Page 2 - South Korea

Trump meets Xi Jinping for first time in 6 years, calls him 'great leader'

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit

US to share tech for South Korea's nuclear-powered submarine programme

The United States will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, President Donald Trump said on social media on Thursday after meeting with the country's president. President Lee Jae Myung stressed to Trump in their Wednesday meeting that the goal was to modernize the alliance with the US, noting plans to increase military spending to reduce the financial burden on America. The South Korean leader said there might have been a misunderstanding when they last spoke in August about nuclear-powered submarines, saying that his government was looking for nuclear fuel rather than weapons. Lee said that if South Korea was equipped with nuclear-powered submarines, that it could help US activities in the region. US nuclear submarine technology is widely regarded as some of the most sensitive and highly guarded technology the military possesses. The US has been incredibly protective of that knowledge, and even a recently announced deal with close

South Korea's Lee urges trump to revise nuclear pact for submarine fuel

The pact was last updated in 2015 and is effective until 2035. South Korea's neighbor, Japan, already has the right to reprocess spent fuel

Trump announces trade breakthrough with South Korea on Asia trip

Trump and Lee agreed that Seoul can split its promised $350 billion investment fund into $200 billion in cash to be paid in instalments and capped at $20 billion per year, Lee's aides said

TikTok US ownership deal may be sealed in South Korea, says White House

The Trump administration has been signalling that it may have finally reached a deal with China to keep TikTok running in the US, with the two countries finalising it as soon as Thursday. President Donald Trump is visiting South Korea, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to de-escalate a trade war. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS's Face the Nation Sunday that the two leaders will consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea. If it happens, the deal would mark the end of months of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed a law that would ban TikTok in the US if it did not find a new owner in the place of China's ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law's January deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administrat

North Korea test-fires cruise missiles while Trump visits South Korea

North Korea said Wednesday its recent test-firings of sea-to-surface cruise missiles were successful, in another display of its growing military capabilities as US President Donald Trump visits South Korea. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the missiles fired Tuesday flew for more than two hours before accurately striking targets in its western waters. It said the weapons would contribute to expanding the operational sphere of the country's nuclear-armed military. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military had detected the North Korean launch preparations and that the cruise missiles were fired in the North's northwestern waters at around 3 pm on Tuesday. The joint chiefs said South Korea and the United States were analysing the weapons and maintaining a combined defense readiness capable of a dominant response against any North Korean provocation. The North Korean report came hours before an expected summit between Trump and South Korean President Le

South Korea trade deal appears elusive as Trump seeks $350 bn investment

After a charm offensive in Japan that culminated in USD 490 billion in investment commitments, President Donald Trump is set to meet with South Korea's leader on Wednesday as a trade deal with that country appears more elusive. Top officials in Washington and and Seoul say the sticking point for an agreement continues to be the logistics behind Trump's demand that South Korea invest USD 350 billion in the United States. Korean officials say a direct cash injection could destabilise their economy, and they'd rather do loans and loan guarantees instead. The country would also need a swap line to manage the flow of its currency into the US. The disparity between what Trump is asking for and what South Korea can deliver threatens to overshadow the meeting between Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Gyeongju, a historical city playing host to the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Oh Hyunjoo, a deputy national security director, told reporters that the ...

Latest missile tests demonstrate new hypersonic systems, says North Korea

North Korea said Thursday that its latest missile tests involved new hypersonic systems aimed at strengthening its nuclear war deterrent, as leader Kim Jong Un continues to build up weapons designed to overwhelm South Korea's missile defenses. The report by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency came a day after South Korea's military said it detected the North firing multiple missiles from an area south of the capital, Pyongyang, and said they flew about 350 kilometers (217 miles) northeast before falling on land. The tests came days before world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, are expected to gather in rival South Korea for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings. KCNA said the launches involved two hypersonic projectiles that accurately struck a land target in the country's northern region. It described the system as strategic, implying that they were designed to be armed with nuclear warheads. KCNA didn't

Dozens of South Koreans arrested after repatriation from Cambodia for scams

About 50 South Koreans repatriated from Cambodia have been formally arrested on accusations that they worked for online scam organisations in the Southeast Asian country. They are among the 64 South Koreans who were detained in Cambodia over the past several months and were flown to South Korea on a charter flight Saturday. Upon arrival, they were detained while police investigated whether they voluntarily joined scam organisations in Cambodia or were forced to work there. Online scams, many based in Southeast Asian nations, have risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic and produced two sets of victims: the tens of thousands of people who have been forced to work as scammers under the threat of violence, and the targets of their fraud. Monitoring groups say online scams earn international criminal gangs billions of dollars annually. The Korean National Police Agency said Tuesday that local courts have so far issued warrants to arrest 49 of the 64 returnees. It said a court will ...

South Korea seeks to arrest online scam suspects repatriated from Cambodia

Authorities are seeking to formally arrest most of the 64 South Koreans repatriated from Cambodia for allegedly working for online scam organizations in Cambodia, police said on Monday. The 64 South Koreans were detained in Cambodia over the past several months and were flown to Korea on a charter flight Saturday. Upon arrival in South Korea, they were detained while police investigated whether they voluntarily joined scam organizations in Cambodia or were forced to work there. Online scams, many based in Southeast nations, have risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic and produced two sets of victims: the tens of thousands of people who have been forced to work as scammers under the threat of violence, and the targets of their fraud. Monitoring groups say online scams earn international criminal gangs billions of dollars annually. State prosecutors have asked local courts to issue arrest warrants for 58 of the 64 returnees at the request of police, the Korean National Police Agenc

Donald Trump on track to meet Xi Jinping in South Korea, says Bessent

The latest rupture followed China's announcement on Thursday that it would dramatically expand its rare earths export controls

North Korea shows new long-range missile at parade celebrating Kim Jong Un

At a massive military parade attended by foreign leaders, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rolled out his nuclear-armed military's most powerful weapons, including a new intercontinental ballistic missile he may be preparing to test in coming weeks. The parade, which began Friday night and marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party, highlighted Kim's growing diplomatic footing and his relentless drive to build an arsenal that could viably target the continental United States and his rivals in Asia. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the parade featured a new, yet-to-be-tested intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-20, which it described as the most powerful nuclear strategic weapons system. Other weapons on display included shorter range ballistic, cruise and supersonic missiles, which the North previously described as capable of delivering nuclear strikes against targets in rival South Korea. In a speech at the parade

Why South Korea's youth are choosing to 'just rest' instead of chasing jobs

Amid rising living costs, job scarcity and burnout, South Korea's youth are redefining ambition in the 21st century by choosing to "just rest" instead of chasing stability

North Korea vows to keep nuclear weapons, cites balance of power at UNGA

A senior North Korean diplomat reiterated at the UN Monday that his country won't give up its nuclear weapons despite numerous demands to do so, calling them crucial to keeping a balance of power with South Korea. We will never talk away from this position, he said. Under the spotlight of the General Assembly's annual meeting of world leaders, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong amplified his country's longstanding complaints about US-led military exercises with South Korea and Japan. Complaining that the US and its allies are mounting a growing threat of aggression, he portrayed his own country's arsenal as the reason the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula is ensured. Still, his address was more tempered, especially toward the United States, than many of his country's prior remarks on the world stage and elsewhere. While Kim lambasted without naming names hegemonic forces and an indiscriminate tariff war, there were no personal insults, and there was more sternness than ...

South Korea, US to launch working group on visa issues after ICE detentions

The first meeting of the new working group will take place in Washington on Tuesday, just weeks after the high-profile raid on a factory construction site that drew international attention

South Korea, US reach agreement over foreign exchange deal, says Seoul

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in New York that the Asian country needs a foreign exchange swap in order to make the $350 bn investment

South Korea has asked Trump to be 'peacemaker' with North Korea: FM Hyun

South Korea's president has asked President Donald Trump to become a peacemaker and use his leadership to get North Korea to talks to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the South's top diplomat said Friday. Trump welcomed the request from President Lee Jae-myung and he expressed his willingness to be engaged with North Korea again, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in an interview with The Associated Press. There was no immediate word from the White House. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met three times as North Korea was building a nuclear weapons stockpile, which Kim views as key to the country's security and his continued rule of the northeast Asian country. There were two summits in Singapore in June 2018, and in Vietnam in February 2019, where Trump and Kim disagreed about US-led sanctions against the North. A third meeting that year at the border between the two Koreas failed to salvage their nuclear talks -- and Kim has since shunned any diplomacy with t

Cochin Shipyard partners with HD Korea to build large ships in India

CSL will set up a new shipbuilding unit on 80 acres in Kochi with an investment of about ₹3,700 crore

Kim Jong Un recalls good memories with Trump, urges US to drop nuke terms

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he still has good memories of US President Donald Trump and urged Washington to drop its demand the North surrender its nukes as a precondition for resuming long-stalled diplomacy. Speaking to Pyongyang's rubber-stamp parliament on Sunday, Kim stressed that he has no intention of ever resuming dialogue with rival South Korea, a key U.S. ally that helped broker Kim's previous summits with Trump during the American president's first term, according to a speech published by state media on Monday. Kim suspended virtually all cooperation with the South following the collapse of his second summit with Trump in 2019 over disagreements about US-led sanctions against the North. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened in recent years as Kim has accelerated his weapons buildup and aligned with Russia over the war in Ukraine. Kim's comments came as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung prepares to depart for New York to attend the United Nations Genera

South Korea's LG Energy used visa workarounds for staff before US crackdown

Over 300 Koreans, including 250 LG staff and contractors, were detained at LG's car battery venture with Hyundai Motor, in the US Department of Homeland Security's biggest immigration raid ever