Page 30 - South Korea

Kim calls South Korea 'principal enemy' amid heightened tensions with US

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea our principal enemy and threatened to annihilate it if provoked, as he escalates his inflammatory, belligerent rhetoric against Seoul and the United States before their elections this year. Experts say Kim will likely further raise animosities with weapons tests to try to influence the results of South Korea's parliamentary elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November. Kim made the remarks during inspection tours of munitions factories in North Korea this week, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday. He said North Korea's priority in its relations with Seoul "is to bolster up the military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent first of all, KCNA said. If South Korea dares to use his military force against North Korea and threaten its sovereignty, Kim said We will have no hesitation in annihilating (South Korea) by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands, ...

South Korea endorses landmark legislation outlawing dog meat consumption

South Korea's parliament has endorsed landmark legislation outlawing dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice. The National Assembly passed the bill by a 208-0 vote on Tuesday. It will become law after it's endorsed by the Cabinet Council and signed by President Yoon Suk Yeol, steps considered a formality as Yoon's government supports the ban. The bill would make the slaughtering, breeding, trade and sales of dog meat for human consumption illegal from 2027 and punish such acts with 2-3 years in prison. Efforts to ban dog meat consumption have faced fierce resistance from farmers and others in the country's dwindling dog meat industry. Recent surveys show a majority of South Koreans don't eat dog meat any longer.

North Korea fires 90 artillery shots from western coast, alleges Seoul

North Korea conducted a new round of artillery firing drills near the disputed sea boundary with South Korea on Saturday, officials in Seoul said. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North fired more than 60 rounds near the western sea boundary. A day earlier, North Korea fired about 200 artillery shells near the area, prompting South Korea to conduct its own firing drills in response. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it strongly urges North Korea to halt acts that heighten tensions.

N Korea conducts military drills along sea border, S Korea to respond

South Korea says North Korea has conducted artillery drills along the rivals' tense sea boundary in violation of a 2018 military agreement. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says North Korea fired 200 rounds in the waters north of their disputed western sea boundary on Friday. South Korea called the North Korean drills a provocation, though it suffered no damage. Residents of South Korea's front-line island of Yeonpyeong say the South Korean military has asked them to evacuate because it plans to launch firing drills later Friday.

South Korea views young daughter of Kim Jong Un as his likely successor

The young daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seen as her father's likely heir apparent, South Korea's spy agency said Thursday, its first such assessment on the girl who was unveiled to the outside world a little more than a year ago. There has been intense outside debate and speculation about the girl, reportedly about 10 years old and named Ju Ae, since she made her first public appearance in November 2022, when she watched a long-range missile test-launch with her father. The girl has since accompanied her father at a number of major public events, with state media calling her father's most beloved or respected child and churning out footage and photos proving her rising political standing and closeness with her father. A senior general knelt and whispered to her when she clapped while watching a military parade at a VIP observation stand in September. She was photographed standing in front of her father at one point during a visit to the air force headquarters in ...

S Korean Oppn leader recovering well from surgery after stabbing attack

South Korea's main opposition leader is recovering well from surgery after being stabbed in the neck earlier this week, his doctor said Thursday, as police seek a formal arrest warrant to extend the suspect's custody. Lee Jae-myung, head of the liberal Democratic Party, South Korea's biggest political party, was stabbed by a knife-wielding man who approached him asking for his autograph at an event in the southeastern city of Busan on Tuesday. The man was immediately detained by police. The assault left Lee, 59, bleeding and slumped on the ground. After emergency treatment, he was flown to a Seoul hospital for an operation that lasted about 100 minutes. After the surgery, Lee was placed an an intensive care unit at Seoul National University Hospital and then transferred to an ordinary ward on Wednesday evening, according to party officials. In his first briefing since the surgery, Min Seung-kee, a vascular surgeon at the hospital who performed the operation, said Thursday that Lee i

In threatening shift, North Korea moves to redefine relations with South

Since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a stalemate, both nations have had policies that treat each other differently than other countries

South Korean police raid house of suspect who stabbed opposition leader Lee

South Korean police on Wednesday raided the residence and office of a man who stabbed the country's opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, in the neck in an attack that left him hospitalized in an intensive care unit, officials said. The assault occurred when Lee was passing through a throng of journalists after visiting the proposed site of a new airport in the southeastern city of Busan on Tuesday. The attacker, posing as a supporter, approached Lee asking for his autograph before he took out a 18-centimeter (7-inch) knife to attack him. After receiving emergency treatment in Busan, Lee was transported by a helicopter to the Seoul National University Hospital for surgery. Cho Jeong-sik, the party's secretary general, said Wednesday the two-hour surgery was successful and that Lee remained in the hospital's intensive care unit for recovery. Police and emergency officials earlier said Lee was conscious after the attack and wasn't in critical condition. The suspect was detained by police

South Korea launches 'workation' visa for foreigners: All you must know

South Korea 'workation' visa: Foreign nationals with annual income twice as much as South Korea's per capita gross national income will be eligible to apply for the visa

South Korean opposition leader attacked and injured by an unidentified man

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked and injured by an unidentified man during a visit Tuesday to the southeastern city of Busan, emergency officials said. Busan's emergency office said Lee was attacked as he visited the construction site of a new airport in the city. It said Lee, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, was conscious but his exact condition was unknown. South Korean media cited witnesses as saying the man used a knife-like weapon to stab Lee's neck. TV video showed Lee lying on the ground with a person pressing a handkerchief to his neck to stop the bleeding. The reports said police arrested the man on the spot. They said the attacker was wearing something that looked like a crown on his head. Lee lost the 2022 presidential election to President Yoon Suk Yeol by a narrow margin. Lee, a liberal former provincial governor, is known for his outspoken style. His supporters see him as an anti-elitist hero who could reform establishment polit

S Korea exports accelerate as shipments to US overtake China for first time

China remains South Korea's biggest trading partner by a large margin given the scale of Seoul's imports from the world's second-largest economy

Kim orders military to 'thoroughly annihilate' US, S Korea if provoked

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to thoroughly annihilate the United States and South Korea if provoked, state media reported Monday, after he vowed to boost national defences to cope with what he called an unprecedented US-led confrontation. Kim is expected to ramp up weapons tests in 2024 ahead of the US presidential election in November. Many experts say he likely believes his expanded nuclear arsenal would allow him to wrest US concessions if former President Donald Trump is reelected. In a five-day major ruling party meeting last week, Kim said he will launch three more military spy satellites, produce more nuclear materials and develop attack drones this year in what observers say is an attempt to increase his leverage in future diplomacy with the US. In a meeting on Sunday with commanding army officers, Kim said it is urgent to sharpen the treasured sword to safeguard national security, an apparent reference to his country's nuclear weapons program. He cit

Will launch 3 more spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons in 2024: Kim

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will launch three additional military spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons and introduce modern unmanned combat equipment in 2024, as he called for overwhelming war readiness to cope with US-led confrontational moves, state media reported Sunday. Kim's comments, made during a key ruling Workers' Party meeting to set state goals for next year, suggest he'll continue a run of weapons tests to expand his arsenal amid long-dormant diplomacy with the United States. Observers say Kim would ultimately hope to use his boosted nuclear capability to wrest greater outside concessions if diplomacy resumes. During the five-day meeting that ended Saturday, Kim said moves by the United States and its followers against North Korea have been unprecedented this year, pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The grave situation requires us to accelerate works to acquire ...

First made-in-China cruise ship to set sail from Shanghai to S Korea

The Adora Magic City will depart from its home port of Shanghai Monday for a six-day trip that will take in South Korea's Jeju island and the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Fukuoka

Who was Lee Sun-kyun? Parasite actor found dead in a car in Seoul

Lee Sun-kyun had been under police investigation over his alleged use of marijuana and other psychoactive drugs

South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun of Oscar-winning film 'Parasite' dies

Actor Lee Sun-kyun of the Oscar-winning movie Parasite" has died, South Korea's emergency office said on Wednesday. Lee was found dead at a car in a central Seoul park on Wednesday, it said. Police earlier said an unconscious Lee was discovered at an unidentified Seoul location. South Korean media outlets including Yonhap news agency reported that police had been searching for Lee after his family reported he left home after writing a message similar to a suicide note earlier on Wednesday.

N Korea's Kim boasts of achievements during key year-end political meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised what he called achievements and victories that strengthened national power and boosted the country's prestige this year, as he opened a key political meeting to set new policy goals for 2024, state media reported on Wednesday. Experts said that during this week's year-end plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, North Korea would likely hype its progress in arms development because the country lacks economic achievements amid persistent international sanctions and pandemic-related economic hardships. In his opening-day speech at the meeting that began on Tuesday, Kim defined 2023 as a year of great turn and great change both in name and reality, in which (North Korea) left a great trace in the glorious course of development in the efforts to improve the national power and enhance the prestige of the country, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA said North Korea achieved a rapid advancement in its defence capabilities

S Korea orders Japanese cos to compensate wartime workers for forced labour

South Korea's top court ordered two Japanese companies to financially compensate more of their wartime Korean workers for forced labor, as it sided Thursday with its contentious 2018 verdicts that caused a huge setback in relations between the two countries. But observers say Thursday's ruling won't likely hurt bilateral ties much since Seoul and Tokyo, now governed by different leaders, are pushing hard to bolster their partnerships in the face of shared challenges like North Korea's evolving nuclear threats and China's increasing assertiveness. The Supreme Court ruled that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries must provide between 100 million and 150 million won ($76,700 and $115,000) in compensation to each of four plaintiffs bereaved families of its former employees who were forced to work for the company during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The court also said Nippon Steel Corp. must give 100 million won (about $76,700) to each of seven Korean plaintiffs for ...

US flies long-range bomber for joint drills with South Korea, Japan

The United States flew a long-range bomber for joint drills with South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, days after the North performed its first interconnectional ballistic missile test in five months. The trilateral training off South Korea's southern island of Jeju was meant to strengthen the countries' joint response against North Korean nuclear threats, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The exercise involved a B-1B bomber and South Korean and Japanese fighter jets, the statement said. It said the B-1B's flyover is the 13th time that a US bomber has been temporarily deployed near and over the Korean Peninsula this year. A B-1B is capable of carrying a large conventional weapons payload. North Korean has previously called the bomber's deployment a proof of US hostility and had reacted with missile tests. North Korea on Monday launched a Hwasong-18 ICBM into the sea in a drill it said was meant as a warning over the US and

N Korea, Russia clash with US and S Korea over Pyongyang's missile launch

North Korea and Russia clashed with the United States, South Korea and their allies at an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday on Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch, which it called a warning counter-measure to threats from the US and other hostile forces. North Korean Ambassador Kim Song said this is the most dangerous year in the military-security landscape on the Korean Peninsula, pointing to stepped up US-South Korean military exercises and the US deployment of nuclear-powered submarines and other nuclear assets to the area that have raised a nuclear war danger. The US and nine allies pointed to five North Korean ICBM launches, over 25 ballistic missiles launches and three satellite launches using ballistic missile technology this year, violating multiple Security Council resolutions and threatening the peace and stability of its neighbours and the international community. In a statement read just before the council meeting by US deputy ...