🇺🇸🇰🇷🇯🇵🇰🇵 US holds drills with allies off Korean peninsula, Pyongyang vows to bolster navy

The United States, South Korea and Japan staged joint naval missile defense drills off the Korean peninsula on Tuesday, as North Korea accused Washington and its allies of creating "the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war."

The three nations staged exercises in international waters off South Korea's southern Jeju island to improve their ability to detect and track targets.

The drills come as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for "radically" modernizing the weapons and equipment of its naval forces, criticizing an increased presence of US strategic assets in the region.

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🇰🇷🇷🇺🇰🇵 South Korea urges Russia to halt military cooperation with North Korea

South Korea summoned Russia's ambassador to warn Moscow against any military cooperation with North Korea after summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Vladimir Putin.

First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin summoned Russia's ambassador in Seoul to urge "Russia to immediately halt any moves to expand military cooperation with North Korea and to abide by UN Security Council Resolutions," South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Chang said Russia should live up to its role as a member of the UN Security Council to address North Korea's nuclear threat, and added that any actions that threaten its security would seriously undermine Russia's relationship with South Korea.

#SouthKorea #Russia #NorthKorea

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🇨🇳🇯🇵🇰🇷 South Korea to hold talks with Japan, China

Senior officials of China, Japan and South Korea will hold talks in Seoul on September 26, working to stage the first summit of their leaders in four years.

The meeting will be led by Jung Byung-won, South Korea's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, Japan's Funakoshi Takehiro and China's Nong Rong.

Although the countries had agreed to hold an annual summit since 2008, their leaders last met in December 2019.

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🇰🇵🇰🇷 Tensions are rising again on the Korean Peninsula. In addition to the "exchange" of propaganda and debris, yesterday North Korea conducted its first missile test in nearly a month. It was likely an unsuccessful test of a solid-fuel hypersonic missile.

Details are scarce, as North Korea usually releases information the day after a launch. According to South Korean military, the missile experienced a malfunction during flight, leading to an explosion.

Often, North Korean missile tests are a response to actions by South Korea. This case may be no exception. On June 25, South Korea conducted live-fire drills with its Chunmu multiple rocket launchers, a key weapon for countering North Korean artillery threats in case of conflict.

Today, the U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt is departing the South Korean port to participate in the upcoming Freedom Edge trilateral exercises with the U.S., South Korea and Japan, which we reported on recently. However, the exact timing of the drills is still unclear.

Notably, the South Korean artillery drills on the Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands today were reportedly planned in advance, so they are not a direct response to the latest North Korean missile test. However, they cannot be viewed separately from the recent events.

North Korea is likely to react to these new South Korean artillery exercises, which will be seen in Pyongyang as a provocation. This will further escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which has seen instability lately.
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🇰🇵🇰🇷🇺🇸🇯🇵 North Korea says US, Japan, South Korea drills justify its nuclear reinforcement

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said military drills by the United States, Japan and South Korea justify North Korea's nuclear reinforcement, state media KCNA said.

Kim criticized the air drill they conducted after North Korea tested a huge new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed Hwasong-19 last week, as well as "more than 20" military drills the allies have conducted this year.

Given such threats, North Korea will not be swayed from the path of strengthening its nuclear deterrent, KCNA said.

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🇰🇷 On the Impeachment Preparation of the President of South Korea

The situation in South Korea is rapidly developing on the eve of the upcoming vote on the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol. And if there were doubts about the failure of this initiative recently, now everything points to the fact that the South Korean leader may still be stripped of his powers as head of state.

Let's recall that 200 votes in parliament are required to initiate the impeachment procedure. The coalition of opposition parties has 192 seats, so for a successful vote they need to win over eight or more deputies from the ruling party.

🔻Earlier, we wrote that given the criticism of Yoon from representatives of the ruling party in parliament, the opposition would be able to gather the necessary number of votes. However, the chairman of the party, Han Dong-hoon, stated that he would not support the impeachment procedure, urging his colleagues to do the same.

Now the rhetoric is changing. On December 6, Han already spoke about the need to remove the head of state from office. The reason for the sharp change in rhetoric is the South Korean president's plans to arrest key politicians during martial law, which were never implemented.

▪️In addition, Han held a meeting with Yoon Suk-yeol, at which, according to his statements, he did not hear anything that could change his opinion in the other direction.

Thus, we can judge that the probability of Yoon's impeachment is very high. However, before the president's powers are fully removed, the corresponding procedure must be approved by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea. The opposition may also face certain difficulties with this step.
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🇰🇷 South Korean authorities make new attempt to raid presidential office

South Korean authorities made a new attempt on Tuesday to search the presidential office and obtain evidence as part of a probe into the legality of President Yoon Suk-yeol's short-lived bid to impose martial law.

A joint investigation team including police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) was trying to access computer servers of the presidential office's security service to get records of phones including one used by the police commissioner.

This would be the second time authorities have tried to raid the presidential office over the declaration of martial law that was reversed within hours after a standoff with parliament.

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