KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) – The body of the assassinated half-brother of North Korea’s leader will be sent to Pyongyang and nine Malaysians freed, Malaysia’s prime minister said Thursday, ending a bitter feud between the two countries. Kim Jong-Nam was poisoned with the lethal nerve agent VX in a brazen Cold War-style assassination on February 13 in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The murder triggered a diplomatic dispute between Malaysia and North Korea, which expelled each other’s […]
Tag: Pyongyang
Malaysia PM says citizens ‘effectively hostages’ in N. Korea
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysian citizens are effectively being held hostage in North Korea, the prime minister said Tuesday after Pyongyang banned them from leaving the country in a row over the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam. “This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms,” Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement. © Agence France-Presse
Malaysia summons envoy as Kim killing row deepens
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia summoned the North Korean ambassador on Monday for a dressing-down over Pyongyang’s attack on its investigation into the assassination of leader Kim Jong-Nam’s brother, deepening a diplomatic row. Five North Koreans are in the frame for last week’s airport killing, drawing a furious response from Pyongyang which has accused Kuala Lumpur of conspiring with “hostile forces” to damage its reputation. Malaysia recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and also […]
Pyongyang opens newly built bag factory
PYONGYANG, North Korea (Reuters) — North Korea held an opening ceremony for a newly built bag factory on Tuesday (January 10) in Pyongyang. Video provided by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA, which Reuters cannot independently verify, showed state officials and workers celebrating the opening of the new plant. “The Pyongyang Bag Factory is the culmination of love and was constructed with the respected supreme leader’s direct suggestions and his noble love of the future […]
North Korea’s Kim guides new rocket engine test, calls for satellite launch
(Reuters) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised a ground test of a new rocket engine to launch satellites, the North’s state media reported on Tuesday, the latest in a rapid succession of missile-related tests this year by the isolated state. Kim asked that the scientists and engineers make “preparations for launching the satellite as soon as possible on the basis of the successful test,” the official KCNA news agency said, indicating the […]
N. Korea says US pushing peninsula to ‘explosion’
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea on Wednesday accused the United States of pushing the Korean Peninsula to “the point of explosion” after it dispatched two huge bombers in a show of force against Pyongyang. The supersonic B-1B Lancers flew over South Korea Tuesday as Washington vowed its “unshakeable commitment” to defend its allies in the region following North Korea’s fifth and largest-ever nuclear test conducted last week. Washington called the demonstration “just one […]
South Koreans protest against the North’s nuclear test
(Reuters) — South Korean conservative protesters held an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul on Saturday (September 10) to denounce Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test. About 100 protesters gathered in central Seoul, and chanted anti-North Korea slogans while holding up placards bearing a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un . Protesters also burned an effigy of Kim Jong Un at the rally. “South Korean people strongly urge the United Nations and the international community […]
North Korea conducts fifth and largest nuclear test: South Korea and Japan
(REUTERS) North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday, South Korea and Japan said after meteorological agencies reported a surface-level seismic tremor near the North’s known test site that indicated it was its most powerful yet. The U.S. Geological Survey and European agencies measured the quake, which was recorded at 0030 GMT, with a magnitude of 5.3. Agencies in China, reclusive North Korea’s main diplomatic ally, also recorded the tremor. South Korean President […]
North Korea fires three ballistic missiles into sea: South Korea
(REUTERS) North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, said South Korea, as the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies held a summit in China, the North’s main diplomatic ally. The missiles were fired from a western region south of the capital Pyongyang, just after noon local time (0300 GMT), South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The missile […]
S. Korea-US military drill shadowed by N. Korea threats
by Giles HEWITT SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops began a military exercise simulating an all-out North Korean attack Monday, as Pyongyang threatened a pre-emptive strike on forces participating in the drill. The two-week annual Ulchi Freedom exercise is largely computer-simulated, but still involves 50,000 Korean and 30,000 US soldiers. The drill always triggers a spike in tensions on the divided Korean peninsula, and this year it […]
North Korea fires second missile after first launch fails – South Korea
(REUTERS) North Korea launched what appeared to be a second intermediate-range Musudan missile on Wednesday morning after another launch hours earlier failed, South Korea’s military said. It was not immediately clear if the second launch, about two hours after the first, was successful. The first missile was launched from the east coast city of Wonsan, a South Korean official said, the same area where previous tests of intermediate-range missiles were conducted, possibly using mobile launchers. […]





