WASHINGTON -- North Korea's latest missile test is in violation of UN Security Council resolutions regardless of whether it involved a hypersonic missile as claimed by the North, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Monday. Kirby said the US was still assessing the details of last week's missile test. "We don't have any updates to an assessment ... with more specificity as to what was fired. We've called it a ballistic missile, and we're still assessing the details of it," he tol

North Korea on Tuesday test-fired an unidentified projectile(s) toward its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, without further details. Tuesday’s launch came less than a week after North Korea on Jan. 5 test-fired what it claimed to be a “hypersonic missile.” This marks Pyongyang’s second weapons test this year. The consecutive show of force is noteworthy given that Pyongyang on Jan.1 announced the country‘s policy direction for the

Protests that began in western Kazakhstan over a sharp rise in fuel costs have turned into days of upheaval, with demonstrators storming government buildings and the airport in Almaty, the country’s largest. That’s bad enough for President Vladimir Putin, who is wary of unrest on Russia’s fringes. But the crisis in what has been one of the region’s most stable countries is not about inflation alone. It’s a more volatile anger over rampant elite corruption, slow chan

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020 and the federal government began using extraordinary measures to support workers, households and businesses, Republicans have been concerned that expanding the eligibility and generosity of unemployment benefits could slow the recovery and keep workers on the sidelines. So why have a handful of Republican-led states now extended unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs because of failing to comply with vaccine mandates, with other sta

When Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin wrote “Annihilate communism” on his Instagram along with a photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, it is unlikely that he intended to start a fad.  But for some conservatives salivating over a chance to slam the ruling camp’s guiding philosophy of diplomacy known as strategic ambiguity, the half-joke was just too spot on. A day after Chung’s post, Yoon Suk-yeol, presidential candidate of the conservative Pe

 Negotiations with Poland and the European Union are the first step toward normalizing the Polish-Belarus border situation and Belarus is ready for talks, according to Belarusian ambassador to Korea Andrew Chernetsky. Speaking during an interview with The Korea Herald on Jan. 4, Chernetsky cited Polish and EU authorities’ reluctance to consultations on the issue and military operations as root causes of the crisis. According to the ambassador, Belarus has proposed the European Comm

The situation in Kazakhstan will soon stabilized without changes to economic policy and the investment climate, said Bakyt Dyussenbayev, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Korea told The Korea Herald in an email interview Sunday. Saying that his country was committed to security and the protection of foreign missions, personnel, property of companies and investors, and to the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms, the envoy stressed that his country’s obligations to such cause

Kim Yo-han of boy band WEi welcomed the second week of the new year by hopping onto the September music chart craze with his mini-album “Illusion.” The album, which dropped Monday evening, touches on the different colors and melodies of music. In a press conference on Monday, the singer said that as the name of his album suggests, the term “illusion” translates into a fantasy – a reverie that everyone dreams of. The musician added that he wanted the album to have

President Moon Jae-in will visit three countries in the Middle East -- the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- on an eight-day trip beginning Jan. 15, according to the presidential office on Monday. Moon will first visit the UAE between Jan. 16-17 at the invitation of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. It is Moon‘s first visit to the country in four years. After the UAE, he will visit Saudi Arabia for two days to hold talks with Saudi Arabia‘s de

   South Korea's Defense Minister Suh Wook called Monday for "full attention" to keeping a combined defense posture with the United States as he commented on a recent rise in COVID-19 infections among US Forces Korea (USFK) personnel.    Suh made the call during a virtual meeting of top military commanders on anti-virus efforts, voicing concerns over the continued spread of the omicron variant on and off base.    The USFK had confirmed a weekly record

A parliamentary committee on Monday approved a bill on lowering the age at which people can join a political party, a move seen as aimed at wooing young voters ahead of the March presidential election.   The Legislation and Judiciary Commission passed the revised bill that calls for lowering the age of eligibility for joining political parties to 16 from the current 18.  Under the bill, people aged 16 and older will be able to participate in the process of creating a political p

Large-scale show in September to coincide with Frieze Seoul