South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to strengthen state control over agriculture and take a spate of other steps to increase grain production, state media reported Thursday. But experts say it won’t effectively address a worsening food shortage.

Kim’s measures unveiled during a recent four-day meeting were largely a repeat of his past policies. Prospects for quickly resolving its food insecurity are dim, as North Korea restricts the operation of markets and devotes much of its scarce resources to its nuclear program.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un called for stronger public solidarity behind his leadership to increase the country’s grain production significantly, state media reported Tuesday, amid outside worries about the country’s worsened food insecurity.

Foreign experts say North Korea is experiencing a serious shortfall of food in the aftermath of COVID-19 border restrictions and a reported push for greater state control over grain supply. The experts say they’ve seen no signs of mass deaths or famine due to the shortfall.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opened a major political conference dedicated to agriculture, state media reported Monday, amid outside assessments that suggest the country is facing a serious shortfall of food.

South Korean experts estimate that North Korea is short around 1 million tons of grain, 20 percent of its annual demand, after the pandemic disrupted both farming and imports from China.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — There’s little doubt that North Korea’s chronic food shortages worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and speculation about the country’s chronic food insecurity has flared as its top leaders prepare to discuss the “very important and urgent task” of formulating a correct agricultural policy.

SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea will lift a post-arrival test requirement for travelers from China next month as the COVID-19 situation stabilized, South Korea's central prevention and countermeasures headquarters said on Wednesday.

Travelers from China have been required to take polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests after arrival here since early January. But from March 1, the post-arrival test requirement will be lifted, and flights from China will be allowed to land at other airports besides the Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday accused U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of “an extremely unfair and imbalanced attitude,” as it lambasted him for condemning its recent missile test but ignoring alleged U.S. hostility against the North.

The accusation came as U.S., South Korean and Japanese destroyers were holding trilateral anti-missile training near the Korean Peninsula, a move the North could regard as a provocation.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s latest missile launches are a demonstration of the country’s avowed ability to use nuclear force against South Korea and the mainland U.S. How immediate is that threat?

North Korea claims its nuclear forces are capable of destroying its rivals, and often follows its provocative weapons tests with launch details. But many foreign experts call the North’s claims propaganda and suggest that the country is not yet capable of hitting the United States or its allies with a nuclear weapon.

SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted a multiple-rocket launching drill Monday morning, the official Korean Central News Agency reported, in response to the U.S.-South Korea combined air drill a day earlier.

The long-range artillery unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA) on the western front fired two rocket shells of 600 mm multiple-rocket launchers towards the eastern waters, the state news agency reported Monday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea east of the country Monday in its second test launch in three days, prompting Japan to request an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

The launches continue a tit-for-tat exchange that began Saturday, and follow a year in which North Korea launched more than 70 missiles, the most ever. Pyongyang has recently escalated nuclear threats and threatened an “unprecedentedly” strong response to annual U.S.-South Korea military drills, which it views as preparation for an invasion.

SEOUL, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The United States held joint air exercises bilaterally with South Korea and Japan involving strategic bombers on Sunday, a day after North Korea fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a "sudden launching drill".

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the exercise, in which South Korea's F-35A, F-15K and U.S. F-16 fighters escorted American B-1B bombers, demonstrated the allies' "overwhelming" defence capabilities and readiness posture.