Seoul abandoned a covert program in the 1970s, but some argue it is time for the country to embrace its nuclear ambitions and safeguard against a Russia-style invasion.
South Korea says Kim Jong-un disguised an older missile as a new one to exaggerate his country’s weapons achievements when he badly needs political leverage.
The South Korean president-elect’s decision to move both the presidential office and the Defense Ministry comes at a time when North Korea is rapidly escalating tension.
It was the country’s first long-range ballistic missile test since 2017, and it raised the specter of intensified provocations and threats on the Korean Peninsula.