South Korea

SEOUL, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. special envoy for North Korea will visit South Korea this weekend amid a standoff over U.S.-South Korean military exercises that North Korea has warned could trigger a security crisis.

Sung Kimwill arrive in Seoul on Saturday for a four-day visit, during which he will meet his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, and other officials, the U.S. State Department and Seoul's Foreign Ministry said.

SEOUL, Aug 18 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s automotive production fell last month, owing to the production disruption in some of the factories, a government report showed today.

The number of vehicles, made in domestic plants, was 297,585 in July, down 13.9 percent from the same month of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It came, as the production in some of the local factories was delayed, by the facility construction and the shortage of semiconductors, used for cars.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung leader Lee Jae-yong walked out of prison Friday a year early in a parole decision demonstrating the conglomerate’s outsized influence in South Korea as well as continuing leniency for bosses who commit corporate corruption.

SEOUL, Aug 12 (Reuters) - North Korea intends to strengthen cooperation with Russia to counter the United States, and peace on the Korean peninsula will not be possible until American troops are withdrawn, Pyongyang's ambassador to Russia told TASS news agency.

Ambassador Sin Hong-chol's comments come after senior North Korean leaders warned this week that South Korea and the United States would face repercussions for their decision to go ahead with annual joint military drills. 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A day ahead of his release on parole, Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong appeared in a South Korean court Thursday for another trial over alleged financial crimes — a reminder of his looming legal risks even as he leaves prison.

The Justice Ministry earlier this week decided to free Lee and some 800 other prisoners on Friday, ahead of a holiday on Sunday celebrating Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday repeated a threat to respond to U.S.-South Korean military exercises it claims are an invasion rehearsal, while the United States insisted the drills were “purely defensive in nature” to maintain the South’s security.

In a statement released by state media on Wednesday, senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol condemned South Korea for continuing the allied drills and warned of unspecified counteractions that would make Seoul “realize by the minute” that it had walked into a security crisis.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ripped South Korea for proceeding with military exercises with the United States that she said are an invasion rehearsal and warned Tuesday that the North will work faster to strengthen its preemptive strike capabilities.

Kim Yo Jong’s statement came after South Korean media reported that the allied militaries will begin four days of preliminary training on Tuesday before holding computer-simulated drills on Aug. 16-26.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is releasing emergency military rice reserves as its food shortage worsens, South Korea’s spy agency said Tuesday, with a heat wave and drought reducing the country’s supply.

North Korea’s reported food problems come as its moribund economy continues to be battered by the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. While mass starvation and social chaos have not been reported, observers expect a further deterioration of North Korea’s food situation until the autumn harvest.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned Sunday that next month’s annual military drills between South Korean and U.S. troops will undermine prospects for better ties between the Koreas, just days after the rivals reopened their long-dormant communication channels.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korea have exchanged messages in communication channels dormant for more than a year and agreed to improve ties — positive steps that still leave any resumption of stalled negotiations to rid the North of its nuclear weapons a long way off.