South Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - A top U.S. military officer reaffirmed on Thursday that the United States is ready to use the “full range” of its capabilities to defend South Korea from any attack, a joint statement after a meeting with officials in Seoul said.

Senior U.S. defense officials are gathering in Seoul for annual meetings as the two countries face intensifying threats from North Korea to stop joint military drills and for the United States to change its approach in denuclearization talks.

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States is “very actively” trying to persuade North Korea to come back to negotiations, South Korea’s national security adviser said on Sunday, as a year-end North Korean deadline for U.S. flexibility approaches.

South Korea was taking North Korea’s deadline “very seriously”, the adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters, at a time when efforts to improve inter-Korean relations have stalled.

BUSAN, South Korea (AP) — A notorious South Korean facility that kidnapped, abused and enslaved children and the disabled for a generation was also shipping children overseas for adoption, part of a massive profit-seeking enterprise that thrived by exploiting those trapped within its walls, The Associated Press has found.

The AP, which previously exposed a government cover-up at Brothers Home and a far greater level of abuse than earlier known, has now found that the facility was part of an orphanage pipeline feeding the demand of private adoption agencies.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Thursday called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an “idiot and villain” who should not even dream of setting foot in Pyongyang, in a media commentary laden with insults in response to his criticism of a North Korean weapons test.

North Korea tested what it called “super-large multiple rocket launchers” on Oct. 31, but Japan said they were likely ballistic missiles that violated U.N. sanctions.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea confirmed Friday it conducted its third test-firing of a new “super-large” multiple rocket launcher that it says expands its ability to destroy enemy targets in surprise attacks.

The latest launches extended a monthslong streak of weapons displays by the North, which continues to use a standstill in nuclear negotiations to advance its military capabilities while pressuring Washington for concessions.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired two projectiles, which Japanese authorities said appeared to be ballistic missiles, into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan on Thursday, according to the Japanese coast guard and South Korea’s military.

The first of two “unidentified projectiles” was fired on Thursday at 4:35 p.m. local time (0735 GMT) from South Phyongan Province, in the center of the country, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a series of statements. A second projectile was detected at 4:38 p.m. (0738 GMT).

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Sunday said it’s running out of patience with the United States over what it described as hostile policies and unilateral disarmament demands, and warned that a close personal relationship between the leaders alone wouldn’t be enough to prevent nuclear diplomacy from derailing.

25 October 2019; AFP: The heir to the Samsung empire arrived at court Friday for a retrial over a sprawling corruption scandal that threatens to disrupt management at the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker.

Lee Jae-yong is vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics -- where profits have been falling for months -- and was jailed for five years in 2017 for bribery, embezzlement and other offences in connection with the scandal that brought down South Korean president Park Geun-hye.

SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) sent a notice to South Korea offering to discuss the removal of facilities in the DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang, South Korea's unification ministry said Friday.

The DPRK delivered the notice earlier in the day to the unification ministry and Hyundai Group, which participated in the inter-Korean tour project, saying the DPRK would build and launch its own tour project in Mount Kumgang.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday accused U.S. officials of maintaining hostility against Pyongyang despite a “special” relationship between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump and urged Washington to act “wisely” through the end of the year.

The statement issued by Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan was clearly referring to an end-of-year deadline set by Kim Jong Un for the Trump administration to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal to salvage their diplomacy.