Many foreign media analyses suggest that the visit aims to solidify President Joe Biden's political legacy in terms of the US' "Indo-Pacific Strategy" and strengthen relations with Asian allies such as South Korea and Japan.
Pyongyang's first test-fire of 2025 came as Blinken, America's top diplomat, met with South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok. Choi assumed the interim role after the South Korean Parliament voted to impeach a second president in two weeks.
North Korea has fired what appears to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile towards the sea to its east, South Korea's military said, in what is Pyongyang's first missile launch in two months. The missile flew 1,100km before falling into the sea, the military said, adding that it "strongly condemns" this "clear act of provocation".
North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul amid a political crisis in the country.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives late Sunday in crisis-riven South Korea where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president.
The government has little to show for the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on pro-natal policies over nearly two decades.
The launch event came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for talks with South Korean allies over the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues.
South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok vowed to continue trilateral cooperation with Japan and the United States, saying on Friday his country's diplomacy remains steadfast despite an unprecedented political crisis at home.
This marks North Korea's first major weapons test of the year and it's already been condemned by the US, South Korea, and Japan.
Russia has trained its troops for a potential attack on Japan and South Korea, according to a report by the Financial Times. The British outlet reviewed 29 Russian military documents and uncovered a strategy devised by Moscow to target the two Asian nations.