US-North Korea

South Korea, the US and Japan called for stronger international support of efforts to ban North Korea from sending workers abroad and curb the North's cybercrimes as a way to block the country's means to fund its nuclear program. The top South Korean, US and Japanese nuclear envoys met in Seoul on Friday in their first gathering in four months to discuss how to cope with North Korea's growing nuclear arsenal. The North's recent weapons tests show it is intent on acquiring more advanced missiles designed to attack the US and its allies, rather than returning to talks. Despite 11 rounds of UN sanctions and pandemic-related hardships that have worsened its economic and food problems, North Korea still devotes much of its scarce resources to its nuclear and missile programs. Contributing to financing its weapons program is also likely the North's crypto hacking and other illicit cyber activities and the wages sent by North Korean workers remaining in China, Russia and elsewhere despite

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missile toward waters off its eastern coast Monday, adding to a recent flurry in weapons tests as the United States prepared to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group to neighboring waters to step up military exercises with the South. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles flew cross-country after being fired from a western inland area south of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang but didn't immediately release specific flight details. Japan's coast guard said it believed both weapons landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. The launches were the North's seventh missile event this month and underscore heightening military tensions in the region as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in recent months in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses. The allies last week completed an 11-day exercise that included their biggest field training in years. But ..

North Korea said Monday it simulated a nuclear attack on South Korea with a ballistic missile launch over the weekend that was its fifth missile demonstration this month to protest the largest joint military exercises in years between the US and South Korea. The North's leader Kim Jong Un instructed his military to hold more drills to sharpen the war readiness of his nuclear forces in the face of aggression by his enemies, state media reported. The South Korean and Japanese militaries detected the short-range missile being launched Sunday into waters off the North's eastern coast less than an hour before the US flew long-range B-1B bombers for training with South Korean warplanes. The North characterizes the US-South Korea exercises as a rehearsal to invade, though the allies insist they are defensive in nature. Some experts say the North uses the exercises as a pretext to advance its weapons programmes. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said the missile, which flew ..

The mission stressed that it defines the "pressure campaign" as a violation of the dignity and sovereignty of the North and "resolutely denounces and rejects it,"

Japan says North Korea has launched a suspected missile toward the sea. Japan's coast guard said it confirmed that what appeared to be a North Korean missile was fired Sunday morning. Further launch details were not immediately available, it said. South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited the South's military as saying that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters. Calls to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff were not immediately answered on Sunday. The launch, if confirmed, would be the North's fourth round of weapons tests since the U.S. and South Korean militaries began joint military drills last week. The North views the drills as an invasion rehearsal.

North Korea claimed that about 800,000 civilians have volunteered to join the nation's military to fight against the US, CNN reported.North Korea's state newspaper Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that around 800,000 students and workers alone have expressed their desire to join the military to counter the US.The claim came after North Korea on Thursday launched its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in response to ongoing US-South Korea military drills, reported CNN.North Korea launched the intercontinental ballistic missile, (ICBM) Hwasongpho-17, amid the ongoing South Korea-US Freedom Shield (FS) exercise, which the country has decried as "preparations for a war of aggression" against it, according to Yonhap News agency.After the launch of the missile, North Korea confirmed they had fired it, adding that it was a "stronger warning" to the US and South Korea for their provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills.In the state news agency, KCNA, North Korea ...

North Korea said that launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasongpho-17 was a stronger warning to the US and South Korea for their provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills

The United States and its allies urged the UN Security Council to condemn North Korea's unlawful ballistic missile launches, but China and Russia blamed the US for escalating tensions with stepped-up military exercises targeting Pyongyang. At the emergency meeting on Monday, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council that the United States will propose a presidential statement, saying at a minimum all 15 members should be agreeable to condemning the North's unprecedented missile launches, to urging Pyongyang to comply with UN Security Council sanctions resolutions, and to engage in meaningful dialogue. A presidential statement from the Security Council requires the support of all its members, including North Korea's closest allies, China and Russia. Thomas-Greenfield said the United States condemns North Korea's firing of two short-range ballistic missiles Monday following the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile Saturday in the strongest terms as flagrant ...

North Korea said Sunday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further bolster its fatal nuclear attack capacity against its rivals, as it threatened additional powerful steps in response to the planned military training between the United States and South Korea. Saturday's ICBM test, the North's first missile test since Jan. 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using his rivals' drills as a chance to expand his country's nuclear capability to enhance its leverage in future dealings with the United States. An expert says North Korea may seek to hold regular operational exercises involving its ICBMs. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said its launch of the existing Hwasong-15 ICBM was organised suddenly without prior notice at the direct order of leader Kim Jong Un. KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the weapon's reliability and the combat readiness of the country's nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and ...

North Korea warned Friday it would take "unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions" should South Korea and the US press ahead with their planned combined military drills.

North Korea fired 69 ballistic missiles last year, marking a new record number of ballistic missile launched in a year. Its previous annual record was at 25

North Korea on Thursday threatened the toughest reaction to the United States' expanding joint military exercises with South Korea to counter the North's growing nuclear weapons ambitions, claiming that the allies were pushing tensions to an extreme red line. The statement by Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry came in response to comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who during a visit to Seoul on Tuesday said the United States would increase its deployment of advanced military assets to the Korean Peninsula, including fighter jets and aircraft carriers, as it strengthens joint training with South Korea. South Korea's Defense Ministry said the United States flew B-1B bombers and F-22 and F-35 fighter jets in a joint aerial exercise with South Korean fighters on Wednesday, which it said was aimed at demonstrating the United States' commitment to defend its ally with the full range of its military capabilities. The United States and South Korea are also planning to hold a simulate

The US has slapped sanctions on two individuals, including an Indian national, and seven entities for providing material support to, acting on behalf of, or being owned by North Korea's government-run animation studio, which utilised its workers to provide low-cost labour. The US took this action on Friday on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day and on the eve of International Human Rights Day as part of its actions to promote accountability for corruption and human rights abuse around the world. According to the State Department, the US imposed sanctions on two individuals and seven entities for providing material support to, acting on behalf of, or being owned by the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) government-run animation studio, SEK Studio. The targets are: Kim Myong Chol, based in France; Everlasting Empire Limited, based in Hong Kong; Tian Fang (Hong Kong) Holding Limited, based in Hong Kong; Fujian Nan'an Import and Export Company, based in China

According to the State Department, North Korea has been designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) since 2001 under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998

The Biden administration targeted three individuals who have led organizations linked to the development of Weapons of Mass Destruction

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a major political conference before year's end where he's expected to address his increasingly tense relations with Washington and Seoul over the expansion of his nuclear and missile programs. North Korea's state media said Thursday that Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Politburo in which members reviewed the implementation of state policies in 2022 and decided to hold a larger plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee at an unspecified time in late December. Kim in recent years has used political conferences in late December or early January to review state affairs and reveal his most important goals in economic and foreign policy and arms development. It's possible that those meetings are replacing the function of Kim's New Year's Day speeches, which he has skipped since 2020 after using them for years to issue major announcements. During Wednesday's meeting in capital Pyongyang, Kim insisted that the ...

The US is working to further improve its missile warning system, the commander of US Space Command has said, following a barrage of North Korean missile tests that included multiple ICBM launches

Catch all the live updates from across the world here

North Korea on Tuesday accused the United States of cooking up a plot-breeding story on its alleged arms transfer to Russia, arguing it has never sent artillery shells to Moscow. Last week, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby accused North Korea of covertly supplying a significant number of the ammunition to Russia. He said the United States believes North Korea was trying to obscure the transfer route by making it appear the weapons were being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa. We regard such moves of the US as part of its hostile attempt to tarnish the image of (North Korea) in the international arena," an unidentified vice director at the ministry's military foreign affairs office said in a statement carried by state media. We once again make clear that we have never had arms dealings' with Russia and that we have no plan to do so in the future, the vice director said. In September, US officials confirmed a newly downgraded US intelligence findi

North Korea's military said Monday its recent barrage of missile tests were practices to attack its rivals' air bases and warplanes and paralyse their operation command systems, showing Pyongyang's resolve to counter provocative U.S.-South Korean military drills more thoroughly and mercilessly. North Korea fired dozens of missiles and flew warplanes last week, triggering evacuation alerts in some South Korean and Japanese areas, in response to massive U.S.-South Korean air force drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal. U.S. and South Korean officials strongly condemned the North's missile launches, saying their drills were defensive in nature. The recent corresponding military operations by the Korean People's Army are a clear answer of (North Korea) that the more persistently the enemies' provocative military moves continue, the more thoroughly and mercilessly the KPA will counter them, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by state