The United States conveyed its concern to China over a possible North Korean nuclear test during the recent high-level bilateral talks, top White House officials said on Thursday. US national security advisor Jake Sullivan and top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi met on Monday in Luxembourg and discussed regional and global security issues and key pending issues in US-China relations. Speaking at an online event hosted by the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, Sullivan said a m

North Korea appears to be at work to reactivate another unused tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, and has completed preparations for an oft-speculated nuclear test in Tunnel No. 3, a Washington-based think tank said Wednesday. Commercial satellite images acquired Tuesday show new indications of construction activity below the entrance to Tunnel No. 4 at the nuclear test site in Punggye-ri in Kilju County of North Hamgyong Province. A new caisson wall is under construction and cons

The US has not yet finalized how to adjust its military posture in the case of a nuclear test from North Korea and other contingencies, but close consultation with South Korea and Japan will precede a final decision, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday. “I think the final decisions have not been made,” Colin Kahl, the US undersecretary of defense for policy, said at an event hosted by the Washington-based Center of a New American Security when asked to elaborate on the top US d

South Korea’s Navy will join a Pacific Dragon multilateral ballistic missile defense exercise and separately conduct a live-fire drill to test the ability and performance of surface-to-air missile interceptors. The two separate military drills will be staged during the US-led biennial Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, exercise, multiple South Korean military officials, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to The Korea Herald on Wednesday. The 28th RIMPAC exercise, the world’s l

SINGAPORE -- South Korea is willing to have an earnest discussion to “normalize bilateral security cooperation” with Japan despite unresolved pending issues to better address North Korea’s escalating missile and nuclear threats, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Lee set the direction and gist of the newly inaugurated Yoon Suk-yeol government’s approach to North Korea in his speech delivered at the International Institute for Strategic

SINGAPORE -- South Korea, Japan and the US on Saturday agreed to regularize and publicize trilateral missile defense exercises and come up with further trilateral actions to deter North Korea’s ballistic missile threats. 　 South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup had the 50-minute trilateral talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi at noon local time. The rare in-person meeting was held on the sidelines of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue A

SINGAPORE -- The South Korean and the US defense chiefs on Saturday agreed to flesh out their plans to step up combined military exercises and enhance the viability of the US extended deterrence against North Korea’s mounting threats. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup had his first in-person encounter with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the morning on the sidelines of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit that runs until Sunday in Singapore. The 30-minute

SINGAPORE -- South Korean and Chinese defense chiefs on Friday committed to rejuvenating military exchanges and cooperating in resolving North Korean issues during a bilateral meeting held in around three years. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup had his first encounter with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in the afternoon on the sidelines of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit that runs until Sunday in Singapore. Reinvigorating military exchanges Lee and Wei

SINGAPORE -- The South Korean and Canadian defense chiefs on Friday discussed North Korean threats, their envisioned Indo-Pacific strategies and bilateral defense cooperation at a critical juncture, as Canada has called for South Korea to lend support to fill its depleted weapons stock sent to Ukraine. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand held a 30-minute meeting from 11:30 local time on Friday on the sidelines of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue

The Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s North Korea policy and Indo-Pacific strategy will be revealed at the Shangri-La Dialogue, where Seoul’s Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup will seek closer cooperation with the US and other aligned nations. The international event will serve as the stage for Lee’s first bilateral and trilateral meetings with defense chiefs -- including those of Japan and the US -- where he will discuss ways to enhance security cooperation in tackling regional cha

The US and the UN nuclear watchdog again warned of the possibility of North Korea carrying out a nuclear test in the near future. “We remain concerned that the DPRK could seek a seventh nuclear test in the coming days. It’s a concern we’ve warned about for some time,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday during a regular press briefing, underscoring its readiness to respond to any contingency scenarios in tandem with the US allies. “I can as

A US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier staged military drills with South Korean warships to enhance the alliance’s combat readiness against North Korea’s mounting threats and demonstrate the US commitment to defend South Korea. The US carrier strike group conducted the bilateral military exercises with the South Korean Navy’s fleet between Thursday and Saturday in the international waters southeast of the island prefecture of Okinawa, Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of

The United States Forces Korea on Friday returned the southwestern part of its Yongsan Garrison in the vicinity of the newly relocated presidential office to Seoul, paving the way for President Yoon Suk-yeol to transform the US military base into a large public park. The United States Force Korea reverted the 51,000 square meters of land that covers roads within the military base and areas nearby Gates 13 and 14 in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul. A total of 634,000 square meters -- which accounts

South Korean and Chinese defense chiefs will hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of a major international security forum, Seoul’s Defense Ministry announced Thursday. The meeting comes as South Korea’s newly inaugurated Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup is set to make his international debut at the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit to be held in Singapore from June 10 to 12. China’s minister of national defense and state councilor, Wei Fenghe, will also participate in

The US warned on Tuesday that it will seek to introduce tougher sanctions if North Korea conducts a nuclear test despite the continued stonewalling from China and Russia. US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield clarified that the Biden administration will continue to push ahead with its initiative to hold North Korea accountable for conducting weapons tests in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. “We absolutely will,” Thomas-Greenfield said du

South Korea has approved a defense contractor to begin negotiations on arms exports to Poland as the central European country called for support to accelerate and expand the delivery of weapons amid the war in Ukraine. South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Tuesday that it has given the green light for Hanwha Defense to kick off dialogue on exporting K4 machine guns to Poland. The announcement came after Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak on Mo

South Korea has dispatched the largest-scale naval fleet and a brigadier general to the US-led multinational maritime exercise to be held in and around the Hawaiian Islands next month. A flotilla of warships, maritime aircraft and troops left a naval base on the southern island of Jeju at noon Tuesday to participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise, South Korea’s Navy announced the same day. This year marks South Korea’s 17th participation in the RIMPAC exerci

North Korea’s suspected new COVID-19 cases on Sunday rose above 100,000 after the country discussed potential adjustments to antivirus measures and reportedly lifted lockdown restrictions in the capital Pyongyang. The state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters reported around 100,710 more people with feverish symptoms in the 24 hours up to 6 p.m. on Sunday, North Korea’s state media reported Monday. The total caseload of fever cases came to 3,549,590 as of Sunday afternoon,

The South Korean government has been reviewing the export of artillery shells to Canada in a bid to help the country replenish its depleted weapons stocks sent to Ukraine. Canada recently asked if South Korea is able to export 100,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition through a diplomatic channel, a South Korean senior official at the Defense Ministry confirmed to The Korea Herald on Monday. The South Korean official said the government has not yet formally begun procedures to proceed wi

North Korea has touted progress in curbing and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, but admitted that the country is bracing for another wave of infections that could stem from the spread of new variants. The Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee on Sunday convened a consultative meeting at the headquarters of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang under the guidance of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the state-run media including the Korean Central News Agency reported