South Korea, Japan | featured news

North Korea has plenty of military firepower even if its threat this week of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States is a hollow one, with South Korea most at risk from the isolated regime's artillery and rockets.

A festering territorial dispute between China and Japan has derailed talks for a free trade zone involving the two countries and South Korea, an adviser to China's central bank said on Thursday.

A storm packing 170 mph winds was bearing down on the southern end of Japan's Okinawa Island, where locals and U.S. military personnel stationed at several bases were quickly stocking up and battening down.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday she believed Japan and South Korea were ready to tone down a row over a disputed island chain that has set two close U.S. allies at odds amid heightened regional tensions with China.

A South Korean official says the country's president has visited islets that Japan claims as its own. The move likely will deepen animosity between the rivals.

Washington has urged the governments in Tokyo and Seoul to increase cooperation. But the pact triggered an uproar in South Korea, where resentment of Japan’s early 20th-century colonization remains raw and the public regards any sign of Japan’s growing military role with deep suspicion.

A treaty between South Korea and Japan will encourage the sharing of military data on their common concerns: North Korea’s threats and China’s military expansion.

The foreign ministers of the United States, Japan and South Korea are expected to meet in Washington on Monday to discuss North Korea and other issues, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea kicked off a summit in Beijing on Saturday expected to focus on bringing North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks and building regional trust. The gathering is the second leg of new Japanese ...