SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s household debt-to-income ratio hit a nine-year high in 2012, according to Bank of Korea data released Wednesday. The ratio — which measures the ability of Korean households to repay debt with disposable income — rose to 136 percent,...

SEOUL, South Korea — I’m now reading an advance copy of Andrei Lankov’s upcoming book, "The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia," due out from Oxford University Press on May 8. It’s an incredibly detailed and timely insight into North...

SEOUL, South Korea — April 25 is something of a holy day for the North Korean leadership. It marks the founding of the guerrilla army in 1932 that they — often romantically — claim valiantly fought off Japanese colonials and saved the Korean race from slavery. (In...

Curious coffee lovers now have a reason to visit North Korea. Pyongyang is home to a hip new coffeeshop serving "third wave" coffee -- a buzzword that marks a recent generation of specialty and artisanal brews. So reports Choson Exchange, a Beijing-based group that...

SEOUL, South Korea — China has uncomfortably backed North Korea since the 1950s, at times treating South Korea as a direct enemy and, more recently, a wary and reserved trading partner. But this time around, are Beijing and Seoul on the verge of a honeymoon in the...

SEOUL, South Korea — Last month, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) — the Pentagon’s intelligence arm — reported “with moderate confidence” in an intelligence assessment that North Korea had mastered a startling technology: the ability to shrink a nuclear warhead...

SEOUL, South Korea — Some Americans are speculating on Twitter that North Korea masterminded the bombings in Boston, pointing out its timing after two months of militant rhetoric. Of course, all five South Koreans interviewed by GlobalPost over the past day expressed...

SEOUL, South Korea — "The Worm," of all people, is our new 007 in North Korea. While attending a celebrity party, the US' unofficial ambassador to Pyongyang, Dennis Rodman, told the Miami Herald that he's been in contact with the FBI ever since he visited Pyongyang...

SEOUL, South Korea — Today is the 101st anniversary of the birthday of North Korea's "Great Leader," Kim Il Sung. For North Koreans, it's pretty much the most important holiday of the year, along with Kim Jong Il's birthday on Feb. 16. They'll get three days off. The...

SEOUL, South Korea — We've heard a lot of talk in recent weeks about the military side of the North Korea threat. Today, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency is reporting that North Korea could have the capabilities to build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit...