South Korean President Moon Jae-in continued to blast North Korea Wednesday, calling its recent missile launch a serious threat to global peace and security that should never be tolerated."North Korea launched a missile four days ago and claims to have succeeded in launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile," Moon said while visiting the Defense Ministry in Seoul for a policy briefing."Launching ballistic missiles is a serious provocation that violates UN Security Council resolutions, as

Police said Wednesday they have arrested a ring of people, including a U.S. soldier, over illegally taking US Forces Korea vehicles out of a base to sell them to civilians. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said six people are accused of conspiring to steal three Humvee vehicles each worth some 40 million won ($35,700) to 70 million won from a US base here in June and September last year. This photo released by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on May 17, 2017, shows a Humvee vehicle stole

North Korea on Tuesday released a detailed report on the global WannaCry ransomware attack, but kept mum about international suspicions that it might have been behind the destructive hacking."The cyberattack, which was carried out via the Internet around May 12, swept through a great number of government agencies and business in some 150 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, around the world," the Rodong Sinmun, an official daily of the North's ruling Workers

A 45-year-old man was sentenced to a year in prison Wednesday for driving his truck into the main entrance of a local broadcasting channel whose reports on former President Park Geun-hye led to her impeachment.The Seoul Western District Court found the man, identified only by his last name Kim, guilty of crashing his 1-ton vehicle into the main entrance of JTBC in western Seoul in December, about a week after Park was impeached by the parliament.  In this file photo taken on Dec. 19, 2017, a pol

The long-standing dispute over wartime sexual slavery has resurfaced to strain South Korea-Japan relations, as the government change in Seoul and a UN experts panel's recommendation lent momentum for redressing a 2015 deal aimed at resolving one of the trickiest issues between the two nations. President Moon Jae-in, who took office last Wednesday, called for the renegotiation of the much-criticized agreement during his campaign. In a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Cyberattacks against South Korea increased during the first quarter of the year with the country coming in second place in terms of the number of attacks, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report by global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, 26.57 percent of the distributed denial of service attacks occurred against South Korea, up from 9.42 percent a quarter earlier. (Yonhap)China topped the list of the 72 countries checked by receiving a total of 47.78 percent of the DDoS attacks dur

The United States military stationed in South Korea has informed the host country of its detection of a recent North Korean missile launch, but important facts were omitted in the information sharing, sources said Wednesday.Following North Korea's ballistic missile launch on early Sunday, the US Forces Korea informed the South Korean military that the TPY-2 radar component of the recently stationed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system detected the North Korean missile, the intelligence sou

South Korea's unification ministry on Wednesday expressed a need to reopen an inter-Korean communication hotline, which was severed early last year following North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.In February 2016, North Korea cut off two inter-Korean communication channels as it expelled remaining South Koreans from a joint industrial park in response to South Korea's closure of the Kaesong complex.The Ministry of Unification (Yonhap)One of them is a hotline at a liaison office located at the

The United Nations has raised questions over the way North Korea restored flood damage last year, pointing out that it put more emphasis on building and infrastructure reconstruction than flood victims, a US broadcaster said Tuesday. The North's flood restoration went against the traditional post-disaster patterns, Voice of America said, citing a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on its after-action review on rehabilitation projects in North Hamkyong Province

Three military cadets from Saudi Arabia will start receiving training in South Korea's military academies next year following an agreement on military education signed between the two countries' defense ministries Wednesday.The Ministry of National Defense here said that the agreement on the military education exchange and cooperation was signed between the two parties in Seoul earlier in the day. Korea Military Academy cadets (Yonhap)The latest agreement is part of the two countries' broader pa

The National Assembly on Wednesday decided to hold a confirmation hearing for National Intelligence Service chief-nominee Suh Hoon later this month, parliamentary officials said.The parliament's intelligence committee plans to hold the hearing on May 29 and adopt a report on its outcome the following day, the officials said.This image shows National Intelligence Service chief-nominee Suh Hoon. (Yonhap)The appointment of a new spy chief does not require parliamentary approval.President Moon Jae-i

The floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party on Wednesday raised the possibility of sending back a recently installed missile defense system to the United States if there are any procedural problems in the deployment.Rep. Woo Won-shik also reiterated that the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to South Korea requires parliamentary approval. This photo, taken on May 16, 2017, shows Democratic Party floor leader Rep. Woo Won-shik speaking during a party meeting at the

BEIJING -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's special envoy will leave for China later this week to deliver the president's message and discuss cooperation, the Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday.On Monday, Moon named former prime minister Lee Hae-chan as his special envoy to China. He is tasked with delivering Moon's message to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.President Moon Jae-in (left) shakes hands with his special envoy to China, Lee Hae-chan, at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 16, 201

North Korea said Tuesday it will continue to conduct nuclear or missile tests with smaller and more diversified nuclear weapons, according to its state media.The pledge came at a meeting between a senior North Korean foreign ministry official and diplomatic representatives from four Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam and Laos, over its latest test of a new ballistic missile. This set of photos carried by North Korea's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun on May 15, 2017, shows a new North Kore

South Korea's foreign ministry said Tuesday that it is reviewing a UN panel's recent recommendation that a 2015 deal reached with Japan on its wartime sexual slavery be modified to sufficiently help and support the victims. South Korea and Japan agreed to the deal in December 2015 under which Tokyo provided 1 billion yen ($9.1 million) to support the lives of South Korean victims. Critics, however, have accused it of lacking any prior consultation with the victims, as well as Japan's sincere apo

Prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a former prosecutor over allegations he received bribes from a former chief of a local cosmetics company in a high-profile scandal that rocked the country's legal sector last year. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said the ex-prosecutor, identified only by his last name Park, is accused of receiving 100 million won ($89,600) from Jung Woon-ho, former chief of Nature Republic, in 2014 in return for peddling influence in relation to the state watchdog'

Former President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday asked a Seoul court to separate her case from her friend's, who is at the center of a corruption scandal that brought Park down from office. During the second preparatory session for her trial at the Seoul Central District Court, Park's legal representatives denied all charges leveled against her and said her case should be reviewed apart from Choi Soon-sil's case.The former president was indicted last month over a string of corruption allegations, inclu

South Korea's Defense Minister Han Min-koo warned Tuesday that his country will launch a pre-emptive strike if there are clear signs of an imminent North Korean missile attack.His remarks came two days after the communist state fired another ballistic missile, which it claimed was a mid- to long-range missile capable of carrying a "large-size, heavy" nuclear warhead and targeting the continental United States. Defense Minister Han Min-koo speaks during a parliamentary session at the National Ass

South Korea and the United States agreed Tuesday to work toward the "complete" denuclearization of North Korea, also vowing to seek new and practical ways to rid the communist North of its nuclear weapons, Seoul officials said.The agreement came at a meeting between South Korean officials and US National Security Council officials."The United States reaffirmed its strong commitment to the security and defense of South Korea," Yoon Young-chan, the top press secretary of South Korean President Moo

South Korea's unification ministry said Tuesday that it is illogical for North Korea to call for the South to honor inter-Korean agreements on cooperation while testing a new ballistic missile.Ji Jae-ryong, North Korea's top envoy to China, on Monday called on South Korea's new government to respect and fully implement inter-Korean agreements on reconciliation and cooperation during his meeting with foreign reporters. (Yonhap)The Ministry of Unification in Seoul said that the North's call cannot