Readers discuss why the South Korean fantasy of achieving intra-Korean peace through appeasement has been shattered, and parallels between Russia and Israel.

Can Beijing mend fences with its neighbours in Northeast Asia as host of the region’s sporting spectacular?

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s Pacific overtures reflect his desire for South Korea to become a ‘global pivotal state’ with a ‘bold’ foreign policy – but could it turn into a ‘nightmare’?

The South Korean president said he doubted whether China’s ambassador ‘has an attitude of mutual respect’, as local media reported that Seoul was pivoting to a ‘hard-line stance’ in its relations with Beijing.

In 2015, the two countries signed a controversial deal on the sexual enslavement of South Korean women by Japan during World War II; this latest ruling is viewed as favouring President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been striving to improve relations with Japan.

Seoul and Tokyo are seeking a thaw in relations as shared security concerns push them to fulfil their roles as otherwise ‘natural allies’.

‘I am so lonely,’ said one defector whose son was beaten to death by North Korean authorities when they discovered she had fled. ‘I want to go back and die there – South Korea is as suffocating as the North.’

North Korea’s communications with the South and the UN Command have dwindled in recent years, with Covid-19 further encouraging its retreat from in-person meetings.

Japan has kept out of the domestic debate in South Korea but is keen to strengthen defence ties with Seoul given regional security concerns over China and North Korea.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff last week denied a drone intruded into a no-fly zone near the presidential office, but reversed its stance on Thursday and confirmed it had violated the northern end of the area.

An analyst said the agreement helped in ‘preventing a major military clash’ between the two Koreas and scrapping it would increase the chance of ‘an actual clash in border areas’.

The firings came days after Washington, Seoul and Tokyo announced largely symbolic sanctions on some North Koreans and institutions accused of illicit activities to finance the country’s nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

Suh Hoon’s arrest came as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative government investigates its predecessor Moon Jae-in’s handling of the killing and another incident.

The white Pungsan dogs are legally categorised as state property, but the former president took them to his personal residence after his term ended in May under an agreement his office said fell apart due to his successor’s ‘unexplained opposition’.

Japan’s move to send Taro Aso to meet South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol has raised eyebrows, given his family’s wealth was accumulated by using Korean forced labourers.

Suh Wook and Kim Hong-hee are accused of falsifying documents related to the 2020 killing of fisheries official Lee Dae-jun near the rivals’ sea border

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol made crude comments referring to Joe Biden’s drive to increase US funding to the Global Fund, which would require congressional approval.

Was he a would-be defector fleeing gambling debts, as the administration of then-president Moon Jae-in said, or is that a smear campaign and cover-up, as Yoon Suk-yeol’s government now claims?

As South Korea and Japan prepare to hold their first defence talks in six years, Seoul and Tokyo are under pressure to pursue a mutual understanding as they face common concerns over China’s assertiveness.

South Korea’s new president has moved to step up joint exercises with the US as his government takes a tougher line with China and the North. Washington, Tokyo and Seoul agreed at a June meeting in Singapore to hold the drills.

The South Korean president called for ties to ‘swiftly and properly improve’ as the ‘mission of our times align’. It came as Fumio Kishida sent an offering to a controversial shrine – and pledged that Japan would never again wage war.

South Korea’s “Kill Chain” calls for pre-emptive strikes against the North’s missiles and possibly its senior leadership if an imminent attack is detected – but it’s a strategy some experts say may lead to regional instability.