Journalist

Lee Hugh
  • North Korean leader orders strengthening of front-line units along border with South Korea
    North Korean leader orders 'strengthening of front-line units along border with South Korea' SEOUL, May 18 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the strengthening of front-line units along the border with South Korea and called for turning the area into an "impregnable fortress," state media reported on Monday. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim convened a meeting with military and defense officials the previous day to outline plans for "remodeling the military organizational structure and strengthening the first-line units and other major units in military and technical aspects," describing it as an important decision to "more thoroughly deter war." He urged, "The training for perfecting combat readiness is the main task of the army," reiterating the importance of "readjusting the training system and intensifying the practical training in keeping with the changing aspects of modern warfare." He also said the country's army "should continue to carry forward its tradition of overwhelming the enemy with ideology and faith by steadily waging the ideological revolution with firm belief in its cause," which would enable it to "reliably maintain its honor and position as the strongest army in the world." Sunday's gathering came just a few weeks after Kim visited a munitions factory and ordered new self-propelled howitzers to be deployed along border with South Korea "within this year." The new 155-mm self-propelled howitzer has sufficient range to strike targets in South Korea, posing a direct threat to Seoul. 2026-05-18 10:11:49
  • North Korean, Vietnamese FMs agree to deepen bilateral ties
    North Korean, Vietnamese FMs agree to 'deepen' bilateral ties SEOUL, May 14 (AJP) - North Korea and Viet Nam agreed to expand exchanges and strengthen cooperation across multiple sectors during talks between their foreign ministers, North Korean state media reported on Thursday. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Lê Hoài Trung in Pyongyang on the previous day. The visit comes as momentum has been built between the two traditional allies since Vietnamese President Tô Lâm traveled to Pyongyang in October last year for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the first visit by a Vietnamese top leader in some 18 years. Recalling the summit, Choe said she would work to "deepen friendly ties" with Viet Nam. Lê then responded that his country consistently values and seeks to strengthen friendly and cooperative ties with North Korea. KCNA also said the two sides vowed to expand exchanges and cooperation in multiple areas including regional and international issues. 2026-05-14 09:37:23
  • North Korean leader inspects munitions factories, calls for stronger artillery forces
    North Korean leader inspects munitions factories, calls for stronger artillery forces SEOUL, May 13 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected munitions factories and called for strengthening "mortar and howitzer forces," state media reported on Wednesday. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim, accompanied by senior military officials and other key aides, "gave field guidance at several munitions industrial enterprises" earlier this week to "learn about the implementation of munitions production assignments for the first half" of this year. Kim "repeatedly stressed the need to strengthen mortar and howitzer forces," while outlining key tasks such as "setting up a specialized artillery production complex and a small-arms production factory" to meet the future needs of North Korea's military, KCNA said. He emphasized the need to "further modernize" production systems and improve manufacturing processes "in a more scientific way." Kim was also quoted as saying that North Korean munitions industry workers would "make strenuous efforts" to strengthen the country's defense capabilities. 2026-05-13 10:02:09
  • North Korea to deploy new self-propelled howitzers along border within this year
    North Korea to 'deploy new self-propelled howitzers along border within this year' SEOUL, May 8 (AJP) - North Korea will deploy new self-propelled howitzers along the border with South Korea "within this year," state media reported on Friday. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, its leader Kim Jong-un visited a munitions factory earlier in the week where he "learned about the production of new-type self-propelled gun-howitzers for three battalions to be deployed at the long-range artillery unit in the southern borderline within this year." Assessing the "new-type 155mm self-propelled gun-howitzer" being produced at the factory, Kim expressed great satisfaction at the "successes in manufacturing new-generation artillery weapons with very high mobility and striking power," which means it has enough range to hit targets in South Korea, posing a direct threat to Seoul. Kim's comments suggest the howitzer has enough range to hit targets in the South, posing a direct threat to Seoul. "The striking range of this large-caliber rifled gun for the frontline units to newly equip themselves, along with various operational and tactical missile systems and powerful multiple rocket launcher systems, is over 60 km and such rapid extension of striking range and remarkable improvement of striking capability will provide a great change and advantage in the land operations of our army," he added. During Wednesday's visit, Kim also inspected a "new-type main battle tank and various launchers," urging officials and munitions industry workers to upgrade them to an "ultra-modern level in the shortest period." Shin Jong-woo, secretary-general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said North Korea appears to "show off the modernization of its conventional forces" by disclosing a mass production system for what appears to be a North Korean version of the South's K9 self-propelled howitzer, as part of a broader push to "strengthen its naval forces" after unveiling the 5,000-ton multipurpose destroyer Choe Hyun in April last year. 2026-05-08 14:17:09
  • South Korea, Japan hold first vice ministerial 2+2 talks in Seoul
    South Korea, Japan hold first vice ministerial '2+2' talks in Seoul SEOUL, May 7 (AJP) - South Korean and Japanese foreign and defense officials met in Seoul on Thursday to discuss ways to strengthen security cooperation. In the format of their first "2+2" vice ministerial meeting, South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo and Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee met with their respective counterparts Takehiro Funakoshi and Koji Kano. Thursday's meeting, which came after the previous one in Tokyo in November 2024, was upgraded to vice ministerial level this time. Such talks, held at the working level under a 1997 agreement between the two neighboring countries, have been suspended and resumed at times as bilateral ties have fluctuated. With detailed discussions yet to be disclosed, the two sides were believed to have exchanged views on key security issues including North Korea's nuclear threat and the prolonged conflict in the Middle East. With both countries importing large amounts of energy from the region, they were also likely to explore cooperation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bolster energy security. 2026-05-07 17:01:46
  • North Korea not bound by NPT, UN envoy says
    North Korea 'not bound by NPT,' UN envoy says SEOUL, May 7 (AJP) - North Korea is "not bound" by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), its representative to the United Nations (UN) said in a statement released by state media on Thursday. Kim Song, North Korea's permanent representative to the United Nations, who is currently attending the monthlong NPT review conference in New York, said that the country is "not bound by the NPT in any case," according to state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "I denounce and reject in the strongest tone the brigandish and shameless acts of the specific countries including the U.S. which are taking issue with the as a nuclear weapons state does not change in accordance with rhetorical assertion or unilateral desire of outsiders." Defending North Korea's withdrawal from the NPT, he also accused the U.S. and its Western allies of committing "a wanton violation of the spirit of the treaty and a total disregard of the purpose and principle of international law" by pressuring Pyongyang to comply with its obligations under the treaty. But he said his country would remain "faithful" to the principle of using nuclear energy peacefully and to the obligation to prevent nuclear proliferation "in a most transparent way," unlike the U.S. and some other countries, which he accused of "neglecting the obligations to nuclear disarmament as the signatories to the NPT and resorting to such proliferation acts as offer of 'extended deterrence' and transfer of nuclear submarine technology to non-nuclear states." Adopted by the UN in 1968, the NPT is an international pledge to curb the spread of nuclear weapons. North Korea declared its withdrawal from the treaty in 1993. Now in its eleventh year, the conference, which began on April 27 and runs until May 22, is held every five years to assess how the treaty has been implemented. 2026-05-07 11:04:34
  • Minor party leader Cho Kuk declares bid for parliamentary seat in Pyeongtaek
    Minor party leader Cho Kuk declares bid for parliamentary seat in Pyeongtaek SEOUL, April 14 (AJP) - Cho Kuk, the leader of the minor Rebuilding Korea Party said he will run for a parliamentary seat in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province in the upcoming local elections in June. At a news conference at the National Assembly on Tuesday, Cho vowed to reform the country by rooting out insurrection forces behind disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched declaration of martial law in December 2024. Cho, who had been expected to run in one of several contentious districts such as Ansan, Hanam and Busan, said he chose Pyeongtaek because it is the "toughest of tough districts" for the ruling Democratic Party (DP), having failed to win the seat against the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) three times in a row. He then urged the DP not to field a candidate, saying that the seat has been left vacant after former DP lawmaker Yi Byeong-jin stepped down in January over election law-related violations. The ex-justice minister, who received a two-year prison sentence in December 2024 for corruption and document forgery related to his children's university admissions, was released in August last year under President Lee Jae Myung's first amnesty, marking the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day. 2026-04-14 15:12:36
  • North Korean, Chinese FMs agree to strengthen ties during talks in Pyongyang
    North Korean, Chinese FMs agree to strengthen ties during talks in Pyongyang SEOUL, April 10 (AJP) - The foreign ministers of North Korea and China agreed to strengthen bilateral ties during their meeting in Pyongyang, state media reported on Friday. According to the state-run friendship is a valuable common asset formed in the revolutionary struggle and persistently develops in the course of socialist construction," expressing thanks for the North's "warm hospitality." He also said the "historic meeting" of Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in September last year "opened a new chapter of the friendly and cooperative relations" between the two countries. Wang's visit came just ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned trip to Beijing next month, though neither side mentioned whether it came up in their talks. 2026-04-10 10:15:30
  • North Korea tests tactical ballistic missile with cluster bomb warhead, state media says
    North Korea tests tactical ballistic missile with cluster bomb warhead, state media says SEOUL, April 9 (AJP) - North Korea has conducted tests of a "tactical ballistic missile" equipped with a "cluster bomb warhead," state media reported on Thursday. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the tests were conducted over three days earlier this week to "verify the combat reliability of the mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile system." It added that the surface-to-surface tactical ballistic missile "tipped with a cluster bomb warhead, can reduce to ashes any target" within an area of 6.5 to 7 hectares with high-density strikes. The missile appears to be a KN-23-series, North Korea's main short-range ballistic missile, similar to Russia's Iskander-type missiles. "There was a firing for testing the maximum workload of engine using low-cost materials," KCNA said. Earlier, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said it detected an unidentified projectile fired from an area near Pyongyang toward the East Sea on Tuesday, followed by several short-range ballistic missiles fired from Wonsan, Kangwon Province the next morning, and then one more ballistic missile into the East Sea about six hours later. The projectile fired earlier in the week disappeared shortly after launch, leading the JCS to determine that it failed. KCNA also revealed a test of an "electromagnetic weapon and carbon fiber bomb," describing them as special strategic assets to be combined with "various military means," which may have been conducted on Monday, since the JCS detected the tests on Tuesday and Wednesday only. With no mention of the country's leader Kim Jong-un, he apparently did not observe these tests. 2026-04-09 09:34:03
  • South Korea, US launch monthlong survey to recover Korean War remains
    South Korea, US launch monthlong survey to recover Korean War remains SEOUL, April 6 (AJP) - South Korea has begun a joint excavation with the U.S. to recover the remains of personnel from military aircraft that crashed in the East Sea during the 1950–53 Korean War, the Ministry of Defense said Monday. The monthlong survey, which runs until May 1, is taking place near Gangneung and Yangyang in Gangwon Province as a preliminary step ahead of a joint underwater project planned for August. During the survey, officials from both countries will also inspect facilities and gather information through on-site interviews with local residents. One of the survey's main goals is to recover remains and belongings from a military transport plane that crashed in 1952 due to an engine malfunction en route from Gangneung to Pohang, which left nine missing including one South Korean soldier. The U.S. and South Korea have regularly conducted joint excavations to locate missing American soldiers from the war. Of the more than 1.7 million U.S. troops who served, over 36,000 were killed, and nearly 7,400 remain unaccounted for, according to the U.S.' Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). "Expanding joint surveys reflect growing bilateral cooperation between the two countries," said Kim Seong-hwan, acting head of the ministry's department in charge of remains recovery. 2026-04-06 14:56:09