4 more S. Koreans evacuate Iran amid escalating conflict with Israel
Four more South Korean nationals have safely crossed the border from Iran into neighboring Turkmenistan amid the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.
The latest evacuation follows the departure of 30 South Koreans and their Iranian family members, who used the same land route to leave Iran and arrive in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, between Wednesday and Thursday (local time).
The South Korean government provided transportation and consular assistance.
Escalating airstrikes between Israel and Iran have prompted countries to evacuate their nationals from the region. At least 43 South Koreans and their Israeli family members have fled Israel and taken shelter in Jordan.
An estimated 110 South Koreans were in Iran and around 500 in Israel before the conflict began last Friday. (Yonhap)
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Korea Herald
4 hours ago
- Korea Herald
4 more S. Koreans evacuate Iran amid escalating conflict with Israel
Four more South Korean nationals have safely crossed the border from Iran into neighboring Turkmenistan amid the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. The latest evacuation follows the departure of 30 South Koreans and their Iranian family members, who used the same land route to leave Iran and arrive in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, between Wednesday and Thursday (local time). The South Korean government provided transportation and consular assistance. Escalating airstrikes between Israel and Iran have prompted countries to evacuate their nationals from the region. At least 43 South Koreans and their Israeli family members have fled Israel and taken shelter in Jordan. An estimated 110 South Koreans were in Iran and around 500 in Israel before the conflict began last Friday. (Yonhap)
![[Lee Byung-jong] President Lee's pragmatic diplomacy](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F06%2F19%2Fnews-p.v1.20250619.e28f3fe356a24854bdece6b379c122c6_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Korea Herald
8 hours ago
- Korea Herald
[Lee Byung-jong] President Lee's pragmatic diplomacy
Less than two weeks into office, President Lee Jae Myung is already busy shaping a new course for South Korea's foreign policy — one he describes as 'pragmatic diplomacy.' His packed diplomatic calendar signals both urgency and ambition. Earlier this week, he attended the G7 summit in Canada at the invitation of the host, marking South Korea's return to global diplomacy after six months of absence during the country's turbulent leadership transition. Later this month, he is scheduled to travel to the Netherlands to participate in the NATO summit as a representative of the alliance's Indo-Pacific partners. Despite criticism over the rushed pace and pending domestic challenges, Lee is determined to reestablish South Korea as a central player on the global stage. 'Democratic Korea is back,' declared national security adviser Wi Sung-lac. Still, many are asking: What does 'pragmatic diplomacy' actually mean in practice? Lee's approach marks a distinct departure from the 'values-based diplomacy' of his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who prioritized alliances with countries sharing democratic values. In contrast, Lee's strategy is rooted in flexibility and realpolitik — prioritizing economic interests and strategic outcomes over ideological alignment. In today's volatile geopolitical environment, with mounting tensions among global powers, Lee seems to be betting that ideological rigidity is a liability, not an asset. While the full contours of Lee's diplomatic doctrine are still emerging, his initial moves offer important clues. The order of his phone calls to world leaders in his first days in office has been particularly telling. As expected, his first call was to US President Donald Trump — a nod to the enduring importance of the South Korea-US alliance, especially on issues of trade and security. The 20-minute call reaffirmed the long-standing priority Korean presidents place on their alliance with Washington. More surprising was his second phone call — to Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru. Coming from a liberal background, Lee had been expected by some to reach out to China's Xi Jinping next, following the pattern of previous liberal leaders like President Moon Jae-in. Lee has, in the past, been critical of Japan's stance on historical issues, leading many to doubt whether he would prioritize Tokyo early on. However, this decision was widely interpreted as a signal of Lee's practical mindset and willingness to improve ties with Japan despite lingering historical grievances. Lee's third call to Xi Jinping was hardly unexpected, given that China remains South Korea's largest trading partner. But his fourth and fifth calls did raise eyebrows: He spoke with the leaders of the Czech Republic and Vietnam, countries often overlooked in the early stages of diplomatic outreach by past presidents. His rationale, again, was pragmatic. The Czech Republic recently awarded a 26 trillion-won nuclear power plant construction deal to a South Korean bid — a hard-won contract that edged out fierce competition from France. Lee's outreach aims to solidify that economic relationship and possibly expand it. Vietnam, meanwhile, is South Korea's third-largest trading partner and the leading destination for Korean foreign investment, making it a natural choice for early engagement. The sequence of these conversations echoes one of Lee's key refrains: 'The economy is security, and security is the economy.' His decision to attend the G7 and NATO summits underscores this philosophy. At the G7, discussions focused heavily on global trade friction — particularly the fallout from President Trump's protectionist tariffs. With trade accounting for 80 percent of South Korea's GDP, these are matters Seoul cannot afford to ignore. His participation in the NATO summit is more delicate. Lee had previously expressed reservations about Korea getting too involved in European security matters, especially the war in Ukraine. However, Europe is now a growing market for South Korean defense exports. From that angle, attending the NATO meeting is less about ideology and more about ensuring access to new economic opportunities. But Lee's pragmatic diplomacy will soon face its toughest challenge: North Korea. A purely practical foreign policy could falter if Lee reverts to the liberal camp's traditional approach of engagement with Pyongyang at the expense of alignment with key allies. President Moon Jae-in, for example, pursued such a strategy, which strained Seoul's trilateral coordination with Washington and Tokyo. That fragile alliance, revitalized under President Yoon, President Biden, and former Japanese Prime Minister Kishida in the 2023 Camp David summit, could be tested once more — especially now that all three leaders have exited the political stage. Despite his calls for pragmatic diplomacy, Lee may find himself pulled back toward a more ideological, nationalistic foreign policy. Personnel choices offer early signs of this tension. National security adviser Wi Sung-lac is widely viewed as an advocate of strong alliances, particularly with the US and other democratic partners. But Lee's pick for National Intelligence Service chief, Lee Jong-seok — a former Unification Minister — is a well-known proponent of an independent foreign policy that places inter-Korean relations above external alliances. These two key advisers, representing opposing schools of thought, could end up pulling President Lee in divergent directions, risking confusion and inconsistency in policy execution. In short, President Lee's diplomatic approach shows promise in its economic focus and global engagement. His outreach to non-traditional partners and participation in key summits signal an intent to broaden South Korea's international standing. But this pragmatic posture will only succeed if it can maintain consistency and resist being derailed by ideological pulls — especially when it comes to North Korea. The balancing act between idealism and realism, between national pride and global cooperation, will define the credibility and effectiveness of Lee's foreign policy in the years to come.
Korea Herald
16 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Israel hits nuclear sites, Iran strikes hospital as war escalates
TEL AVIV/DUBAI -- Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran on Thursday and Iranian missiles hit an Israeli hospital overnight, as the week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an off-ramp. Following the strike which damaged the Soroka hospital in Israel's southern city of Beersheba, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tehran's "tyrants" would pay the "full price". His Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran in order to eliminate the threat to Israel and destabilise the "Ayatollah regime". Netanyahu has said that Israel's military attacks could result in the toppling of Iran's leaders, and Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the "existential threat" posed by Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has kept the world guessing about whether Israel's superpower ally would join it in airstrikes. Israel said on Thursday it had struck Iran's Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. A military spokesperson initially said it had also hit Bushehr, site of Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant, but a spokesperson later said this was a mistake to have said this. Earlier, Israel said it had hit another nuclear site near Arak overnight, where Iran was building a heavy-water reactor. Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. On Wednesday he said nobody knows what he will do. A day earlier he mused on social media about killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, then demanded Iran's unconditional surrender. A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel. REACTOR TARGETED Earlier, the Israeli military said it targeted the Khondab nuclear site near Iran's central city Arak overnight, including a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said it had information that the heavy-water research reactor had been hit, but did not contain radioactive material. It had no information that a separate plant there which makes heavy water had been hit. Israel, which has the most advanced military in the Middle East, has been fighting on several fronts since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack triggered the Gaza war. It has severely weakened Iran's regional allies, the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and bombed Yemen's Houthis. The extent of the damage inside Iran from the week-old bombing campaign has become far more difficult to assess in recent days, with the authorities apparently seeking to prevent panic by limiting information. Iran has stopped giving updates on the death toll, and state media have ceased showing widespread images of destruction. The internet has been almost completely shut down. The public has been banned from filming, with the authorities citing a risk of espionage. Arash, 33, a government employee in Tehran, said a building next to his home in Tehran's Shahrak-e Gharb neighbourhood had been destroyed in the strikes. "I saw at least three dead children and two women in that building. Is this how Netanyahu plans to 'liberate' Iranians? Stay away from our country," he told Reuters by telephone. Israel has issued evacuation orders for whole sections of Tehran, a city of 10 million. Thousands of residents have fled, jamming the highways out. Samira, 11, had moved in with her grandparents in the northwestern city of Urmia, her family having fled Tehran when a shopping centre near their house was struck. She said she hasn't been able to sleep at night. "I'm afraid Israel will hit our home and my mom will die. I'm too scared. I just want to go home,' she said by phone. Inside Israel, Iran's retaliatory missile strikes over the past week have been the first time in decades of shadow war that a significant number of Iranian projectiles have pierced defences and killed Israelis in their homes. The director general of the Israeli hospital that was damaged in Beersheba, Shlomi Kodesh, told reporters at the site that a missile strike had destroyed several wards and injured 40 people, mostly staff and patients. "We're trying to minimize the number of people at Soroka. At the moment, we don't know if buildings may collapse or if wards might collapse," he said. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they were targeting Israeli military and intelligence headquarters located near the hospital. An Israeli military official denied there were military targets nearby and said the attack on a hospital was deliberate. Missiles also hit a residential building in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv. "It's very scary," said Yaniv, 34, who lives nearby. He said he heard a deafening explosion when the missile hit, shaking his apartment tower.
