South Korea

Yonhap | English | News | Nov. 21, 2025 | Shifting Geopolitical Alliances

South Korea's Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jina emphasized the need to resume maritime boundary talks with Japan under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) framework, following the expiration of their bilateral agreement on continental shelf boundaries earlier this year. She highlighted that UNCLOS remains essential for governing South Korea's maritime relations and called for cooperation, mutual understanding, and solutions based on international law in waters where maritime entitlements overlap.

Kim's comments refer to the joint development zone (JDZ) agreement between South Korea and Japan, which expired in June 2025. Originally signed in 1974 to jointly exploit resources in the East China Sea, the agreement became less favorable for South Korea after UNCLOS criteria, effective since 1994, prioritized Japan in determining continental shelf boundaries by distance, placing much of the JDZ within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Maritime talks between South Korea and Japan were regular until 2010 but ceased amid broader historical disputes. While South Korea maintains similar dialogues with China, recent working-level discussions with Japan, including one in September 2024, have been limited to broad topics without concrete progress on boundary delimitation.

Joongang Ilbo | English | News | Nov. 21, 2025 | North Korea

Russia’s largest private airline, S7, has resumed flying through North Korean airspace on its Vladivostok–Shanghai route, marking a significant shift after years of international carriers avoiding this corridor. FlightRadar24 data shows S7 began overflying northeastern North Korea on November 12, 2025, crossing the country’s interior and exiting over the Yellow Sea before reaching Shanghai. This overflight provides North Korea with renewed opportunities to collect foreign currency through overflight fees.

Aviation analyst Edward Condit linked the resumption of flights through North Korean airspace to growing economic ties between Russia and North Korea, as well as operational benefits such as shorter flight distances, fuel savings, and favorable winds. Historical records indicate that Russian airlines like Yakutia Airlines have paid North Korea substantial fees for airspace use, which contributed to foreign currency earnings for the isolated regime before international sanctions intensified.

Despite UN Security Council sanctions not explicitly banning overflights, some experts suggest that paying overflight fees may contravene sanctions. Safety concerns remain a key deterrent for many airlines, given North Korea’s history of unannounced missile tests and the lack of maintenance support for Western-built jets in the country. Other carriers, including Rossiya Airlines on the same route, continue to avoid North Korean airspace, opting for longer routes within Chinese airspace to mitigate these risks.

North Korea originally opened its airspace to international civil aviation in 1994 but closed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, overflights have increased, especially with Russia, where air links have expanded more rapidly compared to other countries. In July 2025, Russian carrier Nordwind restarted its Moscow–Pyongyang service with state subsidies, also upgrading their aircraft from Boeing 777s to Airbus A330s.

FBI 떠나도 북한 해커 추적한 美 요원…"1급 군사비밀만큼 중요"

Hankyung | Local Language | News | Nov. 21, 2025 | North Korea

Former FBI agent Eric Keo pursued North Korean hackers for four years, focusing on a hacker known as "Hades," affiliated with the North Korean group Andariel under the Reconnaissance General Bureau. Despite leaving the FBI in 2023, Keo continued the investigation due to the serious threat posed by these hackers to hospital security systems, which he viewed as critically important, likening them to "top military secrets."

On May 4, 2021, Hades launched a ransomware attack on a hospital in Kansas, paralyzing its networks and diagnostic equipment, including a sleep lab. The attackers demanded two bitcoins, worth approximately $100,000, threatening to increase the ransom to $200,000 if unpaid within 48 hours. The hospital complied, transferring the bitcoins, which were subsequently withdrawn from ATMs near Dandong, China. Although Rim Jong-hyuk was identified as the group leader and publicly named, Hades remained known only as "Co-conspirator 1."

Keo adopted a covert approach by posing as an operator of a "cryptocurrency casino" to engage with North Korean hackers and gather intelligence. He identified a suspect he believes to be Hades, based on social media usage, phone number links, and the suspect’s own claims of developing ransomware and significant illicit earnings. Experts warn that North Korean hackers often disguise themselves as IT personnel within U.S. companies to gain access for criminal activities beyond simple intrusions.

Keo plans to present the evidence he has collected at a conference in Washington D.C. on November 20, highlighting the ongoing risks posed by North Korean cyber operations targeting critical infrastructure.