May 21, 2013
WASHINGTON--The Pentagon on May 20 appeared to play down North Korea's six short-range missile launches over the past three days, describing tensions on the Korean peninsula as relatively low.
May 20, 2013
SEOUL--The Kaesong industrial complex, an important cash cow for North Korea that was jointly set up with South Korean investment, is again on the cusp of being scrapped, perhaps for good.
May 20, 2013
BEIJING--The Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang asked North Korea to release a private Chinese fishing boat and its crew soon after its owner reported the detention 10 days ago, state media said.
May 20, 2013
SEOUL--North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast on May 20, a day after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers.
May 19, 2013
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent his special Cabinet adviser on an unnanounced visit to Pyongyang last week in the hope of resolving the abduction issue once and for all.
May 18, 2013
UNITED NATIONS--North Korea is still trying to import and export nuclear and ballistic missile-related items but financial and trade sanctions are slowing progress on development of their prohibited weapons, U.N. experts say in a new report.
May 18, 2013
The United States and Japan have reduced the alert levels for their destroyers in a further sign that the military threat from North Korea is ebbing away.
May 18, 2013
SEOUL--North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on May 18, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, but the purpose of the launches was unknown.
May 18, 2013
BEIJING—Special Cabinet adviser Isao Iijima has provided few details about his unannounced visit to North Korea since his return to Tokyo on May 18, but Pyongyang called it a "very important mission."
May 17, 2013
A U.S. official said he was confused over a recent surprise visit to Pyongyang by an aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but added that he understood Japan’s intention to advance dialogue with North Korea to resolve the long-standing issue over the abduction of Japanese citizens.
May 16, 2013
NEW YORK--North Korea in 2008 tried to export rocket fuses to Iran through Dalian, China, but a third country intercepted its smuggling attempt, according to a report by a U.N. panel of experts.
May 16, 2013
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hopeful of making headway in resolving the long-standing impasse of North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals through the surprise visit to Pyongyang on May 14 by Isao Iijima, a special Cabinet adviser.
May 16, 2013
A U.S. envoy for North Korea sidestepped questions on May 16 on the nature of a surprise visit to Pyongyang by an aide to Japan's prime minister, but said all sides tackling North Korea's nuclear ambitions should coordinate closely.
May 15, 2013
Outgoing South Korean Ambassador Shin Kak-soo severely criticized recent comments by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto about the necessity of having "comfort women" who were forced into frontline brothels for Japanese soldiers before and during World War II.
May 15, 2013
NEW YORK--North Korean government officials and diplomats were deeply involved in efforts by Pyongyang to acquire ballistic missile technology in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to a copy of a report obtained by The Asahi Shimbun.
May 15, 2013
UNITED NATIONS--Increasingly tough financial sanctions, an arms embargo and other international restrictions on trade with North Korea have significantly delayed expansion of Pyongyang's illicit nuclear arms program, according to a confidential report by a U.N. panel of experts seen by Reuters on May 14.
May 14, 2013
An adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in North Korea on May 14 in a rare surprise visit to a country with which Japan has no diplomatic ties, but the purpose of the visit was not immediately known.
May 14, 2013
SHIZUOKA--Teenage pen pals a half century ago, a South Korean man and a Japanese woman never forgot each other and their postal friendship that developed at a time their two nations were enduring tense relations.
May 13, 2013
SEOUL--Fresh off her visit to the United States, new South Korean President Park Geun-hye is making plans to visit China around the end of June, sources said, in an apparent snub to Japan and a break from tradition.
May 13, 2013
SEOUL, South Korea--The scandal shaking up South Korea's main spy agency is not cloak-and-dagger stuff, but the kind of low-grade trickery anyone with an Internet connection could pull off. And the target was not Seoul's opaque rival to the north, but the country's own people.