Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

What We're Watching

Japan, US, South Korea unite against North Korea-Russia Pact

President Joe Biden, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba participate in a trilateral meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 15, 2024.

President Joe Biden, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba participate in a trilateral meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 15, 2024.

REUTERS/Leah Millis
In a joint press conference on Friday at the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, and Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba warned of the latest “dangerous and destabilizing” cooperation between Russia and North Korea. They condemned the inking of a new military treaty between Moscow and Pyongyang, which will see up to 12,000 North Korean troops bolster Russia’s border with Ukraine.

The next day, Japan’s foreign minister, Takeshi Iwaya, met his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, in Kyiv, to reaffirm Tokyo’s support for Ukraine and discuss further sanctions against Russia. Sybiha accused Pyongyang of feeding Moscow’s war machine in exchange for access to Russian military program, including missiles and nuclear weapons. Then on Sunday, Japan announced it will begin holding regular joint exercises with US troops in Australia starting in 2025, as those three countries strengthen their security ties amid growing threats from China.

Predictably, Pyongyang is not amused. On Sunday, North Korean state media warned that it is “impossible to sit idly by” as Japan boosts its long-range strike capabilities and accused Japan of having “war fever.” Japan’s new government plans to further increase defense spending in “counterstrike capabilities,” including a stockpile of long-range cruise missiles, as the world “has entered a new era of crisis.”

More For You

Caracas, Venezuela ? In the photos, Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez (center) met with US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum (center, left) at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 4, 2026. Rodríguez discussed a bilateral agenda in sectors such as energy and reiterated that her government is "ready" to cooperate with the United States.

Caracas, Venezuela ? In the photos, Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez (center) met with US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum (center, left) at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 4, 2026. Rodríguez discussed a bilateral agenda in sectors such as energy and reiterated that her government is "ready" to cooperate with the United States.

Latin American News Agency
US lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s leaderDelcy Rodríguez, the long-time Venezuelan regime insider who took over after the United States abducted her boss Nicolás Maduro in January, had been under US sanctions since 2018. That changed on Wednesday, after the US lifted the sanctions against her. She is so far the only member of Venezuela’s governing [...]
​U.S. President Donald Trump speaks next to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during the signing ceremony for an executive order on mail ballots, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2026.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks next to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during the signing ceremony for an executive order on mail ballots, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2026.

REUTERS/Evan Vucci
Trump takes Iran war to prime-timeWhat are Donald Trump’s aims in Iran? He’s sent conflicting signals in recent days — is he ending the war soon or launching a ground invasion? Is he forcing open the Strait of Hormuz or forgetting about it? Has the Iranian regime changed, or not? This evening may bring some clarity when he addresses the nation at [...]
​U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum look on, on the day he signs an executive order, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 23, 2025.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum look on, on the day he signs an executive order, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 23, 2025.

REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Trump’s Strait talk gets wavyThe US president has now suggested several times that the Iran war could end without reopening the Strait of Hormuz. On Tuesday morning, he blasted European allies for not sending forces to protect navigation through the Iran-dominated waterway, which handles a fifth of the world’s oil and gas. “Go get your own oil!” [...]
US President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, USA, on March 29, 2026.

US President Donald Trump talks to members of the media aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, USA, on March 29, 2026.

REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Donald Trump threatens to “take the oil” in IranThe US president made the comments to the Financial Times on Sunday, just as hundreds of US Special Operations troops arrived in the Middle East ahead of a possible mission to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub. (As it happens, Trump has been thinking of doing this for nearly 40 years.) [...]