A North Korean propaganda outlet slammed South Korea on Monday for “serving” the US in a display of servility, saying Washington is returning only complications on ongoing disputes with Seoul. “Ranking officials in Seoul have paid numerous visits to Washington since October. … Their alliance is a combination of subjugation and subordination where Seoul is held hostage,” the propaganda outlet Ma...

The first group of conscientious objectors began their 36-month alternative service at a Daejeon jail on Monday, following a landmark court ruling two years ago that obliged the parliament to roll out such a program. South Korea conscripts all able-bodied men for about two years to maintain defense readiness against North Korea. A total of 63 objectors entered the correctional institution on Mo...

Displaced North Koreans hit by this year’s typhoons said new homes built by the government were still uninhabitable, Radio Free Asia said Wednesday, citing anonymous sources in North Korea. “Except the ones Kim personally directed recovery for, most homes were barely inhabitable because it was a job half done,” one anonymous source said, referring to leader Kim Jong-un’s personal inspection of t...

North Korea engages in cyberattacks to primarily steal money from banks, a senior US Justice Department official said Thursday. “They’ve used it really to steal banks and money. That’s not really the behavior we see from China or Russia or even Iran despite the Iran sanctions,” John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, told a webinar hosted by the Center for Strategic and In...

The South Korean fisheries official who was shot dead by North Korea in the West Sea near the maritime border in late September was making defection, the Korea Coast Guard reaffirmed Thursday. “The missing official was a heavy gambler. We judge that he may have been mentally disturbed and attempted defection to the North to escape reality,” the Coast Guard told a press briefing, concluding its i...

“Korea is one of the top 10 countries in defense spending and we continue to localize fighter and training jets. That’s good, but we still import supporting aircraft like transporters,” Lee said. “We should begin localizing those now.” Lee explained that there could be spillover from the technology gains. They may help Korea boost production of small and midsized civilian aircraft, for instance,...

North Korea’s denuclearization would ultimately lead to the declaration of an official end to the Korean War, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. The two Koreas are still at war, having signed no peace treaty to end the 1950-53 conflict. Pompeo was addressing questions about whether ending the war would be feasible without the North’s disarmament. President Moon Jae-in has repeate...

North Korea was ranked 17th out of 26 countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of national power, dropping by one place largely due to its waning diplomatic influence, the Australian think tank Lowy Institute said in this year’s power index released Monday. The nuclear talks between the US and the North helped Pyongyang little, according to the index, which assesses a country’s power based ...

North Korea poses a more imminent threat to the US than either Russia or China and the threat continues to grow worse, former US national security adviser John Bolton said Monday. “We have two basic threats. One is Russia the other, China,” Bolton told a webinar hosted by the Atlantic Council, singling out China as the “existential threat” for the US and describing North Korea and Iran as top pr...

North Korea said Monday staying vigilant against the coronavirus outbreak is a top priority in its 80-day campaign aimed to jump-start its faltering economy. “We must hold ourselves responsible for and commit ourselves to finding where we stand most vulnerable to infection and come up with responding measures,” the official state newspaper said in a commentary, urging the party members as well t...

Chairman Lee Nak-yon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea met with the chief of South Korean drugmaker Celltrion on Sunday and was briefed on the latest developments from the firm that has recently gained regulatory approval for phase 3 clinical trials of an experimental COVID-19 treatment. “If Celltrion and their peers here come up with a way to mass-produce the treatment, we could be the fi...

The amount of money expected to be spent on coronavirus patients -- from the pre-diagnosis stage through recovery -- is expected to total close to 320 billion won ($280 million), the National Health Insurance Service said Sunday. About one-third of the cost would be taken up at the pre-diagnosis stage, including coronavirus tests, it added. The total number of coronavirus patients here is proje...

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, reaffirmed his country’s continued commitment to providing extended deterrence to South Korea against a nuclear-armed North Korea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. The top US general discussed the defense strategy involving the US nuclear umbrella and strategic assets with Gen. Won In-choul, chairman of the JCS here, ...

South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook traveled to the United States on Tuesday to discuss the plan for Seoul to take over wartime operational control from Washington at an annual security meeting. Breaking with convention, Suh made the trip to Washington on Korea’s Multi Role Tanker Transport, an aerial refueling tanker, partly to display the Air Force’s growing prowess and partly to reduce th...

North Korea has revealed newer ballistic missiles, but experts are divided over whether the regime has secured the latest technology to mount multiple warheads atop the missiles. “It depends a little bit on how big it really is, but I would say this represents certainly the ability to put multiple nuclear warheads on a missile like this,” Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of Internationa...