Pacific island states are trapped in Cold War 2.0

South China Morning Post - Sep 20, 2026

In early July, China fired a test missile from a nuclear submarine into the South Pacific for the first time, a weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Washington and Canberra were livid. The Pacific has long been the exclusive testing ground for such long-range missiles from the United States. How dare China! The reaction from Pacific island states was more measured. While leaders from Tuvalu, Palau and the Solomon Islands strongly criticised the test, the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum...

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Justice minister nominee's withdrawal deals blow to president, ruling party

Justice minister nominee's withdrawal deals blow to president, ruling party

Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won's withdrawal from candidacy is expected to deal another setback to President Lee Jae Myung and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), as they are already struggling with declining public support. Kim stepped down Saturday, 20 days after his nomination, following controversy over several allegations — including that he used his influence as a lawmaker in 2021 to help a pharmaceutical company get regulatory approval for a COVID-19 clinical drug trial. He withdrew even after the National Assembly approved his nomination. While Kim’s withdrawal eased the immediate pressure on Lee over the appointment, it reinforced concerns over shortcomings in the administration’s personnel vetting system. Kim’s departure also leaves the justice ministry without leadership at a critical time, with pressing tasks piling up ahead of a major overhaul of the criminal justice system, scheduled to take place in October as part of Lee’s signature prosecution reform drive. For the ruling party, Kim’s departure highlighted its political misjudgment. DPK lawmake

Parental leave benefits for foreign workers double last year

Parental leave benefits for foreign workers double last year

Parental leave benefits paid to foreign workers in Korea doubled over the past year, data showed Sunday. The data, submitted to Rep. Park Soo-min of the People Power Party by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, showed total payments reached 36.45 billion won last year, up from 18.15 billion won the year before. The number of recipients rose more than 50 percent to 2,031 from 1,354. Through July of this year, 1,476 foreign nationals have already received 26.71 billion won in benefits. Foreign nationals made up 1.2 percent of the total recipients as of July, up from 1.1 percent last year and 1 percent two years ago. Ethnic Korean Chinese received the most support, with 1,154 recipients sharing 22.56 billion won, followed by Vietnamese with 895 recipients and 12.87 billion won. Besides the top two groups, 652 Chinese nationals claimed 11.54 billion won in benefits, 366 Americans received 5.78 billion won, 261 Japanese received 4.99 billion won and 177 Canadians claimed 3.08 billion won. Under Korean labor laws, foreign workers holding relevant visas, like E-9 or H-2 visas, can enroll in em

Military duty alternative revives for large conglomerates after 14 years amid AI drive

Military duty alternative revives for large conglomerates after 14 years amid AI drive

The assignment of expert research personnel to large conglomerates is expected to resume for the first time in 14 years, this time in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, helping prevent research career interruptions and the outflow of workers abroad. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday, the ministry recommended LG Electronics, HD Hyundai Robotics, Samsung Medison and Samsung Electronics to be designated for hosting expert research personnel, with their nine research institutes needing 81 personnel. The expert research personnel program lets science and engineering graduates with master's or doctoral degrees work at research sites for three years instead of serving 18 to 21 months in the regular military, depending on the branch. However, new assignments to large conglomerates were suspended in 2013 to secure research and development personnel for small and medium-sized enterprises, closing off the path to military service at large conglomerate research institutes and drawing criticism f

Inside the Seo Hui: A look at Korea's newest submarine

Inside the Seo Hui: A look at Korea's newest submarine

GEOJE, South Gyeongsang Province — Wearing gloves, reporters ducked beneath a canvas cover and descended a ladder into the Seo Hui, a 3,600-ton submarine under construction at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard. At the bottom was a narrow passage, barely wide enough for two adults. Pipes and equipment remained exposed, while stickers reading “painting inspection completed” showed that work was still underway. Hanwha Ocean opened the interior of the Seo Hui, the second Jangbogo-III Batch-II submarine, to the media for the first time Tuesday. Its launch ceremony is tentatively planned for November, although the timing could change depending on the Navy’s schedule. The contract stipulates that delivery is set for December 2027. Measuring about 89 meters long, the Seo Hui is larger than the Dosan Ahn Chang-ho-class submarines of Batch-I. Its combat management and sonar systems have been upgraded to improve data processing, target detection and land attack capabilities. Its overall localization rate is about 80 percent. In the torpedo room in the bow, horizontal launch tubes were arrange

Shark sightings draw crowds at Busan's North Port

Shark sightings draw crowds at Busan's North Port

Repeated shark sightings at a waterfront park in Busan’s North Port have drawn crowds of curious visitors, prompting city authorities to step up safety measures while monitoring the sea creature’s return to open waters. A shark estimated to be at least 3 meters long was first spotted at around 8:57 a.m. on Friday in a waterway at the port’s Waterfront Park, according to city officials. Another shark sighting was reported at around 1:05 p.m. the following day. The creature was believed to be a basking shark, a species found in subtropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, including waters off the Korean Peninsula. Although the species is not known to be aggressive, city officials said it could still pose a danger if provoked or approached too closely. The Korea Coast Guard initially tried to guide the shark out of the narrow waterway. But it suspended the effort after the National Institute of Fisheries Science advised that forcing the animal away could trigger defensive or aggressive behavior. Instead of deterring visitors, the unusual sight quickly turned the park

BTS performs at iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas

BTS performs at iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas

BTS has performed at a major U.S. music festival, appearing as a closing act, its label BigHit Music said Sunday. The septet performed four songs — "Swim," "2.0," "Mic Drop" and "FYA" — at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday. The annual festival also featured Cardi B, Snoop Dog and Benson Boone alongside the K-pop superstars. It marked BTS' first appearance at the festival in six years. BTS is set to begin the Latin American leg of its "ARIRANG" world tour on Oct. 2 in Bogota, followed by stops in Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.

BTS, BLACKPINK lead K-pop charge in Best Group race at MTV VMAs

BTS, BLACKPINK lead K-pop charge in Best Group race at MTV VMAs

K-pop-linked acts make up half of the Best Group race at this year's MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), with BTS seeking to reclaim a title it held four years running and BLACKPINK looking to defend the trophy it took home last year. MTV announced nominees for four social media vote categories Friday (local time), naming BTS, BLACKPINK, rookie boy group CORTIS and global girl group KATSEYE for Best Group. They will compete against British girl group FLO and U.S. acts Fuerza Regida, Geese and Twenty One Pilots. The addition brings BTS' nomination tally to three for the event, following earlier nods for Song of the Year and Best K-pop for "SWIM," the lead track of its fifth studio album, "ARIRANG." The septet won Best Group four consecutive times from 2019 to 2022, the most by any act in the category's history. CORTIS also has three nominations. Last month, the group earned its first-ever VMA nods for Best New Artist and for Best K-pop with April's "REDRED." The five-member group, which launched just over a year ago, is the most recently debuted act in the Best Group lineup. KATSEYE received f

N. Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles hours apart ahead of Trump-Xi summit

N. Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles hours apart ahead of Trump-Xi summit

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea within hours of each other Sunday, ahead of a high-stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping set for later this week. The missile were detected about three hours apart — the first at around 3:00 p.m. and the second at roughly 5:50 p.m., both launched from the Wonsan area, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The first missile flew about 450 kilometers, while the second flew more than 600 km, the JCS said, adding that further analysis was under way to determine the exact specifications. The JCS said the South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities tracked and shared related details from the initial stage of the launch, and shared information on the missile launch with Japan as well. "We are closely monitoring North Korea's various activities and maintain the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations, under the staunch South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture," it added. The latest missile launches came ahead of the upcoming Trump-Xi

NCT 127 makes missing members part of Seoul show

NCT 127 makes missing members part of Seoul show

The loudest KSPO Dome got on Sunday, where K-pop boy band NCT 127 wrapped the Seoul leg of its "NEO CITY – THE REDLINE" tour, had less to do with anyone standing onstage. Midway through "Ay-Yo," the screens cut to members Doyoung and Jungwoo, both away on military service. Their verses played out on video while the five who were actually there held the floor, as an audience that had already been loud for more than an hour found another register. That turned out to be the logic of the entire show. The fifth tour by the SM Entertainment act, which debuted a decade ago as a nine-piece group, opened with four of those members off the stage — two have left the group, while Doyoung and Jungwoo are serving in the military. Rather than detouring around the gaps, the production kept putting them in front of the crowd. The three-night run, which opened Friday, drew about 31,500 fans. It was the group's first headlining show in Korea in a year and eight months, and the first tour with the five-member lineup of Taeyong, Johnny, Yuta, Jaehyun and Haechan. The night opened with the five strung up o

Rare earth exposure can triple low birthweight risk: Chinese study

Rare earth exposure can triple low birthweight risk: Chinese study

A new study finds that prenatal exposure to rare earth elements can raise the risk of low birthweight, with some substances increasing the danger by more than three times. Researchers tracked 4,891 pregnant women who gave birth at Wuhan Maternal and Child Health Hospital between 2012 and 2014. They measured the concentration of 13 rare earth elements including cerium, ytterbium, and lanthanum in urine samples collected from the mothers. After adjusting for confounding factors such as maternal...

New North Korea-Russia bridge delivers a powerful message to China

New North Korea-Russia bridge delivers a powerful message to China

The recent opening of a new road bridge between North Korea and Russia may look like a modest infrastructure project. In reality, the 1km stretch across the Tumen River carries implications far beyond the movement of vehicles between two border towns. For China, it is a reminder that its influence over North Korea is no longer as secure as it once appeared and that Russia may be increasingly capable of challenging Beijing’s interests on its northeastern periphery. The bridge, inaugurated on...

Hong Kong secures expanded equal treatment and investment guarantees across Asean

Hong Kong secures expanded equal treatment and investment guarantees across Asean

Hong Kong firms will benefit from expanded non-discriminatory treatment and investment guarantees in 10 Asean states after a protocol amending an investment agreement with the bloc was signed on Sunday. The protocol was signed in Manila – where Asean economic ministers are meeting – ahead of dedicated trade consultations between Hong Kong and the bloc. Undersecretary for Commerce and Economic Development Bernard Chan Pak-li signed the protocol for Hong Kong, alongside Philippine Trade Secretary...

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