Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a press conference on Thursday that Japan’s security environment is “at its severest since World War II” because of North Korea, and he vowed to “protect the people’s lives and peaceful living in any situation.”
Signals from North Korea remain as difficult to read as ever. Wednesday brought news that dictator Kim Jong-un has ordered the reactivation of a hotline to South Korea that has been dormant for nearly two years, but also that he has ordered the construction of North Korea’s largest missile ever, with an eye towards launching it on the 70th anniversary of the Communist regime in September.
South Korea’s Yonhap News reported on Tuesday that Seoul has proposed high-level talks with North Korea next week, ostensibly to discuss North Korean participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. The offer came after North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s intriguingly “conciliatory” annual address on New Year’s Day.
North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un delivered a New Year’s Eve speech, saying the United States is within range of the country’s nuclear weapons.
China is reportedly pushing back against a U.S. move to blacklist cargo ships that violate U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
At least four defectors from North Korea are showing signs of exposure to radiation, a trend that could be linked to the country’s rapidly developing nuclear weapons program.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted that its efforts to contain North Korea are “earnest and serious,” while Chinese state media called President Donald Trump’s accusations of illicit oil trade with Pyongyang “absurd” and “irresponsible” on Friday.
South Korea’s left-wing president Joon Mae-in has described a compensation deal between his country and Japan over the treatment of wartime sex slaves as “seriously flawed” and threatened to revoke it.
Contents: China funds unauthorized anti-Japan comfort woman statue in Manila, Philippines; South Korea calls for renegotiating 2015 deal with Japan on comfort women
Contents: Remembering the 1914 World War I Christmas Truce; The ‘anti-war movement’ in World War I; World War I vs World War II and World War III
Another North Korean soldier made a dash for freedom across the Demilitarized Zone on Thursday. His escape came just hours after two North Korean civilians attempted to defect in a fishing boat.
China has resumed its ban on group tours visiting South Korea while lifting restrictions on tourists visiting North Korea, Reuters has revealed.
If the South Korean analysts quoted by Yonhap News are correct, North Korea will not be having a Happy New Year. According to the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul, tough international sanctions imposed against North Korea over its nuclear missile programs haven’t affected the economy much yet, but that is about to change.
South Korean authorities confirmed on Monday that Kim Jong-hyun, the lead vocalist of superstar pop group SHINee, better known by stage name Jonghyun, committed suicide in his apartment. He was 27.
South Korea’s foreign ministry has commended the White House’s National Security Strategy, which promises that the United States will “take care” of North Korea as it continues to expand its nuclear capabilities.
South Korea scrambled fighter jets on Monday in response to a provocative Chinese aircraft exercise over the Sea of Japan. At two points during the exercise, the Chinese planes – including two fighters, two bombers, and a recon plane – penetrated South Korea’s air defense identification zone.
Contents: Chinese experts warn China to prepare for nuclear war in North Korea; Concerns grow over the threat of a North Korean nuclear reactor disaster
Contents: China-Australia relations plummet over China’s illegal militarization of South China Sea; China reacts contemptuously to Australia’s foreign policy white paper; China continues aggressive military buildup in the South China Sea; Trump to target China’s unfair trade policies in National Security Strategy
America’s chief of naval operations said in an interview published Friday that U.S. options for a military response to North Korea’s routine belligerence are not “empty words” and that the military is “prepared” to act against Pyongyang if necessary.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in promised China a “new start” in diplomatic relations following a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, following months of tensions caused by Seoul’s close relationship with the United States.
North Korea’s state newpaper, Rodong Sinmun, published a piece accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of “noisily crying out for military counteraction” against Pyongyang a day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson invited North Korean diplomats to a talk without preconditions.
China’s Foreign Ministry welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s offer to talk with North Korea without preconditions on Wednesday, while the White House responded in a more ambivalent manner.
General Valery Gerasimov, chief officer of the Russian military, kicked off a meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on Monday by blaming Japan, South Korea, and the United States for increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula with a joint military exercise.
Contents: Protests fizzle 3 days after Trump’s Jerusalem announcement was universally condemned; Trump’s proclamation hardens splits among Arab countries
North Korea has claimed that the outbreak of war with the United States is now an “established fact” as the U.S. and South Korea continue a series of large-scale military drills across the Korean peninsula.
The U.S. Air Force conducted joint bombing exercises with South Korea on Wednesday in another impressive show of military force just a week after North Korea tested an alleged intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) over Japan.
North Korea’s foreign ministry described President Donald Trump as a “nuclear demon” who is “begging for war” in a column Tuesday as tensions continue to escalate between Pyongyang and Washington.
The United States and South Korea began a series of large-scale military exercises across the Korean peninsula on Monday, as analysts claim war is a higher possibility than ever.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry filed a report to lawmakers on Friday that judged that North Korea’s new missile has the range capability to reach Washington, DC. Satellite imagery reveals the North Koreans may be preparing to launch another missile from the same site.
Russia has rejected U.S. calls to cut economic and diplomatic ties with North Korea after the dictatorship’s latest provocative missile test. In fact, the Russians made a point of ridiculing the effectiveness of sanctions and blaming the United States for rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.
President Donald Trump responded to Chinese criticism over his efforts on North Korea on Wednesday by proclaiming that a recent visit by a Chinese envoy to the country “had no impact.”
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday following North Korea’s latest missile test in which South Korea and the United States warned the Kim regime to step back from the brink.
North Korea described the missile it launched on Tuesday as its “greatest ICBM,” a weapon capable of delivering a “super-large heavy nuclear warhead” to the “whole mainland” of the United States.
November 13th had been a quiet day at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea.
North Korea’s missile program has been strangely quiet since September, which comes as a relief to Japan, since the last few ICBMs from North Korea have flown through their airspace. On Monday, the Japanese government reported intercepting radio signals that suggest North Korea may be preparing to launch another missile.
South Korea’s military has added news updates on the health of a defected North Korean soldier to its loudspeaker broadcasts in the Demilitarized Zone on the border between the two countries.
Cuban dictator Raúl Castro met North Korea’s foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, in Havana on Friday before the two issued a joint statement of solidarity.
The South Korean surgeon who helped save the North Korean defector’s life this month says the 24-year-old soldier is “a pretty nice guy” and a “strong man.”
North Korea’s state media have turned the tables on the United States, accusing America of being the “world’s biggest terrorist sponsor” after the State Department officially issued that label to the rogue communist state.
Regulators from both South Korea and the United Kingdom are reportedly investigating Google for allegedly collecting location data on its users without their knowledge.
