Author: HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press and

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean prosecutors on Sunday detained a former defense minister who allegedly recommended last week’s brief but stunning martial law imposition to President Yoon Suk Yeol, making him the first figure detained over the case, news reports said. The reported development came a day after Yoon avoided an opposition-led bid to […]

SEOUL, South Korea — SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president accepted the resignation of his defense minister Thursday as opposition parties moved to impeach both men over the stunning yet short-lived imposition of martial law that brought armed troops into Seoul streets. The main opposition Democratic Party and other small opposition parties submitted […]

SEOUL, South Korea — President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning martial law declaration lasted just hours, but experts say it raised serious questions about his ability to govern for the remaining 2 1/2 years of his term and whether he will abide by democratic principles. The opposition-controlled parliament overturned the edict, and his rivals on Wednesday […]

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Yoon ended short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it. Yoon didn’t make any immediate public response to the opposition’s demand. But his office […]

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea recently supplied additional artillery systems to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine, while some of the thousands of North Korean troops deployed in Russia have begun engaging in combat, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday. The South Korean assessment came after Russia warned Monday that U.S. […]

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denied wrongdoing Thursday in a burgeoning influence-peddling scandal involving him and his wife that’s severely hurting his approval ratings and providing political munition to his rivals. The political firestorm coincides with South Korea facing a slew of critical foreign policy issues, such as Donald Trump’s […]

SEOUL, South Korea — Top South Korean and European Union officials on Monday strongly condemned North Korea’s reported troop dispatch to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine and agreed to work together to try to block deepening military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. North Korea’s alleged troop deployment threatens to expand the almost 3-year-long war and […]

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea test-launched a suspected long-range missile designed to strike the continental U.S. on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, as a U.S. official warned that North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected a ballistic missile launch from North Korea’s […]

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons and destroy South Korea permanently if provoked, state media reported Friday, after the South’s leader warned that Kim’s regime would collapse if he attempts to use nuclear arms. The exchange of such rhetoric between the rival Koreas is nothing new, […]

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean intelligence has found that North Korea has dispatched 12,000 troops including special operation forces to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, news reports said Friday, a development that could bring a third country into the war and intensify a standoff between North Korea and the West. Yonhap news agency cited […]