Presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party seeks to establish “peace through power” on the Korean Peninsula, which is the guiding principle of his security and defense strategy. “Peace cannot be kept without strength,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Kim Yong-hyun, who advises Yoon on defense and security policy and previously served as chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Korea Herald. Yoon’s top defense

Defense Feb. 27, 2022

A UN expert on Wednesday called on the next South Korean president to take a “consistent approach” to North Korean human rights issues, pointing to the Moon Jae-in government’s decision to stop co-sponsoring a UN resolution as a bad precedent. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, underscored that the next South Korean government should maintain consistency in dealing with North Kore

North Korea Feb. 23, 2022

North Korean state-sponsored cryptocurrency theft and money laundering have continued on a “massive scale” to generate illicit funds, while the total amount of stolen cryptocurrency jumped 40 percent just last year. North Korea-affiliated hackers launched “at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms that extracted nearly $400 million worth of digital assets last year,” Blockchain data platform Chainalysis Inc. said on Wednesday in its 2022 Crypto Crime Report. Th

North Korea Feb. 17, 2022

North Korea has the lowest economic freedom among 177 countries surveyed around the world, a Washington-based think tank said in an annual report on Monday. The Heritage Foundation released the “2022 Index of Economic Freedom,” which comprehensively estimates a country’s economic freedom by using 12 indicators across four broad pillars comprising rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency and market openness. “North Korea’s economic freedom score is 3.0

North Korea Feb. 15, 2022

The top diplomats of South Korea, the US, and Japan committed to aligning their diplomatic approaches to North Korea and advancing trilateral security coordination in maintaining regional peace and stability. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Saturday in Honolulu, Hawaii, that was followed by a joint statement. “They committed to close trilateral cooperation to achieve complete denucle

Foreign Affairs Feb. 13, 2022

The defense chiefs of South Korea, the US, and Japan on Thursday committed to “closely cooperate” against North Korean threats and hold an in-person ministerial meeting during a trilateral phone call, South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced. South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook had a 30-minute phone discussion with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi that started at 7:45 a.m. The three defense chiefs “shared an assessment o

Defense Feb. 10, 2022

The North Korean party’s official newspaper on Monday called for more intense ideological education for younger generations, warning about “imperialists’ calculation” to overthrow the North Korean regime with cultural and ideological infiltration. The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said “anti-socialist maneuvers of the imperialists have been implemented very subtly and viciously in all aspects, including politics, military, ec

North Korea Feb. 7, 2022

North Korea might be indirectly supplied with Iranian crude oil through China, the US Congressional Research Service said in a recently published report, without further details. The report identified that North Korea “has not pledged to abide by international sanctions against Iran,” adding Pyongyang has similarly been “subject to significant international sanctions.” The CRS notably pointed to potential illicit connections between Tehran and Pyongyang in the “

North Korea Feb. 4, 2022

South Korea’s two leading presidential candidates clashed over plans to reinforce national missile defense against North Korea, while showing discrepancy in their approach to US and China in a two-hour TV debate aired Thursday. The four presidential candidates’ first public discussion on foreign and security policy conspicuously centered on ways to enhance missile defense, which has been challenged by North Korea’s rapidly advancing missile and nuclear capabilities. North K

Foreign Affairs Feb. 4, 2022

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday denounced North Korea’s intermediate-range ballistic missile launch as a “breaking” of the country’s self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.  The statement came days after North Korea on Sunday fired the Hwasong-12 nuclear-capable missile, which was the first launch of the missile since September 2017. The Hwasong-12 is the longest-range missile launched by Pyongyang in more than four years,

North Korea Feb. 2, 2022

The Lunar New Year or Seollal is one of the two most important and celebrated traditional holidays in South Korea. But, though both halves of the peninsula share many aspects of culture, nearly 77 years of division between the two Koreas have led to divergent holiday traditions. In North Korea, the significance of socialist holidays, including the birth anniversaries of the late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the national foundation day on Sept. 9, and the party foundation day on Oct.

North Korea Jan. 30, 2022

North Korea on Thursday fired two apparent short-range ballistic missiles at a low altitude from a seashore city in South Hamgyong Province toward its east coast. “We are aware of the ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners,” the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement, adding the launch does not pose an “immediate threat” to US personnel, territory or allies. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military ha

North Korea Jan. 27, 2022

If South Korea faces an imminent attack from nuclear-armed North Korea, what is the most viable military option to defend the country and prevent incalculable and irreparable damage? Seoul-based experts say South Korea would have no option but to consider launching a preemptive strike, although the anticipatory use of force would come with a certain price. That price could far outweigh potential gains, experts say. But the bigger problem is Pyongyang‘s mounting artillery, missile and nuc

Defense Jan. 26, 2022

The US Defense Department on Monday urged China to use its leverage to support and enforce UN Security Council resolutions and enact new UN sanctions, while reiterating its call on North Korea to cease “provocations” and de-escalate tensions. The Pentagon pointed out Beijing’s stonewalling on the international community’s efforts to implement UN economic sanctions on North Korea. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said China, the “direct neighbor of North Korea

North Korea Jan. 25, 2022

North Korea fired two suspected cruise missiles from an inland area Tuesday morning, its fifth weapons test this year. “North Korea is presumed to launch two cruise missiles this morning,” a South Korean military official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “The missiles are estimated to have traveled mostly inland although further analysis is needed,” the military official said, adding the missiles were not fired toward the East Sea. 　 The military official sa

Defense Jan. 25, 2022