Korea

The PanStar Acro, bound for Europe via the Arctic, is testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.

A South ‌Korean container ship is sailing to Europe via the Arctic, ⁠in the nation’s first commercial voyage on the route to test its viability as the war in the Middle East rattles global shipping.

The PanStar Acro set sail from Busan New Port on Saturday. “We would like to inform you that the vessel for the Arctic route trial voyage departed” at 9:30pm (12:30 GMT), Seoul’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in a statement to the AFP news agency.

The PanStar Acro will sail north, the Reuters news agency reported, hugging eastern Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, then cross the Bering Sea, and ⁠take the Northern Sea Route, stopping in Felixstowe in the UK, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Poland’s Gdansk before returning.

The 2,758 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) container ship operated by South Korea’s PanStar ‌has secured 837 TEU of cargo, including car parts, chemical products and about 100 empty containers on the government-backed voyage.

The journey is expected to take 40 to 45 days, according to the Oceans Ministry.

President Lee Jae Myung has made Arctic shipping ‌a priority for South Korea, with the hope of turning the southeastern ⁠port of Busan into a global maritime hub and position the Arctic as a regular trade route by 2030.

But this new route has been criticised for several different reasons. Environmental groups have warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt, meaning the increase in shipping could worsen global warming.

The project also risks increasing friction with Western allies hoping to keep Russia isolated in its war with Ukraine. Seoul has consulted with Moscow about the journey, Reuters reported, including whether the ship needed ⁠help to tackle any problems, such as ⁠getting stuck in ice.

Last year, 103 transits through the route were made by 88 vessels, up from ⁠97 in 2024 and 43 in 2022, chiefly from nations such as Russia and China, according ⁠to Norway’s Centre for High North Logistics.

But with the Iran war affecting global shipping, governments and shipping firms are scrambling to seek different routes, with the Arctic route increasingly viewed as a viable alternative due to technological advances and environmental degradation.

South Korea’s Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-hon said the Arctic route was “bound to become an alternative” to Middle Eastern shipping lanes.

The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 miles) and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

However, major carriers including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes due to pressure from environmental groups. The Arctic sea route is believed to be accessible only during the time of year when the ice is melted enough to allow transits without icebreakers.

“The Northern Sea Route has become increasingly viable as the Arctic warms about four times faster than the global average, leading to a sharp decline in sea ice,” South Korean environmental group Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center said in a statement last year. “But making the route commercially viable would require further warming, putting the policy at odds with efforts to combat climate change.”

SEOUL, Aug. 21 (UPI) — South Korea’s presidential Blue House on Friday called on North Korea to halt its “derogatory remarks” toward Seoul, one day after Kim Yo Jong mocked the South over the scaling back of joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.

“Derogatory remarks toward our government and president do not help in building mutual trust,” the Blue House said in remarks reported by Yonhap News Agency.

“We call on the North to halt unnecessary criticism and march together toward peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula,” it added.

The remarks came in response to a commentary by Kim, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in which she derided Seoul as a “puppet” of the United States and accused President Lee Jae Myung of making “double-dealing remarks.”

This week’s decision to cut short the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise has “placed Seoul in a poor plight of discontinuing the ‘war game’ it liked very much,” Kim said in the commentary carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency late Thursday.

She said Lee “uttered shameful words” in a social media post in which he expressed respect for U.S. President Donald Trump’s order to scale back the exercise while also pledging that South Korea would continue to build up a self-sufficient military capacity.

“Such double-dealing behavior vividly proves uneasiness and impatience of the ROK,” Kim said, using the official acronym for South Korea.

“The world witnesses that the U.S. security aids are no longer free of charge,” she added. “Seoul should be aware of the unavoidable fate of the ‘puppet.'”

The exchange comes after Trump called for the allies’ joint military drills to be “substantially reduced” in a Truth Social post Sunday, saying they are expensive and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wednesday announced that the two sides would cut short the ongoing exercise by almost a week. The command-post portion of the exercise was set to conclude Friday, although a pared-down set of field training drills will continue through next week as originally scheduled.

The directive has been widely seen as an effort by Trump to restart diplomacy with the North, and on Wednesday he told reporters that he expected to meet Kim Jong Un this year.

In an earlier KCNA commentary, however, Kim Yo Jong downplayed the significance of the exercise reduction, calling it “unworthy of comment.”

“If the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get desired answer,” she said.

On Thursday, Pyongyang fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, Seoul’s military said, marking the North’s third missile launch in less than two weeks.

The Blue House on Friday reiterated its commitment to pursuing peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas.

“As a party directly involved in building peace on the Korean Peninsula, the government will continue its close cooperation with the U.S. while making proactive efforts to help resume North Korea-U.S. dialogue as a ‘pacemaker,'” the presidential office said, according to Yonhap.

SEOUL, Aug. 19 (UPI) — South Korea and the United States will significantly scale down their ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday, cutting it short by almost a week following an order by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“South Korea and the United States have agreed to make partial adjustments to the exercise period and scale at the suggestion of the U.S. side,” the JCS said in a statement.

“First, it was decided to adjust the duration of this UFS exercise to run from the 17th to the 21st,” the statement said. “Second, it was decided to conduct the combined field maneuver training on a reduced scale.”

The allies are discussing specific details of the field training reduction, the JCS added.

Ulchi Freedom Shield began Monday and was originally scheduled to run through Aug. 27.

The move comes after Trump called for the drills to be “substantially reduced” in a Truth Social post Sunday, saying they are expensive and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Wednesday morning that Seoul was not given advance notice of Trump’s directive.

“Neither our government nor officials within the U.S. government had any prior knowledge of what President Trump revealed on Truth Social,” Cho said at a parliamentary hearing. “Consequently, we were not notified beforehand.”

In his Sunday post, Trump said Pyongyang “has been unthreatening and respectful” while he has been in the White House.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump touted his personal relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying Kim had “always treated me with great respect.”

“I understand him. He understands me,” Trump said, adding that Kim had responded to his requests for talks but providing no further details.

The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, reported Tuesday that Trump is pushing aides to arrange a meeting with Kim as soon as this fall, although no official planning is underway. Trump has privately discussed holding talks during his next trip to Asia, which could come in November when world leaders gather for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China.

North Korea, meanwhile, has not publicly responded to Trump’s overture. In a commentary published earlier Wednesday, before Seoul announced the reduction, the state-run Korean Central News Agency criticized Ulchi Freedom Shield as “frantic exercises” pushing the Korean Peninsula to the “threshold of a war.”

The commentary threatened that Pyongyang would continue exercising its “right to self-defence” to counter what it called military threats from the allies.

North Korea frequently condemns U.S.-South Korean military drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

Trump similarly called for suspending or scaling back the exercises in his first term, when he pursued direct diplomacy with Kim that included summits in Singapore and Hanoi and a brief meeting at the DMZ.

After the 2018 Singapore summit, Trump surprised observers by announcing that the United States would halt what he called “provocative” joint military exercises with South Korea. That year’s Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise was canceled, while several subsequent drills were reduced in scale.

Yes. The US South Korea relationship has not broken down under Donald Trump, but it has become more transactional, cost focused and strategically uncertain. The latest decision to scale back joint military exercises highlights a broader evolution in which Washington increasingly expects Seoul to shoulder more of the alliance burden while seeking greater flexibility for US forces across the region.

From deterrence to deal making

Trump’s approach to South Korea has been shaped heavily by his personal diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. His first term moved rapidly from threats of “fire and fury” to unprecedented summits with Kim, followed by the suspension or redesign of major US South Korean military exercises.

Although the Hanoi summit collapsed without a denuclearisation agreement, Trump has continued to emphasise his relationship with Kim. His latest instruction to reduce joint exercises therefore carries significance beyond cost savings. It signals that Washington may once again be willing to modify elements of its alliance posture in pursuit of diplomatic space with Pyongyang.

The strategic environment, however, is very different from 2018. North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile capabilities and strengthened military cooperation with Russia. Reducing exercises therefore creates a more complicated calculation for Seoul: diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang may reduce tensions temporarily, but weaker military preparedness could also increase the risks associated with North Korea’s growing capabilities.

The alliance is becoming more transactional

The clearest transformation under Trump is arguably the growing emphasis on burden sharing.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the cost of maintaining roughly 28,500 US troops in South Korea and has pushed Seoul to contribute more to its own defence. The existing cost sharing agreement requires South Korea to contribute about 1.52 trillion won this year toward the upkeep of US forces.

For Washington, the argument is straightforward: South Korea is wealthy enough to assume a greater share of the financial and military burden. For Seoul, however, the US military presence remains central to deterring North Korea.

This creates a fundamental tension. The alliance is still strategically valuable to both sides, but Trump increasingly approaches it through a cost benefit framework rather than solely through traditional alliance commitments.

Defence cooperation is expanding even as exercises face pressure

The apparent contradiction is important. Trump is seeking to reduce certain military exercises while South Korea itself is increasing defence spending.

President Lee Jae Myung has pledged a larger security role and increased defence spending, while continuing to insist that Washington’s security commitment remains firm. Seoul has also sought greater strategic autonomy, including greater latitude over nuclear fuel technology and faster progress toward transferring wartime operational control.

This suggests that the alliance may be evolving rather than simply weakening.

South Korea appears to be preparing to assume greater responsibility for its own defence, while Washington wants the alliance to become more flexible and potentially address security challenges beyond the Korean Peninsula.

That latter objective is particularly sensitive for Seoul. The United States increasingly views its Asian alliances through the broader strategic competition with China, while South Korea remains primarily focused on the immediate threat from North Korea.

Trade has become inseparable from security

Under Trump, economic relations have also become an increasingly important component of the alliance.

Washington’s tariff pressure has pushed Seoul toward major investment commitments in the United States, including the $350 billion investment pledge associated with tariff relief. South Korean companies have already invested heavily in US semiconductors, batteries, electric vehicles and shipbuilding.

But disagreements over how the investment should be structured have exposed the limits of Trump’s transactional approach. Seoul has warned that demands for large upfront cash commitments could place pressure on its economy.

The detention of hundreds of South Korean workers during an immigration raid at a Hyundai LG battery project in Georgia further demonstrated how economic and political tensions can spill directly into the strategic relationship.

The result is an alliance in which security guarantees, trade concessions, investment and troop costs increasingly form one interconnected negotiation.

The deeper problem is strategic uncertainty

The central challenge for Seoul is not simply whether Trump wants fewer exercises. It is whether Washington’s definition of the alliance is changing.

For decades, the US South Korea alliance rested on a relatively clear bargain: Washington provided extended deterrence and military forces, while Seoul contributed financially and militarily to maintaining the security architecture.

Trump’s approach introduces more conditionality into that bargain.

If military exercises can be reduced because they are considered too expensive or diplomatically inconvenient, Seoul has to consider how predictable the US commitment remains. At the same time, Washington expects South Korea to spend more, invest more and potentially assume greater responsibility.

This could ultimately produce a stronger South Korean military, but it could also create greater uncertainty about the role of the United States.

What this means for China and the Indo Pacific

The evolution of the alliance also has implications far beyond the Korean Peninsula.

Washington wants greater flexibility for US forces stationed in South Korea to respond to regional contingencies, particularly those involving China. Seoul, however, has historically been reluctant to become directly involved in a confrontation over Taiwan.

That creates a structural divergence in strategic priorities.

For Washington, South Korea is increasingly part of a broader Indo Pacific security network. For Seoul, the primary purpose of the alliance remains deterrence against North Korea.

Trump’s transactional approach therefore forces South Korea to navigate between two competing imperatives: maintaining the American security umbrella while avoiding excessive strategic dependence on Washington’s wider confrontation with Beijing.

The alliance has changed, but it has not collapsed

Trump has not dismantled the US South Korea alliance. Instead, he is redefining its terms.

Military exercises are being reconsidered, defence burden sharing remains contentious, trade and investment have become bargaining instruments, and Washington increasingly expects Seoul to assume greater responsibility for regional security.

For South Korea, this creates both a risk and an opportunity. Greater defence spending and military autonomy could make Seoul less dependent on American forces. But if Washington simultaneously reduces visible commitments while demanding greater financial and strategic contributions, Seoul could find itself paying more for an alliance that feels less predictable.

The most important question, therefore, is not whether Trump is weakening the alliance. It is whether he is transforming it from a traditional security partnership into a transactional strategic bargain.

If that transformation continues, the US South Korea alliance could survive Trump, but it may emerge fundamentally different from the alliance Washington and Seoul built over the past seven decades.

With information from Reuters.

President Donald Trump doubled down on Monday about one of his reasons for ordering the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” joint military training exercises with South Korea. Trump said he is upset Seoul would not assist his war against Iran after years of U.S. protection from North Korea. This all started a day earlier in a Truth Social post where he said his close relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and concerns about the cost of military exercises were motivating factors for his decision.

“South Korea has been protected by us for many, many years, and during my first term, they agreed to pay close to $3 billion a year for protection because they essentially weren’t paying,” Trump explained at an afternoon press conference. “And I asked them to do that at my request. They weren’t happy about it, but they agreed. I asked for $10 billion and they were very unhappy, but we agreed for a short term that it would be $3 billion, and next year would go up, and the next year would go up. So they start paying for their protection.”

That stopped when Joe Biden became president, Trump complained.

“When I called recently, the president of South Korea, who I like, I think he’s very nice actually. But I called him. I said, ‘Would you like to give us a little hand? We don’t need help with Iran, but if you’d like, give us a hand with Iran.’ He said, ‘No thanks.’ And I said, ‘Wait a minute. We have 39,000 soldiers over there guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbor, and you’re not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran. That’s strange.’”

Trump claimed South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung said, “No, no, we’d rather not get involved.”

“I said, ‘well, why are we involved in helping you?’” the American leader proclaimed.

Monday afternoon, the Pentagon said it “is actively working on executing the Commander-in-Chief’s directive” regarding the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise in South Korea. It already began on Monday as scheduled. When asked by TWZ for details about the timeline or how much U.S. support for the exercise will be reduced, the Pentagon declined comment.

South Korea’s presidential Blue House said it was reviewing Trump’s comments, adding that it would continue working with the U.S. on details related to the drills and the “maintenance of firm combined defense posture,” CNN noted.

There are about 28,500 U.S. troops on the peninsula and many have already begun preparation for the exercise, according to U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). While the U.S. has typically provided few details about how many of its troops take part in Ulchi Freedom Shield, there will be about 18,000 South Korean forces involved, which mirrors last year’s levels.

Scheduled to run through Aug. 27, Ulchi Freedom Shield is “a defense-oriented exercise featuring live-fire, constructive, and field training exercises that engage alliance forces and governmental agencies,” according to U.S. Forces Korea. This year’s drills were designed to reflect evolving threats from North Korea including drones, GPS disruption and cyberattack.

The goal is to “build understanding between Combined Forces Command, United States Forces Korea, the United Nations Command, and ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), ROK government agencies.”

The exercise traditionally integrates ground, air, naval, space, cyber and information elements. It focuses on a wide range of training for urban warfare, counter Weapons of Mass Destruction, wet-gap crossing, air defense mobilization, tactical aviation dogfighting, contested logistics and combat search and rescue among many other aspects. 

“This combined exercise program highlights the ironclad commitment between the two nations to maintain a robust combined defense posture and to defend the people of the ROK from any threat,” USFK said about last year’s exercise. 

As noted earlier in this story, Trump said he ordered the rollback in U.S. participation in joint exercises on the peninsula as a result of his bonds with North Korea’s leader and concerns about cost involved. He also said South Korea’s decision not to provide more support for the war against Iran was a factor.

“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump stated on Truth Social. “These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”

In addition, Trump proclaimed that: “While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’”

Trump’s Truth Social post came days after North Korea fired a ​ballistic missile toward the sea off the Korean peninsula’s east coast as a message of protest against the looming training exercise. As we have noted in the past, joint exercises like these are typically met by missile tests and other saber-rattling from north of the border, although Ulchi Freedom Shield is a regular summer occurrence, albeit one that focuses closely on North Korean threats.

Last week, the South Korean military “fired warning shots after a group of North Korean soldiers crossed the inter-Korean land boundary, prompting them to return to their side,” the Yonhap News Agency reported on Sunday. “It marked the South Korean military’s first warning shots this year in response to North Korean troops crossing the boundary. No prior MDL violations by the North Korean military had been reported this year.”

Trump’s Truth Social post hit just as South Koreans – 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time – were starting their work week. In-Bum Chun, a retired South Korean lieutenant general who ran that nation’s special operations forces and is now a military analyst, told TWZ that Ulchi Freedom Shield is a “very” important event for South Korea. He suggested there will be mixed reactions to Trump’s move in the country, with people on the left favoring the move, people on the right seeing it as “a good reason for nuclear weapons” and moderates not taking a stand either way.

With plans to build its own nuclear-powered submarines with ballistic missile capabilities, Seoul is at least keeping its nuclear options open, which you can read more about here.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s president has proposed officially ending the conflict with the North. The Korean War, which erupted in 1950, has been effectively frozen since an armistice was signed in 1953.

The president’s move toward a détente with the North is a repeat of previous actions toward Pyongyang. During his first term in 2018, Trump promised Kim that he would halt U.S.-South Korea military exercises, saying they are “provocative” and “tremendously expensive.”

In addition, he has also previously suggested reducing troop levels in South Korea. While his Truth Social post didn’t raise that issue, earlier this year, the Pentagon moved air defense assets from South Korea to the Middle East to help defend against Iranian missile and drone barrages. It is unclear if those systems have been returned.

Given the ongoing presence in the Middle East, the U.S. military is under strain, which is likely an unspoken motivating factor as well for the move to curtail training with South Korea.

There is growing concern among Asian allies about Trump’s commitment to the region. In January, the National Defense Strategy was unveiled and no longer focused primarily on countering China — a dramatic shift from even the first Trump administration. Last week, Trump ordered the USS George Washington, the only aircraft left in the western Pacific, to head toward the Middle East to relieve the beleaguered USS Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln is at the center of a controversy over the mental and physical health conditions of those aboard after a long deployment.

USS George Washington (CVN 73) Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and USS Shoup (DDG 86) Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer westbound in the Singapore Strait – August 13, 2026 SRC: INST- dc_ah pic.twitter.com/kZWHc9QISt

— WarshipCam (@WarshipCam) August 13, 2026

America’s strongest ally in the region, Japan, is forging closer relations with South Korea over growing anxieties about U.S. reliability.

The two countries’ “exposure to a nuclear-armed North Korea, adds urgency to moving the relationship beyond its current surface-level fence-mending,” the East Asia Forum recently noted. 

Faced with concerns about the future of U.S. commitments, as well as growing tensions with China, Tokyo is undergoing its largest military buildup since World War II.

Meanwhile, in an issue that has spanned several U.S. administrations, there is a large backlog in the amount of U.S. military aid promised to Taiwan. Under the Trump administration, however, there is growing distrust in Taiwan about whether America will come to its aid should China invade. 

It is unclear why Trump is once again making overtures to Kim. Today at the White House, he said that the North Korean leader has responded to his request for a conversation, though he offered no further details.

How a reduction in U.S. participation in training exercises Kim sees as a direct threat will affect the North Korean leader’s actions remains unknown. As we have frequently reported, he is building up his military, including his nuclear arsenal and ballistic missiles and has sent his troops to Russia, gaining experience fighting Ukraine.

During his first term, Trump sent three aircraft carriers to patrol the waters off the peninsula after a 2017 Pyongyang ballistic missile test and promised to unleash “the fire and fury” of America’s nuclear arsenal on North Korea. While that eventually spurred three face-to-face meetings between Trump and Kim, there was no change in the North Korean leader’s ambitions and his nuclear program only grew.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Annual military manoeuvres between South Korea and the United States are underway.

But just hours before they were due to start, the US president announced that he had ordered the Pentagon to substantially scale back the exercises.

Donald Trump says they send an inappropriate and hostile signal to North Korea and its leader, with whom he has a ‘good relationship’.

The joint drills have been held for decades.

So, does Trump’s last-minute decision mean he’s seeking talks with Kim Jong Un?

Could dialogue end one of the world’s longest-running conflicts?

Presenter: Anna Burns-Francis

Guests:

In Bum Chun – Retired South Korean Lieutenant General and military and security analyst

Jenny Town – Senior Fellow and Director of 38 North programme at the Stimson Center

Rodger Baker — Geopolitical analyst at RANE, a global centre for geopolitical intelligence and analysis

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Monday expressed hopes for resumption of diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea to ease animosities on the Korean Peninsula, as President Trump’s order to cut military exercises with South Korea caused concerns it might hurt the allies’ readiness against North Korean threats.

Trump cited his good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the decision, a likely bid to reengage with Kim, who views U.S.-South Korean military exercises as invasion rehearsals. But experts say the North Korean leader, now emboldened by his advancing nuclear arsenal and expanding military cooperation with Russia, won’t likely return to talks unless he is assured of serious U.S. concessions.

The 11-day, summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises began Monday morning as scheduled and it wasn’t known which parts of the training were being downsized. Trump’s announcement baffled many in South Korea, a key U.S. ally in Asia where national security is a top priority due to threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

Trump orders military to ‘substantially reduce’ drills

Trump said in a social media post that the exercises are not only costly but “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” during his time in the White House.

Trump instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the exercises. He added that he recently asked President Lee Jae Myung if South Korea would join the U.S. in the “denuclearization” of Iran, “and they said, ‘No thanks!’”

Trump’s move is the latest example of the American president appearing to turn against an ally in favor of a leader cast by previous administrations as an adversary. Trump and others in his administration also have railed against NATO allies over a perceived lack of support for his war against Iran, even as they seek to confront an increasingly aggressive Russia in the Baltic region.

The trust many South Koreans have in the U.S. has eroded following a tariff war instigated by Trump’s administration and his transactional approach to security.

South Korea hopes for talks between U.S. and North Korea

The office of South Korea’s president said later Monday that the government hopes “friendly relationship” between Trump and Kim would lead to “meaningful dialogue” between the U.S. and North Korea and start discussions on promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. It said that South Korea will make necessary diplomatic efforts for that.

South Korea and the U.S. are closely discussing practical and military contributions that can be made to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, according to South Korea’s presidential office.

Lee is a liberal who espouses improved ties with North Korea. Since taking office last year, his government has taken proactive steps to improve ties with North Korea, including turning off front line loudspeakers that blared K-pop music and world news. On Saturday, Lee offered to hold talks to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The conservative People Power Party, the main opposition party, lambasted Lee for allegedly “turning a blind eye on the public’s security concerns” caused by Trump’s announcement and prioritizing hopes for U.S.-North Korea diplomacy.

North Korea has shunned any talks with South Korea and the U.S. and accelerated weapons testing activities since Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Trump broke down in 2019. Kim also has bolstered his diplomatic credentials by aligning with Russia over its war against Ukraine and taking steps to deepen cooperation with China.

In September 2025, Kim suggested he could resume talks with the American president if the U.S. drops “its delusional obsession with denuclearization” of North Korea. Experts say Kim likely aims to use his enlarged nuclear arsenal to win major concessions like extensive sanctions relief.

“Trump’s recent social media posts about Kim Jong Un suggest a willingness to reengage, but North Korea is busy profiting from Russia’s war against Ukraine while modernizing its own military,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Downsizing the U.S. and South Korean drills “can damage alliance coordination, slow the process of South Korea taking on greater responsibility for its own defense, and weaken deterrence against possible conflicts in Asia,” Easley said.

Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at Washington’s Center for a New American Security, said “reducing joint drills weakens military readiness over time against another potential North Korean attack.”

Military drills test tactics and anger North Korea

South Korea’s military earlier said the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises this year would be similar to previous years in scale, with about 18,000 South Korean soldiers taking part.

The U.S. military said the drills would incorporate lessens from recent conflicts such as North Korea’s battlefield experiences in the Russia-Ukraine front, while including a live-fire exercise to test joint precision targeting and maneuver, a wet gap crossing and distribution of prepositioned military equipment.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Friday accused the U.S. and South Korea of plotting more provocative drills this year and vowed to respond with “a new level of a deterrent.” Earlier this month, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in a likely protest of the drills.

Duyeon Kim, the analyst, said North Korea uses U.S.-South Korean drills “for domestic propaganda purposes to create a false narrative of a hostile America and justify its nuclear weapons program.”

This is not the first time Trump has sought to suspend the drills. After his first summit with Kim in 2018, Trump unilaterally announced the suspension of the U.S.-South Korean summertime exercises, calling them “very provocative” and “tremendously expensive.”

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Korea feels less urgency to return to talks with the U.S. and South Korea now than when it entered talks with its rivals in 2018, but is unlikely to completely ignore Trump’s overture.

He predicted North Korea will likely say it has noted Trump’s post but will wait for further action showing the U.S. intends to drop hostilities against North Korea.

Kim writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 16 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he ordered the Pentagon to scale back its joint military exercises with South Korea, saying that Seoul declined to help the denuclearization of Iran.

In a social media post, Trump said the drills scheduled to begin this week are expensive and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea. He said North Korea “has been unthreatening and respectful” white he has been in the White House.

“Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” Trump wrote.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, involving 18,000 South Korean troops over 11 days, were to strengthen readiness against threats from North Korea and began Monday to run through Aug. 27.

North Korea, which has long condemned the exercises as preparations for invasion, last week denounced the scheduled drills, describing them as a provocation that would raise tensions in the region.

South Korea has yet to response to Trump’s surprise and last-minute direction.

On Saturday, Trump posted a June 2019 photo of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. He wrote that he gets along “GREAT!” with Kim “despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture.”

US president says he’s ‘not happy’ about the drills, citing his ‘very good relationship’ with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

US President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with close ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that the exercises, due to start on Monday, are costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” while Trump has been in the White House.

“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He also mentioned Seoul’s stance on the US-Israel war on Iran.

“I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’” he said.

Trump added that it was too late to cancel the drills, so he had ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them.

When asked about Trump’s post, South Korea’s Ministry of Defence said the military exercises would “proceed as previously notified and scheduled”.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, scheduled to run for 11 days from August 17 to 27, will involve 18,000 South Korean soldiers. They are a regular summer fixture for South Korea’s armed forces and their US allies, designed to prepare them for defence against the nuclear-armed North Korea, which is battle-hardened from its involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Pyongyang has always been angered by the exercises, saying they are rehearsals for an invasion.

Last week, North Korea denounced the latest drills as a provocation that heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

A spokesperson for North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that the US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation is turning into a nuclear alliance, and Pyongyang will respond to a new level of threat with a new level of deterrent.

The following day, Trump posted a photo of himself standing next to Kim and wrote that the two leaders got along great, “despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture”.

During his first term, Trump met Kim three times.

This is not the first time that the US president has sought to end the exercises with South Korea. After a historic 2018 summit in Singapore with Kim, he called the military drills “expensive” and “provocative“.

President Donald Trump has said the US will “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.

He also noted on Truth Social that South Korea had recently declined to join the US in the “denuclearisation” of Iran.

“These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile,” Trump posted.

Seoul said the drills with the US would proceed “as scheduled”. Pyongyang has not yet commented. It comes after North Korea this month conducted ballistic missile tests banned by the United Nations.

Trump said in his social media post on Sunday that it was “too late to cancel”, as the US and South Korea were due to start their annual military exercises on Monday.

He added: “While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!'”

Last week, US and South Korean military leaders held a joint press conference announcing Ulchi Freedom Shield.

They said the 11-day event would be similar in scale to previous years, with about 18,000 South Korean soldiers participating.

During the news conference, military leaders also mentioned North Korea’s deployment of troops to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

US military spokesperson Ryan Donald said “our training accounts for that threat”, referring to North Korean soldiers returning from the battlefield. About 28,500 American military personnel are stationed in South Korea.

On Friday, North Korea’s foreign ministry condemned the joint military drills as “a rehearsal for an aggressive war”.

The joint exercises come days after South Korea, the US and Japan detected the second North Korean missile test in days.

Pyongyang has accelerated efforts to expand its nuclear and missile programmes since the collapse in 2019 of Kim’s high-profile diplomacy with Trump during his first term in the White House.

He became the first ever sitting US president to set foot in North Korea when he visited seven years ago.

Trump’s pointed remark about South Korea in his social media post seemed to hint at possible frustration with Seoul for declining to make direct military or logistical contributions to the US hostilities with Iran.

He has also expressed displeasure with other allies for their hesitance to get involved in the conflict, including Japan, France and the UK.

Trump’s move to downsize joint military exercises with South Korea is not without precedent.

He suspended the exercises entirely in 2018, during denuclearisation negotiations with Kim.

The exercises were again scaled back in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last week, South Korea’s president proposed talks with its northern neighbour on officially ending the war between the two that is technically still active since an armistice was signed in 1953.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — About 200 young people representing 34 countries gathered in Seoul on Wednesday to launch an international network supporting peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula, hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the East Sea.

At the 2026 One Korea Youth Forum, South Koreans, North Korean defectors, ethnic Koreans from the former Soviet Union and young people from overseas formally launched Youth Solidarity for One Korea.

Youth groups including the Korean Dream Crew, the youth group of the Korean Association of Koryo-saram, MuiPansapan and Studec International read the One Korea Youth Declaration, pledging to build an international youth network for peace and reunification based on the Korean ideal of Hongik Ingan, broadly meaning benefiting all humanity, and the values of liberal democracy.

Namsik Yoo, director of youth programs at Alliance for Korea United USA, said young people respond more strongly to hope than cynicism and will organize, create and act when given a vision they can understand, believe in and lead.

Yoo said Korean reunification should not be viewed as something distant or impossible but as “a future young people can imagine and create themselves.”

Young-soon Jung, president of the Korean Association of Koryo-saram, said the division of the Korean Peninsula was not merely a political issue but “a family history that continues today.” She said One Korea could begin when young people from different backgrounds listen to and understand one another’s histories.

During a Peace Innovation Challenge, 20 youth teams proposed projects tied to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The top award went to a plan to turn the Demilitarized Zone into a national park after reunification and seek UNESCO World Heritage status.

The forum was hosted by Global Peace Foundation Korea, a nonprofit foundation registered with South Korea’s Unification Ministry. It was jointly organized by GPY Korea, Korean Dream Crew, MuiPansapan, the youth group of the Korean Association of Koryo-saram, Alliance for Korea United USA and Studec International, with Global Goals Youth and Loglo participating as partner organizations.

The forum concluded with participants carrying flags from their countries alongside the South Korean flag and declaring, “We Stand for One Korea.”

North Korea has intensified its criticism of Japan’s military expansion and its growing security cooperation with the United States and South Korea, portraying the developments as a threat to regional stability.

More than a dozen North Korean state media attacks since early July have focused on Japan’s defence buildup, including its acquisition of long range weapons, rising military spending and closer security ties with Washington and Seoul.

The campaign has also coincided with unusual silence from Pyongyang over its own recent missile launches, raising questions about what North Korea is trying to achieve with its latest messaging.

Why Is North Korea Targeting Japan?

North Korean statements have focused heavily on Japan’s acquisition of counter strike capabilities, its testing of U.S. made Tomahawk cruise missiles, increased defence spending and its annual defence white paper.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned last week of “additional military options” in response to what she described as Japan’s transformation into a military power.

North Korea’s KCNA later described Japan’s 2026 defence white paper as a document aimed at justifying military expansion and preparing for what it called a “re invasion.”

Pyongyang has also criticised the annual U.S. South Korean Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, accusing Washington, Seoul and Tokyo of developing what it called a “nuclear alliance.”

The United States and South Korea maintain that the exercises are defensive.

How Has Japan Changed Its Defence Policy?

Japan announced in 2022 that it planned to double defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product in response to growing security concerns involving China, Russia and North Korea.

A major part of that expansion has involved acquiring long range missile capabilities, including U.S. made Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking targets more than 1,000 km away.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to revise Japan’s national security strategy this year, potentially leading to further increases in defence spending and investment in drones and domestic weapons production.

For Pyongyang, these developments represent a significant change in Japan’s traditional defence posture and provide another basis for portraying the regional security environment as increasingly hostile.

Is North Korea’s Campaign Really About Japan?

Analysts say Japan is only one part of a broader strategic message.

Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University said North Korea is attempting to frame Northeast Asia as a confrontation between two opposing camps.

The objective, he said, is to create a U.S. South Korea Japan versus North Korea China Russia framework.

Such a narrative could serve several purposes for Pyongyang. It can strengthen North Korea’s argument that its nuclear weapons are necessary for self defence, while also encouraging closer political and military support from China and Russia.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry has expressed a similar assessment, saying North Korea appears to view Japan’s changing security posture, South Korea’s plans for nuclear powered submarines and trilateral military cooperation as part of a broader shift in the regional balance of power.

Why Is North Korea Silent About Its Missile Tests?

One of the more unusual aspects of the latest campaign is that North Korean state media has remained silent about recent missile launches.

North Korea conducted ballistic missile tests last week and again this week, but state media has not reported them, despite the launches being condemned by South Korea, Japan and the United States.

That differs from Pyongyang’s usual practice of publicising missile tests shortly after they take place.

Analysts believe the launches may have involved improvements to existing missile systems rather than entirely new weapons, making them less valuable as domestic propaganda.

Shin Jong-woo of the Korea Defense and Security Forum suggested that some tests could involve upgraded short range ballistic missiles developed with Russian technical assistance and potentially intended for Russia.

Another possibility is that North Korea does not want to publicise launches that could be connected to prospective military exports.

What Role Does Russia Play?

North Korea’s expanding military relationship with Russia is increasingly important to understanding its weapons development.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly accused Russia of using North Korean missiles in Ukraine and Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with missiles, ammunition and troops.

Analysts say cooperation with Russia may also be helping North Korea improve the performance and accuracy of its missile systems through battlefield experience and technical assistance.

Recent launches could therefore represent tests of upgraded variants before they are deployed by North Korea or potentially supplied to Russia.

Analysis: What Is Pyongyang Trying to Achieve?

North Korea’s intensified criticism of Japan appears to be part of a broader attempt to reshape the strategic narrative around the Korean Peninsula.

By portraying the United States, South Korea and Japan as an increasingly integrated military and nuclear bloc, Pyongyang can present its own weapons development as a defensive response rather than an independent escalation.

The strategy also fits North Korea’s growing alignment with China and Russia. As security cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo deepens, Pyongyang has an incentive to emphasise the emergence of rival blocs and strengthen its position within the opposing camp.

Japan’s military expansion therefore provides North Korea with a useful political target. The immediate issue may be Japanese defence policy, but the larger objective is regional positioning.

If Japan continues expanding its military capabilities while U.S. South Korean and Japanese security cooperation deepens, Pyongyang is likely to use those developments to justify further weapons development and closer cooperation with Beijing and Moscow. The result could be a reinforcing cycle in which each side’s security measures become evidence for the other side that greater military preparedness is necessary.

With information from Reuters.

Pyongyang has accused the US of pushing the world ‘to the brink of nuclear war’.

North Korea has denounced major United States-South Korea military drills set to start next week as a provocation that heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation is turning into a nuclear alliance, and North Korea will respond to a new level of threat with a new level of deterrent, a spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday, according to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Pyongyang routinely denounces military drills in the south as a provocation that heightens tensions.

The drills – named “Ulchi Freedom Shield” – are due to start on August 17 and will last until August 27. They will incorporate exercises to counter drones, GPS disruption, and cyberattacks as the US and its allies adapt to North Korea’s evolving capabilities.

“The US announced that the forthcoming exercises are quite different from the ones of the past five years and intended to master the ability of fighting a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in the statement.

“It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,” the statement, published by KCNA, added.

Lessons learned in Russia-Ukraine

North Korea sent an estimated 12,000-15,000 soldiers to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine, and the country is now thought to be preparing the deployment of another 10,000.

Thousands died, but the deal provided North Korea with valuable battlefield experience, as well as payment in arms, energy and direct financial support, according to reports.

Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesperson for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said this week that North Korea’s deployment to the European war had changed the threat his soldiers may face on the Korean Peninsula.

“They’ve taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea,” he told reporters. “Our training accounts for that threat.”

Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry statement said the US-South Korea drills are being staged “at a time when military and political situation is becoming more serious with each passing day in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world”.

North Korea also said on Friday that it would further strengthen its nuclear deterrence, accusing the US of lowering its threshold for nuclear weapons usage and pushing the world “to the brink of nuclear war”.

On Wednesday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast, just six days after firing another missile.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield drills will include 18,000 South Korean soldiers and counterparts from the 28,500-strong US contingent in the country.

Multiplatinum American rapper NBA YoungBoy has revealed that he has a heart condition — and likely “one or two” albums left in his artistic career.

While a guest on an “Open Thoughts” podcast episode uploaded on Tuesday, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter from Baton Rouge, La., was asked by host Funny Marco if he ever felt like pulling back after performing back-to-back shows. In response, the “Bandit” singer recalled the moment when a doctor told him the left side of his heart was swollen.

“I never told nobody, I just kept doing every show,” said YoungBoy, who also goes by YoungBoy Never Broke Again and whose given name is Kentrell DeSean Gaulden. “I finished my tour out like that.”

The rapper did not disclose the specifics of this health condition but shared that a side of his heart is “still enlarged.”

“That explains the music, though, right?” YoungBoy followed up, grabbing his chest. “She’s hurting.”

The rapper has released a total of nine studio albums in his career, gaining early co-signs from Louisiana legends including Boosie Badazz and Kevin Gates. His first four LPs — including “Until Death Call My Name” (2018), “Top” (2020), “Sincerely, Kentrell” (2021) and “The Last Slimeto” (2022) — went platinum.

But NBA YoungBoy fans should brace themselves for what is to come — or not. The singer revealed on the podcast that he only has one or two albums left in his career. “I’m going to tour one more time throughout my whole life,” the rapper said, “and that’s it.”

The podcast — which has more than 2 million views since Tuesday — was filmed in South Korea, where YoungBoy moved in an apparent attempt to start over with a clean slate after a series of run-ins with the law in the U.S.

In his youth, the hitmaker spent six months in juvenile detention after committing a robbery, an experience that inspired his 2015 debut mixtape “Life Before Fame.”

By 2016, the Louisiana native would be connected to a series of shootings in Baton Rouge. He served time for attempted second-degree murder, eventually pleading guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, for which he was sentenced to a suspended 10-year prison term and three years of active probation.

Following his release from prison in 2017, he released the Southern hip-hop track “Untouchable,” which marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and set the course for his popular-music career. By 2023, YoungBoy would become the youngest artist ever to reach 100 entries on the musical chart.

However, serious legal troubles have cast a shadow on the rap prodigy’s career, including in 2018 when he was charged with a kidnapping and assault involving his girlfriend. She later denied the allegations, despite surveillance footage that showed the artist throwing her to the ground.

In December 2024, a federal judge in Utah sentenced the rapper to a 23-month sentence on gun-related charges after he pleaded guilty to firearm possession as a convicted felon. The charges stemmed from a 2020 arrest during a music video shoot in Baton Rouge where police recovered multiple firearms and drugs on the scene. A month before his sentence, the rap star also pleaded guilty to his involvement in a years-long prescription drug fraud scheme in Utah, avoiding prison time in exchange for a $25,000 fine.

In May 2025, President Trump pardoned YoungBoy, clearing his sentence and other active probation restrictions and drug testing requirements. The artist reacted to the pardon on his Instagram story, saying that it “opens the door to a future I’ve worked hard for and I am fully prepared to step into this.”

When YoungBoy was asked by Marco if he would consider a move back to the United States, the singer replied, “Never in my life.”

Later on, the “Make No Sense” singer hinted at some other legal roadblocks ahead in his transition across the globe: “It can’t be my home until they give me my visa, right?”

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.

SEOUL, Aug. 11 (UPI) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Wednesday, the militaries of Seoul and Tokyo said, its second such launch in less than a week as the United States and South Korea gear up to kick off their major summertime joint military drill.

The missile was fired from the Wonsan area on North Korea’s east coast at around 6 a.m., South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.

“The detected North Korean missile flew over 700 kilometers (435 miles), and South Korea and the U.S. are currently conducting a detailed analysis regarding its exact specifications,” the JCS said.

The military did not specify the type of missile involved, although the distance the projectile traveled falls within the range of short-range ballistic missiles.

South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities tracked and shared information on the launch from its initial stage, while Seoul also exchanged information related to the ballistic missile with Japan, the military added.

“Under a robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, the military is closely monitoring North Korea’s various movements and maintaining the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation,” the JCS said.

Japan’s Defense Ministry also detected the launch, saying the missile flew about 429 miles, reached a maximum altitude of roughly 56 miles and fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi condemned the launch at a press briefing, saying the North’s weapons tests “threaten the peace and security of our country, the region, and the international community.”

Koizumi said the launch violated relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and noted that Japan had lodged a strong protest with North Korea through diplomatic channels at its embassy in Beijing.

Hawaii-based U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it detected the launch and was consulting with regional allies and partners.

“Based on current assessments, this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies,” the command said in a statement.

The launch came days before the United States and South Korea are set to begin their annual summertime joint military drills. The 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise kicks off Monday and will focus on preparing for evolving threats from North Korea, military officials said earlier this week.

North Korea routinely denounces the allies’ joint exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and frequently responds with weapons tests. On Thursday, Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea.

The allies stressed that the joint exercise is defensive in nature.

“We’re up here today announcing Ulchi Freedom Shield to the entire world before it even starts,” U.S. Forces spokesman Col. Ryan Donald said at a press briefing Monday. “UFS is not a pretext, it’s not a provocation. It’s a transparent, longstanding defensive training event.”

Aug. 11 (UPI) — About 500 South Korean civic, political and religious leaders, North Korean defectors, separated families and academics gathered at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building on Tuesday to reject the permanent division of the Korean Peninsula and call for a national movement for peaceful reunification.

The “Liberation 81 One Korea Unification Rally,” held four days before South Korea marks the 81st anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule, was jointly hosted by Citizens’ Solidarity for One Korea and Rep. Song Seok-jun of the People Power Party, chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.

Participants rallied under the slogan “Two Koreas No! One Korea Yes!” and framed the debate as a choice over whether South Korea should institutionalize the peninsula’s division or preserve reunification as a constitutional objective, a human rights issue and a long-term national vision.

The gathering comes as both Koreas are redefining their relationship.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared in late 2023 that North and South Korea should no longer be regarded as partners pursuing reunification but as two hostile states. North Korea has since revised its constitution to remove references to reunification and define its territory as bordering the Republic of Korea to the south.

In South Korea, President Lee Jae Myung’s administration has pursued a policy of “peaceful coexistence” aimed at reducing tensions and restoring dialogue with Pyongyang.

The shift has been reflected in government policy and education materials.

In March, the National Institute for Peaceful Unification Education, which is affiliated with the Unification Ministry, published its 2026 textbooks incorporating what it described as a “peaceful two-state” framework.

The materials acknowledged the current reality of two separate systems while calling for inter-Korean relations to develop into a cooperative relationship aimed at eventual reunification. The definition of reunification was also revised from one emphasizing integration under a liberal democratic order and market economy to “the process of forming a new, unified community.”

The policy direction became clearer last week when Unification Minister Chung Dong-young presented President Lee with a blueprint for “peaceful coexistence” that includes what the ministry calls a “two-state relationship oriented toward unification,” while leaving the question of eventual reunification to future generations.

The plan also calls for referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and replacing terminology the ministry considers confrontational, including the “main enemy” label.

South Korea has traditionally treated inter-Korean relations as a special relationship rather than ordinary relations between two foreign states, a principle reflected in the 1991 Inter-Korean Basic Agreement.

Organizers of Tuesday’s rally said they support peace and dialogue but argued that institutionalizing the two Koreas as separate states, even under a framework intended to promote peaceful coexistence, could ultimately normalize permanent division.

In welcoming remarks, Song said the South Korean Constitution “clearly aims for peaceful unification based on the basic free and democratic order,” adding that with North Korea’s nuclear threats and a grave international environment, South Koreans “must not ignore or misjudge the reality of division.”

Jang Man-soon, co-chairman of Citizens’ Solidarity for One Korea and chairman of the Committee for Ten Million Separated Families, said recognizing North Korea as an entirely separate state could conflict with South Korea’s constitutional framework and affect the identity and rights of separated families, people displaced from North Korea and North Korean defectors.

South Korea’s Constitution defines the territory of the Republic of Korea in Article 3 as “the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands.” Article 4 requires the country to seek peaceful unification based on the basic free and democratic order.

Jang, a second-generation member of a separated family, also questioned whether Pyongyang’s two-state policy could be characterized as mutual respect while North Korea continues to threaten South Korea with nuclear weapons and missiles.

For separated families, he argued, the issue extends beyond diplomatic terminology. Permanently recognizing the peninsula as two foreign states could change how South Korea views people whose hometowns and relatives remain north of the border.

“True peace begins with restoring the freedom and human rights of North Korean residents,” Jang said, according to organizers.

Former lawmaker Thae Yong-ho, who defected after serving as a senior North Korean diplomat, said in a keynote speech that Pyongyang has removed concepts such as national reunification and one Korean people from its constitution and political framework, even as a “peaceful two-state” discourse has emerged in the South.

Thae warned that such an approach “could lead to the permanent division of the Korean Peninsula.”

Speakers also argued that reunification should be viewed as a human rights question involving North Korea’s roughly 25 million people, rather than solely as a territorial or political issue.

Korean American Kenneth Bae, president of New Korea Foundation International, who was detained in North Korea for 735 days, said reunification should mean more than combining two territories.

He said it should reconnect separated families and create conditions in which North Koreans can live with freedom, dignity and basic human rights.

Kang Chol-hwan, head of the North Korea Strategy Center, who spent 10 years in a North Korean political prison camp, called for expanding North Koreans’ access to outside information and making human rights a central part of reunification efforts.

The rally also sought to present an alternative national vision rather than simply oppose a two-state framework.

Seo In-taek, permanent co-chairman of Action for Korea United, proposed a civic movement centered on the “Korean Dream,” a vision of a unified Korea grounded in freedom, human rights, freedom of religion, peace and shared prosperity.

“People are moved not by slogans but by a clear vision they can share,” Seo said, according to organizers.

Seo said reunification should not belong to a single political party, ideology or administration and called for a nationwide civic movement to change perceptions that division is permanent and reunification impossible.

Citizens’ Solidarity for One Korea sent a questionnaire on the two-state debate to all 299 members of the National Assembly on Aug. 4, asking lawmakers about permanent two-state relations and South Korea’s constitutional commitment to peaceful reunification. Eight lawmakers responded, the rally’s moderator announced during the event.

Representatives of youth, Protestant and Buddhist communities, separated families, overseas Koreans and North Korean defectors then took the stage in turn to deliver “One Korea” resolutions pledging a unified Korea grounded in liberal democracy and human rights.

The rally concluded with young representatives born in the two Koreas reading a joint resolution calling for denuclearization, improvements in North Korean human rights and peaceful reunification under South Korea’s constitutional order, followed by a unification performance in which participants sang “Our Wish Is Unification” and chanted “Two Koreas No! One Korea Yes!”

Organizers said the campaign will continue with the 2026 Korean Dream Han River Festival, a public event focused on Korean reunification planned for Oct. 3 at Ttukseom Hangang Park in Seoul.

Pyongyang conducts second weapons test in less than a week as Seoul, Washington gear up for annual military exercises.

North Korea has launched a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan, according to Seoul and Tokyo, marking the second such test from Pyongyang in less than a week.

The launch on Wednesday came as South Korea and the United States announced plans to hold their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military drills starting on August 17.

“Our military detected at around 6:00 am [21:00 GMT Tuesday] a ballistic missile launched by North Korea from the Wonsan area towards the East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters, referring to a body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

South Korea’s military said the missile flew more than 700km (435 miles).

It said it has boosted its surveillance posture and that it was closely exchanging information on the launch with Washington and Tokyo.

Japan’s Defence Ministry said on social media that the suspected ballistic missile had “already fallen”, without providing further details.

“North Korea has never simply let a South Korea-US joint military exercise pass without a response,” Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University, told the AFP news agency.

“This is a message that Pyongyang is closely watching the upcoming drills and could stage a provocation if it deems one necessary.”

US-South Korea drills

The Ulchi Freedom Shield training is to start on Monday and run for 11 days. Its scale will be similar to previous years, with 18,000 South Korean soldiers taking part, according to South Korea’s military.

North Korea has in previous years denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for invasion, and responded to the drills with weapons tests and harsh rhetoric. Seoul and Washington, however, have repeatedly said their training is defensive in nature.

On August 6, South Korea, the US and Japan detected the launch of a short-range ballistic missile from North Korea in what was Pyongyang’s first ballistic weapons testing activity since late June.

North Korea did not confirm the reported launch.

Pyongyang has ratcheted up its criticism of Tokyo’s defence policy, issuing statements at least seven times since July.

On Tuesday, North Korean state media condemned Japan’s latest defence white paper as a “re-invasion-minded” document, saying it “groundlessly described” Pyongyang as ⁠the greatest strategic challenge to “justify its reckless arms buildup”.

North Korea has also been accused of playing a more active role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Moscow had used a North Korean ballistic missile during an attack that killed seven workers at a Ukrainian steel plant in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

South Korea plans to upgrade a key Army battle tank and an anti-ship missile program for the Navy in an effort to boost military capabilities against evolving enemy threats, the arms agency said Tuesday.

It will launch a 3.43 trillion-won (US$2.43 billion) project to upgrade the K2 main battle tank to be equipped with an active protection system (APS) to intercept anti-tank missiles and drones, a drone and improvised explosive device (IED) jammer and a remote-controlled weapons station (RCWS), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.

The APS system is dubbed a smart shield system that uses radar to automatically spot incoming enemy missiles or drones and attack them.

The drone and IED jammer blocks enemy radio signals and the RCWS enables the crew to safely aim and fire from inside the armored vehicle.

The K2 upgrade program will run from 2028 through 2046, with the new tanks expected to enter into service in 2033, DAPA said.

The agency will launch another upgrade project for the new Haeseong-II long-range anti-ship missile, aiming to double its strike range, backed by a more powerful turbofan engine.

With a budget of around 1.63 trillion won, the military aims to complete the development by 2033 and start mass production in 2034.

The upgraded Haeseong-II missiles are expected to be mounted on South Korea’s next-generation KDDX destroyer, a source familiar with the matter said. The government recently signed a formal contract with Hanwha to build its lead ship.

The upgrade plans were approved during DAPA’s key decision-making meeting on Tuesday.

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South Korea saw a record hot summer this year with the nationwide average temperature, excluding Jeju Island, coming to 29.1 C in the first 10 days of August, the highest on record, the state weather service said Tuesday.

The reading is on par with the 10-day average of August 2018, making it the hottest first 10-day period of August in 53 years since 1973, when the weather observation network was expanded nationwide, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The average daily maximum temperature in the first 10 days of this month was 34.4 C, the second highest after 34.7 C recorded in 2018, the KMA said.

The average daily minimum temperature, which is an indicator of night heat, was 24.8 C for the same period, the third highest on record following 25 C in 2022 and 24.9 C in 2018.

The highest temperature recorded during the 10-day period was 42.5 C observed in the southeastern city of Yangsan at 1:26 p.m. on Aug. 2. It was also the highest temperature recorded in the country since 1904, when modern meteorological observations began, according to the KMA.

In total, the daily maximum temperature exceeded 40 C at 32 locations nationwide in the first 10 days of this month, the KMA noted.

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