President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday warned that North Korea’s development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles posed a “grave challenge” to regional peace, as the military stepped up efforts to boost its anti-submarine capabilities to better counter the threat.She also called for “stern punishment” in case of any provocation in the skirmish-prone West Sea, following the communist neighbor’s repeated threats over the weekend to strike South Korean Navy vessels that it claimed were breaching it

Powered by a recent underwater test, North Korea will be able to deploy a submarine equipped with a ballistic missile as early as in two years that could pose a grave threat to South Korea, Seoul’s military officials said Monday. The communist country succeeded in ejecting a dummy projectile from a newly developed 2,000-ton submarine through last week’s experiment at a shipyard in the eastern coastal city of Sinpo, a crucial early stage in developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the of

Tension between the Koreas flared over the weekend as North Korea test-fired submarine and ship-to-ship missiles and threatened attacks on South Korean vessels it accused of encroaching its waters. The underwater testing of the KN-11, or “Bukkeuksong” (North Star) missile, stoked concerns over the communist state’s possible acquirement of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, a technology that could make way for a survivable second-strike capability and thus bring its nuclear threat to a new l

President Park Geun-hye’s special envoy has met North Korea’s ceremonial head of state at a ceremony in Russia marking the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, Seoul officials said Sunday. Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling Saenuri Party had a “brief encounter” with Kim Yong-nam, president of the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly as they laid a wreath on the graves of unknown soldiers alongside other world leaders and top officials on Saturday. “The encounter took place naturally durin

South Korea unveiled a new 1,800-ton attack submarine on Thursday amid its stepped-up efforts to cope with evolving maritime security challenges such as from North Korea. The 214-class submarine, the country’s sixth, was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. and for the first time named after a woman ― Yu Gwan-sun, a venerated independent fighter during Japanese colonial rule. Defense Minister Han Min-koo, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Chung Ho-seop, other top military and ind

South Korea plans to stage a military drill to better defend its easternmost islets of Dokdo this month as Japan ratchets up its sovereignty claims, officials said Wednesday. The exercise is designed to stave off any illegal approaches and will be conducted jointly by the military and coast guard for two days late this month on and around the windswept outcrops in the East Sea, they said. Among the scheduled plans is a landing training exercise by the Navy’s Underwater Demolition and Sea, Air an

Japan said Monday it has secured a UNESCO advisory panel’s endorsement for the listing of major wartime industrial facilities as World Heritage sites, posing a threat to Seoul’s efforts to keep the move at bay amid unabated historical spats. The International Council on Monuments and Sites, or ICOMOS, has recommended the registration of 23 sites of “Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution,” built in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. They were credited with contributing to Japan’s rapid industri

Seoul will release a report on Korean victims of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan to raise awareness about the damage suffered by those who were forced into slave labor during World War II, officials said Tuesday.In December 2010, a committee under the Prime Minister’s Office in charge of investigating forced conscription during Japanese colonial rule issued a paper detailing the victims’ sufferings for the first time at the state level. It will translate the document into Ja

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state will travel to Russia this week to attend a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, state media said Monday, days after Moscow unveiled the revocation of an anticipated trip by leader Kim Jong-un.Kim Yong-nam, president of the Supreme People’s Assembly, will be among the more than two dozen world leaders that Moscow says will take part in the event slated for Saturday. The Korean Central News Agency’s report did not specify the tim

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s recent revocation of his anticipated visit to Russia may have resulted from Moscow’s lukewarm response to Pyongyang’s plans to purchase its air defense missile systems, a news report said Saturday. Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV cited a Russian defense expert, reporting that the North floated a proposal to purchase four sets of Russia’s S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems during a visit by Hyon Yong-chol, minister of the People’s Armed Forces, to Moscow last

Though the recent revision to an atomic energy pact with the U.S. allows South Korea’s study of pyroprocessing, the nascent technology will likely increase electricity costs while failing to reduce the stockpile of spent fuel here, a leading nuclear scientist has said. Under the amendment, Seoul secured Washington’s consent to carry out electroreduction, the first stage of pyroprocessing, which Korean experts have touted as a possible solution to deal with its mountain of used fuel rods. The tec

North Korea has executed at least 15 senior officials this year alone including a vice forestry minister and four high-flying artists as leader Kim Jong-un continues his reign of terror apparently to cement his power, according to Seoul’s National Intelligence Service on Wednesday.  N.K. leader Kim Jong-un gives a speech in Pyongyang. YonhapThe vice minister was killed after complaining about the current reforestation policy, as was the deputy chief of a national planning panel who opposed the y

Young and cheerful albeit poor, 16-year-old Lee Yong-soo was taken to a Kamikaze unit in Taiwan by a Japanese man in what appeared to be a military uniform during World War II. She did not know she would be raped, repeatedly, and face electric torture if she disobeyed. Now frail, diminutive and wheelchair-bound, the 86-year-old Korean flew to Cambridge, the U.S., to stage a silent vigil against Tokyo’s unbridled attempts to whitewash the appalling chapter of history at Harvard University, where

Four civic groups here on Monday called for top U.S. policymakers and politicians to induce Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to sincerely apologize for his country’s sex slavery and other wartime atrocities in a joint letter. The dispatch is designed to request the members of U.S. Congress, where the premier is scheduled to deliver an address on Wednesday, to urge him to “voice clearly and publicly” and offer a “heartfelt apology” for Tokyo’s colonial rule and aggression. The text was written

South Korea said Monday it would dispatch search and rescue staff and medical personnel to Nepal as relief assistance pours into the country, following a massive earthquake that has left thousands dead and others injured. An advance team of 10 members from the 119 rescue squad and four government officials were scheduled to fly to the South Asian nation late Monday evening to inspect the situation and help the ongoing rescue efforts for 10 days, alongside a Foreign Ministry official who departed

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will travel to Moscow next month to take part a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Russia’s ambassador to Seoul said Thursday. Speculation has been mounting since Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he had received “positive” signs that Kim Jong-un would join in commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany, which would be the young ruler’s maiden overseas trip since taking power in December 2012. Dozens of heads of states were in

Tension is escalating between Seoul and Tokyo as Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe indicated he will not repeat past apologies for wartime atrocities in an upcoming statement marking the end of World War II, while sending an offering to a controversial war shrine. Seoul on Tuesday strongly condemned the ritual donations by Abe and a series of other cabinet ministers and top politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine to commemorate a spring festival. Since his visit to the shrine in December 2013, which enrage

With Seoul unwavering in its calls for an apology for wartime atrocities, Tokyo appears to be seeking ways to sidestep rising criticism over its revisionist push, boosting lobbying in Washington and other trilateral partnerships to shore up the U.S. strategic refocus to Asia.As the historical and territorial tension drags out between South Korea and Japan, concerns have risen that their strain may derail hard-won trilateral security cooperation involving the U.S. The Stimson Center, a Washington

With time running out for the aging sex slavery victims, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should sincerely atone for the so-called comfort women during World War II on the occasion of his scheduled high-profile speeches, a renowned Japanese scholar said. Haruki Wada, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, urged the ultraconservative premier to clearly display his commitment to the Japanese government’s watershed apologies for the atrocities ― the Kono Statement in 1993 and the Murayama

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held their first-ever trilateral vice-foreign-ministerial talks on Thursday in Washington as Seoul seeks to boost pragmatic cooperation with Tokyo such as on security and the economy despite persistent historical tension.South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong arrived in the U.S. capital late on Wednesday ahead of the three-way meeting the following day with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki. With