Takaichi’s two-thirds supermajority gives Tokyo room to shift from incremental defense upgrades to structural change — and it puts a new question to Seoul: how far to cooperate, and on what terms, with a stronger Japan. www.koreaherald.com/article/1067...

Decisions over North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine belong to Kyiv, not Seoul or the media, an independent UN human rights investigator said, noting that Ukraine has already recognized the risk of torture if the captives are sent back to North Korea. www.koreaherald.com/article/1067...

Lee Hae-chan, a towering figure in South Korea’s liberal politics who rose from a jailed democracy activist to a dominant prime minister, master election strategist and seven-term lawmaker, died Sunday. He was 73. www.koreaherald.com/article/1066...

Arrived in Beijing to cover President Lee Jae Myung’s four-day state visit to China — my first overseas trip as a member of the Blue House press corps. koreaherald.com/article/1064...

The Unification Ministry has decided to skip Foreign Ministry-led consultations with the United States on North Korea policy — a follow-up to the allies’ joint fact sheet — amid a deepening inter-ministerial feud. www.koreaherald.com/article/1063...

President Lee Jae Myung’s remark at Wednesday’s press conference — that he had been “unaware” of South Koreans detained in North Korea — has drawn anger and despair from the families of those held there and North Korean human rights groups. www.koreaherald.com/article/1062...

The martial law declaration lasted only six hours, but a year later, the animosity it unleashed lives on. Those six short hours fundamentally rewired South Korean politics, seeping into the very bones of the party system and the identities of partisans. www.koreaherald.com/article/1062...

Scores of government task forces investigating potential misconduct by officials tied to the Dec. 3 martial law declaration formally began operations Monday, with investigations launched into 49 government ministries and agencies. www.koreaherald.com/article/1062...

South Korea’s two major political parties are each racing to rewrite their primary rules ahead of next June’s local elections, igniting fierce internal battles over who should hold greater sway in deciding their candidate slates. www.koreaherald.com/article/1062...

APEC’s 2025 Gyeongju Declaration, adopted by consensus among all 21 member economies after strenuous and tense negotiations, marks a major break from the past for two key reasons. www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

The leaders of South Korea and China agreed to reboot a regular high-level dialogue to strengthen strategic coordination on regional and global issues, pledging to turn their thaw into tangible economic cooperation and work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula. www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung raised the curtain on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Friday with a call for unity, saying the forum holds the answer to the world’s current turbulence. www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Thursday that the 21 APEC member economies “are very close” to finalizing a Gyeongju Declaration to be made after the APEC summit on Friday and Saturday. www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have reached an agreement on a tariff truce, describing the summit between the two as “amazing.” www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

The future of the fragile rapprochement between Seoul and Tokyo appears to hinge more on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi than on South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

The leaders of South Korea and the United States reached a top-level breakthrough after months of tariff negotiations, as they also discussed security issues at their second summit in about two months on Wednesday. www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

Seoul is stepping onto the APEC summit stage with a daunting task: to save the forum’s core, steady it amid global headwinds and steer leaders toward consensus on what matters most for sustainable and shared growth in the Asia-Pacific region. www.koreaherald.com/article/1060...

South Korea and the United States will soon begin talks to revise their civil nuclear cooperation pact, seeking to expand Seoul's rights over uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing, according to the country's top diplomat. www.koreaherald.com/article/1059...

Seoul expects continuity, not confrontation, in Seoul-Tokyo ties as Takaichi takes office, though echoes of her mentor Shinzo Abe’s nationalism and historical revisionism could test the fragile thaw. www.koreaherald.com/article/1059...

Plans for more than 300 South Korean detainees to depart Georgia on Wednesday via a charter flight have been postponed “due to circumstances on the US side,” Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. www.koreaherald.com/article/1057...

South Korea has concluded negotiations for the release of more than 300 nationals detained in a US immigration raid at a battery construction plant in Georgia, and will bring them back home via a chartered flight. koreaherald.com/article/1057...

South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo expressed regret over the US release of video footage showing the arrest of more than 300 Korean workers during an immigration raid at a plant construction site in Georgia. www.koreaherald.com/article/1056...

President Lee Jae Myung has ordered an “all-out response” to swiftly resolve the detention of more than 300 South Koreans in a US immigration raid at a construction site in Georgia being built by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution. www.koreaherald.com/article/1056...

For Kim Jong-un, his presence at the Victory Day celebrations was far more than a symbolic debut on the multilateral stage: it reflected North Korea’s recalibrated grand strategy to elevate Pyongyang’s leverage abroad while tightening his grip at home. www.koreaherald.com/article/1056...

A formal summit among the leaders of North Korea, China and Russia remains unlikely, although their choreographed appearance side by side at Beijing’s Sept. 3 celebrations will be reminiscent of Cold War-era solidarity. www.koreaherald.com/article/1056...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has set the stage for his multilateral diplomatic debut before departing for Beijing, by showcasing new missile assembly lines where nuclear-capable missiles were displayed in regimented rows. www.koreaherald.com/article/1056...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has departed aboard an armored train to make his multilateral diplomatic debut in Beijing, where he will join Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders. www.koreaherald.com/article/1056...

The Lee Jae Myung administration will leverage “alliance modernization” with the US as an opportunity to strengthen South Korea’s defense capabilities, signaling openness to increasing defense spending in response to Washington’s call. www.koreaherald.com/article/1055...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conveyed his inter-Korean policy plan through his sister Kim Yo-jong, who handed it down during a meeting with key Foreign Ministry officials while denouncing Seoul’s olive-branch offer as “deceptive.” www.koreaherald.com/article/1055...

The Lee Jae Myung administration believes that Lee’s first visit to Tokyo, ahead of his trip to Washington, can dispel any prejudices or misunderstandings in the US, as well as any broader stigma portraying the administration as anti-Japan. www.koreaherald.com/article/1055...

President Lee Jae Myung will outline his vision for North Korea and unification policy, while calling for future-oriented cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo in his speech marking the 80th National Liberation Day on Friday. www.koreaherald.com/article/1055...

Eighty years after the end of Japan’s 35-year colonial rule, Korea and Japan remain locked in an uneasy duet — pulled together by the inescapable demands of geopolitics, yet held apart by the deep, unhealed wounds left by Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula. koreaherald.com/article/1055...

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shinjiro Koizumi exchanged views on overall bilateral ties, including trade, and Koizumi called on Seoul to lift its ban on Japanese maritime products. koreaherald.com/article/1055...

The leaders of South Korea and the United States are expected to agree in principle to “modernize the alliance” at their upcoming summit, amid a shifting regional security environment, while deferring key details to lower-level negotiations. koreaherald.com/article/1054...

New foreign minister, Cho Hyun, has set the pursuit of peace on the Korean Peninsula — through the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue in close coordination with the US — as the Foreign Ministry’s foremost objective in a turbulent geopolitical climate. www.koreaherald.com/article/1053...

Foreign Minister nominee Cho Hyun ruled out the possibility of President Lee Jae Myung meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping before holding a summit with US President Donald Trump, amid heightened attention on whom Lee will meet in his debut standalone summit. www.koreaherald.com/article/1053...

Chung Dong-young, Lee Jae Myung's nominee for unification minister, has signaled a sharp turn toward a conciliatory doctrine grounded in engagement, mutual restraint and a softened military posture. koreaherald.com/article/1053...

South Korea and the US held “full-fledged and focused” talks this week to discuss modernizing their alliance, with the aim of strengthening its capabilities and readiness posture amid an evolving regional security environment. www.koreaherald.com/article/1052...

North Korean vessels retrieved six returnees in the East Sea, even though Pyongyang had remained silent in response to Seoul’s notifications through the United Nations Command hotline. www.koreaherald.com/article/1052...

It is fair for South Korea to call attention to Japan’s failure to fulfill its pledge to address its colonial history of forced labor at the @unesco.org ‬World Heritage Committee session. But it is uncomfortable to see how Seoul’s voice was being silenced. www.koreaherald.com/article/1052...

South Korea has failed to place Japan’s failure to address colonial-era forced labor at UNESCO-listed Meiji Industrial Revolution sites on UNESCO’s official discussion agenda. www.koreaherald.com/article/1052...

Seoul has been carefully weighing whether President Lee Jae Myung will attend China’s Sept. 3 commemoration marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, as Beijing publicly expressed that Lee would be welcome to participate. www.koreaherald.com/article/1052...

Kim Jong-un put Pyongyang’s growing alignment with Moscow on full display — from the battlefield to cultural exchanges — by attending a concert, where scenes of North Korean troops fighting for Russia and the repatriated remains were shown on a background screen. www.koreaherald.com/article/1052...

North Korea is expected to court Russian tourists following the official completion of its Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, which is set to open first to domestic travelers in July, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said. koreaherald.com/article/1051...

Unification Minister nominee Chung Dong-young said Tuesday he supports the idea of renaming the Unification Ministry, citing the urgent need to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. koreaherald.com/article/1051...

South Korea and the United States need to discuss whether Seoul is paying enough, including costs not currently covered under their existing defense cost-sharing deal, the acting US ambassador to South Korea said. koreaherald.com/article/1051...

Next time, let’s all go for a proper 2차 — K-style! Huge thanks to CSIS for your tireless efforts to strengthen the ROK-US alliance. A toast to the next generation of scholars — and to Andy, and last but not least, Dr. Victor Cha :) 👊🏻👊🏻

While Trump’s airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites carry implications for the Kim Jong-un regime, North Korea is a different story when it comes to the likelihood of the US conducting military strikes on its nuclear facilities. www.koreaherald.com/article/1051...

South Korean ministries have taken emergency measures to ensure the safety of South Korean nationals and to minimize potential security and economic fallout from the US military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. www.koreaherald.com/article/1051...

A group of South Koreans and their Iranian family members (18+2) were evacuated from Iran and arrived in Turkmenistan on Wednesday, marking the first such evacuation amid ongoing exchanges of air strikes between Iran and Israel. www.koreaherald.com/article/1051...