North Korea said Wednesday it conducted a drill to launch the Hwasal-2 strategic cruise missile the previous day to check its rapid counterattack posture and improve its strategic striking capability. The launch in the Yellow Sea had "no adverse effect on the security of a neighboring country," the Korean Central News Agency said without giving further details, including how many missiles were launched and how far they flew. South Korea had said Tuesday the North fired several cruise m

North Korea has shuttered two more diplomatic missions in Hong Kong and Libya, bringing down the global total from 46 to 44, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The additional shutdown, part of a series of such moves, followed the Foreign Ministry's earlier confirmation of Pyongyang's closure of embassies in seven countries: Guinea, Nepal, Bangladesh, Senegal, Spain, Angola, and Uganda, as of early December. The Hong Kong government's official website has officially

NK, China to resume joint Lunar New Year's celebrations after four-year hiatus

Seoul will be home to the first-ever government-run center dedicated to shed light on the North Korean regime's human rights abuses and violations and enhance public awareness of the issue, the Unification Ministry announced Monday. The Yoon Suk Yeol government is actively working to establish an inaugural public center, forming a crucial component of its comprehensive strategy for addressing the harsh realities of the human rights situation in North Korea. The Unification Ministry official

The United States urged North Korea Sunday to refrain from further "threatening" activity and engage in "serious and sustained" diplomacy, after Pyongyang fired several cruise missiles, the latest in a recent series of its weapons tests. A State Department spokesperson made the call, noting that Pyongyang has increasingly engaged in "threatening" and "irresponsible" military activities, including missile launches. Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said th

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has met with a visiting senior Chinese diplomat in Pyongyang, its state media reported Saturday, as the North appears to be seeking to strengthen ties with Beijing amid its stepped-up cooperation with Russia. On Friday, Choe met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, who is visiting North Korea this week, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a brief dispatch. Noting that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday, marking the first high-level exchanges of the year as both countries commemorate the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties. North Korea's state-run media on Friday reported the arrival of the delegation of the Chinese Foreign Ministry led by Sun via the city of Sinuiju, the capital of North Pyongan Province, but did not share any further details. The meeting notably followed a one-month interval since the

North Korea could resort to nuclear weapons in a crisis "more easily" as it is making "significant" progress toward implementing a more robust nuclear strategy, a US think tank report said Thursday. The conservative Heritage Foundation released the 2024 Index of US Military Strength, providing its analysis of threats from North Korea, China, Iran and Russia, as well as terrorist threats from the Middle East and North Africa. Calling the North a "perennial" problem i

The United States is not seeing indications of a direct military threat from North Korea at the moment, a US official said Thursday, after Washington officials were reported to have warned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could take some "lethal" military action against South Korea in the coming months. Earlier in the day, The New York Times reported on the possibility of the North's military action as concerns rose over Kim's pugnacious rhetoric against the South and his regi

North Korea-linked hackers carried out the largest number of cryptocurrency thefts in 2023, despite a decrease in the overall amount stolen, a US blockchain analysis firm reported Wednesday. The number of hacks surged to 20 in 2023, marking the "highest number on record" since 2016, according to an online report released by Chainalysis, headquartered in New York. The trend of cryptocurrency theft has steadily increased since 2020, with North Korea-associated hackers conducting five, ni

South Korea's defense chief said Wednesday that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it wages war, hours after the North fired several rounds of cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea in its latest series of weapons tests. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik issued the warning during his visit to the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets. "North Korea has defined the Republic of Korea as its principal enemy

A handwritten Korean character was found on a ballistic missile Russia fired into Ukraine, a report showed Wednesday, adding to growing suspicions over arms transactions between North Korea and Russia amid their deepening military ties. Earlier this month, the White House revealed that the North has provided Russia with several dozen ballistic missiles, some of which were used to strike Ukrainian targets in late December and early January. "On a barometer documented in Ukraine on January 11

North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward the West Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, the latest in a series of saber-rattling that heightened tensions. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North's launch took place around 7 a.m. but did not elaborate, citing an ongoing analysis. "While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military has been closely coordinating with the United States to monitor additional signs of North Korea's provocations," th

A White House official expressed confidence Tuesday that the United States is keeping an "appropriate" defensive posture against North Korean threats, amid tensions heightened by Pyongyang's continued weapons tests and hardening rhetoric. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, made the remarks in response to a question of whether there has been a change in the North's military posture following its tough rhetoric against the South

Extra military aid from Putin may involve air defense systems at potential Pyongyang summit