South Korean investigators managed to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday while avoiding a violent clash in the middle of Seoul. But the nation’s troubles are far from over.

John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, said of Hegseth's remarks on North Korea's status as a nuclear power: "We've not made such a recognition. I can't speak to what the incoming team will—how they'll characterize it. We've not gone so far as to make that recognition."

While South Korea experiences historic domestic political turmoil, Kim Jong Un and his regime continue to threaten peace and stability in the region and pose a direct threat to the U.S. homeland.

The launch event came as U.S. 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 military says North Korea has test-fired multiple missiles toward its eastern waters in its second launch event of 2025.

The danger of violence begins with the security service defending the president — and extends to firebrands confronting one another.

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, marking Pyongyang's latest show of force just days ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to office.

Kim Jong Un warned that North Korea ’s rivals could not ignore its new hypersonic ballistic missile, which was tested while US secretary of state Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea on Monday.

The uneasy truce between nuclear-armed North Korea and US-allied South Korea remains one of the most vexing security concerns for the world

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke for 40 minutes in court, in a hearing on whether to set him free, or extend his detention for around another 20 days. The court's ruling is expected late on Saturday or early Sunday.

Yoon, who has been in detention since he was apprehended on Wednesday, faces potential rebellion charges linked to his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, which set off the country’s most serious political crisis since its democratization in the late 1980s.