South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping praised North Korea on Wednesday for moving in the “right direction” by politically resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula, in a rare op-ed published by a North Korean state newspaper that comes on the eve of Xi’s visit to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The blasts detonated far from the bustling megacities of Asia, but the attack this week on two tankers in the strategic Strait of Hormuz hits at the heart of this region’s oil-import-dependent economies.

While the violence only directly jolted two countries in the region — one of the targeted ships was operated by a Tokyo-based company; a nearby South Korean-operated vessel helped rescue sailors — it will unnerve major economies throughout Asia.

SEOUL, June 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, the country's top policymaker in charge of inter-Korean affairs, on Thursday called for the continued summit between the two Koreas amid the stalled talks for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula between Pyongyang and Washington.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A human rights group said Tuesday it has identified hundreds of spots where witnesses claim North Korea carried out public executions and extrajudicial state killings as part of an arbitrary and aggressive use of the death penalty that is meant to intimidate its citizens.

The Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group said its research was based on interviews with 610 North Korean defectors conducted over four years who helped locate the sites with satellite imagery.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Pentagon has told the White House to stop politicizing the military, amid a furor over a Trump administration order to have the Navy ship named for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain hidden from view during President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Japan.

Trump’s top aide scoffed at the idea that anyone working for the White House might be punished. “We think it’s much ado about nothing.”

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A senior North Korean official who had been reported as purged over the failed nuclear summit with Washington was shown in state media on Monday enjoying a concert near leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korean publications on Monday showed Kim Yong Chol sitting five seats away from a clapping Kim Jong Un in the same row along with other top officials during a musical performance by the wives of Korean People’s Army officers.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean newspaper reported Friday that North Korea executed a senior envoy involved in nuclear negotiations with the U.S. as well as four other high-level officials. But as ever with North Korea, a country that closely guards its secrets, there are reasons to be cautious about the purported purge.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Monday called U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton a “war monger” and “defective human product” after he called the North’s recent tests of short-range missile a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The statement by an unnamed North Korean foreign ministry spokesman came as President Donald Trump continued his visit to Japan for meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in which the nuclear standoff with North Korea was expected to be high on the agenda.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday that nuclear negotiations with the United States will never resume unless the Trump administration moves away from what Pyongyang described as unilateral demands for disarmament.

The statement by an unnamed North Korean foreign ministry spokesman published in state media was the country’s latest expression of displeasure over the stalled negotiations. It follows two separate launches of short-range missiles earlier this month that were apparently aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul.

SEOUL, May 15 (Xinhua): A South Korean taxi driver burned himself to death early Wednesday in what was believed to be a protest against the introduction of mobile carpooling services, according to local media reports.

The 76-year-old driver, identified by his surname Ahn, set fire on himself at around 3:19 a.m. local time on the sidewalk near the Seoul Plaza in central Seoul.

He was found by a passer-by and taken to a nearby hospital, but the taxi driver passed away.