South Korean President said the opposition was "dancing the sword dance of madness" by trying to drag a democratically elected president from power
South Korean prosecutors are seeking to formally arrest the former defence minister alleged to have colluded with President Yoon Suk Yeol in imposing martial law last week, as both men are being investigated on rebellion and other charges. Martial law lasted only about six hours but was the first of its kind in more than 40 years and has caused a domestic firestorm and large street protests. Yoon and his associates face criminal investigations and impeachment attempts. The Justice Ministry has banned Yoon and eight others from leaving the country as authorities see them as key suspects in the martial law case. It's the first time that a sitting president in South Korea has received such a travel ban. The Seoul Central District Court said Tuesday it'll review prosecutors' request for a warrant to arrest former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Eno
He did not cite any specific threat from the nuclear-armed North, however, instead focusing on his domestic political opponents
The South Korean parliament has voted to defy the country's president and immediately lift his martial law declaration. President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late Tuesday, vowing to eliminate anti-state forces as he struggles against an opposition that controls the country's parliament and that he accuses of sympathising with communist North Korea. The surprising move harkened back to an era of authoritarian leaders that the country has not seen since the 1980s, and it was immediately denounced by the opposition and the leader of Yoon's own conservative party.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed his country will invariably support Russia's war in Ukraine as he met Russia's defence chief, the North's state media reported Saturday. A Russia military delegation led by Defence Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday, amid growing international concern about the two countries' expanding cooperation after North Korea sent thousands of troops to Russia last month. The official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim and Belousov reached a satisfactory consensus on boosting strategic partnership and defending each country's sovereignty, security interests and international justice in the face of the rapidly-changing international security environments in a Friday meeting. Kim said that North Korea will invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity from the imperialists' moves for hegemony, KCNA said. North Korea has supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks with North Korean military and political leaders as the countries deepen their cooperation over Russia's war in Ukraine. In announcing the visit, Russia's Defence Ministry didn't say whom Belousov would meet or the purpose of the talks. North Korean state media didn't immediately confirm the visit. Belousov, a former economist, replaced Sergei Shoigu as defence minister in May after Russian President Vladimir Putin started a fifth term in power. Photos released by the Defense Ministry showed Belousov walking alongside North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol on a red carpet at a Pyongyang airport. North Korean military officials were seen clapping under a banner that read, Complete support and solidarity with the fighting Russian army and people. Belousov noted after his arrival that military cooperation between the countries is expanding. He applauded a strategic partnership agreement signed by
Starbucks Coffee Korea's new riverbank cafe at an observatory tower in South Korea's Gimpo city promises coffee aficionados a chance to gaze at normal village life in Gaepung county across border
The facility, known as the February 11 plant, is part of the Ryongsong Machine Complex in Hamhung, North Korea's second-largest city, on the country's east coast
Russia has supplied air defence missiles to North Korea in exchange for sending its troops to support Russia's war efforts against Ukraine, a top South Korean official said Friday. The US, South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia in October, some of whom have recently began engaging in combat. It has been unclear what Russia would give North Korea in return. Shin Wonsik, national security adviser for President Yoon Suk Yeol, told a SBS TV program Friday that South Korea has found Russia provided missiles and other equipment to reinforce its air defence network for Pyongyang, the capital. Many observers say North Korea likely feels the urgent need to boost its air defence capabilities for the capital after the North last month accused South Korea of dropping propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang. North Korea threatened to take military action if leaflets were again dropped. South Korea's military has refused to confirm whether or not it was behind t
A top South Korean official says Russia has supplied anti-air missiles to North Korea in exchange for it sending troops. The US, South Korea and others say North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. What Russia would give North Korea in return has been the focus of keen attention. National Security Director Shin Wonsik told a SBS TV programme Friday that South Korea has found Russia has provided anti-air missiles and other equipment to reinforce its air defence network for Pyongyang, the capital. Shin says Russia has also give diverse economic assistance to North Korea. Seoul and Washington have voiced worries about possible Russian transfers of sensitive nuclear and missile technology to North Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his past negotiations with the United States only confirmed Washington's unchangeable hostility toward Pyongyang and described his nuclear buildup as the only way to counter external threats, state media said Friday. Kim spoke Thursday at a defence exhibition where North Korea displayed some of its most powerful weapons systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the US mainland, the North's Korean Central News Agency said. While meeting with army officers last week, he had pledged a limitless expansion of his military nuclear programme. Kim has yet to comment directly on Donald Trump's reelection as US president. During his first term, Trump held three highly orchestrated summits with the North Korean leader in 2018 and 2019, before the diplomacy collapsed over disagreements in exchanging the release of US-led economic sanctions and the North's steps to wind down its nuclear programme. During the speech at the ...
North Korea and Russia reached a new agreement for expanding economic cooperation following high-level talks in Pyongyang this week, the North's state media said Thursday, as they continue to align in the face of their confrontations with Washington. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency didn't elaborate on the details of the agreement signed Wednesday between its senior trade officials and a Russian delegation led by Alexandr Kozlov, the country's minister of natural resources and ecology. The Russian news agency Tass on Tuesday said officials following an earlier round of talks agreed to increase the number of charter flights between the countries to promote tourism. Kozlov, who arrived in North Korea on Sunday, met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his top economic official, Premier Kim Tok Hun, before returning home on Wednesday, KCNA said. During Kozlov's visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin's gifted Pyongyang's Central Zoo with more than 70 animals, ...
North Korea recently supplied additional artillery systems to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine, while some of the thousands of North Korean troops deployed in Russia have begun engaging in combat, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers on Wednesday. The South Korean assessment came after Russia warned on Monday that US President Joe Biden's decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied longer-range missiles adds fuel to the fire of the war. US officials said Biden's decision was triggered almost entirely by North Korea's entry into the war. In a closed-door briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service said that North Korea exported 170mm self-propelled guns and 240mm multiple rocket launch systems to Russia, according to lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the meeting. Lee told reporters that the NIS assessed those weapons are a type of artillery the Russian military doesn't operate so North Korea likely dispatched personnel
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the outgoing administration was adding fuel to the fire and seeking to escalate the conflict in Ukraine
Kim's decision to send North Korean troops to join Russia's fight against Ukraine has alarmed Kyiv's allies
Japan's foreign minister arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss North Korea's deepening military alliance with Russia, including the deployment of thousands of troops to support Moscow's war in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, to reaffirm Japan's strong support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion and to discuss further sanctions against Moscow, Japan's Foreign Ministry said. High on the agenda was Tokyo's grave concern over growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, the ministry said. According to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia as part of a major defence treaty between the countries. Last week, Ukrainian officials said Ukraine and North Korean troops engaged in small-scale fighting while Ukraine's army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk border region, where Ukraine launched a surprise push on Augus
President Joe Biden on Friday praised the cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the US at countering what he described as North Korea's "dangerous and destabilising cooperation with Russia". Biden spoke at the start of a meeting in Peru with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The talks came amid heightened concerns about North Korea's growing military partnership with Russia and Pyongyang's stepped-up cadence of ballistic missile tests. The meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru comes as North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow try to claw back land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized earlier this year. I'm proud of how far we've come, Biden said. Whatever the issue, we've taken it on together." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also ordered a series of ballistic missile tests in the lead-up to this month's US election and is claiming progress on effort
North Korea tested exploding drones designed to crash into targets and leader Kim Jong Un called for accelerating mass production of the weapons, state media said Friday. The country's latest military demonstration came as the United States, South Korea and Japan engaged in combined military exercises involving advanced fighter jets and a US aircraft carrier in nearby international waters, in a display of their defence posture against North Korea. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency published photos of Kim talking with officials near at least two different types of unmanned aerial vehicles. They included those with X-shaped tails and wings that look similar to the ones the country disclosed in August, when Kim inspected another demonstration of drones that explode on impact. The drones flew various routes and accurately struck targets, KCNA said. Its images showed what appeared to be a BMW sedan being destroyed and old models of tanks being blown up. Kim expressed ...
North Korea's Kim Jong-un has ordered testing of new ‘suicide attack drones’ and has also expressed his intention to start a mass production system for wider deployment of these drones.
North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid, the North's state media reported Tuesday, as the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Russia had completed the ratification of the treaty last week after it was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June. It is considered both countries' biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership treaty will take effect when both sides exchange documents on the ratification, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. North Korea ratified the treaty through a decree signed Monday by the country's president of state affairs, KCNA said, using one of Kim's titles. North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, has the right to ratify treaties but Kim can unilaterally ratify major ones, according to South Korea's ..