The South Korean Embassy in Washington has hired the lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs to shape its strategy on economic policy during Donald Trump's second term, and to forge connections with the US president-elect's team by introducing embassy leadership to key figures and identifying strategic opportunities. The lobbying firm was recently co-chaired by Susie Wiles, named by Trump as White House chief of staff. The contract, finalized on Nov. 18 -- less than two weeks after the el

South Korea's diplomatic fallout over Japan's memorial ceremony on Sado -- an event Seoul had anticipated as a tribute to Korean victims forced into labor in the island's mines -- was far from unexpected. The outcome was the foreseeable result of missteps: the South Korean Foreign Ministry's complacency and its narrow fixation on securing the presence of a high-ranking Japanese official, at the expense of addressing critical diplomatic priorities. The failure also stemmed fro

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov met with his North Korean counterpart, No Kwang-chol, in Pyongyang on Friday amid the intensifying war in Ukraine, where North Korea has dispatched soldiers and provided weapons to bolster Russia's efforts. The meeting was held during Belousov's "official visit" to North Korea at the invitation of Noh, Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday. Belousov notably underscored the significance of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Part

North Korea’s indoctrination center in Pyongyang now displays a photo of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol alongside the South Korean military’s motto for countering provocations from Pyongyang -- “immediately, strongly and to the end" -- according to an image published by North Korean state media. North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party and the nation’s most widely circulated publication, featured a photo of stu

North Korea released around 40 trash-laden balloons from Thursday night to early Friday, its 32nd launch this year, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday. The military reported that about 30 objects had been found across Gyeonggi Province and the greater Seoul area by Friday morning. “These items, including anti-South propaganda leaflets, have been analyzed and confirmed to contain no hazardous materials,” the JCS said in a statement. The release of waste-filled ballo

The South Korean government will explore measures to bolster support for children born to unmarried parents, the presidential office said Thursday, as the issue has drawn heightened attention following the news that actor Jung Woo-sung and model Moon Ga-bi, announced that they plan to raise their child without marrying each other. "Ultimately, I believe there are aspects such as discrimination in society and issues that cannot be fully addressed by existing policies," a senior presiden

The South Korean presidential office on Thursday unveiled the country's dedicated support plans for premature babies, aiming to strengthen financial aid and upgrade medical infrastructure to meet the critical needs of vulnerable newborns requiring specialized care. You Hye-mi, the senior presidential secretary for low birth rate issues, described the initiative as South Korea's first-ever policy aimed specifically at supporting premature infants as part of its broader efforts to tackle

South Korea's top diplomat said Thursday that Japan would "bear the cost" of tarnishing its international image and reputation if it continues to renege on its commitments to address the historical issue of forcibly mobilizing Korean workers during its colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul publicly criticized Japan for failing to honor its pledge to hold a memorial ceremony to sincerely honor the sacrifices of Korean forced laborers at the Sado Gold Mine in

Philip Goldberg, the United States ambassador to South Korea, will step down from his post in Seoul next January, closing a chapter in his diplomatic career, according to a diplomatic source. Goldberg’s departure, concluding more than 3 1/2 decades of service with the US Foreign Service, is set to align with the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in office. Goldberg officially began his tenure as US ambassador to South Korea in July 2022, ending an 18-month va

South Korea's decision to skip a memorial ceremony hosted by Japan on Sunday reflects its "strong protest and regret" over Tokyo proceeding with the event in a way that fell short of the standards it had publicly pledged to uphold, Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun said Tuesday. Kang, however, sidestepped criticism of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s failure to coordinate effectively with Japan on the ceremony, which Seoul had envisioned as an occasion to genuinely

North Korea may officially acknowledge its troop deployments to Russia to secure strategic gains by formalizing its role as an official war participant amid mounting internal challenges in concealing such actions, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday. The ministry suggested Seoul detected "signs of unease" within North Korean society, as rumors, including accounts of families in tears, have surfaced and spread despite Pyongyang's efforts to keep its troop deployment to R

The South Korean government on Monday held a memorial to honor the lives and suffering of Korean forced laborers who endured harsh conditions at Sado Island’s gold mines during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule, as relatives of the deceased gathered at the former dormitory where the workers once lived. The decision followed Seoul’s boycott of a Japan-hosted ceremony a day earlier, where Japanese government representative Akiko Ikuina -- who has in the past visited the controversi

The South Korean government plans to hold a separate on-site memorial ceremony for Koreans forced to work at the gold mines on Sado island during Japan's colonial rule, following a last-minute decision to boycott Japan’s memorial event on Sunday. Seoul’s abrupt reversal comes amid a growing domestic backlash over the choice of Akiko Ikuina, a parliamentary vice minister at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, as the chief government delegate for Sunday’s memorial event. Ikuina

North Korea and Russia concluded a ministerial meeting in Pyongyang aimed at expanding cooperation in the trade, economic, scientific and technological sectors on Wednesday, at a critical moment when global attention is focused on what Pyongyang might gain in return for dispatching troops to support Russia's war efforts in Ukraine. The Unification Ministry in Seoul on Thursday noted that neither Pyongyang nor Moscow revealed core agreements in the economic and trade sectors -- areas that co

The first official memorial ceremony honoring Korean victims of forced labor at the gold mines on Sado Island during Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945 will be held in Sado on Sunday, attended by South Korean and Japanese government officials and bereaved families of the victims. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry and Japan’s executive committee for the Sado Mine memorial jointly announced Wednesday that the event, officially titled the "Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony,"

S. Korean FM reaffirms commitment to ‘peace through strength’ US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell speaks during a forum co-hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Korea Foundation in Washington on Monday. Kurt Campbell, the US deputy secretary of state and a key architect of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy, made a direct appeal to the incoming Trump administration: be a "constant," not a "variable," in its military

The Unification Ministry in Seoul suggested Monday that the North Korean leader's directive for full war readiness -- alongside his framing of the Ukraine war as the start of global military intervention by the US and the West -- was likely intended to quell probable dissent in North Korea over the regime’s deployment of troops to support Russia in Ukraine. Kim Jong-un issued the order and delivered his speech on Nov. 15, the final day of the two-day 4th Conference of Battalion Comman

South Korea’s bid to secure a surprise early meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and US President-elect Donald Trump on the occasion of Yoon’s trip to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Group of 20 summits in South America, is now facing slim odds. Last week, President Yoon’s office unexpectedly hinted at the possibility of a meeting between the South Korean leader and former US President Donald Trump before Yoon's return to Seoul. This uncertainty was cit

South Korea’s bid to secure an early meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and US President-elect Donald Trump, leveraging Yoon’s trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and G-20 summits in South America, now appears unlikely, a senior presidential official in Seoul said. “Trump’s team has been informing all embassies that, with their focus on key appointments and domestic issues, meetings with foreign leaders are unlikely before the inauguration,” the presi

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw performance tests of newly developed “suicide attack drones of various types” at a test site on Thursday, where he underscored the urgency of establishing a serial production system “as early as possible” to commence full-scale mass production, North Korean state media reported Friday. The suicide drones, developed by an unnamed institute affiliated with the Unmanned Aerial Technology Complex and other unspecified enterprises, are d