The United States on Sunday condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launches this week as a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and called for the recalcitrant regime to return to dialogue. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Monday morning, days after Seoul and Washington concluded their major springtime military exercise. "The United States condemns the DPRK's March

A son of Choe Chun-gil, a South Korean pastor detained in North Korea, plans to call for international cooperation for North Korea's repatriation of his father and other detainees at a UN session in Switzerland, Seoul's unification ministry said Monday. Choe is one of six South Koreans currently detained in North Korea for years, including two other pastors, Kim Jung-wook and Kim Kuk-gi, with their whereabouts or fates unknown. Choe's son will visit Geneva for a four-day trip thro

North Korea's ambassador to Cuba has paid a visit to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel before concluding his mission, the Cuban presidential office said, as Pyongyang is preparing to replace the envoy after Cuba's surprising establishment of diplomatic ties with South Korea. Diaz-Canel shared a brief video of Friday's meeting with Ambassador Ma Chol-su on X, the former Twitter platform, saying he reassured the ambassador that Pyongyang could always rely on Cuba's support, sol

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has guided military drills involving the country's paratroopers and called for full preparations for war, state media said Saturday, in an apparent protest of the latest joint military exercise staged by South Korea and the United States. The training of air-borne military units held Friday was aimed at inspecting paratroopers' readiness to be mobilized for any military operation plan in "surprise wartime circumstances," according to the Korean

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un used a Russian-made private car, gifted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a public event for the first time this week in "clear proof" of the two nations' friendly ties, his sister said Saturday. Last month, North Korea said Putin sent a Russian-made car for personal use to the North's leader as a gift demonstrating special bonds between the two leaders. Russia said the car is the Aurus Senat limousine. Kim Yo-jong, the powerful siste

A US general took note of military threats from "increasingly advanced" long-range North Korean missiles on Thursday, while highlighting evolving security challenges from China, Russia and Iran. Gen. Gregory Guillot, the commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, attended a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee to testify about the posture of his commands and discuss security risks facing the United States. "North Korea continues its be

South Korea on Thursday renewed its stance that it does not recognize North Korea as a nuclear state. The foreign ministry made the comments in response to Putin's remarks that the North has its "own nuclear umbrella" and has not asked for Russia's help during a recent interview with Russia's RIA state news agency and Rossiya-1 state television. "There is no change in the government's position that it does not recognize North Korea as a nuclear state," a f

North Korea has unveiled a new battle tank during training exercises, state media reported Thursday, amid ongoing joint military drills between South Korea and the United States. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un drove a new tank himself during the "training match" between tank units Wednesday in a bid to inspect tank troops' actual combat capabilities, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Calling them "the most powerful tanks in the world," Kim expressed satisfact

The US intelligence community currently assesses that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is unlikely to escalate tensions into a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula, even as concerns persist over the potential for his closer alignment with the Russian president to embolden his aggressive actions. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines provided the assessment during Tuesday's House Intelligence Committee hearing while noting that Kim's recent rhetoric and actions have been incre

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "almost certainly" has no intentions of negotiating away his nuclear program and aims to use his defense ties with Russia to achieve acceptance as a nuclear state, a US intelligence report said Monday. The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment also noted that Kim will continue to pursue nuclear and conventional military capabilities that threaten the United States and its allies. "Kim almost certainly has no intentions of negotiating away his nuclear progra

North Korea attempted to disrupt the reception of Global Positioning System signals on the front-line islands of South Korea in the West Sea for three consecutive days from Tuesday, coinciding with annual combined military drills between Seoul and Washington, the South Korean military confirmed on Friday. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff detected signals sent from North Korea, which were assessed as attempts to interfere with the reception of GPS signals on the Five West Sea Islands mult

The tightening of border controls by the Kim Jong-un regime, marked by the construction of multiple layers of fences along the China-North Korea border following the COVID-19 pandemic, has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian and human rights crisis in North Korea, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The HRW, an international human rights organization headquartered in New York, on Thursday published a comprehensive 148-page report titled "A Sense of Terror Stronger than a Bull

South Korea's Unification Ministry on Friday revealed its plans to craft a fresh unification vision, with the ultimate aim of guaranteeing the freedom rights of every North Korean citizen on a unified Korean Peninsula. The initiative is set as the ministry's primary goal for the year and marks the first revision of South Korea's official unification formula in 30 years since 1994. Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said that he presented plans to formulate a unification vision groun

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has guided artillery firing drills involving front-line units capable of striking the "enemy's capital," state media reported Friday, in an apparent response to an ongoing joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States. The drills were conducted Thursday with the aim of enhancing the combat readiness posture and actual war capability of artillery troops, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "The drill started with the

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for intensifying "practical actual war drills" during a visit to a military training base, state media said Thursday, as a joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States was under way. During the visit to the base in the country's western region Wednesday, Kim inspected training facilities and guided the actual maneuvers of military units, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The visit came two days after South Kor