Under Yoon, calls for South Korean nukes 'normalized'
Voice of America
FILE - A TV screen shows a news program reporting on North Korea launching multiple rockets, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, April 23, 2024.
Less than two years after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged his country would not seek nuclear weapons, his newly appointed defense minister is openly envisioning scenarios in which South Korea might reconsider that stance.
FILE - This photograph taken on Jan. 14, 2023, shows a border checkpoint between China and Myanmar, in Ruili, west Yunnan Province.
The logo of Google LLC is shown on a building in San Diego, California, Oct.9, 2024.
Supporters of Israeli hostages, kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, demand a deal as they protest amid ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 13, 2025.
Balochistan province, Pakistan
FILE - A worker collects palm oil fruits at a plantation in Klang, Malaysia, June 15, 2020.
South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae, center, speaks to reporters as opposition lawmakers arrive at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Jan. 14, 2025.
FILE - Telecommunications retirees protest in Kurdistan.
FILE - Flags of Transdniestria and Russia fly in a square in Tiraspol, Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria, Jan. 4, 2025. Map of Moldova
Pro-Yoon demonstrators shout slogans outside the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul
FILE - Two Boeing 737-8AS passenger aircrafts of Ryanair airline taxi on a runway at Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024.
Electric (EVs) and hybrid vehicles wait to be transported in a distribution center of Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer Changan in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, Jan. 12, 2025.
Zamfara state, Nigeria
FILE - Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice, speaks at the ICJ at the start of a hearing in The Hague, Netherlands, May 16, 2024.
Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
An Indian paramilitary soldier patrols near an electronic display in Srinagar, welcoming the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate a strategic tunnel project that connects Kashmir with Ladakh, Jan.13, 2025.
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shake hands during their meeting on the sidelines of BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 23, 2024.
The Mozambican Presidential Military band walk next to an armoured Police vehicle near Parliament in Maputo on Jan. 13, 2025. Mozambique is set to swear in its new parliament on Jan. 13, 2025, following months of deadly protests over an election in October. FILE - Daniel Chapo, then-presidential candidate for the Mozambican Liberation Front party (FRELIMO), gestures as he addresses an electoral meeting with supporters and leaders of his party in Maputo, on Oct. 2, 2024.