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Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
What North Korea's removal of loudspeakers means for South Korea
NK's removal of loudspeakers signals tension alleviation, but risks exist, experts say North Korea's recent move to dismantle some of its loudspeakers along the border can be interpreted as a sign of Pyongyang seeking alleviation of military tension between the two Koreas, but several risks exist, experts said Sunday. 'North Korea has immediately reacted to South Korea's decision to dismantle its own loudspeakers targeting the North along the border, and this can be seen as Pyongyang's intention to avoid further escalation of tension,' Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said. 'This is a strategic choice aiming to control the level of inter-Korean tension and conveys the North's preference towards military tension alleviation on the Korean Peninsula at the moment,' he added. On Saturday, the South's military noted that the North had begun dismantling some loudspeakers used to broadcast its propaganda for its regime across the border. The signs came within a week after the South completed the removal of its own 'anti-Pyongyang' loudspeakers amid the Lee Jae Myung administration's efforts to improve inter-Korean relations. Lim added that the North's recent reaction to the South's 'preemptive' move to alleviate tensions is expected to define Pyongyang's stance towards inter-Korean ties. 'This is a reaction to the South's preemptive action, and it presents a possibility that the North will continue to react whenever the South decides to make such moves to alleviate the tension first,' he said. Another North Korean expert echoed Lim's sentiment, saying that the North's dismantling of its loudspeakers is Pyongyang's 'new way' of dealing with relations with the South. 'It can be interpreted as the North's new way of dealing with its ties with the South and a passive move towards the Lee administration's active and preemptive measures,' Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said. But uncertainties exist: the latest exchange in actions lacked a solid communication channel or an agreement on the process, the Seoul-based North Korea expert noted. Yang believes a lack of "agreements based on face-to-face negotiations, ... presents uncertainties and limits to (this new type of inter-Korean exchange).' 'It means that the tension could always escalate again when either the South or the North misinterprets gestures and signs,' he added. Lim also pointed out that the North's decision to only partially remove its loudspeakers at the moment means that Pyongyang is seeking to 'only cooperate when its conditions are met.' Instead of expressing willingness to fully revive dialogue with the South and cooperate with Seoul, Pyongyang seems to be strategically focusing on short-term outcomes, he added. Since 1963, both the South and the North have engaged in a low-level military conflict involving loudspeaker broadcasts along the border, following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a truce or a peace treaty. Both sides have repeatedly halted and revived the loudspeaker broadcasts depending on inter-Korean relations.
SBS Australia
28-04-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
North Korea admits for first time it sent soldiers to fight for Russia in Ukraine war
North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia, with its state news agency KCNA reporting Pyongyang's soldiers helped Moscow reclaim territory under Ukrainian control in the Russian border region of Kursk. The admission comes just days after Moscow confirmed the North's participation, while Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday heralded the "feat" of Pyongyang's troops. South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have long reported that Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 soldiers to help in Kursk last year. North Korean forces "participated in the operations for liberating the Kursk areas", Pyongyang's Central Military Commission said in the KCNA report. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's decision to deploy the troops, it said, was in accordance with a mutual defence treaty Kim signed with Putin in 2024. "They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland," Kim said, according to KCNA. Kim added that a monument to the "battle feats" would soon be built in the capital, and referred to "the tombstones of the fallen soldiers", publicly confirming that North Korean troops had been killed in combat. Russia's president praised Moscow's "Korean friends" for their backing in Kursk. "We appreciate it a lot and are deeply grateful to comrade Kim Jong Un personally... and the North Korean people," the Kremlin cited Putin as saying. Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov on Saturday said North Korean soldiers "provided significant assistance in defeating the group of Ukrainian armed forces", but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday his military was still fighting in Kursk. "The question now is whether Kim Jong Un will attend Russia's Victory Day celebrations on May 9," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies. Russia has pledged to hold its largest-ever Victory Day commemorations to mark 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany, featuring a massive military parade and an address from Putin. "While the likelihood of Kim attending the event appears relatively low, it cannot be entirely ruled out," Lim said.
Japan Times
19-03-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan, China and South Korea's top diplomats to meet in Tokyo
The top diplomats of China, South Korea and Japan will meet in Tokyo this weekend for talks, the countries said Tuesday. Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said the three "important neighbors have a great influence on, and responsibility for, the peace and prosperity of the region and the international community." "To promote future-oriented cooperation, we would like to hold a frank exchange of views and discussions on the cooperation between the three countries, and the regional situation," he told reporters. A trilateral working dinner will be held Friday between Iwaya and his South Korean and Chinese counterparts, Cho Tae-yul and Wang Yi, before the talks on Saturday. Seoul's foreign ministry said the trilateral ministerial would be the 11th of its kind. The last such meeting was in November 2023 in the South Korean port city of Busan. Public broadcaster NHK said the three ministers were expected to discuss cooperation in areas "such as people-to-people exchanges, economic cooperation and measures to combat the falling birthrate." They would also aim to agree on arranging a trilateral summit by the end of the year, NHK said. The nations will also hold bilateral talks on Saturday, and Japan and China will have their first "high-level economic dialogue" in six years, Iwaya said. He also named the issue of fishery products imports as an important topic to be discussed with China, which banned Japanese seafood imports in 2023 after Japan began releasing treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. China said in September it would "gradually resume" importing seafood from Japan, but this has yet to begin. In May last year, the leaders of the three countries held a rare summit in Seoul — the first such top-level talks in five years — at which they agreed to deepen trade ties. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" — a reference to nuclear-armed North Korea. Seoul and Tokyo typically take a stronger line against Pyongyang than China, which remains one of North Korea's most important allies and economic benefactors, despite leader Kim Jong Un's recent moves to bolster ties with historic ally Russia. Experts say any moves by Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing to ramp up trilateral cooperation and boost economic ties augurs well for future agreements on more difficult topics such as Kim's nuclear weapons. China, and to a lesser extent Seoul and Tokyo, has been hit by tariffs put in place by U.S. President Donald Trump in recent weeks. "The upcoming meeting is expected to prioritize economic issues in the wake of the Trump administration's hard push to raise import tariffs," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies. "Such protectionist measures are not beneficial to any of the three countries," Lim said, so the diplomats "could discuss ways to invigorate trilateral trade." "With that in mind, the issue of North Korea may be addressed, but it is unlikely to be a top priority." South Korea is awaiting a Constitutional Court ruling on whether to remove President Yoon Suk Yeol from office over his botched martial law declaration in December. While in office, Yoon pushed for closer ties with Japan, attempting to bury the historical hatchet in order to present a united trilateral front with the United States against North Korea's growing military provocations.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korea destroys family reunion centre in 'inhumane act', Seoul says
North Korea is demolishing a venue that for decades hosted tearful reunions of families separated by the Korean War and the division of the country, Seoul said Thursday, decrying the "inhumane" move. Millions of people were swept apart by the 1950-53 Korean War, which split the peninsula and separated brothers and sisters, parents and children and husbands and wives. Hostilities ceased with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war and with all direct civilian exchanges prohibited. Emotional reunions in the North's Kumgang mountain served as a testament to the devastating human cost of the Korean peninsula's division. But the meetings were subject to the vagaries of inter-Korea politics and often used as a negotiating tool by Pyongyang. The last one was held in 2018. "The demolition of the Mount Kumgang Reunion Center is an inhumane act that tramples on the earnest wishes of separated families," a spokesperson for Seoul's unification ministry said. South Korea "sternly urges an immediate halt to such actions" and "expresses strong regret". "North Korea's unilateral demolition cannot be justified under any pretext, and the North Korean authorities must bear full responsibility for this situation," the spokesperson added. Since 1988, around 130,000 South Koreans have registered their "separated families". As of 2025, around 36,000 of those individuals are still alive, according to official data. Seventy-five percent say they do not know if their relatives are alive or dead. A handful were lucky enough to be chosen to take part in the occasional crossborder reunions, mostly hosted at the Mount Kumgang resort. With the reunion program effectively halted, the reality for most of the separated families is that they are unlikely to ever see each other again. - Severing ties - North and South Korea held the first such reunion in 1985, but it was not until 2000 that they became regular events following the first inter-Korean summit that year. The reunions were marked by emotional scenes of families tearfully reuniting and parting after brief days of meeting. Relations between the two Koreas are now at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year declared Seoul his "principal enemy" and renounced his government's long-held goal of re-unification. "Kim Jong Un declared his intention to sever all inter-Korean ties," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, told AFP. "I see this as part of that process," Lim said, of the reunion centre demolition. Pyongyang has also bombarded the South with trash-carrying balloons, in what it says is retaliation for anti-Pyongyang propaganda missives sent north by activists. kjk-oho/lb
