South Korea's Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposed presidential decree to establish a strategic command aimed at effectively countering North Korea's increasingly sophisticated nuclear and missile threats, according to the presidential office. South Korea's strategic command will also play a central role in integrating the country's advanced conventional forces with US nuclear forces, thereby strengthening integrated deterrence between the treaty allies against potential No

Defense July 30, 2024

Last weekend marked a significant turning point for South Korea and Japan, as the Yoon Suk Yeol government attempted to move beyond one of the longstanding historical disputes stemming from Imperial Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Simultaneously, the defense chiefs of Seoul and Tokyo, meeting on Japanese soil for the first time in 15 years, committed to revitalizing military exchanges and signed an agreement institutionalizing trilateral security cooperation wi

Foreign Affairs July 29, 2024

Controversy has rekindled in South Korea over whether the government's decision to support Japan's bid for the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Sado Island gold and silver mines will compel Tokyo to acknowledge the forced labor of Koreans there. Among the criticisms is Japan's failure to recognize an estimated over 1,500 workers from the Korean Peninsula at the Sado mine as forced labor, as well as its omission of a museum featuring exhibitions on the Korean workers and the harsh, discrimina

Foreign Affairs July 28, 2024

South Korea on Saturday consented to Japan's long-pursued bid to have the gold and silver mines on Sado Island designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, signaling a step towards reconciliation over historical disputes. Seoul's agreement is contingent on Tokyo's commitment to take concrete actions to confront and acknowledge the dark history of forced Korean labor at the Sado mines during its colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said. South Korea approve

Foreign Affairs July 27, 2024

South Korea has given the green light to designate Japan's gold and silver mines on Sado Island -- where an estimated over 1,500 Koreans were forced to work at the end of Japan's colonial rule -- as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday. Japan's ongoing efforts to have the Sado Island Gold Mines recognized have fueled a dispute with South Korea. The controversy revolves around Japan's deliberate omission of its history regarding the forced mobilization of Koreans

Foreign Affairs July 26, 2024

The vice ministers of South Korea and China committed on Wednesday to achieving tangible outcomes in their bilateral cooperation and exchanges, which have recently regained momentum, departing from the period of diplomatic chill that persisted until last year, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said Thursday. South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister, Kim Hong-kyun, met with China's Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, the highest-ranking of the vice ministers, in Seou

Foreign Affairs July 25, 2024

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho on Tuesday emphasized that South Korea's cultural wave is fiercely battling the cultural indoctrination of the Kim Jong-un regime to win the hearts and minds of North Koreans. "With the influx of external culture and information such as South Korean soap operas and K-pop, many North Koreans are consuming Juche culture by day, South Korean culture by night," Kim said in his keynote speech at the 2024 International Dialogue on North Korean Human Righ

North Korea July 24, 2024

North Korea on Tuesday dismissed former US President Donald Trump's repeated boasts about his close relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a "lingering desire," stating that their personal bond did not bring about "any substantial positive change." The statement, delivered through the state-run Korean Central News Agency, which is tailored more to external audiences than domestic ones, marked Pyongyang's first official reaction to Trump's campaign

North Korea July 23, 2024

South Korea's Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho on Monday asked for the United States' support to repatriate South Korean nationals forcibly detained in North Korea and called for enhanced cooperation between the allies in addressing human rights abuses in North Korea. Kim conveyed his appeal during a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in Washington, as part of his six-day visit that began Sunday, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday. Kim's visit mark

North Korea July 23, 2024

US President Joe Biden's seismic decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee on Sunday has rattled South Korea. The tectonic political shift raises critical questions about whether the steadfast South Korea-US alliance, exemplified by the Washington Declaration and the crucial trilateral cooperation with Japan highlighted at the Camp David summit, will endure despite Biden’s withdrawal. Hours after Biden withdrew fro

Foreign Affairs July 22, 2024

South Korean authorities have concluded that a detained cargo ship was carrying 4,500 tons of North Korean-produced anthracite coal in breach of UN sanctions, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul announced on Thursday. The unflagged cargo ship DE YI has been docked in South Korean waters since March 30 for investigation, following intelligence obtained by the South Korean government implicating the vessel in actions contravening UN Security Council resolutions. "Our government has decided to take

Foreign Affairs July 18, 2024

ASTANA, Kazakhstan -- Kazatomprom, the world's largest uranium miner, aims to establish a "permanent partnership" with South Korea to ensure a stable uranium supply amid growing demand, CEO Meirzhan Yussupov said in an exclusive interview with The Korea Herald. The company sees "significant potential" in expanding its cooperation into emerging fields, including the development of critical mineral resources, he added. "Successful and mutually beneficial cooperation b

Foreign Affairs July 17, 2024

Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA official and renowned expert on Korean Peninsula issues, has been indicted on charges of acting as an unregistered agent for the South Korean government since at least 2013 and receiving bribes that included luxury handbags and financial support. Terry "advocated ROK policy positions, including published articles and during media appearances, disclosed nonpublic US government information to ROK intelligence officers, and facilitated access for ROK government offic

Foreign Affairs July 17, 2024

North Korea's institutionalized and extensive system of forced labor, spanning prisons, schools, military conscription, and overseas dispatches, "exhibits features of servitude and slavery" in some instances, the UN Human Rights Office said Tuesday. The report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is based on sources, including 183 in-depth interviews conducted from June 2015 to May 2023 with victims and witnesses of forced labor who have fled Nor

North Korea July 16, 2024

Ri Il-kyu, who was serving as a counselor at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, defected to South Korea in November of last year, South Korea's spy agency confirmed Tuesday. This confirmation followed a report by the Chosun Ilbo daily, which interviewed the 52-year-old former diplomat who had fled to South Korea with his wife and children. This is the first confirmed defection of a North Korean diplomat since 2019, when Jo Song-gil, then the acting ambassador to Italy, defected in July, foll

North Korea July 16, 2024