South Korea
South Korea, US, Japan hold anti-North Korea submarine drill
The South Korean, U.S. and Japanese navies began their first anti-submarine drills in six months on Monday to boost their coordination against increasing North Korean missile threats, South Korea’s military said.
The two-day drills come as North Korea’s recent unveiling of a type of battlefield nuclear warhead prompted worries the country may conduct first nuclear test since 2017.
The maritime exercises in international waters off South Korea’s southern island of Jeju involved the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and naval destroyers from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Also Read: Kim wants N. Korea to make more nuclear material for bombs
The training was arranged to improve the three countries’ capacities to respond to underwater security threats posed by North Korea’s advancing submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other assets, the statement said. It said the three countries were to detect and track unmanned South Korean and U.S. underwater vehicles posing as enemy submarines and other assets.
Submarine-launched missiles by North Korea are serious security threats to the United States and its allies because it’s harder to spot such launches in advance. In recent year, the North has been testing sophisticated underwater-launched ballistic missiles and pushing to build bigger submarines including a nuclear-powered one.
Last month, North Korea performed a barrage of missile tests in response to the earlier South Korea-U.S. bilateral military drills. The weapons tested included a nuclear-capable underwater drone and a submarine-launched cruise missile, which suggest North Korea is trying to diversify its kinds of underwater weapons.
Also Read: North Korea test-fires 2 more missiles as US sends carrier
Photographs in North Korea's state media last week showed about 10 capsule-shaped, red-tipped warheads called “Hwasan (volcano)-31” with different serial numbers. A poster on a nearby wall listed eight kinds of short-range weapons that can carry the “Hwasan-31” warhead. The previous test flights of those weapons show they are capable of striking key targets in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.
Some observers say the warhead’s unveiling may be a prelude to a nuclear test as North Korea's last two tests in 2016 and 2017 followed the disclosures of other warheads. If it does conduct a nuclear test, it would be its seventh detonation overall and the first since September 2017.
Foreign experts debate whether North Korea has functioning nuclear-armed missiles. But South Korea’s defense minister, Lee Jong-Sup, recently said the North’s technology to build miniaturized warheads to be mounted on advanced short-range missiles was believed to have made considerable progress.
North Korea could carry out new missile tests in response to the South Korea-U.S.-Japan drills because it views such training as a security threat. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called recent South Korea-U.S. exercises “reckless military provocations” that disregarded North Korea's "patience and warning.”
In remarks carried in the Defense Ministry statement, Rear Adm. Kim Inho, chief of the South Korean forces involved in the trilateral drills, said “We’ll decisively respond to and neutralize any type of provocation by North Korea.”
In addition to anti-submarine drills, the three countries will practice humanitarian search-and-rescue operations, including saving people who fall into the water and treating emergency patients. It would be the three countries’ first such training in seven years, the Defense Ministry statement said.
South Korea to restore Japan's trade status to improve ties
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday his government will move to restore Japan’s preferential trade status as he pushes to resolve history and trade disputes with Japan despite domestic opposition.
In lengthy, televised comments during a Cabinet Council meeting, Yoon defended his moves, saying that leaving ties with Japan as fraught as they are would be neglecting his duty because greater bilateral cooperation is vital to resolve diverse challenges facing Seoul.
“I thought it would be like neglecting my duty as president if I had also incited hostile nationalism and anti-Japan sentiments to use them for domestic politics while leaving behind the current, grave international political situation,” Yoon said.
He said the need to boost ties with Japan has grown because of North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, the intensifying U.S.-China strategic rivalry and global supply chain challenges.
South Korea and Japan have deep economic and cultural ties and are both key U.S. allies that together host about 80,000 U.S. troops. But their relations have often fluctuated mainly due to issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
At the center of the recent impasse was the 2018 South Korean court rulings that ordered two Japanese companies to compensate some of their former Korean employees for forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Japan refused to accept the rulings, saying all compensation issues had already been settled when the two countries normalized ties in 1965.
The history disputes spilled over to other issues, with the two countries downgrading each other’s trade status. Japan also tightened controls on exports to South Korea, while Seoul threatened to terminate a military intelligence-sharing pact.
After months of negotiations with Japan, Yoon’s government earlier this month announced it would use local funds to compensate the forced laborer victims involved in the 2018 lawsuits without requiring contributions from the Japanese companies.
Last week, Yoon traveled to Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during which they agreed to resume regular visits and economic security talks.
Ahead of the summit, the South Korean government said Japan had agreed to lift export controls on South Korea, and that South Korea would also withdraw its complaint to the World Trade Organization once the curbs are removed. They said the two countries would continue talks on restoring each other’s trade status as well.
Read more: Japan, South Korea renew ties at Tokyo summit
Yoon's push has triggered protests from some of the forced labor victims, their supporters and opposition political parties who have demanded direct compensation from the Japanese companies and a direct apology from Tokyo over the forced labor. A public survey suggested about 60% of Koreans opposed Yoon's measures to resolve the forced labor issue.
In his Cabinet Council remarks, Yoon said he will order his trade minister to begin taking legal steps needed to reinclude Japan in a “whitelist” of nations receiving preferential trade status.
He said both South Korea and Japan must remove obstacles that hinder the improvement of bilateral ties. “If South Korea preemptively eliminates obstacles, Japan will surely reciprocate,” he said.
Seoul-Tokyo ties key to address N Korea, supply chains
South Korea’s president wants to quickly overcome decades of lingering hostility left over from Japan’s past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and forge a united front to meet regional security and economic challenges facing the neighbors.
“We cannot afford to waste time while leaving strained Korea-Japan relations unattended,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said in written response to questions posed by several foreign media outlets including The Associated Press. “I believe we must end the vicious cycle of mutual hostility and work together to seek our two countries’ common interests.”
Yoon’s comments were provided Wednesday, a day before he travels to Tokyo for a closely watched summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The focus of attention is whether and what corresponding steps Kishida would take in response to Yoon’s recent plans to use South Korean funds to compensate some of the colonial-era Korean forced laborers without requiring Japanese contributions.
Yoon’s push has triggered criticism from some victims and his domestic political rivals, who have called for direct compensation from Japanese companies that employed the forced laborers. But Yoon has defended his decision, saying greater ties with Japan is essential to tackle a slew of foreign policy and economic challenges.
Also Read: Japan, S. Korea summit must overcome history to renew ties
“There is an increasing need for Korea and Japan to cooperate in this time of a poly-crisis with North Korean nuclear and missile threats escalating and global supply chains being disrupted,” Yoon said. “I am confident that the Japanese government will join us in opening a new chapter of Korea-Japan relations which will go down to history.”
Addressing Yoon’s comments, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said later Wednesday that Tokyo seeks to strengthen “strategic cooperation” with South Korea as well as trilaterally with the United States. He said he hopes that there will be “open-hearted exchanges” between the leaders of the two countries.
South Korea and Japan, both key U.S. allies and vibrant democracies, are closely linked to each other economically and culturally. But their ties plunged to one of their lowest points in decades after South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 ordered two Japanese companies — Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — to compensate some of their former Korean employees for forced labor during the 1910-45 colonial rule.
Japan has insisted all compensation issues were already settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral ties and was accompanied by $800 million in economic aid and loan from Tokyo to Seoul. The history disputes spilled over to other issues, with Tokyo placing export controls and South Korea threatening to terminate a military intelligence-sharing pact.
Also Read: North Korea launches 2 missiles to sea as allies hold drills
The feuding undermined a U.S. push to reinforce its alliances in Asia to better cope with North Korean nuclear threats and a Chinese rise.
Since taking office last May, Yoon, a conservative, has been focusing on repairing ties with Japan, boosting the military alliance with the United States and building a stronger trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation. Yoon says those steps were needed to deter North Korea, whose nuclear-capable missiles put both South Korea and Japan within striking distance.
Tensions with North Korea have further intensified recently, with the North test-firing a spate of missiles in protest of the South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
“As North Korea’s nuclear development seriously threatens peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond, it is more important than ever that the international community works on a concerted deterrence and responses – this includes the ROK-U.S. alliance and ROK-U.S.-Japan security cooperation,” Yoon said, invoking South Korea’s formal name.
After Yoon’s government announced it would use money raised domestically to compensate the former forced laborers who won damages in the 2018 rulings, U.S. President Joe Biden hailed the plan as a major step toward enhancing the partnership between two of Washington’s closest allies.
While experts say that North Korea’s aggressive weapons testing activities are aimed forcing the United States to accept it as a nuclear power and relaxing international sanctions, Yoon said Kim would fail to achieve this goal.
“Since the complete denuclearization of North Korea is the clear and unchanging goal of the international community, the Republic of Korea will never acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear state under any circumstances,” Yoon said.
He said Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are “continuously taking strong diplomatic, economic and military measures to show that the international community’s commitment to denuclearizing North Korea is stronger than North Korea’s commitment to the development of nuclear weapons.”
Yoon also called on North Korea to halt its “reckless” nuclear program and take steps to address the suffering of its people. He said South Korea is willing to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korean people, citing an assessment “that food shortages there have grown worse with some regions seeing people dying of hunger recently.”
Yoon expressed optimism that the thawing of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan would also expand economic cooperation between the technology-driven countries, which he said would be crucial to address industrial supply chain vulnerabilities and other global challenges.
“If Korea-Japan relations are normalized, I expect to see acceleration of strategic cooperation, such as technological partnerships, joint research & development and the expansion of mutual investments in various fields, such as semiconductors, space and bio-health including materials, parts and equipment," he said.
Yoon said expanded cooperation between South Korea and Japan – both semiconductor powerhouses – will contribute “greatly” in improving the resilience in global supply chains, which have been rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 and could be reshaped by an intensifying U.S.-China rivalry.
Yoon also said South Korea and Japan while pursuing stronger bilateral ties should also seek to advance their economic relations with China in a “stable manner.”
A government-affiliated foundation in South Korea will likely handle reparations to forced labor victims with money contributed by steel giant POSCO and other local companies that benefited from the 1965 accord. POSCO said Wednesday that it decided to newly contribute 4 billion won ($3 million) to the foundation in addition to the 6 billion won ($4.6 million) that it has previously contributed to the foundation.
South Korean officials say they don't expect Nippon Steel or Mitsubishi to immediately contribute to the South Korean funds for the forced labor victims. They say they expect the Japanese companies to participate in a separate possible fund aimed at facilitating cultural exchanges and other cooperation between the two countries.
Korean envoy sees brighter future of Dhaka-Seoul relations
A two-day trade show titled ‘Showcase Korea’ began in Dhaka on Saturday demonstrating that Bangladesh and South Korea are willing to further strengthen and deepen the bilateral relations and take the relations into a higher level.
Prime Minister's Adviser on Private Industries and Investment Salman F Rahman joined the opening session as the chief guest that is displaying the latest products and technologies.
South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun, Mayor of North Dhaka City Corporation Atiqul Islam, President of the Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KBCCI) and Chairman of Meghna Group of Industries Mostafa Kamal, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) President Md. Jashim Uddin and President of the Korean Community in Bangladesh Yoo Young-ho, among others, were present.
Also Read: 2-day Korean fair begins in Dhaka Saturday
The Showcase Korea 2023 is co-organised by the Korean Community in Bangladesh and the KBCCI.
“As you see today, with the big and strong support of the business sectors, I have no doubt that the future of our relations, the next 50 years and 100 years, is very bright,” said Ambassador Lee.
Read More: Ambassador Lee visits Matarbari Coal-powered Plant to observe South Korean company’s construction work
The Showcase Korea has been a trademark of the KBCCI, which was regularly organised before the pandemic to promote the trade and business relations of the two countries.
North Korea says it test-fired long-range cruise missiles
North Korea said Friday it test-fired long-range cruise missiles in waters off its eastern coast a day earlier, adding to a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations as its rivals step up military training.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries didn’t immediately confirm the North Korean launches, which state media said were intended to verify the reliability of the missiles and the rapid-response capabilities of the unit that operates those weapons.
Read more: China calls for Russia-Ukraine cease-fire, peace talks
The launches would have taken place as the United States and South Korea held a simulated military exercise in Washington aimed at sharpening their response to North Korean nuclear threats.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said the exercise involved four missiles, which flew for nearly three hours after being launched from a northeastern coastal area, drawing oval and figure-eight patterns above the sea, and showed that they can hit targets 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) away.
North Korea first tested a long-range cruise missile system in September 2021 and has implied they are being developed to be armed with nuclear warheads.
It also test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile Saturday and a pair of short-range missiles Monday to demonstrate a dual ability to conduct nuclear strikes on South Korea and the U.S. mainland.
Read more: Fears, questions about N. Korea's growing nuclear arsenal
North Korea said Monday’s short-range launches were a response to the United States flying B-1B bombers to the region for joint training with South Korean and Japanese warplanes on Sunday in a show of force following the North’s ICBM test.
Prior to the ICBM launch, North Korea vowed an “unprecedentedly” strong response over a series of military drills planned by Seoul and Washington. North Korea for decades has described the annual U.S.-South Korea drills as rehearsals for a potential invasion, although the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature.
Long-range cruise missiles are among a growing number of North Korean weapons and are designed to be maneuverable in flight to better evade missile defenses.
Since the collapse of nuclear negotiations with the United States in 2019, North Korea has been accelerating its development of short-range solid-fuel ballistic missiles targeting South Korea, including those that travel on low trajectories that theoretically make them harder to intercept.
Read more: N Korea calls UN chief's remarks on missile test 'unfair'
North Korea is also trying to develop solid-fuel ICBMs, which could be easier to move on vehicles and can be fired faster than the North’s existing liquid-fuel ICBMs, reducing opportunities for opponents to detect the launches and counter them.
The KCNA said Thursday’s tests were aimed at verifying the war readiness of its nuclear combat force, which is “bolstering up in every way its deadly nuclear counterattack capability against the hostile forces.”
North Korea is coming off a record year in weapons demonstrations with more than 70 ballistic missiles fired, including ICBMs with potential to reach the U.S. mainland. It also conducted what it described as simulated nuclear attacks against South Korean and U.S. targets in response to the allies’ joint military exercises.
Leader Kim Jong Un doubled down on his nuclear push entering 2023, calling for an “exponential increase” in nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting “enemy” South Korea and the development of more advanced ICBMs.
Read more: Russia, China show off ties amid maneuvering over Ukraine
The U.S. Department of Defense and South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted a simulation at the Pentagon on Wednesday that was focused on the possibility of the North Korean use of nuclear weapons. The allies also discussed various adoptions to demonstrate their “strong response capabilities and resolve to response appropriately” to any North Korean nuclear use.
The Americans during the meeting highlighted the Biden administration’s 2022 Nuclear Posture Review, which states that any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners is “unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime,” the U.S. Department of Defense said. It was referring to a legislatively mandated document that spells out U.S. nuclear policy and strategy for the next five to 10 years.
Read more: North Korea confirms ICBM test, warns of more powerful steps
The U.S. and South Korean delegations also visited U.S. nuclear submarine training facilities at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, where they were briefed on the mission of Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. U.S. officials at the base described such forces as key means of providing U.S. extended deterrence to allies, referring to a commitment to defend them with the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear ones.
In face of the North’s growing threats, South Korea has been seeking stronger reassurances from the United States that it would swiftly and decisively use its nuclear capabilities to defend its ally from a North Korean nuclear attack.
“The United States will continue to work with (South Korea) to ensure an effective mix of capabilities, concepts, deployments, exercises, and tailored options to deter and, if necessary, respond to coercion and aggression by (North Korea),” the Department of Defense said in a statement.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries have another joint computer-simulated exercise and field training scheduled in March, which South Korean officials say would involve the allies’ biggest live-fire training in years.
South Korea reaffirms its support for ultimate resolution of Rohingya crisis
Sympathizing with the diminishing hope and frustration of the Rohingyas as the repatriation to their homeland is prolonged and as the prospect is dim, South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun has stressed that there is no other way but to repatriate the Rohingyas to Myanmar for the ultimate resolution of the crisis.
Reaffirming Korea’s continued support for the protection of refugees forcibly relocated to Cox’s Bazar, Ambassador Lee expressed Korea’s interest in strengthening the host community, supporting the vulnerable population in particular women and children and refugees with disability.
Since the outbreak of the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, the government of the Republic of Korea has been supporting the operations of the UN agencies and other international organizations in Bangladesh for their humanitarian works in the refugee camp and host community including in Bashan Char.
The total amount of Korea’s funding so far is over twenty-three million US dollars. UNHCR is the biggest recipient of Korea's funding followed by UNICEF, IOM, WFP, IFRC and UNFPA. In addition to the government funding, JTS Korea, a Korean Buddhist NGO, provided a total of 200,000 gas stoves to the refugee camp in 2019 and 2022 respectively.
North Korea fires short-range missiles after making threat
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast on Monday in its second weapons test in three days that drew quick condemnation from its rivals.
The weapons firings follow an intercontinental ballistic missile launch Saturday and North Korea’s threats to take an unprecedented strong response to U.S.-South Korean military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal. Some experts say North Korea could use a new testing spree to expand its arsenal and intends eventually to use its boosted capability as leverage in negotiations the United States.
South Korea's military said it detected the two missile launches from a western coastal town, just north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday morning. Japan said both missiles landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan and that no damage involving aircraft and vessels in the area was reported.
According to Japanese and South Korean assessments, the North Korean missiles flew at a maximum altitude of 50-100 kilometers (30-60 miles) and a distance of 340-400 kilometers (210-250 miles).
South Korea’s military said North Korea’s repeated missile launches are “a grave provocation” that undermine international peace. Japan condemned the launches as a threat to the peace and safety of Japan and the international society.
Read: North Korea confirms ICBM test, warns of more powerful steps
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the missile launches highlight “the destabilizing impact” of North Korea’s unlawful weapons programs. It said the U.S. commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan “remain ironclad.”
North Korea’s state media said long-range artillery units on its western coast fired two rounds cross-country toward the eastern waters on Monday morning, possibly referring to the same activity its neighbors said were missile launches. The official Korean Central News Agency said the North Korean artillery rounds simulated strikes on targets up to 395 kilometers (245 miles) away.
The North said the launches involved its new 600 millimeter multiple rocket launcher system that could be armed with “tactical” nuclear weapons for battlefield use. Some experts viewed the weapons system as a short-range ballistic missile.
“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S. forces’ action character,” Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement carried by state media. “We are well aware of the movement of U.S. forces’ strategic strike means, (which are) recently getting brisk around the Korean Peninsula.”
Calling the United States “the worst maniacs,” she threatened to take unspecified “corresponding counteraction” in response to the future moves by the U.S. military.
She could be referring to the U.S. flyover of B-1B long-range, supersonic bombers on Sunday for separate training with South Korea and Japan. The B-1B deployment came as response to North Korea’s launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM off its east coast on Saturday in the country’s first missile test since Jan. 1.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to the deployment of B-1B bombers, which can carry a huge payload of conventional weapons.
North Korea’s state media said Sunday the ICBM test was meant to further bolster its “fatal” nuclear attack capacity and verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. In her earlier statement Sunday, Kim Yo Jong threatened to take additional powerful steps over upcoming military drills between the United States and South Korea.
North Korea has steadfastly slammed regular South Korea-U.S. military drills as a practice for a northward invasion though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature. Some observers say North Korea often uses its rivals’ drills as a pretext to hone and perfect its weapons systems.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries plan to hold a table-top exercise this week to hone a joint response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The allies are also to conduct another joint computer simulated exercise and field training in March.
Hours after Monday's launches, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Seoul placed unilateral sanctions on four individuals and five institutions it said were involved in illicit activities supporting the North’s nuclear arms development and evasion of sanctions. While South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government has so far placed sanctions on 31 individuals and 35 organizations for supporting the North’s nuclear ambitions, such steps are seen as mostly symbolic considering the lack of business activities between the rivals.
North Korea has claimed to have missiles capable of striking both the U.S. mainland and South Korea with nuclear weapons, but many foreign experts have said North Korea still has some key remaining technologies to master, such as shrinking the warheads small enough to be mounted on missiles and ensuring those warheads survive atmospheric reentry.
In her statement Monday, Kim Yo Jong reiterated that North Korea has reentry vehicle technology. She also hit back at South Korean experts who questioned whether North Korea’s ICBMs would be functional in real-war situations.
Kim Yo Jong insisted that the nine hours of launch preparation time after her brother Kim Jong Un ordered it included the efforts sealing the launch site and evacuating people, and was not long because of shortcomings of the missile system itself.
Last year, North Korea set an annual record with the launch of more than 70 missiles. North Korea has said many of those weapons tests were a warning over previous U.S.-South Korean military drills. It also passed a law that allows it to use nuclear weapons preemptively in a broad range of scenarios.
Kim Jong Un entered 2023 with a call for an “exponential increase” of the country’s nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and the development of more advanced ICBMs targeting the U.S.
North Korea confirms ICBM test, warns of more powerful steps
North Korea said Sunday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further bolster its “fatal” nuclear attack capacity against its rivals, as it threatened additional powerful steps in response to the planned military training between the United States and South Korea.
Saturday’s ICBM test, the North’s first missile test since Jan. 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using his rivals’ drills as a chance to expand his country’s nuclear capability to enhance its leverage in future dealings with the United States. An expert says North Korea may seek to hold regular operational exercises involving its ICBMs.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said its launch of the existing Hwasong-15 ICBM was organized “suddenly” without prior notice at Kim's direct order.
KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and reached a maximum altitude of about 5,770 kilometers (3,585 miles), flying a distance of about 990 kilometers (615 miles) during a 67-minute flight before accurately hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Also Read: US to increase weapons deployment to counter North Korea
The steep-angle launch was apparently aimed at avoiding neighboring countries. The flight details reported by North Korea, which roughly matched the launch information previously assessed by its neighbors, show the weapon is theoretically capable of reaching the mainland U.S. if fired at a standard trajectory.
The Hwasong-15 launch demonstrated the North’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces” into an extremely strong one that cannot be countered, KCNA said.
Whether North Korea has a functioning nuclear-tipped ICBM is still a source of outside debate, as some experts say the North hasn’t mastered a technology to protect warheads from the severe conditions of atmospheric reentry. The North has claimed to have acquired such a technology.
The Hwasong-15 is one of North Korea’s three existing ICBMs, all of which use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections and cannot remain fueled for extended periods. The North is pushing to build a solid-fueled ICBM, which would be more mobile and harder-to-detect before its launch.
“Kim Jong Un has likely determined that the technical reliability of the country’s liquid propellant ICBM force has been sufficiently tested and evaluated to now allow for regular operational exercises of this kind,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea, said that North Korea appeared to have launched an upgraded version of the Hwasong-15 ICBM. Chang said the information provided by North Korea showed the missile will likely have a longer potential range than the standard Hwasong-15.
The North’s launch came a day after it vowed an “unprecedentedly” strong response over a series of military drills that Seoul and Washington plan in coming weeks.
In a separate statement Sunday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, accused South Korea and the United States of “openly showing their dangerous greed and attempt to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula.”
“I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she said.
North Korea has steadfastly slammed regular South Korea-U.S. military trainings as an invasion rehearsal though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature. Some analysts say North Korea often uses South Korea-U.S. drills as a pretext to modernize its weapons arsenals, which it believes is essential to win sanctions relief from the U.S.
“By now, we know that any action taken by the U.S. and South Korea — however justified from the vantage point of defense and deterrence against (North Korea’s) reckless behavior — will be construed and protested as an act of hostility by North Korea,” said Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation. “There will always be fodder for (Kim Jong Un’s) weapons provocations.”
“With nuclear weapons in tow and having mastered the art of coercion and bullying, Kim does not need ‘self-defense.’ But pitting the U.S. and South Korea as the aggressors allows Kim to justify his weapons development,” Soo Kim said.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the U.S. will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and South Korea and Japan. South Korea’s presidential National Security Council said it will seek to strengthen its “overwhelming response capacity” against potential North Korean aggression based on the military alliance with the United States.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries plan to hold a table-top exercise this week to hone a joint response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The allies are also to conduct another joint computer simulated exercise and field training in March.
The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, meeting on the sidelines of a security conference in Germany on Saturday, agreed to boost a trilateral cooperation involving the United States and exchanged in-depth views on the issue of Japan’s colonial-era mobilization of forced Korean laborers — a key sticking point in efforts to improve their ties, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.
South Korea and Japan are both key U.S. allies but often spat over issues stemming from Tokyo’s 1910-45 colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula. But North Korea’s recent missile testing spree is pushing the two countries to explore how to reinforce their security cooperation.
Last year, North Korea set an annual record with the launch of more than 70 missiles. North Korea has said many of those weapons tests were a warning over previous U.S.-South Korean military drills. It also passed a law that allows it to use nuclear weapons preemptively in a broad range of scenarios.
Kim Jong Un entered 2023 with a call for an “exponential increase” of the country’s nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and the development of more advanced ICBMs targeting the U.S.
PM urges South Korea for more investments in Bangladesh
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today urged South Korean businesses for more investment in Bangladesh.
“There is a huge potential to boost the economic relations between the two countries,” she said.
The premier said this when visiting South Korean Special Presidential Envoy Jang Sung Min paid a courtesy call on her at her official residence Ganabhaban.
PM’s speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.
The prime minister said South Korea is one of Bangladesh’s top development partners, and the country has been extending cooperation – especially in textile and infrastructure – since the latter’s independence.
Jang Sung Min is visiting Bangladesh as part of the celebration of 50 years of the diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and South Korea.
The envoy said that his country is keen to strengthen the bilateral ties with Bangladesh further in the next 50 years.
The relationship will grow gradually from strength to strength in the days to come, said the Presidential Envoy and Senior Secretary for Future Strategy in the Office of the President of Republic of Korea.
Diplomatic relations were established 50 years ago as South Korea recognised Bangladesh on May 12, 1972.
During the meeting, the South Korean presidential envoy shared his personal experiences regarding his visit to Bangabandhu Memorial Museum this morning.
Read more: South Korea’s presidential envoy begins 3-day tour paying tribute to Bangabandhu
Jang Sung Min said that he was “fascinated and moved” after the visit as he came to know the struggles and sacrifices Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made.
The envoy on behalf of his president invited the prime minister to visit South Korea.
The premier also invited the South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to visit Bangladesh.
Principal Secretary M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun were present.
Jang Sung Min arrived here yesterday, on a three-day tour to Bangladesh.
As one of President Yoon’s closest advisors, he has been playing a key role in establishing South Korea’s diplomatic and economic policies in the new administration since its inauguration in May 2022.
Read more: South Korean envoy calls on new principal secretary to prime minister
Court says South Korea responsible for Vietnam War massacre
A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the government to pay 30 million won ($24,000) to a Vietnamese woman who survived a gunshot wound but lost several relatives when South Korean marines rampaged through her village during the Vietnam War in 1968.
In awarding the compensation to 62-year-old Nguyen Thi Thanh, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the government’s argument that it was unclear whether South Korean troops were responsible for the slaughter in the village of Phong Nhi.
The court also rejected the government’s argument that civilian killings were unavoidable as the Korean troops were dealing with Viet Cong guerrillas who often blended with locals, according to Thanh's lawyer, Lim Jae-sung.
The ruling marks the first time a South Korean court found the country’s government responsible for mass killings of Vietnamese civilians during the war, and could potentially open the way for similar lawsuits. Then ruled by anti-communist military leaders, South Korea sent more than 320,000 troops to Vietnam, the largest foreign contingent fighting alongside U.S. troops.
South Korea’s Justice Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a query whether the government will appeal.
According to U.S. military documents and survivors, more than 70 people were killed and around 20 others injured after South Korean marines allegedly fired at unarmed civilians during search operations at Phong Nhi and the nearby village of Phong Nhut in February 1968.
Thanh, then 7 years old, was treated for gunshot wounds in her stomach while five of her family members died, including her mother, sister and brother. She filed the lawsuit against the South Korean government in 2020 and testified at the Seoul court last August.
The trial also included the testimonies of other Vietnamese villagers and South Korean war veteran Ryu Jin-seong, a member of the marine unit linked to the attacks in Phong Nhi and Phong Nhut. He provided a first-hand account of how the Korean soldiers shot at unarmed civilians, many of them children and women.
Thanh, who awaited the ruling in Vietnam, said she was “overjoyed” by her court win.
“I think that the souls (of those who died in Phong Nhi) were always with me and supported me,” she said in a video message translated by her legal team. “I am overjoyed because I think that the souls can now rest easy.”
The South Korean government had argued there was no conclusive evidence that South Korean troops were responsible for the killings, even suggesting that the aggressors may have been Viet Cong fighters disguised in Korean uniforms and attempting psychological warfare.
The government also insisted that even if Korean soldiers were involved, their aggressive response was understandable when they were facing constant threats from Viet Cong guerrillas, who often hid themselves among locals and actively recruited young women.