Free Republic

U.S. senators have proposed a bill to increase financial pressure on North Korea and penalize banks and other financial institutions doing business with the communist country. Radio Free Asia(RFA) reported on Friday that Republican Senator Pat Toomey and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen on Thursday put forward the legislation “Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea Act of 2017” or BRINK Act. The legislation would require the U.S. President to order an investigation into financial institutions doing business directly or indirectly with North Korean banks. Financial institutions which do not faithfully implement sanctions against the North will be denied access to the...

N. Korea to expel S. Koreans from joint industrial park 2016/02/11 17:26 SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Thursday it will expel all South Korean nationals from a joint industrial park in the North and freeze all South Korean assets and equipment in retaliation for Seoul's suspension of the complex. The North has ordered all South Koreans to leave immediately the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North's border city of the same name, according to the Korean Central News Agency. It said that it will freeze all assets and equipment held by South Korean companies, adding that it...

Seoul monitors possible N.K. military realignment in Kaesong By Kim Eun-jung SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense ministry said Monday it is closely watching North Korea's moves near a suspended joint industrial zone amid rising concern the North many increase its military presence in the border area. Angered by joint South Korea-U.S. military drills, Pyongyang earlier this month pulled its workers out of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and banned South Koreans from crossing the border to bring food and supplies. After Pyongyang rejected Seoul's offer of talks to resolve the weeks-long stalemate, the South Korean government on Friday...

2013/04/04 14:28 KST N. Korea threatens to pull out its workers from Kaesong park SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened Thursday to pull out tens of thousands of its workers from the joint inter-Korean industrial complex if South Korea continues to insult Pyongyang's dignity. The latest threat comes as the North has banned the entry of South Koreans workers and vehicles into the complex in the North's western border city of Kaesong for a second straight day, though it is allowing South Koreans there to return home. If South Korea keeps "vociferating about the zone, we will take...

2013/04/03 11:25 KST N. Korea only allowing S. Korean workers to leave Kaesong, banning entry SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Wednesday it will ban South Korean workers from entering the inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong, only allowing South Koreans now staying at the North Korean border town to return home. Seoul's Ministry of Unification said that it received an official notification to the effect from the North earlier in the day. "South Korea's government deeply regrets the entry ban and urges it be lifted immediately," ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-seok said in a press conference. He said every...

N. Korea declares inter-Korean contracts on Kaesong venture invalid SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday it has nullified all contracts with South Korea on the operations of a joint industrial venture in Kaesong and told South Korean firms to leave the park if they cannot accept it. "We declare the nullification of all incumbent regulations and contracts regarding the Kaesong industrial complex," the North's government agency in charge of the border-town industrial park said in a statement carried by its official Korean Central News Agency. While threatening to terminate the existing contract terms, the agency vowed to...

South Korean actress Kim Tae-hee, center, participates in a fashion show held by South Korean apparel maker Shinwon company in the inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong, just a few hundred meters (yards) north of the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone that divides the Korean peninsula, Thursday, May 26, 2005. Hundreds of South Koreans crossed the border into North Korea on Thursday to watch South Korean models strut down a runway in clothes made by North Korean workers at a new joint industrial park. (AP Photo/Lee Jae-Won, Pool)