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Search resuls for: "Seoul's Unification Ministry"


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The North Korean flag flutters at the North Korea consular office in Dandong, Liaoning province, China April 20, 2021. Both Angola and Uganda have forged friendly ties with North Korea since the 1970s, maintaining military cooperation and providing rare sources of foreign currency such as statue-building projects. Seoul's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the pullout reflected the impact of international sanctions aimed at curbing funding for the North's nuclear and missile programs. "This can be a sign of North Korea's difficult economic situation, where it is difficult to maintain even minimal diplomatic relations with traditionally friendly countries." Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported last week, citing unnamed sources, that North Korea was planning to shut down at least 10 diplomatic missions, including a consulate in Hong Kong, largely because of economic difficulties.
Persons: Tingshu Wang, Hyonhee Shin, Hyunsu Yim, Gerry Doyle Organizations: North, REUTERS, Rights, Yomiuri Shimbun, Thomson Locations: North Korea, Dandong, Liaoning province, China, Rights SEOUL, Angola, Uganda, Korea, Hong Kong
North Korea closes multiple embassies around the world
  + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +3 min
The North Korean flag flutters at the North Korea consular office in Dandong, Liaoning province, China April 20, 2021. Both Angola and Uganda have forged friendly ties with North Korea since the 1970s, maintaining military cooperation and providing rare sources of foreign currency such as statue-building projects. "This can be a sign of North Korea's difficult economic situation, where it is difficult to maintain even minimal diplomatic relations with traditionally friendly countries." North Korea has formal relations with 159 countries, but had 53 diplomatic missions overseas, including three consulates and three representative offices, until it pulled out of Angola and Uganda, according to the ministry. Correspondence with the Spanish Communist Party released on the party's website showed the North Korean embassy announcing the closing in a letter dated Oct. 26.
Persons: Tingshu Wang, KCNA, Chad O'Carroll, Kim Jong, Hyonhee Shin, Hyunsu Yim, hyang Choi, Josh Smith, Gerry Doyle, Ed Davies Organizations: North, REUTERS, Rights, NK Pro, Spanish Communist Party, North Korean, Thomson Locations: North Korea, Dandong, Liaoning province, China, Rights SEOUL, Spain, Hong Kong, Africa, Korean, Angola, Uganda, Korea, Italy, Madrid, Pyongyang, United States
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departs Pyongyang, North Korea, to visit Russia, September 10, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on September 12, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS Acquire Licensing RightsSEOUL, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Top military commanders, arms industry officials and diplomats accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his trip to Russia, hinting at a potentially defence-heavy agenda for meetings with President Vladimir Putin. North Korea did not name the members of the delegation, but analysts identified several key figures who appear to be accompanying Kim in photos released by state media on Tuesday. Overseeing North Korea's defence industry including its nuclear and missile programmes, Ri travelled to Russia with Kim's late father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011. An official at Seoul's Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said Kim and Putin could explore ways to return North Korean labourers to Russia, banned under the U.N. Security Council sanctions.
Persons: Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Kim, Ri Pyong Chol, Ri, Kim's, Kim Jong Il, Marshal Pak Jong Chon, Pak, Jo Chun Ryong, Michael Madden, Putin, Jo, Kang Sun Nam, Madden, Choe Son Hui, Choe, Donald Trump, Kim Yo Jong, Su Yong, Pak Hun, Han Kwang Sang, Hyonhee Shin, Josh Smith, Gerry Doyle Organizations: North, Korean Central News Agency, KCNA, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Central Military Commission, Marshal, Munitions Industry Department, Stimson, Jo . Defence, U.S, Seoul's Unification Ministry, . Security, Thomson Locations: Pyongyang, North Korea, Russia, Rights SEOUL, Washington, Vietnam
KCNA via REUTERS Acquire Licensing RightsSEOUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - North Korea conducted a simulated "scorched-earth" nuclear strike on targets across South Korea, state media reported on Thursday, in reaction to allied exercises that it said amounted to plans for a preemptive nuclear attack by the United States. ROK is the initials of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, hours after the U.S. deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills. South Korea's presidential office convened a security meeting after North Korea's late-night launch, which followed its second failed attempt last week to put its first spy satellite into orbit. Japan will intercept North Korea's missiles if they fly over Japan's territory, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.
Persons: North Korea's, Fumio Kishida, Hirokazu Matsuno, Kim Jong Un, KCNA, Kim Jong, Kim, Soo, hyang Choi, Josh Smith, Kantaro Komiya, Kiyoshi Takenaka, Satoshi Sugiyama, Stephen Coates, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Korean People's Army, North, Korean Central News Agency, Reuters, KCNA, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, ROK, U.S, Thomson Locations: North Korea, Rights SEOUL, South Korea, United States, Republic of Korea, Japan, Pyongyang, U.S, Korea, Seoul, Kantaro, Tokyo
The quoted remarks by North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui came in a statement criticising the United States and other Group of Seven countries. Tension has flared in recent weeks as North Korea has ramped up military activities, and threatened "more practical and offensive" action as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual springtime military exercises. North Korea has been reacting furiously to those exercises, calling them a rehearsal for "an all-out, nuclear war." Choe accused the G7 countries of illegally interfering in North Korea's internal affairs by demanding denuclearisation, saying Pyongyang would respond if they attempt to violate its sovereignty and fundamental interests. "North Korea will never get what it wants through nuclear and missile development, and it will only become more isolated from the international community," ministry deputy spokesperson Lee Hyo-jung told a briefing.
SEOUL, Feb 22 (Reuters) - North Korea's official newspaper said on Wednesday that relying on external aid to cope with food shortages would be equal to taking "poisoned candy", urging economic self-reliance despite deepening hardships amid sanctions and coronavirus lockdowns. Most U.N. agencies and Western relief groups have since left North Korea, with China remaining one of the few sources of external food assistance. "It is a mistake to try to boost the economy by accepting and eating this poisoned candy," the commentary said. "Food production dropped from last year, and there is a possibility of distribution issues due to a change in their food supply and distribution policy," a ministry official told reporters. Unification Minister Kwon Young-se has said Pyongyang had asked the U.N. food agency, the World Food Programme, to provide support but there was no progress because of differences over monitoring issues.
North Korea secretly conducted six tests of nuclear weapons at the Punggye-ri site in the mountainous North Hamgyong Province between 2006 and 2017, according to the U.S. and South Korean governments. It also said that neighbouring South Korea, China and Japan might be at risk due partly to agricultural and fisheries products smuggled from the North. When North Korea invited foreign journalists to witness the destruction of some tunnels at the nuclear test site in 2018, it confiscated their radiation detectors. The ministry said, however, that it could not establish a direct link with the nuclear site. The rights group urged a resumption of testing and an international enquiry into the radiation risks for communities around Punggye-ri.
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