Tag - korea

 
 

KOREA

Kim Seongmin, president of Free North Korea Radio, edits content for the station at his home on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, on Nov. 21. Kim has cancer and was recently told that he has months to live.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2024
A North Korean voice that Kim Jong Un would like to silence
North Korean defectors have been infiltrating the North with outside media for two decades, through balloons floated across the border or radio broadcasts.
Armored vehicles from the Self-Defense Forces parade in formation at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Asaka on Nov. 9.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2024
Top Japan defense industry firms saw sales boom in 2023
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fujitsu, NEC and Mitsubishi Electric saw their combined revenues from arms rise by 35% to $10 billion.
INC-5 Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso (on screen) speaks during an open plenary session during the fifth session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 2, 2024
Countries fail to reach agreement in U.N. plastic talks
Countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks at a later date.
Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, and microplastics have been found in air, fresh produce and even human breast milk.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 1, 2024
Battle over curbing plastic output jeopardizes U.N. treaty hopes
The hoped-for treaty could be the most significant environmental protection deal since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The 225-issue Nikkei stock average jumped on Nov. 6 after it appeared as though Donald Trump had won the U.S. presidential election.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 30, 2024
Rush to ‘value up’ may be Asia stocks best defense against Trump
Governments are rushing to implement their own versions of Japan’s structural reforms that helped drive its benchmark index to a record high this year.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov in Pyongyang in this image released Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 30, 2024
North Korea's Kim and Russian defense chief agree to boost military ties
Experts say Kim Jong Un is eager to gain advanced technology and battle experience for his troops.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a meeting during the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 18.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 30, 2024
Ishiba considering visit to South Korea in early January
The two East Asian countries will next year mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations.
A Chinese J-16 fighter jet is seen during a joint patrol with Russian forces on Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2024
China and Russia conduct joint military air patrol near Japan
This was the eighth large-scale joint flight by military aircraft from the two countries near Japan and the first since December last year.
An observation deck at a Starbucks store with views of North Korea in Gimpo, South Korea, on Friday
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 29, 2024
Starbucks serves South Koreans coffee and a glimpse into the North
Hundreds showed up on Friday for the opening of the U.S. coffeehouse chain's newest store in an observatory near the city of Gimpo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks via video link at the Kremlin in Moscow last month.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2024
Nuclear attack unlikely despite Putin's warnings, U.S. intelligence says
The U.S. believes Russia will aim to match what it views as U.S. escalation, and that nuclear force is unlikely — though not out of the question.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov addresses a news conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 27, 2024
Ukrainian delegation visiting Seoul to ask for weapons aid, reports say
The delegation had met with South Korean national security adviser Shin Won-sik to exchange views on the conflict in Ukraine, the media report said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2024
False report on Yasukuni Shrine visit 'extremely regrettable,' top spokesperson says
Kyodo news had reported on unconfirmed information that a parliamentary vice foreign minister had visited the shrine in 2022.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, in June 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 27, 2024
Trump team weighs direct talks with North Korea's Kim
Several in Trump's team now see a direct approach from him, to build on a relationship that already exists, as most likely to break the ice with Kim Jong Un.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin at a ceremony in Pyongyang in June. If North Korean troops sent to the war in Ukraine under an agreement between the two nations are used for anything other than cannon fodder, they may gain experience that could improve the communist nation's military.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024
Autocrats challenge traditional geopolitics and strategic boundaries
Emerging "common market of autocracies" are enabling regimes like Russia and North Korea to evade Western sanctions through unconventional networks and barter systems.
A satellite image shows a suspected missile assembly building under construction, visible in the lower central part of the image, at the "February 11" plant near the city of Hamhung in North Korea.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 26, 2024
Satellite images may show North Korea expanding missile plant, researchers say
The plant in North Korea's second-largest city is the only one known to produce solid-fuel ballistic missiles Ukrainian officials say have been used by Russian forces.
Ukrainian cadets hold lit candles as they stand in attention before the Motherland Monument during a commemoration ceremony marking the 1,000th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Kyiv on Nov. 19.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 26, 2024
For EU, North Korean troops add new dimension to war in Ukraine
Pyongyang's move and the return of Donald Trump to the White House are further complicating EU efforts to end the bloody conflict.
People offer a moment of silence during a ceremony held for the first time on Sunday to remember those who worked at the now-defunct gold mines on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, including those from the Korean Peninsula.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2024
Japan calls it 'regrettable' South Korea skipped Sado mine memorial
The event came after the Sado Island Gold Mines were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site earlier this year.
An employee of Trex stands with bales of used plastic, which the company recycles into decking material.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
Can the world unite to end the plastic pollution crisis?
The rising toll of plastic in the environment is impossible to ignore.
Sacks of untreated and shredded plastic waste, left unattended, collect at an inoperative recycling site in Asan, South Korea, on Nov. 19.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
South Korea's mountain of plastic waste shows limits of recycling
Seoul says that it recycles 73% of its plastic waste, but environmentalists say the real number is about 27%.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks on Saturday in Tokyo at a rally that was held by a group of families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago to demand the immediate return of all abductees.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 24, 2024
Ishiba shelves proposal for liaison offices with North Korea amid rising tensions
The Prime Minister has expressed his commitment to resolving the abduction issue, as well as his willingness to hold talks with Kim Jong Un.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’