US Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds talks Monday in crisis-riven South Korea, seeking to encourage policy stability in the US ally, including in its complicated relationship with Japan.

The government has little to show for the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on pro-natal policies over nearly two decades.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also visit Tokyo, where he will hold talks with Japanese officials on Monday and Tuesday.

Thousands of rival South Korean protesters rallied in the capital Saturday, a day after a failed attempt to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing a short-lived martial law decree that led to his impeachment.

The flight, operated by Jeju Air, was landing when it went off the runway in Muan, in the country’s southwest. Only two people survived the crash.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un vowed to implement the "toughest" anti-U.S. policy, less than a month before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday opened a visit to crisis-riven South Korea where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president.

Japanese policymakers are increasingly anxious that the country's birth rate is nearing the point of no return.

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.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the greatest threat to his brief but chequered political career as he struggles to thwart an unprecedented arrest attempt in a criminal probe alleging he led an insurrection.

Leaked Russian military documents reveal plans to target civilian infrastructure like nuclear power plants and tunnels, raising concerns about potential war crimes.