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Andrew Salmon

Seoul, South Korea-based Andrew Salmon, Asia Editor at The Washington Times. brings two decades of journalistic experience to the position. Before joining The Washington Times, he was Northeast Asia Editor of Hong Kong-based Asia Times. Andrew’s reporting previously appeared in The Daily Telegraph, Forbes, The International Herald Tribune, The South China Morning Post, The Times and The Washington Times. He has made television appearances on Arirang TV, CNN and France24. He can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Andrew Salmon

Clash over a 69-hour workweek reveals generational divide in South Korea

South Korea's famous/notorious work culture is currently in the spotlight, after the conservative government of President Yoon Suk Yeol on March 6 proposed expanding the allowable maximum working week from 52 hours (40 hours plus 12 hours over overtime) to 69 hours, or an average of slightly over 9.85 hours a day, seven days a week.

March 30, 2023

Russia test-fires missiles in East Asia, despite draining Ukraine fight

Russia Tuesday test-fired two anti-ship missiles in the Sea of Japan, days after Japan's prime minister visited Ukraine and the same day that a U.S. aircraft carrier docked in South Korea as part of joint training drills.

March 28, 2023

North Korea’s released photos point to its progress on ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons

North Korea released photos of what appear to be its first, lower-yield "tactical" nuclear warheads for the first time on Tuesday, sparking concern in Washington and Seoul about Pyongyang's widening weapons arsenal and the rising likelihood they may be used in a future conflict on the divided peninsula.

March 28, 2023

North Korea claims test of Russia-style unmanned underwater nuke

With the largest South Korea-U.S. spring war drills in six years in full swing, North Korea on Friday announced it had successfully tested a new weapons class, a nuclear underwater uncrewed vehicle, or UUV, designed to take down targets with a radioactive tidal wave.

March 24, 2023

Dueling summits as Kishida makes surprise Kyiv trip in midst of Xi-Putin talks

Japanese prime ministers are not known for stealing the spotlight, but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday managed to upstage Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his high-profile summit in Russia, making a surprise visit to Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top Ukrainian officials.

March 21, 2023

North Korea rehearses ‘nuclear counterattack’ scenario with latest missile test

Furious over U.S.-South Korean war games it insists are a rehearsal for an invasion, North Korea tested another short-range ballistic missile on Monday which it says is part of a broader push to revamp and sharpen its own warfighting doctrines.

March 20, 2023

Japanese, Korean leaders move to mend frayed ties at Tokyo summit

The leaders of South Korea and Japan took steps Thursday to boost frayed diplomatic and economic relations, but their high-profile Tokyo summit was held under a pair of shadows: the latest North Korean ballistic missile test and a new lawsuit in South Korea that could scupper hopes of resetting bilateral relations.

March 16, 2023

South Korea roiled over move to resolve long dispute with Japan

"Japan should make an apology -- the victims want a true apology!" stormed an angry Kim Ji-myung. "We Korean people are so ashamed of our president!"

March 15, 2023

Eyeing China, U.S. troops to drill on Philippine flashpoints

Philippine and U.S. troops will hold a wide-range set of joint drills next month in locations that could be strategically vital in potential conflict with China.

March 15, 2023

Hostility against U.S.-South Korean drills shows fears of isolated North

Defying North Korean anger, threats and missile tests, South Korean and U.S. forces launched more than a week of major new joint military drills Monday, the first full-scale exercises of their kind on the divided peninsula in six years.

March 13, 2023

Ex-general warns South Korea less battle-capable than North

Regional tensions are expected to spiral Monday, as South Korea and the United States kick off their first full-scale spring war games in six years, and North Korea rattles its sabers in protest.

March 10, 2023

South Korea reveals plan to heal long rift with Tokyo over forced labor

South Korea's government on Monday announced a new plan to resolve a long-running historical division with Japan and end a complex and emotive spat on wartime forced labor that drove bilateral relations to all-time lows in 2018.

March 6, 2023

China, Japan defense talks aim to cool regional tensions

China and Japan kicked off their first direct defense talks in four years in Tokyo this week, aiming to cool tensions after a period of major stress for the region.

February 22, 2023

Radiation leaks may be hobbling North Korean nuclear ambitions, new report says

Newly revealed evidence about radiation leaks near North Korea's prime testing site may explain a deepening mystery -- why the regime of Kim Jong-un has not conducted a nuclear weapons test in more than five years.

February 21, 2023

First North Korean ballistic missile test of 2023 sets region on edge

North Korea's test of an intercontinental ballistic missile over the weekend - its first such test of 2023 - set tensions soaring once again on the divided peninsula and spurred the U.S. to send strategic bombers over the region in a show of force.

February 19, 2023

U.S. to expand defenses with regional allies around China

While the world's attention has been focused on Chinese balloons in near outer space, a far more terrestrial struggle in playing out across East Asia following a string of moves by the Biden administration to deepen American economic, diplomatic and military footprints on China's periphery.

February 19, 2023