Latest South Korea News

Japan's new premier vows to push strong defense under Japan-US alliance and boost economy

Oct. 01, 2024 12:57 PM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — The newly elected Japanese prime minister pledged Tuesday night to stick to the vital Japan-U.S. alliance amid growing tension in the region while calling for it to be more equitable. This comes as the new premier tries to boost a slow economy and regain public trust ahead of a...

South Korea unveils its most powerful missile, which could reach North Korea's underground bunkers

Oct. 01, 2024 06:32 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea unveiled its most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons that could target North Korea during a massive Armed Forces Day ceremony on Tuesday, as the South's president warned the North's regime would collapse if it attempts to use nuclear weapons. ...

81-year-old South Korean falls short in a bid to become oldest Miss Universe contestant

Oct. 01, 2024 00:41 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An 81-year-old model fell short in her bid to become the oldest Miss Universe contestant after competing in the South Korean pageant against much younger rivals. Dressed in a beaded white gown, the silver-haired Choi Soon-hwa strutted across the stage and...

South Korea sets a compensation plan for dog meat farmers before the 2027 ban

Sep. 26, 2024 22:47 PM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea announced plans Thursday to compensate farmers and others in the country's dwindling dog meat industry before a formal ban goes into effect in 2027, a move that is drawing opposition from both farmers and some animal rights activists. South...

North Korea vows response to US submarine's visit to South Korea

Sep. 24, 2024 07:15 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Tuesday to boost the country’s nuclear war capability and take other steps to protest the recent arrival of a nuclear-powered U.S. submarine in South Korea. North Korea has repeatedly vowed to...

Takeaways from AP’s story on the role of the West in widespread fraud with South Korean adoptions

Sep. 20, 2024 00:43 AM EDT

Western governments eagerly approved and even pushed for the adoption of South Korean children for decades, despite evidence that adoption agencies were aggressively competing for kids, pressuring mothers and bribing hospitals, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found. ...

Western nations were desperate for Korean babies. Now many adoptees believe they were stolen

Sep. 20, 2024 00:36 AM EDT

Yooree Kim marched into a police station in Paris and told an officer she wanted to report a crime. Forty years ago, she said, she was kidnapped from the other side of the world, and the French government endorsed it. She wept as she described years spent piecing it together,...

Widespread adoption fraud separated generations of Korean children from their families, AP finds

Sep. 19, 2024 14:58 PM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As the plane descended into Seoul, Robert Calabretta swaddled himself in a blanket, his knees tucked into his chest like a baby in the womb. A single tear ran down his cheek. The 34-year-old felt like a newborn — he was about to meet his parents for the...

North Korea's Kim is bolstering nuclear and conventional weapons after testing 2 types of missiles

Sep. 19, 2024 01:51 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Thursday that leader Kim Jong Un supervised successful tests of two types of missiles — one designed to carry a “super-large conventional warhead” and the other likely for a nuclear warhead, as he ordered officials to bolster up his country’s...

Adoption fraud separated generations of South Korean children from their families, AP finds

Sep. 19, 2024 00:35 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government, Western countries and adoption agencies worked in tandem to supply some 200,000 Korean children to parents overseas, despite years of evidence they were being procured through questionable or downright unscrupulous means, an investigation led...