Category Archives: South Korea

Kamala Harris hits out at North Korea’s ‘provocative nuclear rhetoric’ on DMZ visit

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Pyongyang fired ballistic missiles into the sea just hours before US vice-president arrived in Seoul

The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, has condemned North Korea’s “provocative nuclear rhetoric” during a trip to South Korea that included a visit to the heavily armed border dividing the peninsula.

Harris arrived in Seoul on Thursday, hours after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, in a move that underlines Washington’s struggle to rein in the regime’s weapons programme.

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Kamala Harris to visit Korean demilitarised zone as naval drills stoke tensions

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DMZ trip comes days after North Korea warned that the South and the US risked ‘triggering conflict’ with joint naval drills

The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, is to visit the heavily armed border separating North and South Korea on Thursday, amid rising tensions on the peninsula.

Harris will arrive at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) on the southern side of the border, days after the regime in Pyongyang warned that South Korea and the US risked “triggering a conflict” following the launch of large-scale naval exercises for the first time in five years.

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Terra founder wanted by Interpol tweets he is making ‘zero effort’ to hide

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Search for crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon after Luna and UST collapse drags down rival currencies

The crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon has denied being in hiding, even as Interpol issued a “red notice” for his arrest after the collapse of the Terra project he founded.

After South Korean prosecutors said he was “obviously on the run”, Kwon tweeted that he was making no attempt to evade law officers. “I’m writing code in my living room … I’m making zero effort to hide,” he said. “I go on walks and malls, no way none of [crypto Twitter] hasn’t run into me the past couple weeks.”

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North Korea fires ballistic missile towards sea, says South Korean military

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Launch of an unidentified missile is the latest in a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests by nuclear-armed Pyongyang this year

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday towards its eastern seas, extending a provocative streak in weapons testing as a US aircraft carrier visits South Korea for joint military exercises in response to the North’s growing nuclear threat.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the missile launched from the western inland town of Taechon flew 600km (370 miles) cross-country on a maximum altitude of 60km (37 miles) before landing in waters off North Korea’s eastern coast.

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South Korea president criticised over gaffes at Queen’s funeral and UN

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Yoon Suk-yeol accused of discourtesy in London and of swearing after chat to Joe Biden

South Korea’s president has been accused of causing a “diplomatic disaster” after his first major international trip, to the Queen’s funeral and the UN general assembly, was marred by alleged discourtesy and an expletive directed at members of the US congress.

Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who was already battling low approval ratings only months after taking office, drew criticism from across the South Korean political spectrum after he failed to attend the Queen’s lying in state despite traveling to London.

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Calls for stalking law overhaul in South Korea as woman’s murder shocks nation

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Stabbing triggers accusations that authorities are failing to take violence against women seriously

The murder of a South Korean woman who had been stalked by her alleged killer for years has sparked outrage and demands for changes in the law to better protect women.

The woman’s murder in a bathroom at the subway station where she worked earlier this month has shocked South Korea, coming a day before her alleged attacker, named by police as 31-year-old Jeon Joo-hwan, had been due to be sentenced for stalking her.

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South Korean founder of failed cryptocurrency Terra denies he is ‘on the run’

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Do Kwon’s whereabouts are still unknown since a South Korean court issued an arrest warrant earlier this week

Do Kwon, the South Korean founder of the failed cryptocurrency Terra wanted by police, has denied he was on the run after Singapore investigators said he was not in the city-state as had been believed.

Kwon’s whereabouts have been thrown into question after a statement from Singapore police late on Saturday, and his tweets did not reveal where he was.

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Woman arrested in South Korea over alleged murder of two children found in suitcases in New Zealand

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Police in Auckland request extradition of 42-year-old woman from Seoul to face two charges of murder

A 42-year-old woman has been arrested in Seoul for the alleged murder of two children whose bodies were discovered in suitcases bought at an auction in New Zealand.

South Korean authorities arrested the woman today on a Korean arrest warrant for two charges of murder.

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Kim Jong-un says new law guarantees North Korea will never give up nuclear weapons

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Leader says North Korea’s nuclear status is now ‘irreversible’, with military allowed to ‘automatically’ use atomic weapons

North Korea has passed a law enshrining the right to “automatically” use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect itself, a move leader Kim Jong-un said makes its nuclear status “irreversible” and bars any denuclearisation talks, state media has reported.

The move comes as observers say North Korea appears to be preparing to resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017, after historic summits with then-US president Donald Trump and other world leaders in 2018 failed to persuade Kim to abandon his weapons development.

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Weather tracker: South Korea and Japan brace for typhoon Hinnamnor

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Strongest tropical storm of the year also forecast to hit China’s mainland this weekend after winds reach 160mph

Destruction is imminent across southern Japan and South Korea as super typhoon Hinnamnor barrels northwards through the East China Sea this weekend.

The typhoon is so far the strongest tropical storm of the 2022 hurricane season and developed gradually this week out in the Pacific, edging towards the Philippines and Taiwan. By Thursday, maximum sustained winds had reached 160mph, leading to classification as a category 5 tropical cyclone, or a super typhoon.

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South Korea considers survey on boyband BTS members’ military service

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K-pop band’s oldest member, Jin, faces enlistment in December when he turns 30

South Korea may conduct a public survey to help determine whether to grant exemption to the mandatory military service to members of the K-pop boy band BTS.

The question of active military service for the band’s seven members has been a hot-button topic in South Korea as its oldest member, Jin, faces his enlistment in December, when he turns 30.

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US and South Korea begin largest military drills for years as North ramps up tensions

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The show of force is expected to prompt an angry response from Pyongyang and follows failure of Trump-era policy of engagement

The US and South Korea have begun their biggest joint military drills in years – a show of force that is expected to raise tensions with an increasingly hostile North Korea.

The exercises, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, are being seen as a sign of the allies’ determination to restore large-scale training after they cancelled some regular drills and scaled down others to facilitate nuclear talks, and because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Japan ministers visit war shrine as South Korea calls for end to historical tensions

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Japan PM Fumio Kishida sends offering but stays away from Yasukuni, which honours dead including class-A war criminals

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, sent a ritual offering to a controversial war shrine on Monday – the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the second world war – as one of its wartime victims, South Korea, called for an end to historical tensions.

Kishida apparently decided to stay away from the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo to avoid antagonising South Korea and China, but three of his ministers have made the pilgrimage in recent days.

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Weather tracker: deadly floods in South Korea and drought in China

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While Seoul experienced torrential downpours, rainfall levels are down in China’s Yangtse River basin

Extreme flooding in South Korea this week submerged streets, cars and buildings, as torrential downpours brought more than a month’s worth of rainfall in the space of a few days. Between Monday and Wednesday a cumulative total of 525mm – a little over 20 inches – was recorded in Seoul.

At least nine people are confirmed to have died from the floods and many more are reported injured or missing. High rainfall rates and flooding during the monsoon season in South Korea is common, with average rainfall of up to 10mm a day and 250mm in the month of August. However, this week rainfall accumulations far exceeded these typical conditions.

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Seoul to phase out Parasite-style semi-basement flats after storm deaths

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Properties seen in Oscar-winning film to be curbed after three people drown in South Korean capital

Authorities in Seoul will phase out semi-basement flats after three people drowned inside one of the cramped properties during record rainfall in the South Korean capital this week.

Banjiha, which gained global recognition in the 2020 Oscar-winning film Parasite, are usually occupied by people on low incomes and have come to symbolise the growing inequality in South Korea, Asia’s fourth-biggest economy.

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South Korea: at least eight killed as record rain falls on capital Seoul

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Six people remain missing amid fears of further damage with torrential rain forecast in some parts of the country on Wednesday

At least eight people have died in South Korea after record overnight rainfall hammered the capital Seoul, turning streets into rivers, submerging vehicles and inundating metro stations.

Rainfall of more than 100mm an hour was recorded in Seoul, surrounding areas of Gyeonggi province and the port city of Incheon on Monday night, according to the Yonhap news agency. Per-hour precipitation in the Dongjak district surpassed 141.5mm at one point, the heaviest hourly downpour in Seoul for 80 years.

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South Korean president accused of avoiding Nancy Pelosi in bid to placate China

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Yoon will not meet US House speaker in move critics say aims to avoid antagonising China as tensions in the Taiwan strait simmer

South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has been accused of trying to placate China by avoiding Nancy Pelosi, a day after she became the most senior US official to visit Taiwan for a quarter of a century and sparked a furious response from Beijing.

Yoon, a conservative who took office in May, will reportedly speak to Pelosi on the phone but will not meet her in person during her visit to Seoul on Thursday, South Korean media said.

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Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan: calls for calm in Asia as US-China tensions rise

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South Korea calls for dialogue and Japan conveys concerns over drills, while North Korea praises China

The historic visit to Taiwan of the US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has provoked a furious response from China, and heightened fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait. In Asia and beyond, the visit has put governments on edge.

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English pottery a hit in Asia thanks to Squid Game

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Denby’s star is on the rise since its Halo teacup featured in Netflix’s South Korean blockbuster

A 200-year-old English pottery has seen its brand enhanced in South Korea thanks to the lockdown hit Squid Game.

Denby Pottery, named after the Derbyshire village where it was set up by Joseph Bourne in 1809, has been steadily increasing its business in Asia. It is now on sale with a reported £50m valuation, and seeking new investors to expand ever further.

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North Korea dam water release forces South Koreans near border to evacuate

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Rising water levels on the Imjin River caused by suspected release prompts holidaymakers and residents to leave

North Korea appears to have released water from a dam near its border with South Korea, prompting vacationers in the neighbouring country to evacuate over rising water levels on the Imjin River.

The water level at a bridge across the river in the South’s border county of Yeoncheon surpassed 1 metre on Monday afternoon, requiring visitors on the riverbank to evacuate.

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