North Korean trade officials stationed in China were shocked when they heard that South Korean police arrested President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Wednesday, two such officials told Radio Free Asia.
“It’s just so astonishing that the president of a country could be arrested,” an official based in Shenyang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Yoon, who had been impeached last month by the National Assembly, was arrested at around 10:30 a.m. after police and corruption investigation officers stormed his residential compound.
He faces insurrection charges after a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.
Yoon had said military rule was necessary to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements.”
But many said the claims were exaggerated and meant as a political tool targeting the opposition over disagreements in domestic issues.
North Korea dispatches trade officials to other countries to manage imports and exports with the goal of generating desperately needed foreign currency for the cash-strapped regime.
Hot topic
The trade official in Shenyang said that the news of Yoon’s arrest was the first topic of discussion during the morning meeting of all the North Korean trade officials stationed in the city.
“I couldn’t help but think about whether something like the arrest of the highest leader could actually happen in Pyongyang,” he said.
RFA previously reported that after Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, and the South Korean National Assembly voted to end it, trade officials in China were surprised that the the legislative body had the power to nullify the president’s orders.
“I was really surprised when the South Korean president declared martial law and was impeached in December, but today, when I saw the South Korean news about his arrest, I couldn’t believe it,” another official stationed in Dandong, which lies across the Yalu River border from North Korea’s Sinuiju, told RFA Korean.
He said he discussed the news with his colleagues over lunch, and one of them made the point that because South Korea is a democracy, it’s possible for a sitting president to be arrested for violating the constitution.
“Among the officials stationed overseas, including in China, some don’t openly speak about it, but they are aware of the world’s realities,” he said. “They believe North Korea’s dynastic politics surpass even Nazi Germany’s Hitler, and they think that the leadership in Pyongyang could eventually collapse.”
Regarding the arrest, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said that the U.S. government was in support of the South Korean people.
“We reaffirm our shared commitment to the rule of law, and we appreciate all efforts made by the Republic of Korea and its citizens to act in accordance with its Constitution.”
The spokesperson said that the U.S. would continue to work with Acting President Choi Sang-mok and expressed confidence in the “enduring strength” of the U.S.-South Korean Alliance.
Translated by RFA Korean. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Son Hyemin and Jamin Anderson for RFA Korean.
North Korean trade officials stationed in China were shocked when they heard that South Korean police arrested President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Wednesday, two such officials told Radio Free Asia.
“It’s just so astonishing that the president of a country could be arrested,” an official based in Shenyang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Yoon, who had been impeached last month by the National Assembly, was arrested at around 10:30 a.m. after police and corruption investigation officers stormed his residential compound.
He faces insurrection charges after a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.
Yoon had said military rule was necessary to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements.”
But many said the claims were exaggerated and meant as a political tool targeting the opposition over disagreements in domestic issues.
North Korea dispatches trade officials to other countries to manage imports and exports with the goal of generating desperately needed foreign currency for the cash-strapped regime.
Hot topic
The trade official in Shenyang said that the news of Yoon’s arrest was the first topic of discussion during the morning meeting of all the North Korean trade officials stationed in the city.
“I couldn’t help but think about whether something like the arrest of the highest leader could actually happen in Pyongyang,” he said.
RFA previously reported that after Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, and the South Korean National Assembly voted to end it, trade officials in China were surprised that the the legislative body had the power to nullify the president’s orders.
“I was really surprised when the South Korean president declared martial law and was impeached in December, but today, when I saw the South Korean news about his arrest, I couldn’t believe it,” another official stationed in Dandong, which lies across the Yalu River border from North Korea’s Sinuiju, told RFA Korean.
He said he discussed the news with his colleagues over lunch, and one of them made the point that because South Korea is a democracy, it’s possible for a sitting president to be arrested for violating the constitution.
“Among the officials stationed overseas, including in China, some don’t openly speak about it, but they are aware of the world’s realities,” he said. “They believe North Korea’s dynastic politics surpass even Nazi Germany’s Hitler, and they think that the leadership in Pyongyang could eventually collapse.”
Regarding the arrest, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said that the U.S. government was in support of the South Korean people.
“We reaffirm our shared commitment to the rule of law, and we appreciate all efforts made by the Republic of Korea and its citizens to act in accordance with its Constitution.”
The spokesperson said that the U.S. would continue to work with Acting President Choi Sang-mok and expressed confidence in the “enduring strength” of the U.S.-South Korean Alliance.
Translated by RFA Korean. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Son Hyemin and Jamin Anderson for RFA Korean.
MANILA — Manila may resort to measures such as filing another international lawsuit like the 2016 case against Beijing to stop China’s continuing intimidating actions in the Philippines’ South China Sea waters, a senior Filipino official warned.
Manila has tried options including protests and official diplomatic complaints, and yet a Chinese coast guard ship – the world’s largest – is again in Philippine waters, said a spokesman of the Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, which is Manila’s name for the waters it claims.
The Philippine task force spokesman Jonathan Malaya explained at a press conference on Tuesday that Manila was running out of options in dealing with Beijing’s continued actions to assert what China claims is its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea.
Since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed the presidency in June 2022, his administration has filed a total of 199 diplomatic protests against Chinese vessels and activities in the waterway.
Reporters asked whether the Philippines was thinking of filing another lawsuit akin to the one adjudicated in its favor and against Beijing in 2016 by an international arbitral tribunal.
“Will [the presence of the Chinese ship in Manila-claimed waters] lead to another case? All options are on the table,” he answered.
“[T]he closer the ‘monster’ ship is [to] Philippine waters, the more it [raises tensions] and the more the Philippine government contemplates things it was not contemplating before.”
Malaya said that China was “pushing us to the wall” but the Philippines would not back down.
“We do not waver or cower in the face of intimidation. On the contrary, it strengthens our resolve because we know we are in the right.”
“The Monster” refers to the giant 12,000-ton China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 5901, which patrolled the disputed Scarborough Shoal area in recent days.
The behemoth subsequently moved to the northwestern coast of the Philippines’ Luzon island on Tuesday, where it was last spotted some 77 nautical miles (143 kilometers) from the shoreline.
China responded to Malay’s comments saying it maintained its claim in the waterway. The CCG vessels’ activities there were lawful and “fully justified,” added the superpower’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
“China’s sovereignty and rights and interests in the South China Sea were established in the long course of history, and are solidly grounded in history and the law and compliant with the international law and practice,” spokesman Guo Jiakun said Monday at a news conference.
“We call on the Philippines once again to immediately stop all infringement activities, provocations and false accusations, and stop all its actions that jeopardize peace and stability and complicate the situation in the South China Sea.”
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Located about 125 nautical miles (232 km) from Luzon Island, the Scarborough Shoal – known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines – has been under China’s de facto control since 2012.
Beijing’s possession of the shoal forced Manila to file a lawsuit at the world court in The Hague.
The court’s international arbitral tribunal in 2016 ruled in Manila’s favor but Beijing has never acknowledged that decision.
Philippine officials on Monday said the government had filed yet another diplomatic protest over the presence of Chinese ships in waters within its exclusive economic zone.
In recent years, a slew of countries, including the United States, Japan, Australia, France and United Kingdom, have also supported Manila and carried out joint sails with the Philippines in the contested sea.
Reporters asked Malaya whether the Philippine government was considering asking its foreign allies the U.S. and Japan for help in driving away the Chinese vessel.
“Now the ball is in the court of the PRC (People’s Republic of China),” he said.
Recently, the Philippine Senate ratified a so-called Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan, allowing the two allied nations to deploy troops on each other’s soil for military exercises.
The RAA – which will take effect once Philippine President Marcos signs off on it and Japan’s legislature ratifies it – is the first of its kind signed by Tokyo with an Asian country.
Japan, unlike the Philippines, does not have territorial claims that overlap with China’s expansive ones in the South China Sea.
But Tokyo has a separate dispute with Beijing over a group of uninhabited islands in the Senkaku chain (also known as the Diaoyu Islands) in the East China Sea.
On Monday, the leaders of the Philippines, Japan and the United States held a telephone summit to discuss regional security and their countries’ “continuing cooperation” amid China’s activities in the disputed South China Sea.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jason Gutierrez for BenarNews.
The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan stressed the importance of trilateral ties with the United States at a news conference on Monday during a two-day visit to Seoul by Takeshi Iwaya, the first visit to the country by a Japanese foreign minister in nearly seven years.
His meeting with his counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, comes at a time of political flux, with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol facing impeachment after an unsuccessful attempt to declare martial law and the U.S. a week away from the inauguration of a new president.
“I believe trilateral cooperation will continue under the Trump administration,” Cho said Monday, according to Reuters, while Iwaya said he would raise the issue with the incoming U.S. administration, saying the three-way relationship was more important than ever considering the global situation.
But Donald Trump’s return to the White House has caused concern in some quarters about America’s security commitment to the two U.S. allies, which both host U.S. forces on their soil.
During Trump’s first term, he unsuccessfully pushed Japan to quadruple its funding for the 50,000 American troops based there, making similar demands on South Korea for the nearly 30,000 American forces stationed there.
In the end, Trump didn’t follow through with threats to cut the U.S. troop presence in the two countries, although he has hinted recently he may pick up where he left off.
Trump may also resume attempts to defuse the regional threat from North Korea by holding another round of talks with its leader, Kim Jong Un. In spite of three meetings between the two during Trump’s first term, the U.S. president failed to get commitments from Kim to abandon his nuclear and missile programs.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island, in Singapore on Dec. 20, 2018.(Evan Vucci/AP)
The Biden administration did not engage with the North Korean leader who has increased his saber rattling recently.
Over the past year Kim has abandoned plans for North-South reunification, threatened Seoul with annihilation, fired missiles into the Sea of Japan, and forged closer ties with Russia.
Kim’s June 2024 meeting with President Vladimir Putin, raised concerns that Moscow would provide Pyongyang with technology for its missiles, which can strike U.S. cities, in return for the North sending troops to help Russia fight Ukraine.
North Korea has ramped up its weapon testing program in the days leading up to Trump’s inauguration. Last week, it launched what it called a new hypersonic missile as outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul.
Another Kim-Trump meeting may be on the cards this year, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday. South Korea’s spy agency the National Intelligence Service said a “small agreement” on Pyongyang’s nuclear policy was possible if the incoming U.S. president reopens talks.
“There is a possibility that Trump could seek dialogue with Kim as Trump himself views his previous summits with Kim as major achievements during his first administration,” the National Intelligence Service said, according to South Korean lawmakers, who attended an agency briefing.
Seoul and Tokyo are keen to ensure Washington takes their views into consideration when the new U.S. administration finalizes its foreign policy objectives.
Japan’s foreign minister will attend Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 and try to arrange a meeting between the U.S. president and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba the following month in order to “build a relationship of trust” Iwaya said on Saturday on state broadcaster NHK.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol participate in a trilateral meeting on the sideline of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, Nov. 15, 2024.(Saul Loeb/AFP)
Ishiba, Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru in November, announcing a trilateral secretariat to focus on economic and defense cooperation.
In his final week in office, Biden is still pushing his Indo-Pacific policy.
The U.S. president, Japan’s Ishiba and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. focused in a Sunday telephone call on maritime security and “China’s dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,” the White House said.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
Canadian naval vessel HMCS Ottawa successfully completed a joint exercise with U.S. Navy destroyer USS Higgins amid tension in the South China Sea, the Canadian Joint Operations Command said.
During the Jan. 8-11 drills, codenamed Noble Wolverine, both ships “navigated through the South China Sea’s international waters while conducting communications exercises, flight operations and anti-submarine warfare training,” the command announced on its feed on the X social media site on Sunday.
The Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ottawa also sailed near Scarborough Shoal, where the Chinese and Philippine coast guards have been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game for weeks.
USS Higgins and HMCS Ottawa conducted a bilateral exercise in South China Sea, Jan. 8-11, 2025.(Sailor 3rd Class Jacob Saunders/Canadian Armed Forces)
The hotly disputed chain of reefs is inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but under China’s de-facto control. Beijing has deployed its largest coast guard vessel, dubbed “The Monster” for its size, to the area since the beginning of the year, which Manila sees as “an act of intimidation, coercion and aggression.”
The passing Canadian warship was closely followed by a number of Chinese naval vessels, Canada’s CTV News reported.
Free and open Indo-Pacific
Noble Wolverine demonstrated the two countries’ “shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement, adding that such bilateral operations provide “valuable opportunities to train, exercise and develop tactical interoperability” across allied and partner navies in the region.
Besides the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins, a U.S. Navy carrier strike group led by the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is also conducting routine exercises in the South China Sea.
The strike group includes the embarked Carrier Air Wing 2, cruiser USS Princeton and destroyers USS Sterett and USS William P Lawrence.
The Dalai Lama on Sunday received a stirring welcome in South India, where more than 10,000 Tibetans lined the streets to greet the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader as he arrived for an extended stay at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Bylakuppe.
It was his first visit to the Bylakuppe Tibetan Settlement in the Indian state of Karnataka — the largest Tibetan settlement in the world outside Tibet — in over seven years. Over 20,000 Tibetans live in the community, which was established on land leased by the state government for Tibetans who resettled in India after 1959.
The Dalai Lama was warmly welcomed in South India as 10,000 Tibetans cheered his arrival at Bylakuppe, his first visit in 7 years.
That was the year that China quelled the Tibetan national uprising movement and annexed Tibet, prompting the 14th Dalai Lama to flee to India alongside thousands of Tibetans.
The trip also marked the Dalai Lama’s first domestic travel within India after his return to his residence in Dharamsala in the northern part of the county in late August 2024, following a two-month stay in the United States, where he underwent a successful knee replacement surgery in New York.
The visit comes as the Dalai Lama, 89, tries to allay concerns over his general health amid questions about his successor. The Chinese government insists it will select the 15th Dalai Lama, though Tibetan Buddhists believe in the reincarnation of their spiritual leaders.
The Dalai Lama on Sunday received a stirring welcome in South India as more than 10,000 Tibetans, young and old, lined the streets to greet the Tibetan spiritual leader as he arrived for an extended stay in the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Bylakuppe – his first visit to the South Indian settlement in over seven years.(Multimedia video)
The Dalai Lama, who has said he expects to live to be over 100 years old to fulfill the wishes of the Tibetan people, has stated that his incarnation could be found in India.
“Today, I have come to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery which was founded by Gyalwa Gendun Drub, the First Dalai Lama,” he said, at a reception ceremony in the monastery. “As his successor, I feel happy and honored to be here today.”
The Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, known as the seat of the Panchen Lama, was founded in 1447 in Shigatse, Tibet, by the first Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Gendun Drub. After China’s occupation of Tibet, the monastery was re-established in Bylakuppe, South India, in 1972 by senior monks under the guidance of the Dalai Lama.
“In Tibet, the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was renowned for the quality of the monks’ studies of Buddhist philosophy and logic,” he said. “It is one of Tibet’s most important monasteries,” the Dalai Lama said.
The exact duration of the Dalai Lama’s “extended stay” in South India has not been disclosed.
Local Tibetan officials told RFA that the primary purpose of his visit is to rest and enjoy the warmer climate of South India in the winter, and that, as such, no major teachings have, as yet, been planned.
However, from Wednesday onwards, public blessings for the Tibetan people are expected to be held three times a week — every from Monday, Wednesday and Friday — with the initial rounds to focus on Tibetans aged 80 and above, according to the Dalai Lama’s office.
Rousing welcome
The Dalai Lama left his residence in Dharamsala on Jan. 3 for an overnight stay in the Indian capital New Delhi, from where he made a journey to Bangalore the following day. There, hundreds of Tibetan professionals, students and businessmen dressed in their traditional best greeted him with incense, flowers and silk scarves.
On Jan. 5, the Dalai Lama flew by helicopter from Bangalore to the Bylakuppe settlement. All along the more than 5-kilometer (3-mile) stretch of road leading to the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, thousands of Tibetans carrying traditional silk scarves and incense welcomed him amid the sounds of cymbals, drums and horns, as monks and nuns chanted.
“All of us residents of the Tibetan settlements in South India are very fortunate that His Holiness is here,” said Namgyal, who hails from the Doeguling Tibetan Settlement in Mundgod, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Bylakuppe.
“Even though I’m old, I’ve made the journey to be here to satisfy my heart’s desire to see His Holiness,” he said.
Thousands of Tibetans line a street in the Bylakuppe Tibetan Settlement in the Indian state of Karnataka to greet the Dalai Lama, Dec. 5, 2025.(Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
Tsewang Dolma, an elderly woman from the Tibetan settlement in Hunsur, over 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Bylakuppe, said she was elated about the visit.
“I feel very emotional and am almost tearing up,” she told Radio Free Asia, while holding a bouquet of flowers to welcome the Dalai Lama. “All I pray for is that he lives a long, long life.”
Role of Buddhist monasteries
The Dalai Lama’s last visit to Bylakuppe was in December 2017, during which he gave Buddhist teachings at Sera Jey and Sera Mey monasteries.
In his address at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, where the heads of all the different Tibetan monastic institutions were gathered, the Dalai Lama emphasized the critical importance of monasteries in serving as “centers of learning” for Buddhist study and practice.
“As I have always advised, the principal purpose of a monastery is to serve as a center of learning where monks and nuns have the opportunity to study and put into practice the Buddha’s teachings,” he said.
“Members of all the monastic institutions should strive to uphold the Buddha’s teachings, particularly in this degenerate age,” the Dalai Lama said, while noting the growing interest in Buddhism in China and other regions.
“Today, many people around the world who are not Buddhists are taking an interest in the Buddha’s teachings,” he added. “These include scientists who value the Buddhist tradition’s emphasis and use of reason and logic.”
Translated by Tenzin Norzom and Tashi Wangchuk. Edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan, and by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
The story was updated to say that over 20,000 Tibetans live in the Bylakuppe Tibetan Settlement.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Pema Ngodup, Dickey Kundol and Tenzin Dhonyoe for RFA Tibetan.
TAIPEI, Taiwan/MANILA – The South China Sea has become one of the world’s most perilous geopolitical hot spots in recent years, with China stepping up the reinforcement of its expansive claims and countries from outside the region getting increasingly involved.
Here are five areas to watch in 2025:
Taiwan Strait
The situation in the Taiwan Strait has been becoming notably more tense, with nearly 3,000 incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone between January and November 2024, as well as two major military exercises – Joint Sword A and B – coinciding with important political events on the self-ruled island.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated in his New Year message that the unification of Taiwan was “inevitable.”
“China will continue to hold exercises in 2025 if senior Taiwanese officials visit the United States or top U.S. officials visit Taiwan,” said Shen Ming-Shih, a research fellow at the top Taiwan government think tank, the Institute for National Defense Security Research (INDSR).
Chinese military exercises such as joint fire strike, joint blockade, and joint anti-access and area denial will continue, but they will become less effective as Taiwan develops effective countermeasures, Shen said.
Another INDSR research fellow, Ou Si-Fu, director of the Division of Chinese Politics, Military and Warfighting Concepts, told Radio Free Asia that China was not ready for a full-on war with Taiwan.
“Xi is not confident with his army,” Ou said, pointing to recent sackings in the top ranks of the People’s Liberation Army.
“The PLA has not fought a real war in a long time, so an imminent invasion of Taiwan is not expected,” the analyst said. “They may be preparing their forces, but we are preparing, too.”
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te waves with the Taiwanese flag during a ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan, on Jan. 1, 2025.(Taiwan Presidential Office/AP)
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said in his New Year message that his government would increase the defense budget and strengthen military capabilities.
Scarborough Shoal
Latest developments at the chain of reefs in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but under China’s de-facto control are worrisome. Just before the New Year, the PLA Southern Theater Command conducted large-scale combat readiness drills at the shoal that involved both naval and air force troops.
China’s coast guard is maintaining a strong presence in the area, as is its maritime militia.
A month earlier, Beijing announced a set of baselines around the Scarborough Shoal to define its territorial waters and airspace – a step seen as illegal by many but used by China to justify its actions against the Philippines and its ally the United States.
The Chinese coastguard in early December fired a water cannon at a Philippine fisheries bureau boat taking supplies to fishermen in the shoal, saying it “dangerously approached” Beijing’s territorial waters.
“You cannot draw baselines if you don’t own the features,” said former Philippine Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio. He suggested that the Philippines should challenge China’s announcement at an international tribunal.
Scarborough Shoal is unoccupied and there are no structures on it but that may change in 2025, given Beijing’s assertiveness. Philippine forces have been removing Chinese floating barriers around the reefs but access by Filipino fishermen to their traditional fishing ground remains restricted.
The Philippines is believed to be considering a new legal case against China for its violations of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea but since Beijing refused to take part and rejected the ruling of the 2016 U.N. arbitral tribunal, there is little chance it will participate.
Lcdr. Lee Omaweng, commanding officer of the Philippine coast guard vessel BRP Sindangan, which serves at both Scarborough and Second Thomas Shoal, speaks to reporters on board his ship, Dec. 8, 2024.(RFA)
Second Thomas Shoal
Throughout 2024, China and the Philippines were engaged in stand-offs at the Second Thomas Shoal, also inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, where Manila deliberately grounded an old warship in 1999 to serve as an outpost.
In the last few years, China’s coast guard has been blocking and disrupting Philippine resupply missions to the ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, and the troops stationed there.
On June 17, 2024, in an unprecedented confrontation, China coast guard personnel, armed with pikes and machetes, punctured Philippine boats and seized firearms during a Philippine rotate and resupply mission, wounding a Filipino sailor.
Both sides later called for de-escalation. On Dec. 12, China said it had granted permission to the Philippines to resupply the “illegally grounded” warship on Second Thomas Shoal on a humanitarian basis.
But the June 17 incident showed that the situation could easily escalate into conflict, especially given the proximity of Second Thomas Shoal to a Chinese naval base on Mischief Reef, an artificial island that China built and has fully militarized.
Manila and Washington signed a Mutual Defense Treaty in 1951 under which both parties are obliged to support each other in the event of an armed attack. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in November revealed that the U.S. military had set up a Task Force Ayungin, the Filipino name for the Second Thomas Shoal.
Chief of the Philippine armed forces, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., told an RFA reporter in Manila that his country was pursuing a three-pronged strategy when it comes to maritime defense: to establish an effective presence; to create effective deterrence and modernize military equipment; and to leverage alliances and partnerships with like-minded nations.
Beijing, however, is not expected to give up its demand that Manila removes the BRP Sierra Madre and leave the disputed shoal.
For its part, the Philippines is determined to defend it.
“We’ll never abandon our territory at Ayungin,” insisted Col. Xerxes Trinidad, the Philippine armed forces’ spokesperson.
Vietnam’s island building
Vietnam’s island building in the South China Sea has reached a record, with the total area created in the first six months of 2024 equaling that of 2022 and 2023 combined, according to a study by the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI).
Between November 2023 and June 2024, Hanoi created 692 new acres (280 ha) of land across a total of 10 features in the Spratly archipelago. Vietnam’s overall dredging and landfill totaled about 2,360 acres (955 ha), roughly half of China’s 4,650 acres (1,881.7 ha).
“Three years from when it first began, Vietnam is still surprising observers with the ever-increasing scope of its dredging and landfill in the Spratly Islands,” AMTI said.
Vietnam occupies 27 features and has been carrying out large-scale reclamation works on some over the past year.
Satellite image of Barque Canada Reef, May 11, 2024.(AMTI/Maxar Technologies)
A new 3,000-meter airstrip is nearly finished on Barque Canada reef, where the total landfill area more than doubled in one year to nearly 2.5 square kilometers, or 617.7 acres, by October 2024.
Vietnam has had only one airstrip on an island called Spratly, measuring 1,300 meters, but besides Barque Canada, AMTI said that “it would be unsurprising” if Hanoi also considers runways on Pearson and Ladd reefs.
New bases and runways “would give Vietnam a position on the other side of China’s ‘Big Three’ islands,” said Tom Shugart, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
He was referring to China-developed Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs, which are the largest artificial islands in the South China Sea. The next four largest are all newly expanded Vietnamese reefs.
“Its progress in the last five months suggests that Hanoi is determined to maximize the strategic potential of the features it occupies,” said AMTI, adding that “it remains difficult to say when the expansion will end—and what new capabilities Vietnam will have once it has.”
Code of Conduct in the South China Sea
Malaysia is taking over as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, from Laos this month and every time the chair changes hands, the question of a legally binding code of conduct (COC) for all competing parties in the South China Sea surfaces.
China and ASEAN countries have been negotiating a COC after reaching an initial Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002.
More than two decades later, it seems many obstacles remain despite Beijing’s repeated assertions that the consultation process is going well and agreement is close.
Premier Li Qiang told an ASEAN summit in October that China and the bloc were “striving for early conclusion” of the code of conduct.
China and five other parties, including four ASEAN countries – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – hold conflicting claims over parts of the South China Sea but China’s claim is by far the most expansive, covering nearly 90% of the sea.
China is adamantly against what it sees as “a politicization” of the COC, as well as any “external interference” in the matter. Yet its assertiveness has prompted some countries to seek a counterweight from outside ASEAN.
“Negotiations on the COC continue at a snail’s pace,” former Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon told Reuters news agency in October.
“An agreement seems impossible,” said Philippine legal expert, former Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio. “China will never agree to some provisions, Vietnam to some others and so on.
The target of concluding the COC by 2026, therefore, was “unrealistic,” he said.
One of the underlying obstacles is ASEAN’s own division and weakness.
“ASEAN could strengthen its collective bargaining power by aligning the interests of its member states and speaking with a unified voice in negotiations with external powers like China,” said Isha Gharti, a public policy professor at Thailand’s Chiang Mai University.
It remains to be seen how the new chair Malaysia will seek to raise a collective ASEAN voice.
Edited by RFA Staff
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
A video emerged in Chinese-language social media posts that claim it shows the “final moment” of the South Korean plane that crashed in the city of Muan on Dec. 29.
But the claim is false. The video in fact has been shared online as early as September, months before the deadly plane crash.
The video was shared on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, on Dec. 31, as well as on Weibo. The Weibo post has been taken down.
“179 people on the Korean plane were killed, the worst airplane disaster in South Korea. The last few minutes before the plane exploded,” the caption of the video reads.
The clip appears to have been filmed inside a plane, with oxygen masks falling from above passenger seats. Several passengers are seen holding their mobile phones and filming, and some passengers appear to be chanting.
Some Chinese social media users claimed this video showed the “final moment” of the South Korean plane that crashed in the city of Muan on Dec. 29.(Douyin and Weibo)
The video and the claim began to circulate after the Jeju Air flight carrying 181 people crashed in a ball of flames as it was attempting to land in the South Korean city of Muan on Dec. 29, killing all but two of those on board in one of the country’s worst ever air disasters.
But the claim is false.
Old video
A reverse image search found the video had been shared online as early as September, months before the deadly plane crash, as seen here and here.
Russian state media Sputnik’s Arabic edition reported in September that the footage showed the scene of an Air Algerie flight to Istanbul returning an hour after takeoff due to a technical fault, causing panic among the passengers on board. The Air Algerie plane landed safely.
Clues in the clip
A closer examination of the video reveals that the crew members are dressed in blue uniforms, and the seats are also blue, which is not consistent with Jeju Air’s signature white and orange color scheme.
Additionally, passengers can be heard chanting in the video, but the language they are using is not Korean. According to South Korean and Thai authorities, among the 181 passengers aboard the crashed Jeju Air flight, two were Thai nationals, while the rest were Korean.
A Korean-speaking journalist from AFCL also confirmed that the chanting in the video is unrecognizable and was not in the Korean language.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Zhuang Jing for Asia Fact Check Lab.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – All missing passengers, except for two rescued, are presumed dead after a plane carrying 181 passengers and crew crashed Sunday while attempting to land at an airport in South Korea, authorities said.
The accident happened at 9:07 a.m., when the Jeju Air flight erupted in flames after going off the runway and hitting a wall at an airport in South Korea’s southwestern county of Muan, South Jeolla Province, about 288 kilometers (179 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul.
“It is estimated that most of the 181 passengers, with the exception of the two who were rescued, died,” the Jeollanam-do Fire Department said.
“After colliding with the fence, passengers poured out of the aircraft. There is almost no chance of survival.
“The plane body was almost destroyed, and the dead are difficult to identify. It is taking time to identify the location of the remains and recover them.”
The authorities confirmed 85 deaths from the accident so far.
Firefighters try to put out a fire on an aircraft which skidded off the runway at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2024.(Yonhap via Reuters)
A total of 181 people, including six crew members, were on board the plane from Bangkok, most of whom were Koreans, with the exception of two Thai nationals. Among them, one passenger and one crew member – both women – were rescued shortly after the accident and are currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Mokpo.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country’s embassy in Seoul was in touch with South Korean authorities to try to ascertain the condition of the two Thai passengers.
Videos broadcast by local TV stations reveal the plane attempting to land without deploying its landing gear. It skidded across the ground, collided with a concrete wall, and exploded, becoming engulfed in flames.
Authorities suspect that landing gear failure, potentially caused by a bird strike, may have led to the accident. An on-site investigation is underway to determine the precise cause.
Rescue workers take part in a salvage operation at the site of a plane crash at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2024.(Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)
Acting President Choi Sang-mok arrived at the crash site around noon, instructing officials to make all-out efforts for search operations, expressing deep condolences to the bereaved family members and promised to offer them all possible government assistance.
Choi has been serving as acting president since Friday, after the National Assembly voted to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was suspended less than two weeks after assuming the role from President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 14.
“I believe no words of consolation will be enough for the families who have suffered such a tragedy,” Choi said, noting that government agencies are working closely to respond to the accident.
“The government will spare no effort in supporting the bereaved families,” the acting president added.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – South Korea’s spy agency confirmed that a wounded North Korean soldier was captured alive in Russia’s Kursk region, following the release of a photo by Ukrainian media purportedly showing the soldier in custody.
Up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers are reportedly in Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine in Kursk. Ukraine reports over 3,000 casualties among them, while South Korea estimates at least 1,100 have been killed or wounded.
“We have confirmed that one injured North Korean soldier has been captured through real-time information sharing with intelligence agencies of our allies,” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, or NIS, said on Friday.
“We will closely monitor the follow-up situation,” the agency added, without elaborating.
The NIS’s confirmation came after Ukrainian media reported that Ukrainian forces had for the first time likely captured a North Korean prisoner of war helping Russian forces.
Ukraine’s special operations troops took the soldier during operations in Kursk, the military-focused news outlet Militarnyi reported on Thursday, without specifying when he was captured.
Images of what appeared to be a wounded North Korean soldier in custody surfaced on Telegram, though details about the man’s condition and status were not known. Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently confirm the photo.
Militarnyi said that if confirmed, it would mark the first capture by Ukraine of a North Korean soldier fighting for Russia.
In an October parliament hearing, the NIS said the South Korean government should have agents on the ground to communicate with North Korean soldiers in case they are captured or surrendered.
In response to a question about what would the government do if a North Korean soldier asked to defect to South Korea, the NIS said: “Under international and domestic law, South Korea must accept the request.”
“There are some aspects that we must consider such as North Korea’s influence … we must respect the person’s wishes and consider the request to defect,” the agency added.
Neither President Vladimir Putin nor North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has confirmed the North’s troop deployment to Russia but Ukraine has revealed evidence of North Korean involvement in the war, including a soldier’s notebook detailing drone attack tactics and a handwritten note found on the body of a North Korean soldier in Kursk.
A video has also surfaced of captured Russian soldiers criticizing the poor discipline of North Korean troops, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of burning the faces of dead North Korean soldiers to keep their deployment secret.
Edited by RFA Staff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
Kampala, December 19, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on South Sudan’s authorities to reveal the whereabouts of Emmanuel Monychol Akop, editor-in-chief of the privately owned The Dawn newspaper, who has been detained since November 28 by agents of the National Security Services (NSS), South Sudan’s intelligence agency.
“South Sudanese authorities must bring editor Emmanuel Monychol Akop before a court, present credible charges or release him unconditionally,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “South Sudan’s security agents have a reputation for running roughshod over the rights of journalists, and the arbitrary detention of Monychol further tarnishes an already dismal press freedom record.”
Monychol was arrested after he responded to a summons to appear at NSS headquarters in the capital, Juba, according to Moses Guot, a manager at The Dawn, and a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal. The NSS told Monychol’s family that they could not visit the journalist until investigations were complete but did not provide further details, Guot told CPJ. Rights groups have documented multiple allegations of abusing detainees in the NSS headquarters, known as Blue House.
“We are worried about his personal security,” said Guot. “They should allow us to see him, at least to know about his health, and that would be a good start.”
NSS spokesperson John David Kumuri did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment via messaging app but acknowledged its receipt on December 10. The regulatory South Sudan Media Authority’s managing director Elijah Alier Kuai did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment via phone and messaging app. Phone calls to information minister Michael Makuei Lueth and the South Sudan Media Authority’s director general for information and media compliance Sapana Abuyi did not connect.
In 2019, Monychol was arrested after he published a Facebook post criticizing a minister’s dress on a diplomatic visit. He was detained for over a month and freed in mid-December of that year.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korean soldiers are being “consumed” in attacks in Russia’s Kursk region because they lack experience of drone warfare, South Korea’s spy agency said, adding that Russian forces complained that the North Koreans were a “burden” because of their “ignorance.”
The U.S. and Ukraine estimate there are between 10,000 and 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia, with their focus on Kursk, parts of which Ukrainian forces occupied in August, where they are actively engaged in fighting and are taking casualties.
“North Korean troops are being ‘consumed’ for front-line assaults in an unfamiliar battlefield environment of open fields, and they lack the ability to respond to drone attacks,” said South Korea’s the National Intelligence Service, or NIS, as cited by South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun who was briefed by the agency on Thursday.
Russian troops were complaining about the North Koreans’ ignorance of drones, calling them a “burden,” the agency added, without elaborating.
“Some 11,000 North Korean troops, believed to be deployed in the Kursk region, began to engage in actual combat from December. At least 100 people have been killed, and the number of injured is expected to reach 1,000,” said the NIS.
A screenshot of a video released by Ukraine’s 8th Separate Special Operations Regiment. The regiment said it shows a drone attack on North Korean soldiers in the battle fought on Dec. 16, 2024. Part of the image has been blurred by RFA.(8th Separate Special Operations Regiment’s official Facebook page)
South Korea’s confirmation of North Korean casualties came after Ukraine released a video saying that it showed about 50 North Korean soldiers were killed in attacks by Ukrainian drones in Kursk this week.
Sgt. Mykhailo Makaruk, a member of the Ukrainian unit who confirmed to RFA Korean that he had fought against North Koreans in the battle shown on the video, said nearly 200 North Korean soldiers came to the Ukrainian position, and shortly after, the drones began to attack.
“They came and they came and the drones are bombing them,” he said. “I don’t understand how they can come to this war. They look like, you know, real zombies.”
Separately, on Tuesday, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, or DIU, said North Korean forces were taking additional measures to mitigate the threat of drone strikes.
“After serious losses, North Korean units began setting up additional observation posts to detect drones,” the DIU wrote in a post to its official Telegram channel.
A screenshot of a video released by Ukraine’s 8th Separate Special Operations Regiment. The regiment said it shows a drone attack on North Korean soldiers in the battle fought on Dec. 16, 2024.(8th Separate Special Operations Regiment’s official Facebook page)
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, posted on his Telegram account that North Korean soldiers were no match for the drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.
“The dead DPRK soldiers did not have a visual understanding of the danger from UAVs before the drone strikes, which may indicate that the Russians poorly informed the Koreans about the use of drones at the front,” Kovalenko said, using North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kovalenko added that the Russian soldiers were seen trying to quickly recover the bodies of North Korean soldiers killed on the front lines, which was different from the way they treated Russian dead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces were burning the faces of dead North Korean soldiers to conceal their identities and keep secret their deployment to help Russia, citing a video as evidence.
Earlier, he said that Russia had begun using North Koreans in significant numbers for the first time to assault Ukrainian positions and his forces released images and videos of what it said were the bodies of North Koreans soldiers, among some 200 killed and wounded in Kursk.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says this image from a video shows Russians burning the face of a dead North Korean soldier. Part of the image has been blurred by RFA.(Volodymyr Zelenskiyy’s official Telegram channel)
‘Normal cooperation’
North Korea once again declined to deny or confirm that it had sent troops to Russia to help it with its war against Ukraine but its foreign ministry called its cooperation with Russia “normal.”
Responding to a joint statement from the European Union, South Korea and the U.S. criticizing North Korea’s deployment to Russia, the North’s ministry of foreign affairs said it “distorted and slandered” the essence of a normal partnership between two nations.
“[The joint statement] is a grave threat to international peace and security that goes beyond political provocation that violently infringes on the sovereignty of sovereign states,” said the ministry on Thursday, calling its partnership with Russia a “legitimate” way to counter external threats, including the U.S.
Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has confirmed that North Korean soldiers are aiding Russia in its war against Ukraine, which began with Putin’s invasion in February 2022. However, emerging reports suggest that such collaboration is developing rapidly, with mounting evidence pointing to North Korea’s increasing involvement.
Ukraine’s Security Service said on Tuesday it had intercepted a phone call between a nurse at a hospital near Moscow and her husband, a soldier on the front lines.
According to the nurse, more than 200 wounded North Korean servicemen were brought to the hospital near Moscow over two days.
An image made from video released by the Ukrainian drone warfare unit Magyar’s Birds. The unit said it shows the bodies of North Korean soldiers killed in the Kursk region. Part of the image has been blurred by RFA.(Magyar’s Birds)
In the recording, the nurse asked, “Are they elite, these Koreans?” and mentioned that certain wards were being cleared for them. Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently verify the recording.
The deployment of the North Koreans comes after more than two years of deepening ties with Russia. North Korea has sent large volumes of arms and ammunition to Russia, including missiles and artillery shells, to support its war.
This week, the U.S., European Union, and South Korea imposed sanctions on individuals and entities accused of facilitating North Korea’s military assistance to Russia.
Edited by RFA Staff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
The South Korean National Assembly voted Saturday to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, 10 days after his ill-fated attempt to declare martial law in the country. Yoon had falsely accused political rivals of North Korean sympathies in his declaration, invoking previous eras of military dictatorship on the Korean Peninsula in the years following its partition. For more on what to expect from the upcoming judicial vote over Yoon’s removal, we speak to Korean activist Dae-Han Song. Yoon’s waning popular support is not promising for his political future and has reignited public appetite for democratic reforms, explains Song.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – South Korea’s National Assembly voted on Saturday to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed bid to impose martial law, to the delight of a huge crowd of anti-Yoon protesters outside the legislature.
The impeachment motion will now be sent to the Constitutional Court, which will determine whether to uphold the parliamentary vote and remove Yoon from office or to reinstate him.
Yoon declared martial law on the night of Dec. 3 to counter “threats from North Korea” and “anti-state activities” by the domestic political opposition. However, the National Assembly rejected the decree nearly three hours later as protesters gathered outside, prompting Yoon to lift the order.
The impeachment motion against Yoon passed with a vote of 204 in favor and 85 against, with three abstentions and eight invalid ballots, as all 300 lawmakers cast their votes.
Once the impeachment resolution is delivered to Yoon’s office, he will be suspended from his duties, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will assume the role of acting president.
“I will do my utmost to ensure the stable operation of the government operation,” said Han after the impeachment motion was passed.
A crowd of anti-Yoon protesters that media estimated at 200,000-strong welcomed the vote in favor of impeachment. Yoon’s conservative supporters held a smaller protest in another part of Seoul.
An initial bid to vote to impeach Yoon failed last week when most ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote.
The second impeachment motion was introduced on Thursday by the main opposition Democratic Party and five other minor opposition parties, accusing Yoon of violating the Constitution and other laws by declaring martial law.
If the impeachment is upheld, Yoon will become the second president in South Korea’s history to be removed from office, following former President Park Geun-hye’s ouster in 2017 over corruption.
If the court rules to oust him, an election will be held for a new president.
On Thursday, Yoon defended his botched martial law declaration as an act of governance.
In a televised address, Yoon said he used his presidential power to declare martial law “to protect the nation and normalize state affairs” against the opposition that paralyzed the government, calling it a “highly calibrated political judgment.”
“The National Assembly, dominated by the large opposition party, has become a monster that destroys the Constitutional order of free democracy,” Yoon asserted.
The main opposition Democratic Party controls 171 seats in the 300-member parliament.
In particular, Yoon said that opposition parties blocked a revision to anti-espionage laws despite two separate instances in which Chinese nationals filmed South Korean military installations and the National Intelligence Service.
He also said the opposition parties were “advocating” to lift sanctions against North Korea.
In response, China’s foreign ministry said Thursday it was “deeply surprised and dissatisfied.”
“We are deeply surprised and dissatisfied with the remarks made by the South Korean side,” Mao Ning, Beijing foreign ministry’s spokesperson, said during a regular press briefing.
“We firmly oppose the South Korean side linking its internal issues with factors related to China, making up false charges of so-called Chinese spies and disgracing normal economic and trade cooperation,” said Mao, adding that a verdict has not been reached yet in the mentioned cases and that China is maintaining related communication with South Korea.
She also urged South Korea to guarantee the safety and legal rights of the individuals involved.
Edited by RFA Staff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
One week later, North Korean state media has finally reported on South Korea’s brief period of martial law and the ensuing political crisis.
“The shocking incident of the puppet Yoon Suk Yeol regime … suddenly declaring a martial law decree and unhesitatingly wielding the guns and knives of its fascist dictatorship wrought havoc across South Korea,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News.
North Korean media had been completely silent on the matter since last Tuesday, the day of the declaration, and experts said it was because Pyongyang wants to monitor the situation before saying anything, experts told Radio Free Asia.
Shortly after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law last Tuesday, an emergency meeting at the National Assembly nullified his order, forcing him to call it off.
Now lawmakers from both of the major parties are calling for Yoon to resign. If he does not, he could face impeachment or even prison time.
North Korea blocks the internet access of its citizens and tightly controls what outside news it shares with its people.
In the past, political scandals in South Korea were widely publicized in the North, as they could be used as evidence to showcase capitalism’s faults.
For example, in 2016 and 2017 state media was enthusiastically reported about disgraced South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment and trial, which lead to a conviction on charges related to influence-peddling.
President Yoon Seok-Yeol declares martial law in a special emergency address to the nation at the presidential office building in Yongsan, Seoul, Dec. 3, 2024.
But that coverage of Park’s downfall did not have the intended effect because it exposed North Koreans to South Korea’s vibrant democracy and booming economy, said Jonathan Corrado, policy director at the New York-based Korea Society nonprofit organization.
“First, (the 2016 and 2017 coverage) revealed the extent of South Korea’s urban modernization, with Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square lined with glass-covered high-rise buildings,” he said.
“Second, it showed the North Korean public the extent of South Korea’s civil society and democracy.”
Why mess up a good thing?
Pyongyang may also be relishing Yoon’s political crash-and-burn, Lee Hyun-seung, a North Korean escapee and lead program strategist at the Maryland-based Global Peace Foundation, told RFA.
Yoon, a conservative, is more of a hardliner against North Korea than his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, so Pyongyang may want to see him ousted.
“North Korea believes that President Yoon will be impeached even if they do not take action,” he said. “They are staying silent because they believe that if they step forward, they could provide an excuse for conservatives to oppose impeachment.”
Yoon’s martial law order cited “North Korean threats” as its justification, even though it is widely considered to have been a political move targeting the opposition party.
Lee said North Korea could mobilize its spy network to influence the situation in the South, however.
“There are organizations that operate to influence South Korea, such as the Unification Propaganda Department and the Reconnaissance General Bureau,” he said. “Since these organizations have to carry out operations against South Korea, they can deliver instructions through an underground network like in the past.”
The silence was not unusual to Robert Rapson, a former senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
“It’s quite simple if you look at it from the North Korean perspective. Why provoke and provide any distraction from Yoon’s colossal political blunder and anti-democratic actions,” Rapson said.
Kang Vu, a visiting political science scholar at Boston University, said that North Korea is shifting its focus away from South Korea now that is getting closer to Russia and is involving itself in Moscow’s war with Ukraine.
“(That) gives it an incentive it to maintain peace on the peninsula, and this pattern has been clear since the start of 2024,” said Vu.
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
Update adds that North Korea finally reported on the situation on Wednesday.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Cho Jinwoo for RFA Korean.
