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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

New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to stay on in Tokyo, playing a weaker hand

Gambling in a bid for a stronger mandate, Japan's new prime minister called a general election a year before he needed to, only to see his Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner lose their comfortable majority in the Diet's Lower House in Sunday's vote. The result raises fresh questions about the staying power of a key U.S. ally in Asia.

October 28, 2024

Japan’s conservative ruling coalition on course to lose majority in House in snap election

Preliminary tallies in Japan's snap general election on Sunday indicated that new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's conservative coalition would lose its majority in the Diet's House of Representatives.

October 27, 2024

Putin cagily acknowledges North Korean troop presence; Seoul paralyzed until U.S. election

Seoul is in a bind, with Russian President Vladimir Putin essentially confirming the presence of North Korean troops who could soon be deployed to the battlefield in Ukraine.

October 25, 2024

Putin embraces diplomatic limelight as leaders of expanded BRICS gather in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting the annual summit of BRICS, a high-prestige stage that offers him an opportunity to showcase his defiance of U.S.-led efforts to isolate his regime and punish the Kremlin for its decision to invade Ukraine more than two years ago.

October 22, 2024

North Korean troops in Russia pose challenge to U.S., allies from ‘axis of authoritarianism’

Mounting reports that North Korea is set to be the first outside power to directly intervene in the Russia-Ukraine conflict are posing perhaps the most serious challenge yet to the U.S. and its allies from the "axis" of authoritarian states looking to overturn the global security order.

October 21, 2024

Blocked at U.N., U.S. allies create new body to monitor North Korea violations

Democracies east and west are joining forces to keep tabs on North Korean violations of economic and security sanctions after Russia torpedoed a previous monitoring effort authorized by the United Nations.

October 18, 2024

Thousands of North Korean troops training deep in Russian Far East

New reports from Kyiv say that North Korea is deploying troops to Russia that could be used to fight in Ukraine, with some 10,000 North Korean troops now undergoing training in Russia's Far East.

October 16, 2024

North Korea blows up road crossing points on tense border with South

North Korea displayed its fury at Seoul on Tuesday in spectacular style, blowing up two key road crossing points at opposite ends of the Demilitarized Zone, the flashpoint militarized frontier that divides the two Koreas.

October 15, 2024

War talk rises as North Korea accuses Seoul of stealth drone infiltration

North Korea has put its border artillery units on standby after angrily claiming that South Korea has conducted drone operations in the night skies over its capital, Pyongyang.

October 14, 2024

Nobel Prize for novelist Han Kang sparks wave of national pride in South Korea

South Koreans woke up Friday to learn that local author Han Kang had won the Nobel Prize for literature -- a breakthrough achievement that ignited an outburst of intense national pride.

October 11, 2024

Despite mainland bluster, Taiwanese skeptical of imminent military move by China

Most Taiwanese people do not expect a Chinese invasion in the near future, even as the democratic island's military is being increasingly menaced by Chinese forces.

October 9, 2024

Putin’s new ally? North Korea mulls sending specialized soldiers to Ukraine front, Seoul warns

South Korea's defense minister on Tuesday said North Korea is strongly considering deploying its own troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, amid reports that there have already been North Korean casualties in the war.

October 8, 2024

South Korea signs ‘strategic partnership’ with the Philippines

South Korea and the Philippines agreed Monday to upgrade security ties to a "strategic partnership," as Seoul becomes the latest regional democracy to boost its support for Manila as it confronts Chinese expansionism near its shores.

October 7, 2024

North Korea mocks South Korea’s new command, amid rising nuclear debate in Seoul

Two of the North Korean regime's most senior figures are less than impressed with South Korea's newly activated Strategic Command, calling it a command with a notable lack of powerful assets.

October 4, 2024

Japan’s new PM Shigeru Ishiba moves quickly to bolster support

Shigeru Ishiba has moved quickly to set his stamp on Japanese politics, officially becoming prime minister and calling a snap general election for Oct. 27.

October 1, 2024

South Korea unveils new missile to take out the North’s bunkers, stands up Strategic Command

Eager citizens waved flags and aged veterans stood at attention as armor rumbled through central Seoul's concrete canyons, while a line of Apache attack helicopters whirled overhead and formations of fighter jets thundered through the clouds. But the star of Tuesday's Armed Forces Day parade was a new surface-to-surface ballistic missile.