South Korea and Japan should work towards "normalizing bilateral defense relations through a first-ever joint security declaration" in light of the growing necessity to strengthen connections between their respective militaries, according to a report from a Washington-based think tank released Thursday. The report titled "The US-Japan Alliance in 2024: Toward an Integrated Alliance," sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), emphasized that the &

South Korea, Japan, and China are in discussions to finalize a date for a long-awaited trilateral summit in Seoul, which has been on hold since 2019, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday. "The three countries -- South Korea, Japan, and China -- have agreed to convene a summit at the earliest convenient time, and we have been in discussions with Japan and China to facilitate this," a Foreign Ministry official, who requested to remain anonymous, said. "We are currently d

South Korea is poised to chair a UN Security Council meeting on cybersecurity on Thursday to shed light on the repercussions of cyber threats and malicious cyber activities, including North Korea's sanctions-busting maneuvers in cyberspace, on international peace and security. The chairing of South Korea's first Arria-formula meeting — an informal gathering convened by a Security Council member or members — represents a significant milestone for Korea since assuming its pos

South Korean Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook stated that children in North Korea face grave human rights abuses, including receiving the death penalty for distributing South Korean dramas, during a UN Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday. During the UNSC Briefing on Children and Armed Conflict, Hwang mentioned that children in North Korea face “egregious human rights violations,” despite North Korea being a signatory country to the Convention on t

Russia's foreign ministry on Wednesday criticized South Korea's decision to impose sanctions on Russian ships and others, and vowed to take actions in response to the "unfriendly step." On Tuesday, South Korea imposed sanctions on two Russian individuals and their companies involved in the illegal sending of North Korean IT workers overseas as well as two Russian vessels involved in shipping containers of military supplies between Pyongyang and Moscow. "The introduction

The chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said Wednesday leaders of South Korea and three other nations in the Indo-Pacific region were invited to the upcoming summit scheduled in July in Washington. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said South Korea was invited to the NATO summit for the third year as one of the non-NATO partners in the Indo-Pacific region, which include Japan, Australia and New Zealand. "I welcome the fact that I have now invited for the third time the hea

Russia's veto against renewing a panel of experts overseeing sanctions on North Korea illustrates the adverse repercussions of the growing alignment between Pyongyang and Moscow on international order and regional security, South Korean Ambassador to the US Cho Hyun-dong said Tuesday. Russia exercised its veto power Thursday to block the yearly extension of the panel of experts responsible for monitoring the enforcement of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea. The panel of experts

President Joe Biden underscored the United States' "enduring" commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during phone talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, the White House said. The call came amid growing concerns over North Korea's continued saber-rattling, including its missile launch this week, and a potential erosion of the sanctions regime against the North due to Russia's veto last week of a resolution to extend the mandate of a UN panel mon

South Korea's trade ministry said Tuesday it has launched another round of talks with Chile to update their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that went into effect in 2004, aiming to reflect the latest changes in the global supply chain and the digital economy. Director General for FTA Policy Ahn Chang-yong met his Chilean counterpart, Pablo Urria, in Santiago for the ninth round of negotiations on improving South Korea's first FTA, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and E

Top Korean envoy to New Delhi says bilateral focus broadening to technology, economic security, defense, security

PM seeking 3rd term vows to elevate India to world's 3rd-largest economy with youth, tech, infrastructure

South Korean courts have resumed or are set to hold hearings on lawsuits filed by forced labor victims under Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule after the top court cleared the way for them to file lawsuits against Japanese companies. The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday held a hearing for the compensation lawsuit filed in 2019 by the families of forced labor victims against Japan's Nippon Steel and JX Metals, resuming the court proceedings for the first time in two years and seven mo

Diplomats from South Korea, the United States and Japan discussed trilateral cooperation to counter North Korea's evolving cyber threats during their working group talks in Washington on Friday, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Lee Jun-il, director general for North Korean nuclear affairs at the ministry, and US and Japanese representatives, Lyn Debevoise and Naoki Kumagai, respectively, led the second session of the trilateral working group tasked with responding to the North's thr

President Yoon Suk Yeol met US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy on Wednesday and received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, five months after being honored by the US foundation, the presidential office said. The ambassador, honorary president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and the daughter of the late US president, handed over a sterling silver lantern symbolizing the award to Yoon during their meeting at the presidential office. The delivery comes after the founda

Germany and Korea discussed the role of sustainable supply chains for energy transition while co-hosting the sixth edition of the Korean-German Energy Day conference in Berlin on Thursday. Korean-German Energy Day is an event held under the Korean-German Energy Partnership, jointly hosted by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The partnership, initiated in 2019 through a joint declaration of intent, signifies