North Korea

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North Korea Shuts Down Universities for 10 Months

Students will be sent to work on building projects: report

(Newser) - School's out in North Korea, but not just for summer. Universities will be shut down until next April and students will be sent to work on construction projects in major cities, reports the Telegraph . Only those close to graduating and foreign students will be allowed to continue classes. The...

North Korea Allows AP to Expand Coverage

Associated Press will have print and photo journalists working in bureau

(Newser) - The Associated Press will be the first text- and photo-driven Western news outlet in North Korea, the news agency said today. A memorandum of understanding agreed by the AP and the Korean Central News Agency would build upon the AP's existing video news bureau, which opened in Pyongyang in...

North Korea Blames Lightning Strike for Loss to US

Coach says women feeling effects of June 8 zap

(Newser) - The USA women's soccer team started the World Cup with a 2-0 victory today thanks to goals by Lauren Cheney and Rachel Buehler and, er, a lightning strike on June 8. Or so says the North Korean coach, who claims five of his players were hospitalized earlier this month...

Oops: S. Korea Fires at Passenger Jet

Mistakes Asiana Air plane for N. Korean military plane, misses completely

(Newser) - In a sign of how twitchy things are getting on the Korean border, South Korean troops yesterday fired at a commercial plane carrying 119 people, mistaking the Asiana Airlines jet for one belonging to North Korea's military. Fortunately, they missed entirely and the plane landed without incident. "The...

US Halts Suspected Missiles En Route From North Korea to Burma
US Forces
North Korean Ship Home

US Forces North Korean Ship Home

It was believed to be carrying missile parts to Burma

(Newser) - After a standoff and slow-speed chase at sea, a North Korean ship suspected of carrying missile components to Burma turned around and went home. The US Navy intercepted the ship, which has been suspected of previous illegal shipments, on May 26 somewhere south of Shanghai. In an apparent attempt to...

North Korea Is 2nd-Happiest Nation: North Korea

America, of course, is dead last

(Newser) - A new highly credible study from the North Korean government has discovered that it is—surprise!—the second-happiest nation on Earth, behind only China, according to the Shanghaiist . Apparently starvation, poverty, and rampant oppression didn’t stop the nation from earning 98 out of 100 happiness points, behind China’...

Seoul to Troops: Stop Using Kim Pics for Target Practice

Cadets will be told to stop defacing images

(Newser) - In North Korea, images of Kim Jong Il and heir apparent are treated as holy icons. In the South, soldiers use them for target practice. Or at least they did until local media showed them doing so. Now Seoul has ordered cadets to stop decorating their rifle ranges with the...

North Korea Releases American Eddie Jun After Six Months
 North Korea Frees American 

North Korea Frees American

Eddie Jun had been detained for six months

(Newser) - North Korea freed an American it held for a half year for reportedly proselytizing, handing him today to a US envoy who said Washington had not promised to provide aid in exchange for the man's release. The envoy, Robert King, accompanied Eddie Jun on a flight from Pyongyang, and...

North Korea to Release American

News of Eddie Jun comes as Pyongyang seeks new food aid

(Newser) - North Korea is set to release an American held since last November, state media reported after a US diplomat visited Pyongyang. The American envoy for human rights in North Korea, Robert King, headed to the country to examine its request that the US resume food aid, which Pyongyang halted in...

North Korea, Iran Swapping Missile Tech: UN Report

Report angers China for claims it helps facilitate illegal transfers

(Newser) - Iran and North Korea have been illegally swapping missile technology, apparently with the help of China, according to a confidential UN report acquired by Reuters yesterday. It found that "p rohibited ballistic missile-related item" are suspected of being transferred via Air Koryo or Iran Air flights; North Korea prefers...

N. Korea&#39;s Prison Camps Burgeoning, Now Hold 200K
N. Korea's Prison Camps Burgeoning, Now Hold 200K
SAYS AMNESTY

N. Korea's Prison Camps Burgeoning, Now Hold 200K

Amnesty International points to satellite images, witness testimony

(Newser) - Satellite images of North Korea's political prisoner camps show they are getting bigger, says Amnesty International. (See the photos here .) The rights group compared images of four camps from 2001 and found a "significant increase in the scale of the camps," reports the BBC . Amnesty estimates...

Jimmy Carter Heads to North Korea

With other ex-leaders, former president aims to restart official talks

(Newser) - Jimmy Carter and three European ex-leaders are bound for North Korea and will arrive tomorrow in an attempt to resume an official dialogue, which "appears to be at a standstill," the former president said. Carter and the former heads of Finland, Norway, and Ireland—all members of a...

N. Korea Confirms American Being Held

Pyongyang 'plans to use missionary as bargaining chip'

(Newser) - North Korea has confirmed that it has been holding an American citizen in detention since last November, the AP reports, and is preparing to bring charges against him. Pyongyang names the man as Jun Young Su, and says he was arrested for committing a crime against the country and he...

US Pleads With North Korea to Free American

US citizen has been detained for several months

(Newser) - The US is urging North Korea to free an American citizen who was arrested and detained there several months ago, AP reports. "This individual has been detained. I don't have any details of what this individual was doing in North Korea," said a State Department spokesman. "We...

North Korea: Use Your Dog as an Earthquake Alarm

State media looks to animals' 'sixth sense' for disaster

(Newser) - North Korea has a team of experts ready to alert the country to impending earthquakes—the only trouble is, its members can’t talk. State news media has encouraged citizens to look to their pets for notice of coming natural disasters, advising North Koreans to watch for dogs barking furiously,...

US, S. Korea Begin Drills Despite Threats

No sign of North Korean retaliation

(Newser) - South Korean and American troops began annual military drills Monday that North Korea warned could trigger a nuclear war on the divided peninsula. Despite the North Korean threats to retaliate, South Korea and the United States went ahead with their first major combined military exercises since the North shelled a...

North Korea to South, US: We'll Attack You Mercilessly

It's angered by thousands of balloons, among other things

(Newser) - It's a day of threats from North Korea: First, the country vowed to fire into South Korea if the South continues to launch balloons into North Korea that are loaded with leaflets about the anti-government uprisings in the Middle East, reports Reuters . "We officially notify that our army will...

North Koreans Learn of Protests—by Balloon

South Korea drops pro-democracy leaflets on North

(Newser) - The South Korean military is using balloons to drop leaflets on the North that tell of the unrest in the Middle East, hoping to spark an uprising against Pyongyang, Bloomberg reports. The leaflets explain that "a dictatorial regime is destined to collapse," says an official. The South has...

North Korea Begs West for Food

But US, others, not so sure that's a great idea

(Newser) - North Korea is so hungry that it has, for the moment at least, abandoned its trademark bluster and started begging foreign governments for food, the Washington Post reports. But the US, which was the largest provider of food aid to North Korea until it shut off shipments two years ago,...

N. Korea on Kim's Birthday: Let People Eat, Um, Nothing

Dear Leader parties; no 'gifts' for Koreans

(Newser) - North Korea held its usual lavish celebration to mark Kim Jong Il’s 69th birthday today—even though the desperately poor country couldn’t afford to hand out its usual “birthday gift” of food rations to the people. In one northeastern province, even ruling party officials haven’t gotten...

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