The discussions took place during recent meetings of the bilateral Integrated Defense Dialogue in Washington, according to a South Korean defense ministry spokesperson, who said talks had made “progress” but denied reports suggesting the move would create joint or divided control of the Demilitarized Zone.

“It is not joint management. Nor is it divided management,” the spokesperson told reporters. “It is making DMZ management in some sections more realistic.”

The Demilitarized Zone, established under the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War, remains one of the world’s most heavily armed borders. The conflict ended without a formal peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.

The United Nations Command, led by the United States, oversees the DMZ under the terms of the armistice agreement. Seoul said consultations with Washington were focused on technical and operational arrangements in certain sections of the border while respecting the authority of the UN Command.

The talks come amid renewed debate in South Korea over wartime operational control of allied forces. President Lee Jae Myung has pledged to seek the transfer of wartime command authority from Washington to Seoul during his presidency, which runs through 2030.

Under the current framework, the United States would command combined South Korean and U.S. forces in the event of war on the peninsula. Successive governments in Seoul, however, have sought greater military autonomy while maintaining the bilateral alliance.

The discussions also coincide with a broader recalibration in South Korea’s policy language toward North Korea. In its 2026 white paper, Seoul’s Unification Ministry described the two Koreas as effectively existing as separate states while reaffirming the long-term goal of reunification.

The shift reflects evolving security dynamics on the peninsula as North Korea continues expanding its missile and nuclear programs amid stalled diplomatic engagement with Washington and Seoul.

The meeting in Andong, a historic southeastern South Korean city known for its UNESCO-listed folk village, marked the second leg of an unprecedented series of hometown summits between the leaders. In January, Lee traveled to Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, becoming the first South Korean leader to hold a bilateral summit in a Japanese counterpart’s hometown.

South Korea’s presidential office said the latest meeting was intended to reinforce mutual trust and maintain momentum in bilateral ties, while Takaichi said before the talks that cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo was increasingly important given instability in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East.

The summit agenda included economic and energy cooperation, the impact of the Iran conflict and broader regional security concerns, according to officials from both governments.

Analysts said the meeting reflected a strategic decision by both countries to prioritize coordination over unresolved historical disputes rooted in Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

“The two countries put more emphasis on agenda for cooperation than contentious issues,” said Choi Eunmi, a Japan specialist at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “They would now think constantly fluctuating or negative bilateral ties won’t be helpful to anyone.”

Relations between South Korea and Japan improved significantly in 2023 after previous administrations sought to move beyond disputes involving wartime forced labor and the issue of so-called comfort women, while strengthening coordination on regional security and supply chain resilience.

Both countries remain key United States allies confronting shared concerns over China’s regional influence and North Korea’s expanding nuclear and missile programs.

Observers initially questioned whether ties would remain stable after Lee, viewed as a political liberal, and Takaichi, known for her conservative nationalist credentials and hawkish security positions, entered office last year. However, the two leaders have maintained frequent engagement and public displays of cooperation.

In August last year, Lee selected Japan as the destination for his first bilateral summit after taking office, an unusual diplomatic move for a South Korean president. During a January meeting in Nara, the leaders participated in a public music session featuring K-pop songs, including BTS’ “Dynamite,” reflecting efforts to project warmer bilateral relations.

Analysts say broader geopolitical shifts have accelerated the rapprochement between Seoul and Tokyo, including concerns over US President Donald Trump and his administration’s trade and security policies, as well as the economic fallout from the Iran conflict.

Both South Korea and Japan have pledged major investments in the United States, while navigating uncertainty linked to tariffs, supply chain disruptions and evolving US security commitments in Asia.
Experts cautioned, however, that unresolved historical grievances could still trigger future tensions if left unaddressed.

“Both countries aren’t talking about how to resolve and prevent recurrences of conflicts over those issues,” Choi said. “We don’t know when they could occur again.”

The inauguration was held on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of what North Korea described as the end of an operation to “liberate” Russia’s Kursk border region, where North Korean troops were deployed to help repel a Ukrainian incursion, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim attended the ceremony alongside visiting Russian Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov and Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s State Duma, underscoring the growing importance of military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

KCNA reported that Kim placed flowers before the remains of dead soldiers and participated in a burial ritual by throwing dirt over one coffin, describing the fallen troops as symbols of “the Korean people’s heroism.”In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim said the soldiers’ spirits would support “a victorious march by the Korean and Russian people” and praised joint operations for frustrating what he called a U.S.-led Western “hegemonic plot and military adventurism” on the Russia-Ukraine front.

North Korea and Russia publicly acknowledged in April 2025 that their forces had fought together in Kursk, a rare admission of direct North Korean military involvement in a foreign conflict.Neither government has disclosed the exact number of North Korean troops deployed.

South Korea’s intelligence service estimated last year that around 15,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to Russia and roughly 2,000 were killed.In a separate meeting with Beloussov, Kim said North Korea would continue to fully support Russia’s efforts to defend its sovereignty and security interests, KCNA said.

Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that Beloussov told Kim Moscow was prepared to sign a bilateral military cooperation plan covering the 2027–2031 period, signaling that security ties could deepen further beyond battlefield coordination.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a letter read aloud by Volodin during the ceremony, said the museum would serve as “a clear symbol of the friendship and solidarity” between the two countries and expressed confidence that their comprehensive strategic partnership would continue to strengthen, KCNA reported.

Since the start of the Ukraine war, Kim has increasingly prioritized relations with Moscow, supplying troops as well as conventional weapons, according to South Korean, U.S. and allied officials.

In return, analysts and Western governments believe Pyongyang has received economic assistance and could seek advanced Russian military technology, including systems that may strengthen its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.Military analysts say North Korean troops initially suffered heavy losses because of limited combat experience and unfamiliarity with modern drone warfare and battlefield conditions in the Kursk region.

However, Ukrainian military and intelligence officials have said the North Korean contingent gradually adapted and became an important element of Russia’s strategy of sustaining manpower pressure by deploying large numbers of troops in prolonged fighting.

The opening of the museum adds a symbolic domestic dimension to Pyongyang’s wartime support for Moscow, presenting the casualties as national sacrifice while reinforcing the political legitimacy of its expanding alignment with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used the anniversary to accuse Moscow of endangering global nuclear safety, saying repeated Russian drone operations near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant risked triggering another man-made catastrophe.

“Russia is once again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster,” Zelensky wrote on social media, referring to Iranian-designed Shahed drones used extensively by Russian forces since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

He said such drones had repeatedly flown over the plant and that one had struck the protective confinement structure last year, calling for stronger international pressure to halt what he described as “nuclear terrorism.”Russian missile and drone strikes on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed at least nine people, regional officials said, making it the deadliest single attack reported during the latest wave of cross-border strikes.

In Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-installed authorities said one man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the port city of Sevastopol. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move widely rejected by the international community, and has since used the peninsula as a key military logistics hub.

In eastern Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-backed governor, said three people were killed in an overnight Ukrainian drone strike on a village, after earlier reporting two deaths on Saturday.Earlier, authorities in Russia’s Belgorod border region said a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack.

Ukraine did not publicly comment on the strikes in Crimea or Luhansk, and the claims could not be independently verified.Ukraine’s military said it had also struck an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, deep inside Russian territory, triggering fires at a facility that processes around 15 million tons of oil annually and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, including supplies for the Russian military.Russia did not immediately comment on the refinery attack.

Kyiv has increasingly used domestically developed long-range drones capable of reaching targets up to 1,500 km (900 miles) inside Russia, targeting energy infrastructure and military logistics sites.Ukrainian officials argue such strikes are aimed at reducing Russian military capacity, particularly as Moscow seeks to increase oil exports after the Trump administration granted temporary sanctions waivers to ease global supply constraints.

The anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster also renewed focus on the safety of the damaged reactor site.Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said repairs to the plant’s outer protective shell must begin urgently after damage from a strike last year compromised a key safety function of the structure.

He warned that prolonged delays could increase risks to the original sarcophagus covering Reactor No. 4, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development estimated repairs would require at least 500 million euros ($586 million).

Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said international partners had so far committed 100 million euros in additional funding, on top of a previously agreed 30 million euros.Ukrainian officials say a Russian drone struck the outer shell of the New Safe Confinement structure in February 2025.

The $2.1 billion steel arch, completed in 2019, was built to contain radioactive material over the destroyed reactor.Moscow denied responsibility and accused Kyiv of staging the incident.Separately, Russia’s Defense Minister Andrei Belousov visited North Korea on Sunday for talks with leader Kim Jong Un, where both sides discussed expanding military cooperation.

Belousov said the two countries had agreed to move military ties to a “sustainable, long-term basis,” according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.During the visit, he awarded Russia’s Order of Courage to North Korean troops who served in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion in August 2024.

Kim has supplied thousands of troops and significant weapons shipments to support Russia’s war effort.

The visit comes as Moscow and Pyongyang continue to strengthen military and diplomatic cooperation following their 2024 strategic defence pact.Earlier, North Korean state media KCNA reported that Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin had also arrived in Pyongyang to attend the opening ceremony of a newly built memorial honoring North Korean troops killed while fighting in the Ukraine war.

Belousov is expected to hold meetings with North Korea’s top leadership and participate in “ceremonial and commemorative events,” according to the Russian defence ministry.Separately, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marking the opening of the memorial.

Putin thanked Kim and North Korean soldiers for assisting Russia in repelling what Moscow described as a major Ukrainian incursion into the western Kursk region and said he was confident the two countries would continue strengthening their strategic partnership.

Russia and North Korea significantly expanded their relations after Kim and Putin met in June 2024 and signed a comprehensive strategic treaty that included a mutual defence clause.Since 2023, both countries have accelerated military exchanges and diplomatic coordination, drawing close international scrutiny over North Korea’s alleged military support for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

The memorial inauguration and Belousov’s visit underscore the growing public acknowledgment of North Korea’s role in the conflict and signal further institutional deepening of Moscow-Pyongyang security ties.

Prosecutors said in a statement that the new sentence was being pursued on charges of aiding the enemy, arguing that Yoon’s alleged actions were intended to “fabricate wartime conditions” and undermined national security.

The request comes after Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment in February for leading what authorities described as an insurrection aimed at paralysing South Korea’s National Assembly.According to prosecutors, the drone operation heightened tensions with North Korea and led to the exposure of classified military information after the drones crashed, including details related to force capabilities.

The allegations were also reported by Yonhap news agency.Yoon has appealed his earlier conviction, maintaining that his decision to declare martial law was taken “solely for the sake of the nation.”The case adds to ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, where the two Koreas remain technically at war.

Drone activity has been a recurring source of friction between the sides.Earlier this month, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret to Pyongyang following an investigation that found government officials had sent drones into North Korea in January.

In response, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the statement as “wise behavior,” though prospects for improved relations diminished after North Korea resumed describing the South as its “most hostile” adversary.

Lee has pledged to repair inter-Korean relations by halting provocations associated with his predecessor and has indicated that a formal apology over the drone incidents may be considered.

The case, being heard at the Seoul Central District Court, is part of a series of legal proceedings against Yoon following his removal from office last year after a brief imposition of martial law that triggered political turmoil in the country.

Prosecutors allege the drone operation heightened military tensions with North Korea and risked exposing sensitive information about South Korea’s military capabilities after one of the drones crashed.

The charges include benefiting the enemy, a provision that can apply even without direct coordination if national security interests are harmed.

Yoon has denied the allegations, with his legal team stating he did not take any action that could provoke a military confrontation with North Korea.

The trial is one of eight cases currently involving Yoon, reflecting the legal fallout from his presidency and the controversial martial law declaration. The court is expected to issue a ruling at a later date.

The 850-metre bridge, which is being built to connect North Korea’s Rason region with Russia’s Far East highway network, is intended to facilitate movement of goods, vehicles and people, according to KCNA. The project began around a year ago and is expected to strengthen bilateral economic and logistical ties.

The structure was agreed during a 2024 visit to North Korea by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian officials have previously said completion is targeted for June 19, with an inauguration ceremony expected shortly thereafter.

The bridge is being constructed near the existing “Friendship Bridge,” a rail link established in 1959 after the Korean War. Once operational, the new crossing is expected to support limited road traffic capacity, including passenger and commercial vehicles.

Officials in Russia’s Primorsky region have said the project could reduce travel distance between Vladivostok and the North Korean border city of Rason, improving access for trade and tourism flows. The infrastructure is also expected to connect more directly into Russia’s regional transport corridors.

The development comes amid a broader expansion of cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. In 2024, the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that includes security provisions. Reports have indicated increased political, economic and military engagement since then.

Separately, North Korea has also been restoring transport links with China, including the resumption of cross-border passenger rail services after a six-year pause, signalling a gradual reopening of regional connectivity after prolonged pandemic-era and geopolitical restrictions.

The launches took place on Sunday from the destroyer Choe Hyon, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which said the tests were part of efforts to strengthen operational readiness and strategic deterrence.

KCNA reported that two strategic cruise missiles remained airborne for approximately 7,900 seconds, while anti-warship missiles flew for nearly 2,000 seconds. The projectiles followed designated flight paths over the West Sea of Korea, commonly known as the Yellow Sea, and struck their targets with what the agency described as high precision.

The missile tests were conducted from one of North Korea’s two 5,000-ton destroyers, both introduced last year as part of a broader push to enhance naval power. Images released by KCNA showed missiles launching from the vessel and Kim observing the drills alongside military officials.

State media also said Kim received briefings on weapons systems planned for two additional destroyers currently under construction. KCNA reported that he made an “important conclusion” following the review, without providing further detail.Kim expressed satisfaction with the tests, stating that they had strengthened the preparedness of the country’s strategic forces.

He reiterated that reinforcing nuclear deterrence remains the government’s top priority, according to the report.The latest launches add to a series of recent weapons tests by Pyongyang, underscoring continued advancements in both missile technology and maritime strike capabilities.

Wang, on a two-day visit to North Korea, said Beijing and Pyongyang should enhance communication “in the face of a turbulent and complex international situation,” according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.

The visit marks a renewed push to strengthen bilateral relations following a period of limited exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic, and comes as North Korea has also expanded engagement with Russia.

North Korean state media said Kim emphasized the importance of intensifying exchanges at multiple levels, describing closer ties as essential for safeguarding shared interests.

The report confirmed the meeting and highlighted mutual commitments to expand cooperation.Wang also held talks with his North Korean counterpart, pledging to build on what he described as positive momentum in relations and to advance practical cooperation between the two countries.

The diplomatic engagement comes ahead of a planned visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to China next month.

Trump has previously indicated interest in resuming dialogue with Kim, raising the prospect of renewed diplomatic activity on the Korean Peninsula.