SINGAPORE — The South Korean defense minister denounced China and Russia for neglecting their responsibility to hold North Korea accountable for its ongoing illegal actions, including ballistic missile launches. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup made the rare criticism in his keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a gathering that attracted defense ministers and high-level delegates from over 40 countries, including Australia, the United States, China, Japan, Ukraine and the European Union

SINGAPORE -- South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Saturday to operate a system to share North Korean missile warning data in real time "within this year," Seoul's defense chief said, in another move to beef up trilateral cooperation against Pyongyang's growing military threats. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup made the remarks after he met trilaterally with his US and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Yasukazu Hamada, respectively, on the margins of the Shangr

The South Korean military continued its operation Saturday to search and salvage the wreckage of a North Korean rocket that crashed into the Yellow Sea. Deep-sea divers from the Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit were deployed to the remote sea, 200 kilometers west of the western island of Eocheong, military officials said. The North launched what it claimed to be a satellite-carrying rocket Wednesday. But it crashed into the sea due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine, the North'

SINGAPORE -- The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan are set to hold trilateral talks in Singapore on Saturday, as the three sides seek to step up cooperation against growing military threats posed by Pyongyang. The meeting between Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his US and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Yasukazu Hamada, respectively, will take place on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue as tensions have flared following North Korea's failed yet def

Fearful Kim Jong-un may act out with “more venturous military provocations”

SINGAPORE — South Korea's top nuclear envoy on Friday called for the international community to collectively condemn North Korea's recent abortive attempt to launch a spy satellite during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Kim Gunn, the Foreign Ministry's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, delivered a presentation during the special session titled “Nuclear Dimensions of Regional Security” at Asia's largest defense summ

South Korea has concluded a four-day event of meetings and multinational maritime drills Friday aimed at preventing the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. The high-level forum of the Proliferation Security Initiative, the first such meeting hosted by Seoul, brought together around 200 delegates from 71 countries on the country's southern resort island of Jeju on Tuesday. South Korea also hosted the Eastern Endeavor 23 exercise in an effort to strengthen capabilities to counter WM

President Yoon Suk Yeol met with East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday and agreed to upgrade the bilateral ties between the two nations in the fields of development, labor, education and forestry. Yoon was quoted by his office as saying that he had explained the Korea International Cooperation Agency’s projects in the health, medical and educational field and environmental projects in East Timor. The presidential office added that Yoon has also sought aid and support from the Eas

South Korea's Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup arrived in Singapore on Friday to attend an annual security forum, where North Korea's evolving military threats, the war in Ukraine and an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry are expected to feature prominently. The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue got under way in the city-state earlier in the day, bringing together senior security officials from more than 40 countries, including the United States, China, Britain, Australia and Japan, according to

South Korean police are mulling deployment vehicles equipped with decibel meters at protests in order to determine whether or not the rallies exceed the legally permitted noise level, local media reported Friday. According to local newspaper Chosun Ilbo, the National Police Agency's plan is to convert one of its trucks to fit a noise-measuring device to be used at protests this year, and to acquire another one of these vehicles by next year. The NPA is currently requesting an extra budget t

An appellate court on Friday ordered prosecutors to obtain a psychological test for a defendant accused of committing animal cruelty, in order to consider the appropriate sentence. The Daejeon District Court stated, “While there already exists a series of tests for sexual crimes, there are none for animal cruelty.” “The prosecutors should submit the results of a psychological test to evaluate the possibility of repetition of the crime,” the court added. In response, the p

South Korea and the United States signed an arrangement Friday on the creation of their first joint cybersecurity guidance aimed at ensuring smooth combined military operations, Seoul's defense ministry said. The signing came as they are stepping up security coordination against persistent threats from North Korea that further ratcheted up tensions this week with its failed yet defiant launch of a space rocket. Brig. Gen. Ryu Seung-ha of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Col. Eri