Just 67 North Korean defectors arrived last year. Inter-Korean dialogue and exchange have ground to a halt. Seoul's Unification Ministry has a new, hawkish head who wants to change the agency's role.

The failed launch prompted neighboring Japan to issue brief a "J-alert" ordering some residents to evacuate to safe places as the North Korean rocket flew over its southernmost islands of Okinawa.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the announcement after meeting with his cabinet. Water will be released through an underground tunnel beginning Thursday, weather conditions permitting, Kishida said.

For 80 years, presidents have used the rustic mountain retreat at Camp David to host foreign leaders. President Biden is hoping to tap into that history for talks with Japan and South Korea on Friday.

Hundreds of participants have been treated for heat-related ailments since the Jamboree began Wednesday in the coastal town of Buan as South Korea grapples with one of its hottest summers in years.

As most Korean War vets are well into their 90s, they still struggle with America's perceptions of what has been called "the Forgotten War."

Casey Phair of New Jersey, 16, came in late in the second half for South Korea in its match against Colombia to make her World Cup debut.

The deputy commander of the U.N. Command said Monday it has started conversations with North Korea over an American soldier who ran into the North last week across the Koreas' heavily armed border.

As Japan plans to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea this summer, concerned South Koreans are stocking up on sea salt.

As Canada and parts of the U.S. confront declines in air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires, NPR reporters in Asia, Latin America and Africa share their experiences.

The new cases in the expanded inquiry into South Korea's foreign adoption boom involve adoptees in 11 nations including the U.S., Denmark, Norway, and Sweden who were adopted from 1960 to 1990.

Following the launch, officials in South Korea's capital of Seoul sent alerts for residents to prepare for evacuation, but there were no immediate reports of damages or disruption.

North Korea said that it plans to launch a satellite, which may be an attempt to put its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit. It said the launch window is from May 31 to June 11.

The tensions are a test of the nation's tolerance of increasing diversity, when South Korea is looking to immigration to bolster its aging and shrinking workforce.

Japan's prime minister expressed sympathy toward Koreans forced into industrial slavery during Japan's colonial rule as the leaders from the two countries vowed to strengthen cooperation.