Korean Peninsula A to Z ㅣ KBS WORLD Radio

The Korean War,
and a Panorama of 70 Years

At 4 a.m. on Sunday, June 25, 1950, North Korea launched a surprise attack against South Korea to ignite the Korean War, a tragic fratricidal conflict.
70 years have passed since then.
The sound of gunfire and cries of victims stopped long ago, but the pain of national division still remains.
While South and North Korea have feuded and clashed with each other occasionally, they have never given up hope for a peaceful, unified Korea.
Let’s look back on the paths the two Koreas have walked over the past seven decades.

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Main News N. Korean Leader's Powerful Sister Criticizes S. Korea-US Military Exercises Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has criticized the joint military drills between South Korea and the United States. In a statement carried by the North’s state Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Wednesday, the vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee said that the U.S. and its puppets conducted about 80 rounds of joint military drills so far this year, and South Korea individually carried out about 60 exercises. Mentioning each of the combined exercises between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan conducted this year, Kim accused the nations of heightening regional tensions by holding joint military maneuvers almost every week. Kim then vowed to continue to strengthen the country’s overwhelming military power to defend its sovereignty, security and regional peace. In another statement by an official from the department of press information at the North’s foreign ministry, the North called for the U.S. and South Korea to stop holding joint exercises, denouncing them as an irresponsible and concerning show of force that drives the Korean Peninsula into an unpredictable situation. 2024-04-24

Main News KCNA: N. Korea Conducts First 'Nuclear Trigger' Simulation Drills North Korea says it has carried out its first tactical nuclear counterattack drills involving super-large multiple rocket launchers under the guidance of regime leader Kim Jong-un. The North’s state Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) reported on Tuesday that the North conducted the drills the previous day to practice operating super-large multiple rocket launchers under the national nuclear weapons management system called “Nuclear Trigger.” The KCNA said that drills were a “clear warning” to its enemies, denouncing recent joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. as constant military provocation by enemy forces. During Monday’s exercise, units reportedly practiced switching to a nuclear counterattack posture in the event that the highest level of nuclear crisis alarm, the "Volcano Alarm," is issued. The KCNA said the launched rockets flew 352 kilometers before accurately hitting the target island and Kim highly praised the readiness of "the most powerful" tactical nuclear attack weapons, expressing satisfaction with the drills. The report comes a day after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles from an area near Pyongyang into the East Sea at around 3 p.m. Monday. 2024-04-23

Main News JCS: N. Korea Fires Ballistic Missiles toward East Sea North Korea has fired multiple ballistic missiles into the East Sea. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said it detected the launch at around 3 p.m. on Monday from an area near the North Korean capital Pyongyang. The missiles flew about 300 kilometers before splashing into the East Sea as the JCS is analyzing additional details. The latest launch comes just three days after the North's power test of a "super-large warhead" designed for the "Hwasal-1 Ra-3" strategic cruise missile and a test firing of its new anti-aircraft missile, the "Pyoljji-1-2." North Korea earlier this month also test fired an intermediate-range hypersonic missile, banned under UN Security Council resolutions. 2024-04-22

Main News N. Korean Leader Vows to Develop Ties with China North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly met with China’s top legislator, Zhao Leji, on Saturday to discuss ways to develop bilateral relations. The North’s state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Sunday that Kim met with Zhao, China’s third-highest ranking official, the previous day at the headquarters of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee in Pyongyang. During the luncheon meeting, the two sides reportedly discussed ways to enhance and expand exchanges and cooperation to develop friendly relations on the occasion of the China-North Korea Friendship Year. Kim reportedly stressed that Zhao's visit has great significance in demonstrating the invincibility of the North Korea-China friendship and further developing the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries as required by the times. Kim then hoped that the two countries would steadily develop these durable traditions of friendship so they would see progress and fruition in the North Korea-China Friendship Year. The KCNA said the talks were held in a kind, sincere and comradely atmosphere, adding that Zhao and his delegation left Pyongyang on Saturday. Zhao is the highest-level Chinese official to visit North Korea since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A Chinese delegation led by Zhao arrived in the North on Thursday for a three-day trip to attend the opening ceremony of the China-North Korea Friendship Year, which marked the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Beijing and Pyongyang. 2024-04-14

Making Peace Together 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Pyongyang Date: Sept. 18-20, 2018 (Tues.-Thurs) Venue: Pyongyang(North Korea) Results: Pyongyang Declaration VIEW MORE

Timeline of recent events on the Korean Peninsula VIEW MORE

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