Free Republic

At North Korea’s new beach resort, the white sand glistened against the crystal-clear waters. Ten minutes of Wi-Fi cost $1.70. Food arrived in abundance, albeit with the same three beverage choices: water, tea or beer. The weeklong trip cost roughly $2,000. The catch? All travelers had to be Russian. Welcome to North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma coastal complex, a megaresort built by the regime to portray the country as modern and affluent. It is opening to foreign vacationers for the first time, as part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s drive to attract more tourism to his cash-strapped country and...

Chinese archaeologists have uncovered the tomb of Kim Young, a hostage prince from the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla, in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, Northwest China. This remarkable find marks the first formal archaeological excavation of a Tang Dynasty (618–907) royal tomb belonging to the Silla kingdom.The epitaph discovered inside offers a rare, detailed account of Kim Young's life, deepening our understanding of the Tang Dynasty's hostage system and diplomatic ties with Silla, located on the Korean Peninsula, according to reports by the China News Service...The tomb is a single-chamber earthen cave featuring a long sloped entrance passage and a skylight...

During the Neolithic Revolution, the development of agriculture led to an epic shift in the way human societies lived. As agricultural technology spread out from the Near East, traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles diminished in favor of more sedentary farming communities. This transition was usually accompanied by a dramatic shift in diet. However, according to a statement released by the University of York, this was not necessarily the case in Japan. Agriculture, rice, and millet were introduced to the Japanese islands from the Korean Peninsula around 3,000 years ago. Research conducted by archaeologists from the University of York, the University of Cambridge,...

The preliminary agreement suggests there is a path forward to lowering the auto duties on other major trading partners, as well.President Donald Trump’s “massive” trade deal with Japan is buoying foreign carmakers — and alarming American car companies who fear they are now at a disadvantage.Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on all foreign auto manufacturers in early April, a duty that also applies to cars made by U.S. companies from parts imported from Mexico and Canada. But now, the president is planning to lower the tariff to 15 percent for Japanese autos and auto parts, the White House confirmed...

...South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, sent special envoys to Australia and Germany to discuss defense and trade issues, and plans on dispatching delegations to several others. Brazil and India announced plans to increase their bilateral trade by 70 percent, to $20 billion. Indonesia says it is nearing a treaty with the European Union that would drop most tariffs on both sides to zero. And in Vietnam, which Mr. Trump said had accepted 20 percent tariffs on its goods headed to the United States before last week’s letters, the deputy trade minister emphasized efforts to reduce her country’s reliance...

Surgeon faces murder charge as abortion remains in legal gray area A doctor has been arrested and charged with murder after the termination of a pregnancy at nine months last year, underscoring persistent legal uncertainties as lawmakers continue to struggle with abortion regulation. Judge Park Jeong-ho at the Seoul Central District Court issued arrest warrants on Saturday for the surgeon, identified only by his last name Shim, and the clinic’s head, surnamed Yoon, over their alleged roles in the death of a baby believed to have been born alive and then left to die through willful neglect. This arrest follows...

The United States will impose 25% blanket tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea starting Aug. 1, President Donald Trump revealed Monday. Trump, in a pair of Truth Social posts, shared screenshots of letters apparently sent to Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung dictating the new tariff rates. The two form letters appear to be the first of what Trump said could be as many as 15 letters sent between Monday and Wednesday, the deadline when his so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries were scheduled to snap back to the higher levels he...

Financial markets are on edge, but White House officials say they anticipate “a lot of deals very quickly.”President Donald Trump on Monday threatened 25 percent tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea, the first of what he said would be a series of higher duties unveiled by the White House as it continues negotiating trade deals with dozens of countries. In a pair of letters posted on Truth Social, his social media site, Trump said the United States “has agreed to continue working with” each country despite large trade deficits. “Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal,” he...

In the wake of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, the regime appears to be turning inward — escalating repression with chilling speed. According to Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC research at United Against Nuclear Iran, the Islamic Republic is accelerating toward what he said is a "North Korea-style model of isolation and control." "We’re witnessing a kind of domestic isolation that will have major consequences for the Iranian people," Aarabi told Fox News Digital. "The regime has always been totalitarian, but the level of suppression now is unprecedented. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen before." A source inside Iran...

Federal authorities have unraveled several schemes by the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK) that were used to fund its regime through remote information technology (IT) work for U.S. companies, resulting in two indictments, tech and financial seizures and an arrest. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday that North Korean actors were helped by individuals in the U.S., China, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan to obtain employment with over 100 U.S. companies, including Fortune 500 companies. In one scheme, U.S.-based individuals created front companies and fraudulent websites to promote the legitimacy of remote workers, while hosting laptop...

On June 25, Korea commemorates the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. On this day of 1950, the war broke out by North Korea’s invasion across the 38th parallel. The Korean War was not fought by Koreans alone. Over 1.9 million soldiers from 22 United Nations member states fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the Republic of Korea in defense of freedom and democracy. Though more than 70 years have passed since the signing of the Armistice Agreement in 1953, the Korean Peninsula remains divided. As we remember the Korean War today, let us not forget the sacrifices of Korean...

World leaders either become known for quickly learning life’s lessons–or not. The latter category is largely a product of one’s personal lust for power intertwined with an ideology allowing it to flourish. But membership is at times encouraged by the former’s failure to appropriately discourage the latter’s aggressive behavior early on.Falling into the latter category is Iran’s mullahs. It has taken them nearly a half century to learn an important lesson, coming after testing two U.S. presidents—one weak, one strong—who served in two different centuries. That lesson employs a simple rule of thumb concerning who has a foreign policy backbone:...

The Pentagon's inspector general admitting that some arms sent to Ukraine are ending up in the wrong hands... A Russian researcher says Poland may send troops into Ukraine... Russian President Vladimir Putin warning Poland about any military action against Belarus... In Guatemala the offices of an opposition political party raided today... North Korea conducting multiple cruise missile launches into the Yellow Sea... Here in the US the Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly used the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) against a US senator, a state senator and... In Canada a retired Mountie is charged with obtaining information and doing other...

North Korea has successfully repaired and relaunched its new 5,000-ton naval destroyer less than a month after the boat embarrassingly capsized, according to state media reports. The Korean Central News Agency said the destroyer — the second one Pyongyang has built this year — was back in the water on Thursday. The reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was reportedly at the launch, held along the country’s east coast. Kim said the new battleship stood as “convincing proof of the rapid transformation of our Navy. … No one will doubt, I think, the rapid transformation of our Navy as...

Five years ago South Korean archaeologists unearthed an elaborate 1,400-year-old grave at the site of Gyeongju, which once served as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (c. a.d. 57-535). The tomb, dubbed 120-2, belonged to a high-status individual who had been buried while dressed in a wealth of ornamental attire including gold earrings, a silver belt, silver and beaded bracelets, and bronze shoes. The deceased was also wearing a gilt-bronze crown which, The Miami Herald reports, archaeologists have only recently realized was the most splendid object of them all, a one-of-a-kind item. Closer inspection revealed that the crown...

North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts. The country’s ballistic missile testing, military parades, and policy statements suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defenses.North Korea has tested a nuclear explosive device six times since 2006. Each test produced underground blasts progressively higher in magnitude and estimated yield. North Korea conducted its most recent test on September 3, 2017. A North Korean press release stated it had tested a hydrogen bomb (or two-stage thermonuclear warhead) that...

CNN’s famed war correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is being mocked for claiming she’s terrified of traveling to the US — and even needs burner phones and other prep “as if I was going to North Korea.” The British-born journalist, who has covered war zones extensively throughout her career, revealed that she spoke to CNN security and carried a burner phone when she traveled to the US last month to give an address at Harvard University. “I must say I was afraid. I’m a foreigner. I don’t have a green card. I’m not an American citizen. I’m fairly prominent, and I literally...

Have you heard? South Korea pulled a “North Korea” and just crushed their enemy into dust. ... It all started when the liberals impeached the right-wing president. Then, they triggered a new election, which, of course, they won. And now, they’re feverishly working to expand their high court to lock in a permanent liberal majority. Steve Bannon saw it coming back in May; he knew our South Korean allies were headed for serious trouble. ... Would Republicans ever pull something like this? Oh, heavens no. We’re still stuck operating under the Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney battle plan: “That’s not...

This is just a rough AI translation of the original Japanese to English below: “On the 4th, North Korea's KIM JONG-UN, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, met with the secretary of the General Secretary of Security Council of Russia Mr SHOIGU. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on the 5th. Mr. Kim promised to unconditionally support Russia's position on Ukraine and other international issues. KCNA reported, "Mr. Kim has promised that North Korea will continue to unconditionally support Russia's position and foreign policy." According to KCNA, Kim said that North Korea would responsibly comply with...

While it’s somewhat impressive that North Korea was able to so quickly pull off the construction of these ships in such a short amount of time, a year is nowhere near long enough to conduct rigorous testing. Even if the corners being cut weren’t responsible for the second of these warships capsizing, the odds are that they would have started causing issues later on. That speed of construction also raises an interesting question: Is North Korea’s naval modernization more about building up national prestige than it is about developing a credible threat against its enemies? It’s possible, perhaps even likely,...