The US Navy's nuclear-powered submarine entered the southern port city of Busan on Friday, demonstrating the US commitment to strengthening extended deterrence as outlined in the April 26 Washington Declaration, South Korea's Defense Ministry announced. The USS Michigan, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered guided missile submarine (SSGN), was deployed by the US Navy to the Korean Peninsula as North Korea has continued its missile launches. The arrival of the US SSGN came a day after North Korea fired

Defense June 16, 2023

PYEONGTAEK, Gyeonggi Province -- The South Korean military salvaged the wreckage of North Korea's space launch vehicle on Thursday evening for joint investigation and analysis with the United States, aiming to gather the latest information on Pyongyang's missile technologies. South Korea's Navy retrieved the launch debris, which has been presumed to be the second stage of North Korea's launch vehicle, at around 8:50 p.m. local time, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Friday

Defense June 16, 2023

South Korean veterans minister on Thursday asked the Tokyo government for cooperation in locating the remains of Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean Independence fighter who assassinated a prominent statesman of the Japan Empire in protest of its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Although 113 years having passed since Ahn's death in March 1910, South Korea has yet to excavate his remains and time is running out, said Park Min-shik, the veterans minister. Ahn assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first re

Defense June 15, 2023

The South Korean government on Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking damages from North Korea for blowing up the inter-Korean liaison office in June 2020, marking the first case of Seoul taking legal action against the North Korean authorities through a local judicial court. The South Korean government submitted a lawsuit to the Seoul Central District Court at approximately 2 p.m., seeking compensation from North Korea for damages amounting to 44.7 billion won ($35 million) caused by the destruction

North Korea June 14, 2023

North Korea's state-sponsored Lazarus Group is believed to have stolen more than $100 million in cryptocurrency from an Estonian company, marking the latest in a series of high-profile cyberthefts by Pyongyang operatives. London-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic on Tuesday disclosed the findings of its analysis, which tracked over 5,500 crypto wallets suspected to have been compromised in the cryptocurrency breach of Atomic Wallet. The estimated total amount of reported losses suffer

North Korea June 14, 2023

CAMP HUMPHREYS, Gyeonggi Province — South Korean and US forces have come together to lay the ground for enhancing women's participation and expanding their role in maintaining peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond. The first-ever, three-day Women, Peace, and Security Symposium, jointly organized by the United States Forces Korea, United Nations Command, and Combined Forces Command, commenced on Tuesday at Camp Humphreys, the US' largest overseas military base, in

Defense June 13, 2023

South Korea said Monday it will cremate the body of a presumed North Korean man found near the inter-Korean border in May if North Korea does not respond to South Korea's offer to return the body by Friday. "We've requested North Korea to express its intention to receive the body by June 16. If the intention is not confirmed by then, the body will be treated as an unidentified deceased person in cooperation with local government authorities," Koo Byoung-sam, a Unification Min

North Korea June 12, 2023

Over 16,000 elderly South Koreans who had applied for a reunion with their separated families in North Korea have passed away in the absence of reunion events since August 2018. The annual number of South Korean applicants for reunions who have died has ranged from 3,300 to 3,700 since 2018, according to data provided by South Korea's Unification Ministry to Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday. The most recent state-organized in-person reunion eve

North Korea June 11, 2023

Shortly after taking power, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in 2012 that he wouldn’t have his people “tighten their belts again.” He has pushed to overhaul the agricultural system and enhance crop yields since then, but food shortages have continued. This year, the Kim regime has prioritized enhancing grain production among its 12 major economic goals. The ruling party views agricultural challenges as a “life-or-death matter for the survival and development of the co

North Korea June 7, 2023

The defense chiefs of South Korea and Poland on Wednesday agreed to further strengthen and broaden the scope of defense cooperation, in line with the progress made in defense industry cooperation, South Korea's Defense Ministry said. Both sides also discussed ways to conduct combined military exercises and promote military-to-military exchanges. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak met at South

Defense June 7, 2023

The frequency of publicly reported military activities by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been on a notable rise since the beginning of this year compared to the past few years. Kim conducted 12 public military activities by the end of April this year, according to analysis and data provided by the government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification headquartered in Seoul. The total number of such activities increased to 13 by the end of May, including Kim's inspection of prepara

North Korea June 6, 2023

SINGAPORE – The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, clarified Sunday that he "explained Ukraine's needs for ammunition" to the South Korean defense minister, correcting his statement on the bilateral talks. The correction came hours after South Korea's Defense Ministry issued a statement and said there was no discussion between Defense Minister Lee and Borrell regarding ammunition support for Ukraine. Both held a separate meeting on the sidelines of the S

Defense June 4, 2023

SINGAPORE -- The defense leaders of South Korea and Japan have agreed to clear a key obstacle that has hindered their bilateral defense cooperation and exchanges since 2018 and to prioritize their efforts to prevent the recurrence of similar military disputes to foster "future-oriented security cooperation." South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada held a 40-minute meeting on Sunday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's

Defense June 4, 2023

SINGAPORE — The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan reached an agreement Saturday to establish and operate a real-time information sharing system concerning North Korea's missile launches within this year. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada convened for a meeting during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The meeting marks the first defense ministerial meeting between the thre

Defense June 3, 2023

SINGAPORE — The South Korean defense minister denounced China and Russia for neglecting their responsibility to hold North Korea accountable for its ongoing illegal actions, including ballistic missile launches. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup made the rare criticism in his keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a gathering that attracted defense ministers and high-level delegates from over 40 countries, including Australia, the United States, China, Japan, Ukraine and the European Union

Defense June 3, 2023