With Sunday’s nuclear test, North Korea is seen drawing increasingly closer to becoming a full-fledged nuclear weapons state, which would further unsettle Northeast Asia’s geopolitical landscape and may escalate risks of a military standoff. State media said the test was designed to chiefly examine the technology to adjust the explosive power of a hydrogen bomb to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile. As a result, it proved the high reliability of the device’s mutually reinforcing

North Korea Sept. 3, 2017

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday requested Latin American countries to pay greater attention and provide support for containing North Korea’s nuclear program, saying it is not just an issue of major powers, but demands closer global partnerships. Foreign ministers and other senior policymakers from 36 Asian and Latin American countries and international organizations gathered in Busan for a meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation. In his welcoming remarks, Moon also called

North Korea Aug. 31, 2017

The Foreign Ministry will unveil an institute on Friday in Busan designed to promote the cultures of Southeast Asian countries and joint academic research as part of efforts to deepen sociocultural exchanges, officials said Thursday. The ASEAN Culture House will be sheltered in a four-story building that spans 2,640 square meters in the port city’s vibrant Haeundae area. It will be operated by the Korea Foundation and will have exhibition halls, libraries, a culture experience chamber and resear

Foreign Affairs Aug. 31, 2017

North Korea on Wednesday confirmed it employed the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile in its test a day earlier, threatening to launch even more weapons targeting the Pacific. Leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the latest test, expressing “great satisfaction,” state media said. He called the launch the “first step” in the North Korean military’s operation in the Pacific and a “meaningful prelude” to containing Guam, which it recently threatened to strike. “It is necessary to positively push

North Korea Aug. 30, 2017

North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan into the sea in an aggressive test Tuesday, prompting scathing criticism from Seoul and Washington just one day after the allies sought to renew hopes for a return to dialogue. Launched from Pyongyang’s Sunan area at around 6 a.m., the missile flew some 2,700 kilometers and reached a maximum height of 550 kilometers before falling into the northern Pacific Ocean via the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The

North Korea Aug. 29, 2017

South Korea’s military and spy agency said Monday that North Korea is believed to have employed short-range ballistic missiles in its test over the weekend, revising an initial assessment following consultations with the US. Pyongyang fired three short-range rockets into the East Sea on Saturday in an apparent display of force against an ongoing South Korea-US military drill. In its preliminary assessment, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said the projectiles were from an advanced 300-milimeter mu

North Korea Aug. 28, 2017

Despite unabated tensions, denuclearization talks with North Korea would be possible if Pyongyang refrains from additional provocations until its major holidays in October, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Monday. After tensions hit a fresh high with the North’s second launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile early this month, recent signs of de-escalation from both Pyongyang and Washington are nurturing expectations for a “window of new opportunity,” she said. The Moon

North Korea Aug. 28, 2017

North Korea`s advanced 300-milimeter multiple launch rocket system is seen during a military parade in Pyongyang in October 2015. (Kyodo-Yonhap)North Korea fired three short-range rockets into the East Sea on Saturday in an apparent display of force against an ongoing South Korea-US military drill which Pyongyang calls a rehearsal of war. Cheong Wa Dae and South Korea’s military said the North launched “several” projectiles from an advanced 300-milimeter multiple launch rocket system and they fl

North Korea Aug. 27, 2017

South Korea is poised to complete the installment of a US missile shield next week, officials said Friday, despite unabated controversy over the Moon Jae-in government’s flip-flopping on the timing of the deployment. The stationing of the remaining four launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system comes as the Environment Ministry wraps up a small-scale environmental review. The equipment will join the already operational two launchers, radar and other assets to form a full-fledge

Defense Aug. 25, 2017

A Mexican diplomat has been accused of sexually harassing a Korean-Paraguayan woman while working together at the Mexican Embassy in Seoul, Foreign Ministry officials here said Wednesday. The diplomat, known to be in his 50s, serves as a military attache here. The woman in her 30s filed a complaint to Seoul police late last month, claiming he groped her body on three occasions between June 2016 and January 2017. But the man, who has diplomatic immunity, failed to show up at the Jongno police sta

Foreign Affairs Aug. 16, 2017

President Moon Jae-in proposed a trilateral discussion with the US during a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month in a bid to ease Beijing’s resistance to the deployment of a US missile shield here, Seoul officials said Wednesday. The two leaders held their first face-to-face talks ahead of the Group of 20 summit on July 6 in Berlin. Moon called for his counterpart to retract China’s economic retaliation over the stationing of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, while X

Foreign Affairs Aug. 16, 2017

President Moon Jae-in pledged Tuesday to do “all it can” to prevent war on the peninsula, saying South Korea is the only country to make a decision on any military action and the crisis must be tackled peacefully. In his first Liberation Day address, the liberal leader called for dialogue to defuse military tensions, as Pyongyang has threatened the US island of Guam with “enveloping fire” by shooting four missiles, prompting Washington to warn military solutions are “now fully in place, locked a

North Korea Aug. 15, 2017

President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged North Korea to cease its provocations and threats, breaking weekslong silence on the skyrocketing tension that has been fanning fears of military conflict and wiping tens of billions of dollars off the stock market here. Concerns have been soaring over the past few weeks that the trade of increasingly bellicose tit-for-tat threats between Pyongyang and Washington may lead to a miscalculation and subsequent armed clash. Over the weekend, tension hit a fresh h

North Korea Aug. 14, 2017

In a third day of a blistering salvo against North Korea, US President Donald Trump said Thursday his “fire and fury” comment may have not been “tough enough” because Pyongyang should be “very, very nervous” about the consequences it could possibly face with any military action.Earlier in the day, Pyongyang outlined its plan to fire missiles to “envelope” Guam in unsettlingly unusual detail, while blasting Trump as “bereft of reason” and with whom “only absolute force” instead of sound dialogue

North Korea Aug. 11, 2017

North Korea on Thursday threatened to fire four missiles around Guam in a detailed outline of attack on US territory as an escalating war of words fans fears over an armed clash. A report by the North’s state media marked a second day of explicit threats against the US, in an apparent reaction to President Donald Trump’s warning Tuesday that any North Korean attack would be met with “fire and fury.” Kim Rak-gyom, commander of the North’s Strategic Forces, said the military is “seriously consider

North Korea Aug. 10, 2017