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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

North Korean general wounded in Ukraine as conflict escalates

A North Korean general has reportedly been wounded in Russia's Kursk oblast, just one in a line of developments in the Ukraine war that are spiraling ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in January.

November 22, 2024

Mass drone production, combat experience seen boosting North Korean troops

South Korea's spy agency confirmed Wednesday that North Korean troops are now operating alongside crack Russian units in Kursk, while heavy artillery is being sent to the battlefield in an effort to push back a Ukrainian invasion force.

November 20, 2024

Seoul, Tokyo nervously gear up for second Trump administration

Japan and Seoul are preparing for the advent of the second Donald Trump administration, reviewing alliance issues and defense spending, mulling economic risks -- even fretting over their leaders' golf handicaps.

November 15, 2024

Blood ties: North Korea’s sound but cynical reasons for helping Russia in Ukraine

With his troops poised for a major offensive in Russia, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has much to gain and little to lose for the blood price his soldiers look likely to pay on the front lines against Ukraine, South Korean analysts say.

November 13, 2024

Underestimating North Korean troops is a mistake, experienced military officials warn

The quality of the thousands of North Korean troops preparing to join Russia's war against Ukraine is coming under intense and generally unfavorable scrutiny.

October 31, 2024

North Korea flaunts ballistic missile with range to strike anywhere in continental U.S.

North Korea on Thursday morning test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile with the range to hit the continental United States, just five days before the U.S. presidential election.

October 31, 2024

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

WATCH: Inside the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ and the shifting politics of Latin America Michael Shifter joins Guy Taylor

WATCH: Data centers are key to winning A.I. wars Patrick Hedger joins Bold and Blunt

WATCH: The socialist branding that could sink Dems Tim Constantine & David Bozell