North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to make the country’s military strength “more absolute and irreversible” and push for nuclear buildup at an “exceptionally rapid speed” at a pseudo-event celebrating the successful launch of the new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile where he brought his second daughter Kim Ju-ae again. “It is the truth taught by history that only when we become the strongest, not the weak, in the present world where the stren

North Korea Nov. 27, 2022

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought his “beloved” second child, styled just like her mother this time, into the public eye for the second time in about a week through a photo published in state media on Sunday. Photos showing a very intimate father-daughter moment at a large-scale event celebrating the successful launch of the new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, suggest that Ju-ae has emerged as a very important figure to the North Korean leader, or possibly a cand

North Korea Nov. 27, 2022

WASHINGTON -- A yearslong impasse in bilateral talks between the United States and North Korea suggests the need for the Joe Biden administration to venture for unexplored ways in order to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiation table, a former deputy chief of US mission in Seoul said. “At this point, the ball really is in North Korea’s court. The US and South Korea have shown what they’re prepared to offer,” said Mark Tokola, vice president of the Korea Economic Institut

North Korea Nov. 21, 2022

The South Korean military on Friday conducted strike drills attacking a mock North Korean missile launcher with aerial laser-guided bombs, in response to North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the East Sea. The live-fire drills were staged at Pilsung Range in Kangwon Province in the afternoon, about six hours after the North Korean missile was launched to waters off Japan at 10:15 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The drills aimed to “de

North Korea Nov. 18, 2022

South Korea and the United States on Friday launched a new working group tailored to step up their policy coordination and communication to strengthen the alliance’s counter-missile capability and posture in light of escalating North Korean missile threats. The first meeting of the Counter-Missile Working Group was held in Seoul around two weeks after the South Korean and US defense chiefs discussed ways to enhance the alliance’s deterrence and readiness posture at the 54th Security

North Korea Nov. 18, 2022

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday called for a strengthened defense posture and tough economic sanctions on North Korea after the country launched another intercontinental ballistic missile. “President Yoon instructed to strengthen the South Korea-US combined defense posture, actively implement the measures agreed between South Korea and the US to enhance the viability of US extended deterrence and reinforce security cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan,” the

North Korea Nov. 18, 2022

North Korea on Friday fired another intercontinental ballistic missile in two weeks, which Japan said appeared to have fallen into waters within the neighboring country’s exclusive economic zone. North Korea fired the ICBM from Sunan District, Pyongyang, toward the East Sea at around 10:15 a.m. local, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The ICBM traveled about 1,000 kilometers, reaching a top speed of Mach 22 and an altitude of around 6,100 km, the JCS said in a

North Korea Nov. 18, 2022

North Korea on Thursday fired a ballistic missile off its east coast, after the country warned it would take “fierce” military action against US efforts to strengthen its extended deterrence posture against Pyongyang. A short-range ballistic missile was fired from an area around the coastal city of Wonsan in Kangwon Province toward the East Sea at around 10:48 a.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The short-range ballistic missile traveled ab

Defense Nov. 17, 2022

WASHINGTON -- South Korea should concentrate on averting a second contingency on the Korean Peninsula in the event of China’s invasion of Taiwan, says Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow and director of research in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. “South Korea should make it clear to China that if China were to attack Taiwan, it could not consider business as usual,” O’Hanlon said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Nov. 2 at the Brookings Institutio

Defense Nov. 16, 2022

WASHINGTON -- South Korea has to “take on some risk” to contribute to deterring Chinese aggression against Taiwan as a US ally by reinforcing its own deterrence capabilities and readiness posture vis-a-vis North Korea and resilience against China’s coercive economic statecraft, Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute, said. “One way to answer that question is to ask what didn’t South Korea do before the invasion happened?” Cronin answe

Defense Nov. 16, 2022

WASHINGTON -- The US and South Korea should seek to optimize their combined defense posture and create room for diplomacy with North Korea, according to Frank Jannuzi, president of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and formerly US President Joe Biden’s longtime foreign policy aide in the Senate. Recalibrating strategy to enhance the alliance’s readiness is imperative to achieve the ultimate objective of maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula. “There’s some trut

Defense Nov. 15, 2022

WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration’s current North Korea strategy has failed to embrace and take into account geopolitical realities and regional security dynamics, according to Joel Wit, the founder of 38 North, a US-based North Korea monitoring program. To resuscitate nuclear negotiations and get a step closer to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, he says the US first and foremost should alienate North Korea from China. Wit said the Biden administration’s current North Korea poli

North Korea Nov. 14, 2022

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the US should move toward retooling their alliance to collectively counter the challenge from China, including in relation to Taiwan, according to Randall Schriver, a top Asia policy official in the Pentagon during the previous Donald Trump administration. Schriver took note of the alliance’s imperative to focus on countering escalating and existential North Korean threats and to preserve deterrence on the Korean Peninsula. But South Korea and the US should ex

Defense Nov. 13, 2022

North Korea on Wednesday fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coast, as the United States counts the ballots for the midterm elections it held Tuesday. The South Korean military detected one short-range ballistic missile being fired from the area of Sukchon County in South Pyongan Province toward the East Sea at 3:31 p.m. local time on Wednesday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The short-range ballistic missile traveled about 290 kilometers at a speed of Mach 6 and an altit

North Korea Nov. 9, 2022

The South Korean military on Monday began conducting the Taegeuk military exercise to enhance military readiness posture against North Korean missile and nuclear threats. The four-day military exercise aims to strengthen the South Korean military’s capabilities to manage the crisis and its ability to transition into wartime, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The Taegeuk exercise will enable the South Korean military to master its mission capability in real-world scenarios in preparation for

North Korea Nov. 7, 2022