North Korea

December 19, 2024 3:02 PM

South Korea’s allies cheered Yoon’s foreign policy, ignored domestic discord

As South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's relations with the opposition broke down this year, Western diplomats hoped the internal tensions would not affect his tough stance on China and North Korea that had won praise from Washington. It didn't work. A focus on a foreign policy seen as favourable to the West, limited attention on the political discord in South Korea, and a hesitation to be seen interfering in domestic matters, left its partners blindsided when Yoon briefly imposed martial law...

December 12, 2024 2:28 PM

South Korean President Yoon vows defiance amid rising impeachment threats, accuses North Korea of election interference

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would "fight to the end" on Thursday as his own political party shifted closer to voting with the opposition to impeach him over his short-lived martial law order that threw the U.S. ally into turmoil. In a lengthy televised address, the embattled leader of Asia's fourth-largest economy also claimed North Korea had hacked South Korea's election commission, throwing doubt on his party's landslide election defeat in April. Yoon is hoping his political...

November 17, 2024 10:05 AM

Why Russia – North Korea friendship upsets China

There’s bromance in the air and it’s between two unlikely pals — Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin. But, it has upset some, including, guess who, Xi Jinping. The Kim — Putin Bromance is the subject of much discussion and speculation. Kim’s 3 a.m. hug of Putin on the tarmac; gifting him two Pungsan dogs; and Putin in turn presenting Kim with a Russian-make Aurus limousine and taking Kim for a spin in it: Their carefully-choreographed appearances project a sense of camaraderie and bonhomie...

October 31, 2024 9:28 AM

North Korea fires long-range ballistic missile, South Korean military says

North Korea fired a suspected long-range ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast on Thursday (October 31), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a day after Seoul reported the North was making preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. The launch, at a sharply raised angle, was from an area near the North's capital, Pyongyang, at 7:10 a.m. (2210 GMT, October 30) and may have used a newly developed solid-fuel booster, South Korea's military added. The la...

October 25, 2024 4:17 PM

Putin says it is our affair if Russia uses North Korean troops

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that it was Russia's business whether or not it decided to use North Korean troops and said that if Ukraine wanted to join NATO then Moscow could do what it wanted to ensure its own security. The United States said on Wednesday that it had seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that the West is casting as a significant escalation of the Ukraine war. Ukraine's military intelligence service...

October 23, 2024 3:41 PM

North Korea sent 3,000 troops to Russia for Ukraine war, South’s lawmakers say

North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday after being briefed by the national intelligence agency, an estimate that is twice the previous figure. Pyongyang had promised to provide a total of about 10,000 troops, whose deployment was expected to be completed by December, the lawmakers told journalists. The latest numbers came after Seoul's National Intelligence Service said on Friday the North had sent some 1,500 spe...

October 21, 2024 8:21 PM

What we know about North Korean troops joining Russia’s war in Ukraine

Officials in Ukraine and South Korea have accused North Korea of dispatching troops, estimated to number in the thousands perhaps, to aid Russia in the war in Ukraine. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the claims and U.S. officials have said they are still investigating the reports. Here is what we know so far: WHAT ARE THE REPORTS? Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused North Korea on Thursday of deploying officers alongside Russia and preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to help ...

October 17, 2024 11:31 AM

North Korea calls South Korea ‘hostile state’ indicating constitution change

North Korea has designated South Korea a "hostile state", its state media said on Thursday, confirming that its national assembly had amended the constitution in line with their leader's vow to drop unification as a national goal. The North's KCNA news agency reported that the military had blasted sections of road and rail links with South Korea on Tuesday as legitimate action against a hostile state as defined by the constitution. Sixty-metre (66-yard) sections of the road and railway on the ...

October 14, 2024 10:40 AM

North Korea set to blow up cross-border roads with South amid drone row, Seoul says

North Korea is getting ready to blow up roads that cross the heavily militarised border with South Korea, Seoul said on Monday (October 14) amid an escalating war of words after the North accused its rival of sending drones over its capital Pyongyang. North Korean troops were working under camouflage on the roads on its side of the border near the west and east coasts that are likely preparations to blow up the roads, possibly as early as on Monday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. La...

September 14, 2024 10:53 AM

North Korea’s Kim meets Russia’s Shoigu, vows more cooperation, KCNA says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu and discussed deepening strategic dialogue between the two countries, state media KCNA said on Saturday. They had a "wide exchange of views on regional and international situations", and reached a satisfactory consensus on issues including more "cooperation to defend mutual safety interests," KCNA said. Kim said North Korea will continue to expand cooperation with Russia in accordance with the strategic partne...