Politics

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen on April 3.
International relations

China and Seoul vow to cooperate on Korean Peninsula denuclearization

Foreign ministers agree to first high-level security talks in 6 years

4 April 2021
Russian diplomats and family members use a hand-pushed rail trolley to leave North Korea. (Photo from Russian foreign ministry's Telegram account)
N Korea at crossroads

Foreign diplomats flee North Korea amid food and drug shortages

Pyongyang's yearlong border closure with China raises starvation fears

3 April 2021
South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, left, shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi before a meeting in Beijing in 2018. Chung was national security director at the time.
International relations

South Korea's top diplomat visits China as Sino-US tensions spike

Seoul seeks to balance ties with powers while US readies North Korea policy review

2 April 2021
A missile launch by North Korea in March 2021. The country likely has the ability to mount missiles with nuclear warheads, a U.N. panel says.  
N Korea at crossroads

North Korea can likely arm missiles with nuclear warheads: UN

Pyongyang steals $315m in virtual assets to fund weapons development

1 April 2021
The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, taken from the Chinese side, is the main trade route between the two countries. (Photo by Shin Watanabe)
N Korea at crossroads

China and North Korea to revive trade in April amid US tension

New bridge between two set to open as Beijing seen giving Pyongyang helping hand

30 March 2021
Two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers fly alongside two Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F-15s over the vicinity of the East China Sea. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command) 
International relations

Japan will turn to Quad in 'new Cold War': Defense Ministry think tank

Next up is security officials' meeting with US, India and Australia, annual report predicts

27 March 2021
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, with South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong in Seoul on March 25. 
International relations

Russia urges renewal of six-party talks to denuclearize North Korea

Foreign Minister Lavrov woos South Korea in first meeting since 2019

26 March 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes the firing of suspected missiles in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on March 22, 2020. (File photo by Reuters)
N Korea at crossroads

North Korea missiles rattle South and Japan as US stays calm

Pyongyang may be testing out new technology rather than provoking, analysts say

25 March 2021
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un speaks in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released on March 5, 2021 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.
N Korea at crossroads

North Korea fires 2 suspected ballistic missiles into sea

South Korean and Russian foreign ministers condemn move as Kim 'flirts with limits'

25 March 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime appears reluctant to talk with the Biden administration unless Washington changes its approach on the isolated nation.
N Korea at crossroads

North Korea seeks sanctions relief offer before any US talks

History shows both strategic patience and maximum pressure approaches failed

19 March 2021
Left to right, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, and South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook pose before "two-plus-two" talks in Seoul on Thursday.
N Korea at crossroads

US and South Korea omit 'denuclearization' from joint statement

Seoul affirms importance of trilateral cooperation with Japan

19 March 2021
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong in Seoul on March 17.
International relations

Blinken presses South Korea to work with Japan in Indo-Pacific

Secretary of state reaffirms commitment to alliance but wants to 'build' on it

18 March 2021
The North Korean nuclear issue is expected to be a key topic when foreign and defense chiefs from the U.S. and Japan meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
International relations

US started contacting North Korea in February, official says

Washington has received no response as it tries to reduce risk of escalation

15 March 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Mount Paektu during Moon's visit to the North.
N Korea at crossroads

Olympic hopeful? Moon pins legacy on Kim Jong Un trip to Seoul

South Korean leader sees Tokyo Games as opportunity to kickstart stalled talks

14 March 2021
People collect straw in preparation for winter on the North Korean island of Hwanggumpyong in the Yalu River on the border with China, in this photo taken from the Chinese side on Nov. 13, 2020. 
N Korea at crossroads

North Korea executes lockdown violators fleeing starvation: UN

Expert says country's human rights abuses should be referred to ICC

13 March 2021
North Korean President Kim Jong Un at the Workers' Party Congress in Pyongyang: the isolated regime faces a major economic setback from closing its border with China over the coronavirus.
International relations

Border lockdown strains North Korean economy to breaking point

Shortages amid plunging trade could force Pyongyang to seek help from China

19 February 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the formation of a unit for strategic oversight of cyber operations in 2012.
International relations

North Korea ramps up ransomware attacks in hunt for cash

Emerging cyber power trains 1,000 digital 'warriors' a year

18 February 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to commemorate the birth anniversary of the late leader Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, in this undated photo released by Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 17.
N Korea at crossroads

Kim Jong Un's English title is now 'president'

North Korea's state media switch from 'chairman'

17 February 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, pictured on Jan.14: we know what North Korea wants because it told us.
Opinion

The futile pursuit of North Korea's 'golden concession'

Evergreen strategy rests on a fatally flawed premise

15 February 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un blamed officials for the country's economic struggles at this week's Central Committee meeting.
N Korea at crossroads

Kim Jong Un lashes out at cabinet over economy, with US unengaged

North Korean leader sacks top economic official appointed a month ago

13 February 2021
U.S. President Joe Biden, center, has already called Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. (Source photos by Reuters and Uichiro Kasai)  
Biden's Asia policy

Biden seeks Tokyo-Seoul thaw to help end North Korea deadlock

Fractious ties between Japan and South Korea hamper trilateral approach with US

10 February 2021
In two cases of hacking that targeted cryptocurrency exchanges, North Korea used a technique known as "chain hopping."
International relations

North Korea cyberattacks gained $300m in cryptocurrency: UN panel

Draft report shows isolated nation continues to evade sanctions during pandemic

9 February 2021
Questions are swirling in South Korea over whether President Moon Jae-in, right, presented plans to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, at their historic meeting in April 2018 to potentially help his country build a nuclear power plant. (Source photos by Reuters)
Comment

North Korea nuclear power plant plans rock politics in the South

Opposition parties accuse Moon of aiding 'enemy' as documents reveal secrets

8 February 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends the congress of his ruling Workers' Party congress in Pyongyang in this photo supplied by the official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10.
6 February 2021
People pay tribute to statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, right, on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea on Jan. 1. Photo supplied by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.
Comment

North Korean congress minus ancestor portraits shows Kim ambition

With title of general secretary, young leader seeks greater freedom of action

2 February 2021