North Korea on Friday confirmed it had test-fired an upgraded long-range cruise missile and a tactical guided missile this week, as its leader Kim Jong-un inspected a munitions factory for the first time in years.  The official Korean Central News Agency said it “conducted the test-firing for updating long-range cruise missile system and the test-fire for confirming the power of conventional warhead for surface-to-surface tactical guided missile” respectively on Tuesday and T

South Korean government advised its nationals residing in 15 regions in Ukraine to leave amid heightened fears of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. 　 The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday additionally placed 12 provinces located in the eastern and northern regions of Ukraine, including capital Kyiv, Rivne, Sumy and Odessa, under the elevated travel alert, advising South Korean nationals to swiftly exit the region. 　 Fifteen out of Ukraine’s 25 provinces are now under a Level 3 travel ad

The US’ push to impose UN sanctions on five North Koreans responsible for the regime’s recent missile launches could be delayed for at least six months, after China and Russia blocked the move. 　 Norway, which holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in January, confirmed that China and Russia have put a hold on a US initiative to impose additional UN sanctions on the regime, according to a Voice of America report Tuesday. It added that the block period can last up

Seo Kyung-duk, a well-known professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, on Monday slammed the Japanese Embassy in Seoul for rejecting President Moon Jae-in’s Lunar New Year gift that bears an image resembling the Dokdo islets on the gift box, saying it was an attempt to make the island an area of conflict. 　 Cheong Wa Dae had sent a gift box with chestnuts, traditional liquor and other items to all the foreign ambassadors, including Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi, ahead

US Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed support for South Korea’s proposal to declare a formal end to the Korean War, but stressed that the declaration on its own is “meaningless” if Pyongyang is reluctant to talk or makes no progress toward denuclearization. 　 “I commend the Biden and Moon administrations for taking steps to engage North Korea and urge North Korea to return to the negotiating table,” Meeks said in a statemen

Former Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, who is running to be the next director general of the International Labor Organization, will face a public hearing to present her candidacy and take questions from the organization’s governing body on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland. 　 The ILO on Wednesday said public dialogues with five candidates for its top job will be held on Thursday and Friday. A Foreign Ministry official said Kang’s meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. (Geneva time) on Thur

The US has called for a new UN Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea’s fourth missile launch this month, as Washington seeks to ratchet up pressure on the reclusive regime to curb its prohibited weapons program.   Closed-door consultations of the UN’s most powerful body are expected to take place on Thursday, at the request of the US, along with the UK, France, Albania, Ireland and Mexico, according to Agence France-Presse. 　 “We will continue to ramp up the pre

The US envoy for North Korea urged Pyongyang to cease its “unlawful and destabilizing” activities and engage in dialogue in his talks with South Korean and Japanese counterparts on Monday after the North’s latest missile test. 　 US Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, South Korea’s Noh Kyu-duk and Japan’s Takehiro Funakoshi held three-way phone talks immediately after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles –- the latest in a flurry of weapons

Seoul on Monday strongly protested against Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi’s remarks that renewed territorial claims over South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, demanding an immediate retraction.  South Korea’s reaction came after Hayashi reiterated Tokyo’s stance that Dokdo, which is known as Takeshima in Japan, is a territory inherent to Japan in view of historical facts and international law in his speech outlining the government’s foreign

Cargo trains between North Korea and China have resumed operation for the first time in nearly two years since the border closure due to the pandemic, in a sign that the two countries may be readying to fully resume land trade soon. 　 The first train, which arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong on Sunday, returned home to the North’s Sinuiju at around 7 a.m., according to Yonhap News Agency. 　 The first train was empty when it arrived in China, but its return trip was likely loa

North Korea test-fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles from an inland area toward the East Sea on Friday in its third weapons launch this month, just hours after it warned of “stronger and certain reaction” toward Washington for imposing new sanctions against the regime’s recent back-to-back missile tests. 　 The Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired two projectiles, believed to be short-range ballistic missiles, from a site in North Pyongan Province toward i

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea agreed Friday to lift the restricted military zone designation for some areas near the inter-Korean border to secure more land for civilian use and development.  The Defense Ministry and the ruling party held a consultative meeting and decided to release restrictions on about 2.74 million “pyeong” of land, equal to about 9 square kilometers, near the inter-Korean border controlled by the military.  The move will allo

South Korea and the US are considering putting off their annual springtime combined military exercises from March to April, due to the March 9 presidential election and the COVID-19 situation, according to local news reports Thursday. 　 Yonhap News Agency, citing unnamed sources, said the allies have been discussing a possible delay due to the election season and spread of the coronavirus. 　 The Ministry of National Defense, in responding to the report, said the two sides are still in talks o

Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, located about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, has grown into a city of more than 1 million known for a clean environment with citizen-friendly policies.  With Mayor Baek Kun-ki heralding the city’s remarkable change, Yongin transformed into a greener and more balanced city with improved standards of living for its citizens -- when it comes to the economy, job opportunities, transportation and education, among others.  On Thursday, Yongin will start a ne

The US and five other countries condemned Pyongyang’s missile launch last week, and urged the reclusive regime to abandon its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs and return to denuclearization talks on Monday. 　 The joint statement by the US, Japan, France, the UK, Ireland and Albania came ahead of the UN Security Council closed-door meeting in New York to discuss the country’s last week’s test of what Pyongyang called a hypersonic missile. Shortly after the cou

  The UN Security Council is expected to meet behind closed doors on Monday to discuss North Korea’s missile launch, but a joint statement after the session appears to be less likely. 　 Diplomatic sources say the US, France and the UK -– three of the five permanent members on the council –- as well as Ireland and Albania, requested an emergency meeting to be held on Monday in the US to discuss the launch of what Pyongyang claims to be a hypersonic missile. 　 “We ca

A Harvard professor whose earlier claim that victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery were voluntary prostitutes stirred great fury is expected to draw further criticism with his renewed assertion that denies contemporary evidence to back the existence of the euphemistically labeled “comfort women.” The South Korean government, as well as experts here, rebuffed his argument, saying Japan’s sexual enslavement is a historical fact that has already been “proven unive

The US said “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” on lifting its sanctions on Iran, indicating that an immediate breakthrough to unlock some $7 billion of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea could be difficult. 　 State Department spokesman Ned Price made the remarks Tuesday in the US, when asked about whether the issue of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions will be resolved soon. It comes as South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun is in

A former national security adviser to Donald Trump slammed Joe Biden’s foreign policy, saying North Korea is a year closer in perfecting its nuclear and ballistic missile technology as a result of Biden’s diplomacy on Pyongyang -- or lack thereof. 　 In an op-ed published by Washington-based news outlet the Hill on Sunday, John Bolton identified Iran and North Korea as the Biden administration’s nuclear proliferation failures in 2021. 　 Bolton, who championed a hawkish policy

A policy of “strategic ambiguity” has guided South Korea’s diplomacy over the years, with Seoul seeking to juggle relations with its security ally Washington and key trade partner Beijing. But this precarious balancing act may no longer be sustainable, according to a key foreign policy adviser to the main opposition People Power Party’s presidential nominee. In an interview with The Korea Herald, Korea University professor Kim Sung-han, who advises Yoon Suk-yeol, said