Tag: Skorea

China calls for ‘restraint’ from all parties after N. Korea shelling

BEIJING, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – China called Friday for “restraint” from all sides after Seoul said North Korea had fired an artillery barrage near two South Korean islands. “Under the current situation, we hope that all relevant parties maintain calm and restraint, refrain from taking actions that aggravate tensions, avoid further escalation of the situation, and create conditions for the resumption of meaningful dialogue,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters. Hours after the […]

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URGENT: South Korea stages live fire drills on border island: Yonhap

SEOUL, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – South Korean marines on the border island of Yeonpyeong conducted live-fire artillery drills Friday, the Yonhap news agency reported, hours after North Korea staged an artillery barrage in the area. The troops held “live-fire artillery drills with K9 self-propelled howitzers,” Yonhap said, the first such drills in the area since both countries dropped a military accord in November. This is a developing story…

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N. Korea fires artillery shells near S. Korean islands: Seoul

SEOUL, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – North Korea fired an artillery barrage near two South Korean islands on Friday, Seoul’s defence ministry said, warning the actions threatened peace and that it would respond. Residents of both islands were ordered to evacuate and ferries were suspended as South Korea planned a naval drill in response, in one of the most serious military escalations on the peninsula since the North fired shells at one of the same […]

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N Korea’s Kim calls for expanded missile launcher production

SEOUL, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for expanded production of missile launchers in preparation for a “military showdown” with South Korea and the United States, state media said Friday. His comments, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, came shortly after Washington said Russia had used ballistic missiles and launchers provided by North Korea in a recent flurry of attacks on cities in Ukraine. State media images […]

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S. Korea protests Japan tsunami advisory inclusion of disputed islands

SEOUL, Jan 2, 2024 (AFP) – South Korea on Tuesday said it has lodged a “stern” protest against Tokyo’s inclusion of disputed islands in a tsunami advisory issued after a major earthquake struck a day earlier. Seoul has controlled the Dokdo islets — known as Takeshima in Japan — located off its east coast since 1945, when Tokyo’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula ended. Tokyo says the islands are illegally occupied by South Korea. […]

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South Korean opposition leader stabbed in neck

SEOUL, Jan 2, 2024 (AFP) – South Korean opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday while talking to reporters in the port city of Busan, Yonhap news agency reported. Lee was walking in a crowd of journalists after visiting the site of a new airport when a man pushed through and lunged at him, striking him in the neck, footage on South Korean television channels showed. Lee was seen collapsing […]

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Kim tells army to ‘annihilate’ S. Korea, US if they initiate conflict

SEOUL, Jan 1, 2024 (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told his top military officers to use maximum force against South Korea and the United States if they initiate a military confrontation, state media reported Monday. Seoul and Washington have ramped up defence cooperation in the face of a record-breaking series of weapons tests by Pyongyang over the past year. At a meeting with North Korea’s major commanding officers in Pyongyang on New […]

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N. Korea’s new nuclear reactor likely fully operational next summer: Seoul

SEOUL, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – A new reactor at North Korea’s main nuclear facility will likely be fully operational by next summer, Seoul’s defence minister said, a week after the UN atomic agency called it a “cause for concern”. Shin Won-sik told local media Thursday that the new reactor at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex appears to be in a “trial operation” stage and that it is expected to be fully operational next summer. […]

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N. Korea’s Kim calls for ‘accelerated’ war preparations

SEOUL, Dec 28, 2023 (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his party to “accelerate” war preparations including its nuclear programme, state media said Thursday. The comments came just a week after Kim warned Pyongyang would not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if “provoked” with nukes. Kim made the comments at the North’s ongoing year-end party meeting, where he is expected to unveil key policy decisions for 2024. Kim asked the party […]

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‘Parasite’ actor Lee Sun-kyun found dead

SEOUL, Dec 27, 2023 (AFP) – South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film “Parasite”, was found dead Wednesday, police said. He was 48. The actor was found inside a vehicle parked on the street in Seoul’s mid-northern Seongbuk district, an official from the Seongbuk police station told AFP. “We believe his body has now been transferred to the Seoul National University Hospital,” he added. South Korea’s Yonhap news […]

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S. Korean court upholds compensation for Japanese forced labour

SEOUL, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – South Korea’s highest court upheld on Thursday rulings by lower courts that ordered two Japanese companies to compensate South Korean victims of wartime forced labour. Relations between the two US allies have long been testy due to bitter memories of Japan’s brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. However, ties have been improving as the conservative government of President Yoon Suk Yeol has sought to bury […]

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N. Korea’s Kim warns of ‘nuclear attack’ if ‘provoked’ with nukes

SEOUL, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned Pyongyang will not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if “provoked with nukes”, state media said Thursday, while Seoul and its allies called for “dialogue without preconditions”. Kim’s warning follows a meeting between South Korea and the United States last week in Washington, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the North. The meeting’s agenda included “nuclear and […]

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