N. Korea says it will stop sending trash-filled balloons, will resume if S. Korea sends leaflets

North Korea said Sunday it will temporarily stop sending trash-filled balloons across the border to South Korea, though it also threatened to resume such operations if Seoul sends more anti-Pyongyang leaflets. In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il claimed Pyongyang had sent 3,500 balloons, carrying 15 tons worth of debris, toward South Korea between Tuesday night and Sunday morning. Kim offered to temporarily halt

North KoreaJune 2, 2024

Korea, US, Japan to kick off 1st trilateral exercises this year

SINGAPORE -- The defense ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan on Sunday agreed to launch a trilateral exercise under the name "Freedom Edge," starting this summer. The plan for the trilateral exercise was reached at a meeting held on the last day of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue defense summit in Singapore. The trilateral exercise is to build on efforts outlined at the Camp David summit last year, according to the joint statement issued after the Singapore meeting. Ac

PoliticsJune 2, 2024

Yoon meets leaders of Tanzania, Ethiopia ahead of Korea-Africa Summit

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday held two rounds of bilateral talks with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, respectively, on the sidelines of the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit scheduled for later this week in Seoul. Seoul described the meetings as a stepping-stone for Asia's fourth-largest economy to weather the transnational crises through increased strategic cooperation with the African continent. The Korean president and Hassan held a summit-level

PoliticsJune 2, 2024

Court dismisses claim Korea neglected duty to rescue Sewol Ferry victims

The Constitutional Court of Korea has dismissed a constitutional petition by the bereaved families of April 2014 Sewol ferry disaster that the South Korean government had neglected its duty to rescue passengers from the capsized vessel. A 5-4 court ruling on Thursday dismissed the claim of state negligence filed in December 2014 and January 2015 for not meeting the relevant legal requirements, ending 10 years of legal actions by the victims' bereaved families. The petition stated that South

PoliticsJune 2, 2024

Seoul vows strong action against NK trash balloons

North Korea sent another batch of balloons carrying filth and propaganda to South Korea over the weekend, prompting a stern reaction from the South Korean government, which vowed Sunday to take “unendurable” action. “Dispatching of trash balloons and jamming GPS are despicable and irrational acts of provocation that could not have been imagined by a normal country,” National Security Adviser Chang Ho-jin said after presiding over a National Security Council meeting called

PoliticsJune 2, 2024

Man in 60s dies in Saemangeum triathlon event

A man in his 60s who was participating in a triathlon event held in Saemangeum -- reclaimed land in North Jeolla Province -- drowned to death during the swimming portion of the event, police said Sunday. The 62-year-old man surnamed Kim was spotted floating in the sea by a lifeguard at 7:45 a.m. during the Challenge Gunsan Saemangeum International Triathlon competition. He was pulled out of the water by an emergency rescue boat and taken immediately to a hospital where he received CPR before bei

Social AffairsJune 2, 2024

Jirisan bear sighting raises concerns: experts reassure public on low attack risk

A recent sighting of an Asiatic black bear on the Jirisan trail has raised safety concerns. However, the government has moved to reassure the public, noting that the possibility of bear attacks on humans is low due to their gentle and cautious nature. Currently, a total of 89 Asiatic black bears, including four cubs, reside around Jirisan, according to the Korea National Park Service under the Environment Ministry. These bears move between Jirisan and the nearby Deogyusan areas, rarely enc

Social AffairsJune 2, 2024

NSC expected to discuss resuming loudspeaker campaign over North's launch of trash-carrying balloons

The presidential National Security Council is expected to discuss a plan to resume propaganda campaigns via loudspeakers across the border with North Korea, in response to the North's launch of some 600 balloons carrying trash to the South, a source close to the matter said Sunday. The NSC meeting will be held Sunday afternoon and presided over by National Security Adviser Jang Ho-jin, according to the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol. Earlier in the day, South Korea's military said N

DefenseJune 2, 2024

N. Korea sends some 720 more trash-carrying balloons to S. Korea, continues GPS jamming for 5 days

North Korea has sent around 720 more balloons carrying trash to South Korea and continued jamming GPS signals for five straight days against the South, Seoul's military said Sunday, as South Korea's presidential office was considering taking countermeasures. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it has detected some 720 balloons that floated across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas and fell in different parts of the country between 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. The

North KoreaJune 2, 2024

South Korea, Japan defense chiefs agree to put past behind them at Singapore meeting

SINGAPORE -- South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik and Japan’s Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara agreed to look to the future in a bilateral meeting held at the Asia Security Summit or the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. At the meeting that lasted for about half an hour, the two ministers agreed to put the maritime row that had frustrated defense negotiations between the countries for the last five years, and pursue reconciliation. In December 2018, Japan accused

DefenseJune 1, 2024

N. Korea sends some 90 balloons carrying trash to S. Korea: Seoul's military

North Korea sent around 90 balloons carrying trash to South Korea on Saturday, Seoul's military said, after it launched hundreds of similar balloons across the inter-Korean border earlier this week. As of 11 p.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had detected around 90 balloons that floated across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas and fell in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The North appears to have started sending the balloons at around 8 p.m., with the fallen balloons

DefenseJune 1, 2024

Seoul defense chief thanks Congress for bill keeping US troops in South Korea

SINGAPORE -- Seoul’s Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik on Saturday credited the bipartisan support from the US Congress for its role in protecting the US troop presence in South Korea. Shin held a closed-door meeting with the US House of Representatives delegation comprising Reps. Young Kim, Michael McCaul, Gregory Meeks, Joe Wilson and Joe Courtney at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit on this day, according to the minister’s office. The South Korean defense minister was quoted

PoliticsJune 1, 2024

Line has more new users than KakaoTalk for the 3rd straight week

New users for mobile messenger application Line in South Korea have surpassed that of KakaoTalk for the third straight week this month, another implication that KakaoTalk's once-overwhelming dominance in the market is diminishing. According to the report by the mobile data analysis firm IGA Works, the Line application was newly installed 61,640 times across the country between May 20 and May 26, edging out 56,771 new installations of KakaoTalk to lead all messenger service for messenger, ph

Social AffairsJune 1, 2024

Conman poses as Son Heung-min's friend, swindles W100m from girlfriend

The South Korean police said Thursday that they were searching for a man in his 30s who is believed to have swindled around 100 million won ($73,000) from his former girlfriend while pretending to be a close friend of soccer superstar Son Heung-min. The suspect, a former professional soccer player, is believed to have extorted the money from the victim in 2021. He borrowed money from her on 19 occasions between May and December of that year, saying that he needed money for an "entertainment

Social AffairsJune 1, 2024

Seoul envoy lambasts N.Korea satellite launch as 'one of the most expensive fireworks'

South Korea's top envoy to the UN denounced North Korea's failed satellite launch this week as "one of the most expensive fireworks" on Friday, stressing that it has used its scarce resources for the launch despite persistent food shortages. Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook made the remarks as the UN Security Council (UNSC) held an open meeting to discuss the North's launch of the satellite on Monday, which Seoul, Washington and others criticized as a violation of UNSC resolut

North KoreaJune 1, 2024

Seoul defense chief accuses Russia of using North Korean weapons in Ukraine attack

SINGAPORE -- South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Saturday growing evidence pointed to Russia getting weapons from North Korea to attack Ukraine and aiding the Kim Jong-un regime’s military program. “Today we see more evidence that the weapons used by Russia to attack Ukraine were illegally imported from North Korea,” the South Korean minister of national defense said in his remarks delivered at the plenary session of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Russia, des

DefenseJune 1, 2024

N. Korea continues GPS jamming attack for 4th day

North Korea attempted to jam GPS signals near the western sea border for the fourth consecutive day Saturday, the South's military said. The military detected the jamming signals directed toward the islands near the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, the de facto western maritime boundary between the two Koreas, starting at about 6 a.m., according to a South Korean military official. The latest attempt has not hindered any military operations, the official said, although similar recent

North KoreaJune 1, 2024

S. Korea, US, Japan condemn N.Korea launches, reaffirm peninsula denuclearization goal

Senior diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan "strongly" condemned North Korea's recent satellite and missile launches, and reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as they held trilateral talks in Virginia on Friday. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano issued a joint statement after the meeting at Campbell's p

North KoreaJune 1, 2024

Seoul defense chief seeks US congress support for defense-related science cooperation

SINGAPORE -- Seoul’s Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik said Friday a delegation of US senators agreed to help raise bipartisan support on expanding the two countries’ cooperation in defense-related science and technology. The minister and the three US senators -- Sens. Tammy Duckworth, Laphonza Butler and Dan Sullivan -- held a closed-door meeting held at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore for about half an hour. “The bipartisan US senate delegation, one Republican an

PoliticsMay 31, 2024

S. Korea warns of 'unendurable' actions against N. Korea unless it stops provocations

The unification ministry warned Friday that "unendurably" painful measures would be taken against North Korea if it continues to stage "irrational" provocative acts, such as this week's sending of balloons carrying trash to South Korea. Earlier this week, North Korea flew hundreds of large balloons carrying trash and manure into South Korea and staged GPS jamming attacks in waters near South Korea's northwestern border islands for a third straight day until Friday.

North KoreaMay 31, 2024