Pyongyang which in turn declared a “semi-state of war” and began deploying troops to the frontline.
However, after talks, also held at Panmunjom, the two countries reached a deal to de-escalate tensions with South Korea stopping the broadcasts and North Korea pulling back troops.
South Korea has accepted an offer from North Korea to hold talks on November 26, Seoul officials have confirmed.
The talks, to be held at the Panmunjom truce village, will set the stage for high-level meetings which were agreed in principle in August.
That deal followed a stand-off in August that began with landmine explosions on the border and involved an exchange of artillery fire.
South Korea said it had sent requests for meetings before but had no response.
North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
In August 2015, a landmine explosion at the heavily militarized border seriously injured two South Korean soldiers.
In response, South Korea resumed its abandoned practice of blasting propaganda over the border, and evacuated people from the border region. North Korea said it had put its military on a “war footing”.
Tensions bubbled over in a brief exchange of fire at the heavily guarded border.
After crisis talks, South Korea agreed to turned off the loudspeakers while North Korea agreed to step down its military.
The agreement included a pledge to resume talks on improving ties, and to hold the first reunions for families separated during the Korean War in over a year.
North Korea also expressed regret over the mine explosions, though later clarified it was not accepting responsibility for the blast.
According to a UN investigator’s report, as many as 50,000 North Koreans have been sent abroad to work in conditions that amount to “forced labor”.
Marzuki Darusman said workers earn very little, are underfed and are sometimes forced to work up to 20-hour days.
The special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea also said in his report that employers pay “significantly higher amounts” directly to the North Korean government.
The majority of the workers are in China and Russia, mainly in the mining, textile and construction industries.
Marzuki Darusman also listed countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
He said the companies who hire North Korean workers “become complicit in an unacceptable system of forced labor”.
The workers are providing a source of hard currency to a country in a “really tight financial and economic situation”.
Marzuki Darusman estimated that North Korea was earning $1.2 billion-$2.3 billion from the foreign worker system every year.
Since 2006, North Korea has been under international sanction for its nuclear weapons tests resulting in a shortage of foreign currency.
North Korea has returned the remains of an American soldier missing since the Korean War to his family in California.
Army Cpl. Robert V. Witt of Bellflower was believed captured when his unit was attacked by Chinese forces in late November 1950, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports.
Fellow troops later repatriated to the US said Robert Witt died from malnutrition in January 1951.
The US lists more than 8,000 soldiers as missing in the Korean War.
Robert Witt’s remains were found, along with those of other soldiers, in a joint US-North Korea excavation in North Korea in 2000.
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However, it took many years since for them to be conclusively identified.
They have now been returned to his sister, 82-year-old Laverne Minnick.
Laverne Minnick told the local newspaper: “I am so happy. He’s going to be home, where he belongs, with his family.”
Robert Witt, 20-years-old when he went missing, will be buried with full military honors in Rose Hills Memorial Park in Los Angeles on October 30.
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, during which he went missing, was part of a Chinese offensive early in the Korean War that succeeded in driving US and other UN forces out of north eastern Korea.
The Korean War lasted from June 1950 until July 1953 and pitted the US and its allies against the USSR, North Korea and communist China.
At least two million Korean civilians, up to 1.5 million communist forces, and around 30,000 American, 400,000 South Korean and 1,000 UK troops are believed to have died.
A peace treaty has never been signed and the two Koreas would remain technically at war.
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