South Korea and the United States on Friday began another round of large-scale naval drills, including a redeployed US aircraft carrier, in waters off the Korean Peninsula as the allies vow to take tit-for-tat military actions against North Korean provocations.The two-day bilateral maneuvering exercises have been staged in international waters of the East Sea to “strengthen combined defense capabilities,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Friday morning. The US n

The South Korean government will push for the lifting of a ban on public access to North Korean television and media channels, a top official on inter-Korean relations told lawmakers Friday. The government will seek to "gradually" open the door for North Korean broadcasts, media and publications in an effort to promote mutual understanding between the two Koreas, Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said in a report for a parliamentary audit session on his ministry's affairs. "

North Korea has come up with new guidelines on how to cope with the country's emergency health crisis and natural disasters at a key parliamentary meeting, its state media said Friday, amid efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and frequent flood damage. The plenary meeting of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), held in Pyongyang the previous day, adopted the law on emergency response, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The law p

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his 70th birthday praising his leadership against "challenges and threats" from the United States, Pyongyang's state media said Friday. In the letter, Kim also lauded Putin's "signal achievements in attaining the grand strategic target for building powerful Russia" through his "energetic activities," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "Today,

North Korean bombers and fighter jets on Thursday made a rare formation flight and apparently conducted live-fire drills, in an assumed tit-for-tat military action to the recent strike exercises of the air forces of South Korea and the US. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military detected four North Korean bombers and eight fighter jets flying in formation over North Hwanghae Province, which borders South Korea. Twelve North Korean warplanes were seen crossing a “special

N. Korea fires two more ballistic missiles hours after US aircraft carrier redeployed near peninsula

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said, after a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was redeployed to the waters the previous day. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Samsok area in Pyongyang between 6:01 a.m. and 6:23 a.m. It did not provide other details. The launches came just two days after the North's intermediate-range ballistic missile launch over Japan. "While strengthening

North Korea condemned the United States Thursday for redeploying a US aircraft carrier into the waters east of South Korea, saying that the move poses a "grave" threat to stability in the region. The North's foreign ministry made the condemnation in a public notice, a day after the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier returned to waters near the Korean Peninsula for a joint exercise with South Korea and Japan following the North's firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missi

S. Korea, US fire four surface-to-surface missiles in show of force, but one fails

BERLIN -- German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed "full support" for South Korea's "audacious initiative" designed to help North Korea improve its economy in return for denuclearization steps, Seoul unification minister said Tuesday following a bilateral meeting. Kwon Young-se, South Korea's top point man on North Korea, paid a courtesy call on Steinmeier during his four-day trip to Germany to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of Berlin's unification.

North Korea's state media outlets remained silent Wednesday about its latest launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), as its leader Kim Jong-un has stayed out of public view for nearly a month. The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Korean Central Television and the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the country's ruling Workers' Party, carried no reports on the missile test conducted the previous day. The missile traveled some 4,50

South Korea and the United States fired four ground-to-ground missiles into the East Sea on Wednesday in joint drills, a day after North Korea's intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch, according to the South's military. The two sides each launched two Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, which precisely hit mock targets and demonstrated the allies' capability to deter further provocations, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. It did not provide On Tuesday,

  A South Korean F-15K fighter fired two JADAM precision bombs at a firing range on a Yellow Sea island on Tuesday, in response to North Korea's intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch earlier in the day, the military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the F-15K dropped the Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs at a target in the range on the uninhabited island of Jikdo following air drills with U.S. warplanes in a combined strike package. The strike package consisted o

The US strongly condemned North Korea's launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile Tuesday, calling it a reckless decision that poses an unacceptable threat to regional and international security. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also discussed appropriate responses the international community should take in phone talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts. "The United States strongly condemns the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK)

Experts say Pyongyang aims to demonstrate its capabilities to strike key US military bases in Asia-Pacific region