Seoul shifts from denuclearization-first to peace-first on NK, minister saysSouth Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said the Lee Jae Myung government has effectively abandoned the previous administration’s denuclearization-first policy toward North Korea, reorienting its approach around a peace-first strategy aimed at eventually achieving a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. "In its first year, the Lee Jae Myung administration virtually scrapped the prior administration's stance of 'denuclearization-first' and Complete, Verifiable and Irreversible Dismantlement (CVID), shifting its policy focus to a peace-first policy instead,” Chung told reporters during a press conference marking his first year in the post, which falls on July 25. Chung said the government has also dropped the term "denuclearization of North Korea" from its official vocabulary, replacing it with the broader goal of a "nuclear-free Korean Peninsula." "We reestablished the goal to build a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and decided not to use the term 'denuclearization of North Korea,'" he said. The minister outlined a strategy centered on first freezing North Korea's nuclear program raJul 23, 2026By Park Ji-won
S. Korea calls for N. Korea's return to dialogue at ARF security forumForeign Minister Cho Hyun on Thursday called on North Korea to respond to Seoul's offers for dialogue and join efforts to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula at a regional security forum in Manila, the foreign ministry said. Cho made the remarks during the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), a 27-member multilateral security forum attended by the 11 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and major regional powers, including the United States, China, Japan and Russia. The ARF is the only regional multilateral security forum in which both South and North Korea participate, but Pyongyang was absent from this year's session for the second consecutive year. Cho said peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula remain essential to the security and prosperity of the region, reaffirming Seoul's efforts to build a peninsula where the two Koreas can coexist peacefully and grow together. "Such efforts cannot bear fruit through the will of one side alone. I hope North Korea would respond to our sincere efforts for dialogue and cooperation," Cho was quoted as saying by thJul 23, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea seen skipping ASEAN security forum for 2nd consecutive yearNorth Korea appears likely to skip a major regional security forum hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the second consecutive year, Seoul officials said, amid Pyongyang's growing focus on ties with Russia and China. The annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), set to take place in Manila later in the day, has long drawn attention as the only multilateral security forum that North Korea regularly attended and that brings together major powers, including the United States, China, Japan and Russia. North Korea, however, was absent from last year's forum for the first time since joining the ARF in 2000. Diplomatic sources said the North is likely to skip this year's gathering as well, citing no signs of its participation. "Pyongyang has not responded to the host country's invitation, and no announcement has been made regarding its attendance," a source familiar with the matter said. North Korea joined the ARF in 2000, six years after the forum was launched, and had previously participated regularly, either through its foreign minister or ambassadors stationed in SoutheJul 23, 2026By Yonhap
Number of incarcerated N. Korean defectors rises to 172 in 2025: reportThe number of incarcerated North Korean defectors in South Korea stood at 172 last year, up 8.2 percent from the previous year, a government report showed Thursday. Of the total, 128 had received finalized sentences, while 44 were awaiting trial, according to the justice ministry's annual report on correctional statistics. Among those serving finalized sentences, 34.4 percent were imprisoned for drug-related crimes, followed by 14.8 percent for sexual violence, 10.9 percent for murder and 9.4 percent for fraud or embezzlement. There were no death row inmates, while four were serving life sentences and 16 were serving a term of five years or longer. As of last year, 34,538 North Koreans had fled their country and resettled in South Korea, including 224 who arrived in 2025, according to the unification ministry. Separately, the average daily number of people held in correctional facilities nationwide stood at 63,680 last year, up 3.8 percent from the previous year, the justice ministry report showed. The figure represents an occupancy rate of 125.8 percent against the system's capacity of 50Jul 23, 2026By Yonhap
Unification minister, Cardinal You share hope of reviving inter-Korean exchangesUnification Minister Chung Dong-young on Wednesday voiced hope that Pope Leo XIV's visit to South Korea next year could help revive exchanges between South and North Korea. "We hope the pope's visit to Korea will serve as a bridge between the two Koreas, whose communication has been completely cut off over the past seven or eight years," Chung told Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, the Vatican's secretary of state for the clergy, during a meeting in Seoul. The cardinal is currently in South Korea on his summer vacation. Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit the country next year for World Youth Day (WYD), a major Catholic youth gathering held usually every few years. The next event is slated for Aug. 3-8. The 2027 event will mark the first time the global event is held in South Korea and only the second time it has been hosted in Asia, following the 1995 gathering in Manila, the Philippines. "Setting politics aside, I hope North Korean youth could also be able to join the event where young people from around the world come together," Chung said, adding that he would work hard to rebuild trustJul 22, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea honors artists behind memorial to its troops killed in Russia-Ukraine warNorth Korea has awarded party and state commendations to the artists behind a memorial built for its soldiers killed while fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine, Pyongyang's state media reported Wednesday. The awards, given the previous day, recognized officials and artists at the Mansudae Art Studio for their "distinguished merits in the construction" of the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats, which the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) called "a great monument of the times." At the awarding ceremony, Ju Chang-il, a secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea's central committee, praised their work for making the museum "the one that comprehensively reflects the level of Korean architecture and fine art," the KCNA said. The memorial opened in Pyongyang in April last year, built to hold the remains of fallen soldiers and honor their role in the war. It is adorned with sculptures and paintings depicting the soldiers by artists at the studio, known for propaganda posters, monuments and fine art for the state. North Korea has sent around 15,000 combat troops to Russia since 2024 to supportJul 22, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korean FM returns from trip to Russia: state mediaNorth Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has returned home from her visit to Russia, the North's state media reported Wednesday. Choe and her delegation arrived at Pyongyang International Airport on her personal official plane the previous day, and were greeted by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong-gyu and Vladimir Topekha, charge d'affaires ad interim of the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a brief dispatch. Choe made a four-day trip to Moscow starting Saturday at the invitation of her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, as the two states continue to expand ties since their leaders signed a mutual defense pact in 2024. With no major diplomatic events or anniversaries on the schedule, Choe's visit had fueled speculation that her trip may be aimed at coordinating a potential trip by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Russia. Putin invited Kim to visit Moscow for summit talks when the two leaders met in Pyongyang in June 2024. Choe met with Putin in the Kremlin on Sunday, according to an earlier KCNA report. Choe and her Russian counterpart, Lavrov,Jul 22, 2026By Yonhap
Interview'I was only 9': N. Korean defector recalls childhood memory of public executionKim Eun-joo was 9 years old when her teacher stopped their lesson and told the class to follow her outside. The children were marched to a public execution ground in North Korea. “I would cry even when our family dog died,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But the first time I watched humans killing a human, I had no words for what I was feeling. It was the most brutal scene I have ever seen, in any movie or in real life.” The memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a human rights advocate after defecting from North Korea, Kim recently brought that childhood scene to the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, where North Korea’s use of public executions and capital punishment was officially placed on the agenda for the first time. For Kim, that memory is not just trauma but a key to understanding of how Pyongyang uses death itself to intimidate and control its people. “The regime uses the executions to numb the feelings and ideas of human compassion and respect for life. That cruelty is indoctrinated and framed as something necessary,Jul 21, 2026By Jung Min-ho
S. Korea spends $158,800 to support N. Korean women's football team's matchesThe unification ministry said Monday it spent 235 million won ($158,800) in government funds to support civic groups that cheered at matches featuring a North Korean women's football team in May and the ministry's preparations for the events. The ministry disclosed the figure in a briefing to the National Assembly and shared it with domestic media. The government drew on the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, citing the event's role in fostering mutual understanding between the two Koreas. Of some 320 million won approved for the events, the ministry spent 235 million won, including 149 million won in support for civic groups' cheering. Pyongyang-based Naegohyang Women's FC faced Suwon FC Women in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League, held in Suwon, some 30 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 20. It marked the first visit by a North Korean sports team to South Korea in more than seven years. After beating its South Korean rival 2-1, Naegohyang went on to win the tournament, defeating Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza 1-0 in the May 23 final. Of the 319 milliJul 20, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea deepens ties with Russia, China at camp believed linked to Russian abduction of Ukrainian childrenChildren from China and Russia have joined a North Korean youth camp, Pyongyang's state media reported Monday, in a sign of closer informal cooperation among the three countries. The ties have appeared to grow closer since China's 80th Victory Day anniversary, where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin stood alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping at a military parade in Beijing in September. "Camping groups of schoolchildren of the DPRK, Russia and China are taking part in the camping at the Songdowon International Children's Camp," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, using North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The opening ceremony was held Sunday, according to the report. The report gave no details on the activities, but the camp is widely believed to serve North Korea's propaganda efforts. China did not appear to have participated in the 2023 and 2024 editions, based on KCNA reports. Built in 1960 in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, the camp has long been a tool for instilling loyalty to the regime in young peJul 20, 2026By Yonhap
