Four hundred South Koreans are visiting North Korea to meet their North Korean relatives in a rare reunion event for families separated by the Korean War.
The reunion, comprising a series of meetings over a week, is being held at a Mount Kumgang resort, at the border.
Thousands of families have been apart with little or no contact since the Korean War ended in 1953.
Korean family reunions have been held sporadically since 1988 and depend on the state of relations between South Korea and North Korea.
The last reunion was held in February 2014.
This year’s family reunion comes after an agreement in August that de-escalated tensions sparked by a border explosion that injured South Korean soldiers.
The meetings, organized by the Red Cross, are hugely popular with tens of thousands signing up, but few on each side get chosen and they tend to be elderly.
In South Korea participants are picked at random by a computer which takes into account their age and family background.
They also have to sit for interviews and take medical examinations to determine if they are fit to travel.
The first group of about 400 South Koreans, comprising of chosen participants and their accompanying family members, are taking part in the first round of meetings running from October 20 to October 21, reported Yonhap news agency.
Another 250 will attend the second round of meetings from October 24 to October 26. Each round comprises of six two-hour sessions.
Many of those attending from South Korea are bringing gifts for their North Korean relatives such as clothes, food, toothpaste, and cash.
South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war as the Korean War only ended in an armistice.
The family reunions began in 2000 and have since been carried out sporadically.
North Korea has declined President Barack Obama’s offer for nuclear negotiations, Reuters reported.
Barack Obama made the statement during a joint news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Friday, October 16.
The next day, the North Korean Foreign Ministry declined the opportunity to open negotiations, but it again demanded a peace treaty in place of the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.
The ministry said in a statement: “No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else.
“If the U.S. insists on its hostile policy, it will only see the DPRK’s limitless bolstering of nuclear deterrence and the growth of its revolutionary armed forces.”
Barack Obama and Park Geun-hye Friday reaffirmed the strength of their alliance.
Park Geun-hye called the US-South Korea relationship a “lynchpin of peace and stability” for Asia and the Korean Peninsula where tensions have been high in recent months.
South Korea has expelled nine Russian athletes, trainers and journalists who allegedly got drunk and rowdy on a flight to the Mungyeong military world games.
The nine were detained at Incheon airport near Seoul and barred from this year’s CISM World Summer Games. They were then sent home.
South Korean police said the group – five men and four women – protested noisily and blocked an aisle after Korean Air cabin crew refused them more alcohol.
The CISM (Conseil International du Sport Militaire) games, this year at the 6th edition, is the world’s biggest military sports event.
Yoo Ji-hyun, spokesman for the CISM organizing committee, said the nine were accused of violating South Korea’s aviation security law.
The Associated Press news agency said the Russians included two female swimmers, both active duty soldiers.
Only eight athletes from Russia are left to compete in the games, Yonhap news agency reports.
The games have attracted 7,000 athletes from 117 countries, competing in 24 sports disciplines.
The 6th CISM World Summer Games will run from October 2 to October 11.
South Korean Kim Ki-jong, who stabbed US Ambassador Mark Lippert earlier this year, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for attempted murder.
Kim Ki-jong, 56, attacked Mark Lippert at a breakfast function in a Seoul hotel on March 5.
The US ambassador in South Korea needed 80 stitches in his face and hand and was left scarred.
Kim Ki-jong, a known Korean nationalist, had made multiple visits to North Korea.
He said he was protesting against joint South Korean-US military drills but did not intend to kill Mark Lippert.
The prosecution, however, argued the force of the attack was so great that it might well have been fatal. They had sought a 15-year prison term.
Kim Ki-jong was also convicted of assaulting a foreign envoy, but cleared of a charge under the National Security Law of assisting North Korea.
The Seoul Central District Court said he had “shown no repentance, attempting to justify his actions throughout the trial,” the AFP news agency reported.
Mark Lippert spent five days in hospital but has since returned to work and said the US mission in Seoul would remain “open and friendly”.
The US has some 28,000 military personnel based in South Korea, and the two militaries regularly carry out military exercises together.
The drills are an ongoing source of tensions with North Korea, which views them as preparation for war. They are also unpopular with many in South Korea, with demonstrations regularly staged against them.
North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold reunions for families separated by the Korean War, according to Seoul government.
The family reunions will take place in October at the Diamond Mountain resort in North Korea.
The decision follows an agreement last month that de-escalated tensions sparked by a border mine explosion that injured two South Korean soldiers.
Thousands of Korean families have been separated with little or no contact since the war ended in 1953.
The highly emotional reunions of family member who have not seen one another in decades have been infrequent, and depend hugely on the state of relations on the Korean peninsula.
The reunions, which started in 1988, used to be annual but have often been canceled in recent years as relations frayed. The last round was held in February 2014.
About 66,000 South Koreans remain on the waiting list to see their relatives, many in their 80s and 90s.
The upcoming reunions, slated to be held at the Diamond Mountain resort in Mount Kumgang from October 20 to 26, will see 100 people from each side selected.
The decision came after Red Cross officials from both Koreas held talks earlier this week at the border village of Panmunjom.
Communication between relatives across the border is highly restricted and almost non-existent.
South Korea and North Korea are conducting talks on organizing a rare reunion for families separated by the Korean War.
The talks are being held at the border village of Panmunjom by Red Cross officials from both sides.
Thousands of Korean families have been separated with little contact made since 1953 when hostilities ended.
The sporadic reunions depend hugely on the state of relations, and North Korea is known to have canceled a few. The last reunion was held in February 2014.
Each meeting gets deluged by tens of thousands of applications from South Korea, but only a tiny percentage gets selected. The last meeting saw 100 from each side attending, in a hugely emotional event.
The discussions come after a tense few weeks on the Korean peninsula, which saw exchanges of fire at the border and the evacuation of thousands of South Koreans from the border region.
The tensions began when a border landmine injured two South Korean soldiers – South Korea responded by broadcasting propaganda messages into North Korea.
The two sides reached an agreement to defuse the situation after marathon talks.
North Korea, which denied planted the mine, agreed to express “regret” about the incident – though later clarified this was an expression of sympathy not an apology.
South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war as the Korean War only ended in an armistice.
North Korea and South Korea have reached an agreement to defuse tension after recent confrontations.
Seoul has agreed to halt cross-border propaganda broadcasts as part of the deal.
South Korea started the broadcasts after a landmine injured two of its soldiers on the border earlier this month.
Its lead negotiator said the move came after North Korea agreed to express “regret” over the incident.
The agreement came after marathon talks that began after an exchange of fire at the border on August 20.
The negotiations in the abandoned “truce village” of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) were said to have ended at 00:55 local time on Tuesday, August 25.
A joint statement said South Korea would stop the loudspeaker broadcasts at midday on August 25 and North Korea would end its “semi-state of war”.
Both countries have also agreed to work towards a resumption of reunions for families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War.
National security adviser Kim Kwan-jin, who led the negotiations for South Korea, said there would be follow-up talks to discuss a range of issues on improving ties
However, he said it was not the right time to push for a summit between the leaders of the two countries.
South Korea resumed the propaganda broadcasts after an 11-year hiatus earlier this month in apparent retaliation for the landmine incident on August 4 – although North Korea denied having planted the mines.
It also denied shelling South Korea last week – an incident that prompted artillery fire from the South.
Pyongyang ordered its troops to be “on a war footing” on August 21 while Seoul warned that it would “retaliate harshly” to any acts of aggression. About 4,000 residents were also evacuated from border areas in South Korea.
In 2004, the two Koreas reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has announced the country’s cross-border propaganda broadcasts will continue until Pyongyang apologizes for landmines that injured two South Korean soldiers.
North Korea has threatened to use force to stop the broadcasts, ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
High-level talks to resolve the issue went through a second night on August 23.
Both Korea’s militaries are on alert after a brief exchange of fire at the border on August 20.
North Korea denies laying the landmines which maimed the soldiers earlier this month as they were patrolling the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the heavily fortified border.
It also denies shelling South Korea on August 20, an incident which prompted return artillery fire from the South.
“We need a clear apology and measures to prevent a recurrence of these provocations and tense situations,” said President Park Geun-hye according to a statement released by her office.
“Otherwise, this government will take appropriate steps and continue loudspeaker broadcasts.”
South Korea resumed the propaganda broadcasts along the DMZ earlier this month, after an 11-year hiatus, in apparent retaliation for the landmine attack.
The talks that began on August 22 in the abandoned “truce village” of Panmunjom inside the DMZ have, for the time being, subdued heated rhetoric of imminent war.
South Korea is represented by national security adviser Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, while the North has sent senior officials Kim Yong-gon and Hwang Pyong-so, who is seen by many analysts as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s second-in-command.
However, South Korea’s military had said that most of North Korea’s submarines appeared to be away from their bases, and amphibious landing vessels had been deployed to the border, the Yonhap news agency reports.
On August 21, North Korea ordered its troops to be “on a war footing”.
South Korea has evacuated almost 4,000 residents from border areas and warned that it would “retaliate harshly” to any acts of aggression.
In 2004, the two Koreas reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
North Korea and South Korea will hold a second day of top-level talks amid growing tension, South Korean officials say.
The announcement was made after several hours of negotiations on August 22.
Senior aides to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye met at the Panmunjom truce village on the border.
North Korea had threatened “strong military action” if South Korea did not stop border loudspeaker broadcasts that had provoked a “semi-state of war”.
The two sides have agreed to meet again on August 23 to “narrow down differences” as overnight talks were finally wound up after nearly 10 hours of negotiations.
No media organizations were present at the talks, which took place inside the Demilitarized Zone which divides the two Koreas.
South Korea said ahead of the talks that it would be represented by national security adviser Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, and North Korea would send senior officials Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Yong-gon.
Hwang Pyong-so is seen by many analysts as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s second-in-command.
Photo South Korean Unification Ministry
North Korea had earlier issued a deadline for the dismantling of banks of loudspeakers, which have been blasting news bulletins, weather forecasts and music from the South. It had moved artillery into positions to fire on them.
South Korea has evacuated almost 4,000 residents from border areas and warned that it would “retaliate harshly”.
American and South Korean fighter jets have been flying in formation near the border.
The US’s top military officer has reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering commitment” to South Korea’s defense in a phone call to his South Korean counterpart.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey and South Korea’s Admiral Choi Yoon-hee agreed they would “ensure that the US and [South Korea] continue to work closely with one another to deter further North Korean provocations and defuse tensions,” a Pentagon statement said.
North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
In 2004, the two Koreas reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
The broadcasts were part of a program of psychological warfare, according to South Korean newspaper Korea Times, to deliver outside news so that North Korean soldiers and border-area residents could hear it.
North Korea and South Korea are planning to hold top-level talks amid growing tension, the South’s presidential office has announced.
Senior aides to Kim Jong-un and President Park Geun-hye will meet at the Panmunjom truce village on the border at 09:00 GMT, the Blue House said.
North Korea had threatened “strong military action” if South Korea did not stop border loudspeaker broadcasts.
Following an exchange of fire on August 20, North Korea declared a “semi-state of war”, state media reported.
South Korea said that it would be represented by national security adviser Kim Kwang-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, and North Korea would send senior officials Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Yong-gon.
North Korea had earlier issued a deadline for the dismantling of banks of loudspeakers, which have been blasting news bulletins, weather forecasts and music from South Korea. It had moved artillery into positions to fire on them.
South Korea has evacuated almost 4,000 residents from border areas and warned that it would “retaliate harshly”.
US and South Korean fighter jets have been flying in formation near the border.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
In 2004, South Korea and North Korea reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
The broadcasts were part of a program of psychological warfare, according to South Korean newspaper Korea Times, to deliver outside news so that North Korean soldiers and border-area residents could hear it.
On August 10, South Korea restarted broadcasting in an apparent reaction to two South Korean soldiers being injured in a landmine explosion in the demilitarized zone that was blamed on North Korea.
According to military authorities, days later North Korea also restarted its broadcasting of anti-South propaganda.
However, some reports said that the quality of the North Korean loudspeakers is so bad that it is difficult to understand what they are saying.
South Korea had previously threatened to restart broadcasts in 2010 but although the loudspeakers were reinstalled at that time, they were not put into use, with the South using FM broadcasts into North Korea instead.
Kim Jong-un has ordered the North Korean frontline troops to be on a war footing after an exchange of fire with South Korea across their heavily fortified border, state media reports.
The North Korean leader declared a “semi-state of war” at an emergency meeting on August 20, the KCN reports.
North Korea threatened action unless Seoul ends its anti-Pyongyang border broadcasts.
The secretive country often uses fierce rhetoric when tensions rise and it has made similar declarations before.
At the emergency meeting of the central military commission, Kim Jong-un had ordered that troops be “fully ready for any military operations at any time” from August 21 at 17:00 local time, the KCNA reports.
Photo Twitter
Earlier, North Korea warned that it would take strong military action if South Korea does not end border propaganda broadcasts and dismantles the broadcast facilities “within 48 hours”.
However, in a separate letter Pyongyang said it was willing to resolve the issue even though it considers the broadcasts a declaration of war, South Korea’s unification ministry said, according to Reuters.
The tensions were ratcheted up after North Korea on August 20 shelled across the border reportedly to protest against the propaganda broadcasts which restarted after a hiatus of 11 years.
In 2004, South Korea and North Korea reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
The broadcasts were part of a program of psychological warfare, according to South Korean newspaper Korea Times, to deliver outside news so that North Korean soldiers and border-area residents could hear it.
On August 10, South Korea restarted broadcasting in an apparent reaction to two South Korean soldiers being injured in a landmine explosion in the demilitarized zone that was blamed on North Korea.
Military authorities say days later North Korea also restarted its broadcasting of anti-South propaganda.
However, some reports said that the quality of the North Korean loudspeakers is so bad that it is difficult to understand what they are saying.
South Korea responded with artillery fire. There were no reported casualties.
Meanwhile, South Korea ordered the evacuation of residents from an area of its western border.
South Korea and the US also began annual joint military exercises on August 17 – they describe the drills as defensive, but North Korea calls them a rehearsal for invasion.
Residents from South Korea’s western border have been evacuated after an exchange of fire with North Korea, reports say.
North Korea fired a shell at a South Korean military unit on August 20, prompting South Korea to retaliate with several artillery rounds, the South’s defense ministry said.
South Korea’s National Security Council is due to hold an emergency session.
The western sea border has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas.
North Korea fired a projectile towards Yeoncheon, a town north-west of Seoul, at 15:52 local time, the defense ministry said.
Reports suggest the target could have been a loudspeaker broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages.
South Korea then fired “dozens of rounds of 155mm shells” towards where they thought the rocket was launched from, the ministry added in a statement.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage on either side.
South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The two sides have exchanged cross-border fire several times in recent years.
A local official told AP news agency that about 80 residents in Yeoncheon had been evacuated, with other residents in the area also urged to take shelter.
The latest incident comes amid heightened tensions between the North and South.
Seoul has blamed the North for planting a landmine that injured two South Korea soldiers earlier this month.
Since then, the sides have begun blasting propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers along the border – restarting a practice both had suspended back in 2004.
South Korea and the US also began annual joint military exercises on August 17 – they describe the drills as defensive, but North Korea calls them a rehearsal for invasion.
Japan is marking 70 years since the end of World War Two with commemoration ceremonies across the country.
The Asian country has been criticized by South Korea and China, which accused it of failing to properly atone for its actions during the war.
At Tokyo’s memorial service, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito observed a minute’s silence.
Shinzo Abe had expressed “profound grief” on August 14 over Japan’s role in the war.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye said the Japanese premier’s remarks “left much to be desired”.
Speaking on August 15 at a ceremony in Seoul, Park Geun-hye called on Shinzo Abe to reiterate Japan’s apologies for abuses during its wartime occupations of neighboring countries.
“History can never be covered up. History remains alive through its witnesses’ vivid testimony,” she said.
Japan’s surrender to the allies on August 15, 1945, freed the then-unified Korea from 35 years of occupation, leading Koreans to celebrate the date as Liberation Day.
President Park Geun-hye also called on Japan to resolve, “at the earliest possible date”, the issue of so-called “comfort women” – Asian women forced to work as s** slaves for the military during the war.
Shinzo Abe stopped short of issuing a fresh apology this year to victims of Japanese aggression, saying that future Japanese generations should not be “predestined to apologize” for their country’s wartime actions.
A spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry said on August 15 that Japan should have made a “sincere apology to the people of victim countries … rather than being evasive on this major issue of principle”.
Speaking at the ceremony in Tokyo, PM Shinzo Abe said Japan’s war dead “sacrificed their life for the future and the prosperity of our homeland”.
“Their sacrifice was the foundation of today’s prosperity and we shall never forget their contribution. We always reflect the past and we hate the horror of the war,” he said.
Emperor Akihito also spoke at the ceremony in Tokyo, striking a more apologetic tone than Shinzo Abe with an expression of “deep remorse” for the nation’s wartime aggression.
Shinzo Abe did not visit Japan’s controversial Yasukuni war shrine this year, as he has in previous years, although there will be commemorations at the site.
Koichi Hagiuda, a member of parliament and aide to Shinzo Abe, visited the shrine with a cash offering on behalf of the prime minister.
“I paid respects to the souls of those who sacrificed their precious lives in the past war,” Koichi Hagiuda said.
The shrine has been criticized by China and South Korea because along with Japan’s war dead it honors leaders who were later convicted of war crimes.
As well as commemorations that seek to consign wartime atrocities to the past, there will be events that highlight ongoing tensions in the region.
Thousands of South Korean protesters are expected to hold an anti-Japanese rally on August 15. This past week a Korean protester set fire to himself outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
Meanwhile, in North Korea, clocks were set back 30 minutes on August 15 to so-called Pyongyang Time to remove the country from a shared time zone established under Japanese colonial rule.
North Korea has changed its time zone, turning clocks back by 30 minutes, to mark its liberation from the Japanese at the end of WW2.
Bells rang out in the capital Pyongyang at midnight on August 14 as the new time zone came into effect.
North Korea announced the move earlier this week, surprising South Korea whose president, Park Geun-hye, warned it ran counter to efforts to foster co-operation.
The communist country had been nine hours ahead of GMT – like South Korea and Japan.
Before being colonized by Japan in 1910, the entire Korean peninsula – then one country – was 8.5 hours ahead of GMT.
Jong Sok, chief astronomer at the Pyongyang Observatory, said changing time zones made a lot of sense – and was appropriate as the country marked 70 years since it was liberated from Japanese rule.
“With the time standard that we have used up until now, the time when the sun is at its highest position is not correctly noon,” Jong Sok told the Associated Press.
“I think it is the lawful right of a sovereign state that our republic – to mark the 70th anniversary of our liberation and the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japanese imperialism – has announced our time as Pyongyang Time, the same as our ancestors used and which was robbed from us by the Japanese imperialists.”
State news agency KCNA said earlier this week “wicked Japanese imperialists” had “deprived Korea of even its standard time” by changing the clocks during the occupation.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye said on Monday Pyongyang’s “unilateral” decision, taken without any consultation with Seoul, was “highly regrettable” and threatened a “further deepening of disparity between the two Koreas”.
Former South Korea’s First Lady Lee Hee-ho has travelled to North Korea for a peace visit.
It is unclear whether, the widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who is on a private trip, will be able to meet top North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong-un.
In 2000, President Kim Dae-jung held inter-Korean reconciliation talks – later winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
The two Koreas are technically still at war since 1953.
Kim Dae-jung, who died in 2009, was a supporter of rapprochement with Pyongyang. The summit between him and Kim Jong-un’s father, and former leader Kim Jong-il, led to a time of relatively better relations between the two Koreas.
“Lee voiced hope that the two Koreas could heal pain and wounds from a 70-year-long inter-Korean division and promote reconciliation and co-operation, “ said Kim Sung-jae, from the Kim Dae-jung Peace Centre which organized the trip, according to Yonhap news agency.
“She expressed wishes that this visit could pave the way for continuous dialogue, exchanges and co-operation between the two Koreas.”
Lee Hee-ho’s official itinerary says she will visit a maternity clinic, an orphanage and a children’s hospital.
A man accused of making an online threat to kill US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert has been arrested in Seoul, the Yonhap news agency reports.
The man, identified only by his surname Lee, allegedly posted the threat on the White House website earlier this month.
Photo AP
According to Yonhap, Lee, who denies guilt, was arrested on July 14 at the request of US authorities and found to have draft copies of the letter on his laptop.
Ambassador Mark Lippert was injured in an knife attack in Seoul in March.
He suffered deep gashes to his face and hand when Korean nationalist Kim Ki-jong lunged at him with a knife at a breakfast meeting in a hotel.
Kim Ki-jong is on trial for a string of charges linked to the attack.
Yonhap said that as well as the draft letter – the details of which have not been made public – Lee’s confiscated laptop showed he had visited the White House homepage and was storing a screen grab of when he posted the letter.
Police told Yonhap they believed Lee was acting alone.
North Korea has been hit by worst drought in a century, sparking fears of worsening food shortages, state news agency KCN announced.
Main rice-growing provinces had been badly affected and more than 30% of rice paddies were “parching up”, the news agency said.
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are believed to have died during a widespread famine in the 1990s.
This drought is unlikely to be as deadly because of recent agricultural reforms, correspondents say.
The United Nations World Food Programme says North Korea regularly faces significant food shortages and currently about a third of children in the country are malnourished.
KCNA said rice planting had finished in more than 441,560 hectares of paddy fields “but at least 136,200 hectares of them are parching up”.
Paddy fields in South Hwanghae and North Hwanghae provinces were particularly badly hit, with up to 80% of rice seedlings drying up in some areas, the news agency added.
It said South Phyongan and South Hamgyong were also “badly affected”.
“Water levels of reservoirs stand at their lowest, while rivers and streams [are] getting dry,” the news agency said.
It added that it was planting other crops in rice paddy fields of drought-stricken areas to “reduce damage”.
Denmark’s ambassador to North and South Korea, Thomas Lehman, told Reuters that he had visited drought-hit areas in the North in May.
“The lack of water has created a lot of damage to the so-called spring crop, and the rice planting is extremely difficult without sufficient water,” Thomas Lehman said.
In 2014, North Korea saw its lowest rainfall in 30 years.
For this reason, food shortages caused by the current drought are unlikely to be on the same scale, Thomas Lehman says.
Other countries, including South Korea, regularly send aid to North Korea.
In April 2015, the UN called for $111 million to fund humanitarian activities in food, nutrition, agriculture and sanitation.
North Korea is heavily sanctioned under UN resolutions for its nuclear and missile tests dating back to 2006.
According to South Korea officials, a North Korean soldier has walked across one of the world’s most heavily militarized borders to defect to the South.
The solder, in his late teens, approached a South Korean guard post in north-eastern Hwacheon in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on June, South Korea’s defense ministry said.
There was no exchange of fire and the soldier is now being held in custody.
It is extremely rare for defectors to walk across the DMZ. The last time it happened was in 2012.
Most defectors cross over into China, then make their way through South East Asia and then into South Korea.
The DMZ is fortified with landmines and barbed wire and guarded by tens of thousands of troops on both side.
Hundreds of North Koreans flee poverty and a repressive regime at home each year.
In August 2014, two North Koreans swam across the Yellow Sea border to a South Korean island.
Of the nearly 28,000 North Koreans who have resettled in South Korea, most of them left the country through the border with China, and not through the DMZ.
This is because the 155 mile-long DMZ is heavily guarded, littered with anti-personnel landmines.
The last time a North Korean soldier defected through the wire fence was in October 2012, when a solider managed to cross undetected.
Recently, there has been increased activity by North Korean soldiers in the DMZ and some believe the North has been trying to make defections more difficult.
South Korea’s robotics team KAIST has won the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC).
The DRC is a competition of robot systems and software teams vying to develop robots capable of assisting humans in responding to natural and man-made disasters.
The contest was designed to be extremely difficult.
Participating teams, representing some of the most advanced robotics research and development organizations in the world, are collaborating and innovating on a very short timeline to develop the hardware, software, sensors, and human-machine control interfaces that will enable their robots to complete a series of challenge tasks selected by DARPA for their relevance to disaster response.
The contest is a battle of robots on an obstacle course meant to simulate conditions similar to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
The DRC Finals took place from June 5-6, 2015 at Fairplex in Pomona, California.
Team KAIST’s DRC-Hubo humanoid robot defeated 22 others to win the top $2 million prize from the US Department of Defense’s DARPA research unit.
The robots had an hour to complete a series of tasks, such as a driving a car and walking up steps.
The challenge involved a series of tasks for the robots to complete, somewhat autonomously, with intermittent connectivity with their operators to simulate real disaster conditions.
The challenge was the first where robots performed without being tethered and there were plenty of hard falls, soliciting groans and laughter from the crowds at the contest.
The other tasks the robots were set included getting out of a car, opening a door, drilling a hole in a wall, turning a valve and crossing rubble either by clearing a path or walking over it.
Team KAIST was the fastest, completing all the tasks in 44 minutes and 28 seconds.
Team IHMC Robotics came second, winning $1 million, and Tartan Rescue’s Chimp robot was third, winning $500,000, a day after taking a hard fall and then wowing the crowd by getting back up and back to work without human help.
The DRC Finals also included two mystery tasks over two days – on day one the mystery was pulling a lever and on day two it was pulling a plug out of one socket and inserting it into another.
Each team was given two attempts to complete the course.
There were meant to be 25 teams competing, but Japan’s team Hydra dropped out at the last minute because of an electronics accident during training.
A Chinese team was also due to compete but reportedly couldn’t get their visas in time.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to North Korea has been canceled by the secretive country without explanations one day before he was due to arrive.
Ban Ki-moon, who was previously South Korea’s foreign minister, was due to visit an industrial complex in the Kaesong economic zone run jointly by the North and South.
Speaking at a forum in Seoul, Ban Ki-moon said the move was “deeply regrettable” and that no explanation was given.
Ban Ki-moon would have been the first UN chief to visit North Korea in more than 20 years.
The UN secretary general said he wanted to promote reconciliation.
When he first announced the meeting on May 19, Ban Ki-moo said he would “urge North Korea to co-operate with the international community for the Korean Peninsula and for peace and stability”, reported Yonhap.
Ban Ki-moon was also due to meet South Korean business leaders and North Korean workers on his trip to Kaesong.
According to South Korea’s intelligence, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the execution of 15 people in 2015, including several top officials.
South Korea’s spy agency told a parliamentary meeting on April 29 that they were executed by firing squad on spying charges.
Those killed include two vice ministers who challenged Kim Jong-un over his policies and members of an orchestra, intelligence officials said.
Kim Jong-un purged and executed his once-powerful uncle Chang Song-thaek for treachery in 2013.
South Korean politicians were told that one of the officials killed was a forestry minister who had complained about North Korea’s forestation plan, Yonhap news agency reported.
“Excuses or reasoning doesn’t work for Kim Jong-un, and his style of rule is to push through everything,” said Shin Kyung-min, a member of South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee, quoting an intelligence official.
Shin Kyung-min’s office told Reuters news agency that the unnamed official had added that the executions were a “showcase” in response to what Kim Jong-un saw as a challenge to his authority.
Four members of North Korea’s Unhasu Orchestra are also believed to have been executed in March.
Reports say that Kim Jong-un’s wife, Ri Sol-ju was a singer in the orchestra before her marriage.
South Korean politician Lee Cheol-woo told Yonhap that the head of the orchestra had been executed, possibly for leaking family secrets.
There has been no confirmation from North Korea about the executions but Kim Jong-un has purged his opponents before.
South Korean PM Lee Wan-koo has offered to resign after facing accusations of accepting bribes.
President Park Geun-hye has not said if she will accept Lee Wan-koo’s resignation, but has expressed sympathy for him.
State news agency Yonhap said Park Geun-hye had called for a “thorough investigation” into the scandal.
Lee Wan-koo denies accepting 30 million won ($27,700) in illegal campaign funds in 2013, but has come under pressure to stand down.
Under South Korean law, politicians cannot accept more than 100,000 won in contributions.
The scandal erupted when businessman Sung Wan-jong was found dead earlier this month in a suspected suicide.
Sung Wan-jong was about to be questioned by authorities over allegations that he embezzled company money to bribe politicians.
Investigators found a note in his pocket listing the names of several people, including Lee Wan-koo, and numbers which appeared to indicate amounts paid to them.
An opposition party then called for Lee Wan-koo’s impeachment.
Referring to Lee Wan-koo’s resignation, Park Geun-hye said in a written statement: “I find it regrettable. I also feel sympathy for the agony of the prime minister.”
The president is currently in Peru on a four-day state visit. Yonhap reported that she would decide on whether to accept Lee Wan-koo’s resignation by next week.
Lee Wan-koo has been in the job for only two months.
He filled the position after a protracted hunt for a candidate to replace his predecessor, Chung Hong-won.
Chung Hong-won resigned shortly after the Sewol ferry disaster in April 2014 that killed more than 300 people.
US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert could face a “bigger mishap” than the knife attack to his face last month if he does not stop insulting North Korea with “laughable” accusations, a North Korean propaganda unit said.
Ambassador Mark Lippert said in a speech on April 15 that if North Korea improves its human rights record and takes steps to end its nuclear program, it will be rewarded with prosperity and better ties with the outside world, including the US.
North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Mark Lippert’s remarks were proof that Washington was intent on hostility.
Photo Yonhap
“Lippert needs to drop the bad habit of rashly engaging in scheming chatter distorting the truth and instigating war by taking issue with us,” the committee said in a commentary published on April 16 on the Uriminzokkiri propaganda web site.
“Otherwise, next time, he could face a bigger mishap than getting cut in the cheek by a South Korean citizen,” it said.
North Korea frequently rails at the US, South Korea’s biggest ally, accusing it of preparing for imminent invasion.
A US State Department spokesperson said: “We have seen the statement which is unfortunately consistent with the nature of the regime and its rhetoric.”
Mark Lippert was slashed in the face with a fruit knife by a South Korean man with a history of erratic behavior at a breakfast forum in central Seoul that left a gash that required 80 stitches. He also suffered injuries to his arm.
South Korean police charged Mark Lippert’s attacker with attempted murder. He was not charged with any North Korea-related crime after being questioned over his multiple visits.
North Korea previously called the attack “deserved punishment” but denied any role in it.
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