South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — With leader Kim Jong Un in attendance, North Korea opened a key political conference to discuss improving its struggling economy and reviewing defense strategies in the face of growing tensions with rivals, according to state media reports on Saturday.

The enlarged plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee came as the United States sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea in the allies’ latest show of force against the North, which has ramped up its testing of nuclear-capable missiles to a record pace in recent months.

SEOUL, June 15. /TASS/: North Korea on Thursday launched two short-range ballistic missiles from the Sunan District near Pyongyang, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Two short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea from the Sunan District toward the Sea of Japan were detected between 7:25 p.m. and 7:37 p.m. local time (1:25 p.m. and 1:37 p.m. Moscow time - TASS)," the statement said. Earlier, the South Korean military reported the launch of a ballistic missile.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed again Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she lambasted a U.N. Security Council meeting over the North’s first, failed launch.

SEOUL, June 1 (Reuters) - North Korea's latest space launcher appears to be a new design and most likely uses engines developed for the nuclear-armed country's intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), analysts said on Thursday.

The rocket, dubbed the Chollima-1, failed during its first launch attempt on Wednesday. It lifted off successfully but its second stage failed to start as expected, state media reported, and it crashed into the Yellow Sea.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s launch of a spy satellite on Wednesday ended in an embarrassing failure, but still prompted public confusion and security jitters in neighboring South Korea and Japan, which are wary of the North’s growing weapons arsenal.

About 14 minutes after the launch at 6:27 a.m., authorities in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, sent text messages to all mobile phones in the city urging people to prepare to move to safer places, without explaining the reason. In some areas, the warning was broadcast over loudspeakers.

SEOUL, May 29 (Reuters) - South Korea is using a $13.7 billion arms deal with Poland - Seoul's biggest ever - to lay the groundwork for a military-industrial juggernaut that the two nations' defence companies hope will feed Europe's hunger for weapons far into the future.

South Korea's arms sales jumped to more than $17 billion in 2022 from $7.25 billion the year before, according to its defence ministry, as Western countries scrambled to arm Ukraine and tensions rose in other hot spots such as North Korea and the South China Sea.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A man who opened an emergency exit door during a flight in South Korea was formally arrested Sunday and faces up to 10 years in prison on a charge of violating the aviation security law, officials said.

During a preliminary questioning, the 33-year-old told investigators that he felt suffocated and tried to get off the plane quickly, according to police.

SEOUL, May 27 (Reuters) - A passenger on an Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) flight told police he opened a door on the plane minutes before it landed in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday because he was "uncomfortable", Yonhap News Agency reported.

The man, in his thirties, was detained on landing. He told police that he opened the door because he "wanted to get off the plane quickly," Yonhap said on Saturday, citing the Daegu Dongbu Police Station.

He also told police he was stressed after losing his job recently.

SEOUL, May 26 (NNN-YONHAP) – Nine passengers suffered breathing difficulty, as a South Korean aircraft landed with its door being open, it was reported, today.

The entrance door of the plane, which left an airport in the country’s southern resort island of Jeju at around 11:49 a.m. local time (0249 GMT), opened just before landing at the airport in Daegu, about 240 km south-east of Seoul, at 12:45 p.m. (0345 GMT).

The airplane landed on the runway of the Daegu airport with the door being open.

SEOUL, May 26 (Reuters) - South Korean police on Friday detained a man who opened a door of an Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) plane minutes before it was due to land in the city of Daegu, causing panic among the passengers, officials said.

The Airbus A321-200 plane landed safely at around 12:40 p.m. (0340 GMT). It had set off from the holiday island of Jeju an hour earlier, the airport's flight schedule showed.

Nine passengers, all teenagers, were sent to hospital after suffering breathing issues, a Daegu fire department official said.