As South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is to participate in the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit for the first time, the United States stressed the significance of Seoul as “an important partner” of the NATO alliance. In a regular press briefing on Wednesday (US time), US Secretary of State spokesperson Ned Price highlighted how allies and Indo-Pacific partners should stand up...

With Seoul and Tokyo picking up efforts to restore strained ties, eyes are on whether the sides’ leaders could make progress in an upcoming international conference that both are set to attend next week. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have both said they will attend the NATO summit scheduled for June 29-30, where they will see each other in person ...

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification’s North Korea research division, also said Seoul’s unilateral sanction is focused more on the message that Seoul will not look on idly of Pyongyang’s provocations. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry also appears to be aware of the limited effects these actions would take. Still, a Foreign Ministry official said unilateral sanct...

China slammed the US as the “largest source of disruption” to world order, making explicit its discontent over Washington’s China policy. The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a fact sheet late on Sunday dubbed “Falsehoods in US Perceptions of China,” in response to a recent speech made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, where he raised concerns about Beijing posing “the most serious, long-t...

South Korea’s main opposition party’s interim chief Rep. Woo Sang-ho on Sunday accused conservative ruling party of strategically framing the previous liberal Moon Jae-in administration as “pro-North Korea,” following a decision overturning the initial conclusion regarding a civil servant killed by North Korea. “Instead of taking care of people’s livelihoods, (the incumbent Yoon Suk-yeol adminis...

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday it was trying to verify a statement from Russian authorities claiming that four Koreans who joined as volunteer fighters in Ukraine have died. The Moscow Times, an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper, released a report quoting a statement from Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday that claimed 1,956 “mercenaries and weapons ...

South Korea and the US have agreed on strong industrial cooperation and on enhancing supply resilience, Seoul’s Foreign Minister Park Jin said on Wednesday (US time). In his meeting with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Washington, Park also suggested holding “2+2” ministerial summit involving the top commerce chiefs and foreign affairs chiefs of the respective countries. “South Korea and...

Experts here say smooth operation of GSOMIA can be the barometer of Korea and Japan’s relationship, and that diplomatic efforts should precede the intelligence-sharing agreement’s normalization. “GSOMIA can be seen as the foundation of a stronger trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan. Normalizing GSOMIA would also support the bilateral cooperation of Seoul and Tokyo, benef...

The South Korean foreign minister also raised anticipation to “normalize as soon as possible” the operation of the intelligence-sharing General Security of Military Information Agreement with Japan as means for stronger security cooperation in the region. “With regard to GSOMIA, we want GSOMIA to be normalized as soon as possible together with the improvement of the Korea-Japan relationship,” Pa...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for officials to root out “unrevolutionary acts” such as bureaucratic behavior in a party meeting, Pyongyang’s state media said Monday, a day after North Korea fired artillery into the West Sea. Pyongyang’s state-operated Korean Central News Agency said Kim presided over a secretariat meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party on Sunday t...

Amid growing speculation that Pyongyang may carry out a nuclear test soon, Seoul’s foreign minister reiterated during a four-day trip to Washington that the government would take “stern measures” in the event of a detonation. After laying a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington Foreign Minister Park Jin said Sunday that North Korea has finished preparations for a nuclear test ...

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin will depart for the United States on Sunday to make his first trip there since taking office, his office said Friday. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Park will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Monday, which would be the first face-to-face meeting for the two since South Korea launched a new government in May. “M...

North Korea’s state-run media outlets on Friday kept silent to withhold reporting on the second day of a key Workers‘ Party meeting, which authorities here assessed as “very unusual.” Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency had revealed its leader Kim Jong-un presided over the fifth enlarged plenary meeting of the party’s eighth Central Committee, which kicked off on Wednesday. But while the ses...

North Korea opened a key Workers’ Party meeting with its leader Kim Jong-un in attendance to discuss a “series of important issues,” its state-run media said Thursday, amid rampant speculation the country may conduct a nuclear test soon. According to the Korean Central News Agency, Kim presided over the fifth enlarged plenary meeting of the party’s eighth Central Committee, which kicked off Wedn...

North Korean Ambassador to the UN Kim Song defended the country’s weapons tests, citing the UN Charter that stipulates “every state has inherent rights of individual or collective self-defense.” “The measures that the DPRK is taking for bolstering national defense capabilities are an inevitable choice to cope with the hostile threats of the US within the scope of self-defense rights,” Kim said, ...