South Korea and the US sanctioned a North Korean believed to be linked to cybercrimes meant to bankroll North Korea’s nuclear and weapons programs -- the first ban the two allies have jointly rolled out on a single individual. Sim Hyon-sop, the North Korean in question, worked for a North Korean bank already sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council resolutions, and was responsible for “creating fake accounts, money laundering and other illegal financial activities,” th

North Korea April 24, 2023

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung suggested on Monday that President Yoon Suk Yeol should balance ties with the US and China, saying diplomacy is not always black-and-white, amid his party’s criticism of Yoon’s remarks as overly leaning on Washington and being “self-destructive.” In a Reuters interview last week, Yoon for the first time indicated support for arms aid to Ukraine if a human rights crisis prompts it. He also described China’s claims to Taiwan as a global

Politics April 24, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister said Friday Taiwan belongs to China, vowing to fight off anyone threatening to dispute the fact, a day after South Korea summoned China’s top envoy in Seoul for Beijing’s open criticism of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s remarks on Taiwan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday it will not allow others to “meddle in conversations involving the Taiwan issue,” in response to Yoon’s interview with Reuters this week. He opposed changing the

Foreign Affairs April 21, 2023

South Korea on Friday expressed regret over mass visits by Japanese lawmakers to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, a move Seoul sees as an attempt to whitewash Tokyo’s wartime wrongs since the shrine honors 14 World War II leaders convicted as war criminals. Earlier in the same day, some 90 lawmakers from several political parties paid their respects, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sending an offering to the shrine. He has done so five times since October 2021, when he took of

Foreign Affairs April 21, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the government to prepare a warplane to evacuate South Koreans in Sudan, a country rocked by a power struggle between its military and a state-sponsored militia called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). According to a statement released by Yoon’s office Friday, the president had told his defense and foreign ministers to draw up the plan as part of broader safety contingencies amid the escalating clashes that erupted Saturday. Street battles have since left S

Politics April 21, 2023

Whether South Korea will supply arms to Ukraine depends on Russia's actions from now on, a senior official at the presidential office said Thursday following a warning from Moscow that such a decision “constitutes aggression” against Russia. Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said any arms aid to Kyiv, no matter where it comes from, is a “hostile anti-Russian act,” referring to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s interview with Reute

Politics April 20, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday his administration will work to realize the ideals of liberal democracy, at an annual ceremony marking the April 19 Revolution, a movement against election fraud that brought down South Korea’s first president, Syngman Rhee, in 1960. “The spirit of the revolution is written into our Constitution. That we cannot overlook freedoms of any single individual is what we must uphold as we run government. I will personally make sure we internalize tha

Politics April 19, 2023

Infrared thermal cameras picked up signs that North Korea could have been unilaterally resuming factory operations at the suspended inter-Korean industrial park, a breach of an agreement that South Korea says will have consequences. At least four factories in the Kaeseong Industrial Complex seem to be in operation, according to Radio Free Asia. It said Tuesday that factory activity at one of those plants, which makes rice cookers, looks exceptionally high, citing an expert on satellite images. T

North Korea April 18, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating fell to 33.6 percent last week, a six-month low largely prompted by a skeptical public urging the president to confront the US over its recent leak of secret intelligence reports suggesting Washington may have been spying on Seoul. Yoon’s first deputy national security adviser brushed off the damaging leak that made headlines two weeks ago, saying the US seems to have had “no malicious intent,” without offering any concrete eviden

Politics April 17, 2023

South Korea fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat that crossed the maritime border in the West Sea on Saturday, amid escalating tension prompted by the North’s latest missile test Thursday. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday that it fired the shots after the North had not responded to warnings, pushing the boat back to the North from the de facto sea boundary known as the Northern Limit Line. The NLL, disputed by Pyongyang since 1953 when it was drawn up foll

North Korea April 16, 2023

First lady Kim Keon Hee said Saturday she hopes to see South Korea and France working together on strengthening animal rights, a topic Kim has been pushing for wider debate as part of efforts to deliver on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s pledge to ban dog meat consumption. At a meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Kim referred to a French animal rights law taking effect next year. The law bans pet stores from selling pets unless they are stray animals. Colonna said respect for

Politics April 16, 2023

Ten out of the 15 South Korean victims, all entitled to compensation from Japanese companies as per a 2018 Korean court ruling holding the firms liable for damages for colonial forced labor, will receive their payments from a state-run fund, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Thursday. The decision is the latest follow-up on a March 6 initiative that Seoul proposed to move past the historical dispute amid Tokyo’s refusal to recognize the ruling. Japan says a 1965 treaty that normalized tie

Foreign Affairs April 13, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s first deputy national security adviser dismissed the diplomatic fallout from the recent leak of highly classified US intelligence reports suggesting it might have been spying on South Korea, saying Washington, Seoul’s biggest ally, seems to have “no malicious intent.” The remarks made Tuesday to reporters in Washington by Kim Tae-hyo -- the adviser who left Seoul that day to discuss Yoon’s state visit in late April -- underscore the Yoon ad

Politics April 12, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s first deputy national security adviser has played down the significance of the recent leak of highly classified US intelligence documents involving South Korea, shortly before boarding a plane to the US to discuss a Seoul-Washington summit scheduled for late April. Kim Tae-hyo, the adviser, told reporters Tuesday at Incheon International Airport that most of the information released online “was altered” and that this conclusion is shared by both Korean

Politics April 11, 2023

South Korea on Tuesday strongly denounced Japan’s latest claims to the Dokdo islets, calling in Tokyo’s deputy envoy in Seoul, as tensions reignite ahead of a potential summit to be held on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting in Japan in May. “The Japanese blue book is repeating its unreasonable claims to Dokdo -- the islets that clearly belong to us, historically, geographically and legally speaking,” the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said in a statement, referring t

Foreign Affairs April 11, 2023