Member states of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, are seeking to adopt a final declaration that urges North Korea to promptly take “concrete measures” to abandon its missile and nuclear programs and denies its self-claimed status as a nuclear weapon state. The draft of a final statement on the 10th NPT review conference, which kicked off Aug. 1 and continues until Friday in New York, was released this week in the run-up to the closing. North Korea&rsq

South Korea and the United States “entirely” align on their plans to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization in stages, the US State Department said Monday, urging North Korea to affirmatively respond to South Korea’s “audacious initiative.” The US State Department on Monday reiterated its endorsement of the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s “audacious initiative,” which seeks to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization through a phased, increm

South Korea on Monday concurrently began conducting a major combined military exercise with the United States and civil defense drills based on real-world scenarios to prepare for full-scale war on the peninsula and local provocations by North Korea. The two-week Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise between South Korea and the US is scheduled to be held between Aug. 22 and Sept. 1, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The first session of Ulchi Freedom Shield aims to simulate enter

North Korea’s propaganda outlets denounced South Korea’s diplomatic initiative to mend ties with Japan in articles issued this weekend, claiming the Yoon Suk-yeol government is seeking to capitalize on the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The North Korean external-oriented outlets made mention of Abe’s death for the first time, more than six weeks after Abe was shot to death in the Japanese city of Nara on July 8. The North Korean state media notably express

South Korea and the United States agreed to develop cybersecurity cooperation through steps including regular cyber defense exercises, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Thursday. South Korea’s Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup met Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of US Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, on Thursday in Seoul. Both sides discussed recent cyber threats, countermeasures and ways to develop cyber cooperation between Seoul and Washington, South Kore

South Korea’s Air Force will join an Australia-led large-scale multilateral air combat exercise for the first time to enhance interoperability and military cooperation with participating Indo-Pacific countries and key NATO members. South Korea’s fighter jets departed Jungwon Air Base in North Chungcheong Province on Thursday for Base Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia to take part in Exercise Pitch Black 2022, South Korea’s Air Force announced in a statement Thursda

South Korea and the United States committed to enhancing military and security cooperation to deal with challenges in the Indo-Pacific region at the high-level defense talks, reaffirming the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Taiwan Strait. South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the US Defense Department held the 21st Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) on Tuesday and Wednesday in Seoul with the participation of key defense and foreign affairs officials. Both sides

North Korea-affiliated hacking groups stole around $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency just from decentralized-finance protocols in the first seven months of this year, a US blockchain analysis firm said Tuesday. Cryptocurrency theft by North Korean hackers accounted for more than 50 percent of the total losses arising from cryptocurrency hacks, according to an online report released by blockchain data platform Chainalysis. Stolen cryptocurrency in hacks of various services amounted to $1.9 b

North Korea fired two suspected cruise missiles from South Pyongan Province toward the western sea on Wednesday early morning as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol marked his 100th day in office. “North Korea is presumed to have launched two cruise missiles near Onchon County, South Pyongan Province early this morning,” a South Korean military official told reporters on condition of anonymity, without sharing further details including flight distance and time. “Our militar

South Korea and the United States on Tuesday kicked off preliminary military drills in the run-up to revived large-scale military exercises while holding high-level defense talks on the alliance’s deterrence and readiness against North Korean missile and nuclear threats. The crisis management exercises led by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff are scheduled to be conducted for four days, according to the South Korean military. The drills aim to practice and master procedures to

South Korea’s president on Monday proposed an “audacious initiative” to provide economic compensation in return for North Korea’s “substantive process for denuclearization.” President Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated the significance and legitimacy of achieving North Korea’s denuclearization in his speech marking Korea’s 77th National Liberation Day on Aug. 15. “Peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia is an important prerequisite for w

The South Korean President and the UN chief had a “candid” discussion on the North Korean nuclear issue and shared their view that the country’s development of missile and nuclear weapons posed a “major challenge” to regional and world peace. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had a luncheon meeting that lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes on Friday in Seoul, the South Korean presidential office said. Both sides discusse

South Korea and the United States will discuss how to bolster the alliance’s deterrence and readiness against North Korea at an upcoming high-level defense talk, South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced Friday. South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the US Defense Department will hold the 21st Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) between Aug. 16 and 17 in Seoul with the participation of key defense and foreign affairs officials. Deputy Minister for National Defense Polic

South Korea’s first independently developed fighter jet soared into the sky in July, making a huge leap forward in the aerospace and defense industry. But the giant step took nearly 20 years, after the South Korean military decided to develop the indigenous advanced fighter aircraft in 2002. Retired Brig. Gen. Jung Kwang-sun recalled countless twists and turns that South Korea’s defense procurement agency and defense contractors went through to develop supersonic fighter jets from

The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that he braced for the possibility of North Korea conducting local provocations for the foreseeable future, assessing that North Korea has sought to make a pretext of provocations. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup provided an affirmative response when asked if the statement by Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister, could be a foreshadowing of “imminent local provocations” during his first news conference.

North Korea’s ruling party condemned the US House speaker’s recent visit to Taiwan as a “grave threat to regional peace and stability,” pledging to provide unwavering and full support to China’s resolution on the Taiwan issue. The Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea sent a “solidarity letter on the Taiwan issue” to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Tuesday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Wednesda

The US Treasury Department on Monday sanctioned the popular cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash for alleged use by North Korea’s notorious hacker group and other actors to launder ill-gotten cryptocurrencies. The Tornado Cash mixer platform has been exploited by malicious cyber actors to launder more than $7 billion worth of proceeds from cybercrimes since its establishment in 2019, the Treasury Department announced in a statement. North Korea’s state-sponsored Lazarus Group was no

North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament has revised and supplemented the space development act while announcing its plan to hold a full-scale meeting in early September in the run-up to its National Foundation Day. The decisions were made at the plenary meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang on Sunday. Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the Standing Committee of the SPA, presided over the meeting, the state-run

The South Korean and Australian defense chiefs agreed to enhance defense cooperation in a wide range of areas, including the arms industry and military exercises. The two leaders also noted the significance of defense partnerships between like-minded countries in maintaining regional stability. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles met Thursday in Canberra, Australia, and discussed a wide range of security issues, So

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is to meet with ranking South Korean officials Thursday, amid US-China tensions heightened by her trip to Taiwan. Pelosi’s stop in Taiwan sparked backlash and military actions from China. North Korea and Russia also pitched in and launched a blistering criticism of the US, showing a glimpse of the regional security complex that will be compounded by the visit. South Korea is the fourth leg of the US congressional delegation’s trip to the Indo-Pacific r