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K-pop supergroup BTS will enlist in mandatory military service, the boy band’s agency said on October 17, 2022. The group's oldest member, Jin, will enter service later in 2022, followed by the remaining six band members. All able-bodied men in South Korea between the ages of 18-28 must serve in the military for aro…
Performers from K-pop's biggest act BTS have reunited on stage for a free concert in the South Korean port city of Busan on October 15, 2022. South Korea’s government hopes the event will boost the country’s bid to host World Expo 2030. The concert was the first time members of the boy band have performed together s…
A Russian yacht docked at South Korea’s southeastern port city of Pohang on October 13, 2022, was among four such vessels that have arrived carrying mostly young men. Thousands of men have left Russia to avoid being called up to fight with Moscow’s invasion forces in Ukraine under last month’s military mobilisation.…
Retired Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao hinted at a possible return to professional sport at a press conference in Seoul on October 11, 2022. Popularly known as “PacMan”, Pacquiao is in South Korea to promote an upcoming exhibition fight with martial artist DK Yoomay on December 11.
On October 10, 2022, North Korea celebrated the opening of a new greenhouse farm built on a former airbase, which was used to test missiles. Supreme leader Kim Jong-un attended the opening ceremony of the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm, which state media called a “highly automated farm”. Its opening marked the 77th anniver…
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast on October 9, 2022, just hours after the US and South Korea wrapped up joint naval drills which involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. State media KCNA called the missile launch an “unavoidable response” to …
A malfunctioned missile hit land near a military base in Gangneung, South Korea on October 4, 2022, during a joint live-fire drill by South Korea and the United States in response to North Korea’s latest missile launch. The subsequent fireball and smoke triggered fears of an attack by its northern neighbour. The Sou…
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A rare alert was issued urging residents across northern parts of Japan to seek shelter as North Korea launched a missile over the country for the first time in five years. South Korea and Japan have both condemned Pyongyang’s apparent test launch. Tokyo says the rocket fired on the morning of October 4, 2022, soare…
Japanese professional wrestling star turned politician Antonio Inoki has died aged 79. Inoki was widely known for his June 1976 match with US boxing legend Muhammad Ali in a high-profile bout many consider a precursor of what is today known as mixed martial arts (MMA). Later as a lawmaker he made numerous visits to …
South Korea is facing a kimchi crisis as climate change wrecks cabbage harvests and a flood of cheap imports from China threatens to crowd out local producers. Now officials are trying to come to the rescue by building huge warehouses to store cabbage used to make the spicy staple food.
US Vice-President Kamala Harris visited the Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) on September 29, 2022 after meeting with the South’s President Yoon Suk-yeol earlier in the day. Her trip came after Pyongyang’s recent missile launches – one on September 25 and two more on September 28. The North has fired an unprecedented…
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North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations blamed the United States for “compelling” his country to approve a new law that permits pre-emptive nuclear strikes. Ambassador Kim Song was speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 26, 2022.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed the United Nation General Assembly on Saturday September 24, 2022 but he devoted little more attention to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a primary focus for global leaders this week – than to Afghanistan, Cuba or the Korean peninsula in a rapid-fire overview of global hotsp…
An annual “Space-out” competition took place in the South Korean capital of Seoul on September 18, 2022. The champion is the best at doing nothing, or keeping the most steady heart rate during a 90-minute period of zoning out.
Nuclear missiles feature prominently in new propaganda material released by North Korea’s state media on September 13, 2022. The posters were unveiled days after leader Kim Jong-un’s reclusive state passed legislation on September 8 allowing pre-emptive nuclear strikes.
North Korea plans to send thousands of workers to help rebuild cities and towns in the Russian puppet states of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic in Ukraine’s Donbas region. The offer, which was made public by Russia’s ambassador to North Korea, marks a new level of diplomatic ties betw…
A 42-year-old Korean-born New Zealander was arrested in South Korea on September 15, 2022, over the murder of two school-age children, whose bodies were discovered in suitcases in August 2022 in New Zealand. The suspect, believed to be the mother of the two victims - then aged 7 and 10 - has denied the murder allega…
People in Seoul were jubilant as Netflix’s South Korean drama series Squid Game became the first non-English TV show to bag prime-time Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on September 12, 2022. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk and lead actor Lee Jung-jae won in the drama series category, becoming the first Asians to take home the pr…
North Korea should expect an “overwhelming response” if Pyongyang attempts to use nuclear weapons, South Korea’s defence ministry warned on September 13, 2022. The warning was issued days after the North passed a first-use nuclear law allowing pre-emptive strikes and leader Kim Jong-un asserted that the reclusive st…
Zombie-themed trains have started operating in Jakarta, Indonesia, to encourage more people to use public transportation. This, in the hope of easing traffic in one of the world’s most congested cities. The idea drew inspiration from the South Korean movie Train To Busan and will run through to September 11, 2022.
South Korean Hwang Bun-hee and her neighbours dragged a mock coffin, along with yellow oil drums emblazoned with radiation warning signs, to protest against their government’s plan to increase nuclear power generation.
North Koreans marked the country’s 74th anniversary on September 9, 2022, by visiting statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The day before, state media reported the country had passed a law declaring itself an “irreversible” nuclear power. The move effectively eliminated the possibility of denuclearisation talks, …
Rescuers pulled two people alive from a flooded underground car park in the South Korean port city of Pohang on September 6, 2022, after they were stuck in the basement for nearly 12 hours. Officials said they were among several people who had rushed to save their cars after Typhoon Hinnamnor made landfall early Sep…
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Local residents in Busan, South Korea have begun cleaning up and repairing homes and streets after Typhoon Hinnamnor slammed the south shores of the country on September 6, 2022. The most powerful storm in years forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes, and left 66,000 homes without electricity. At least 1…
At least two people have died as Typhoon Hinnamnor lashed the southern parts of South Korea and Japan in the early morning of September 6, 2022, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and cutting power to 20,000 households in South Korea and 35,000 in Japan’s Kyushu island. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held…
A defector identified as Park Sang-hak used 20 helium balloons to send Covid-19 supplies into North Korea from a city in the South on September 5, 2022. The shipment was sent weeks after the sister of the North’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un had warned of a “strong retaliatory response” to such packages that she claim…
Mack Rutherford, a 17-year-old British-Belgian pilot, has become the youngest person to fly solo around the world. During a five-month journey, Rutherford flew across 30 countries including India, South Korea, the United States and avoided Russian airspace before ending up in Bulgaria. Rutherford’s achievement has e…
South Korea has launched nationwide civil defence drills from August 22-25, 2022, to assess its crisis management and emergency preparedness amid missile threats from its northern neighbour. The Ulchi civil defence drills have been designed to simulate chemical, drone, explosion and fire attacks in a shopping centre…
A primary school in Pyongyang, North Korea offers English-speaking classes to its pupils, using the country’s propaganda symbols as class material, according to state media. Apart from English lessons, students can take part in other extracurricular activities, such as dance, music and abacus classes.
Dozens of South Korean adoptees who were sent to Danish parents as children in the 1970s and 80s have formally demanded the South Korean government investigate the circumstances surrounding their adoption. A group of 53 adoptees alleges that private adoption agencies falsified or obscured their origins. The Truth an…
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, on August 19, 2022, dismissed the possibility of face-to-face talks with the South. She also rejected Seoul’s offer of economic assistance in return for denuclearisation as the “height of absurdity”.
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North Koreans flocked to Munsu Water Park in Pyongyang to escape the summer heat, one day after leader Kim Jong-un declared victory over Covid-19, state media reported on August 11, 2022. The video, provided by Pyongyang’s official news agency KCNA, could not be independently verified. Kim’s declaration came despite…
After at least four people drowned in basement homes during the worst storm to lash Seoul in more than a century, the South Korean capital has announced plans to phase out the dwellings that have come to symbolise yawning inequality since one was featured in the Oscar-winning Korean film Parasite. A government state…
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared victory in the country’s fight against Covid-19, lifting maximum anti-epidemic measures imposed in May, according to state media on August 11, 2022. His sister Kim Yo-jong revealed that Kim himself was “seriously ill with a high fever”. The reclusive state has never released …
Subway stations, bridges and major roads in South Korea’s capital have been submerged by record flooding on August 9, 2022, as Seoul experienced its heaviest rainfall since 1942, according to local media. The downpour has killed at least eight in the East Asian country, injuring nine people while six were listed as …
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says the risk of nuclear confrontation has returned after decades of relative calm. He called on nuclear states to commit to “non-first-use” of such weapons. Guterres was speaking at a news conference in Tokyo on August 8, 2022. He said that any attack on a nuclear p…
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The biggest band in K-pop, BTS, might be allowed to continue performing in shows including concerts overseas even as members enter mandatory military service, South Korea’s defence minister said on August 1, 2022. Under South Korean law, all men must spend at least 18 months in the military between the ages of 18 an…
South Korea and Indonesia met on July 28, 2022, as part of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s East Asia trip. The two countries agreed to boost bilateral cooperation on supply chains, economic security and defence. South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to help Indonesia build a “smart capital” in Nusantara, whic…
North Korean state-run media aired footage of a mask-free event honouring Korean war veterans on July 26, 2022, mere days after Pyongyang declared that its fast-spreading “fever” outbreak was nearly over. For much of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the reclusive nation has claimed that Covid-19 cases did not exist wit…
Since North Korea admitted its first Covid-19 outbreak more than two months ago, Pyongyang has been reporting an average of 157 fever cases each day in mid-July 2022, a significant drop from the peak of about 400,000 a day in May. Some outside experts say the North may soon declare a victory over the disease, with a…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its highest-level alert for monkeypox as the viral infection continues to spread across the globe. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the disease is now a “public health emergency of international concern”. More than 16,000 cases and five deaths had be…
