Page 23 - North Korea

N Korean media calls for increased farming output amid food shortage crisis

The reports are the latest in Pyongyang's efforts to raise grain production, as its food situation seems to be worsening amid deepening economic challenges

In a bid to improve ties, S. Korean, Japanese leaders meet again for summit

The leaders of South Korea and Japan met on Sunday for their second summit in less than two months, as they push to mend long-running historical grievances and boost ties in the face of North Korea's nuclear programme and other regional challenges. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in South Korea earlier on Sunday for a two-day visit, which reciprocates a mid-March trip to Tokyo by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. It was the first exchange of visits between the leaders of the Asian neighbours in 12 years. South Korean media attention on the summit is focused on whether Kishida will make a more direct apology over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Such comments by Kishida would likely help Yoon win greater support for his push to build stronger ties with Japan and ease domestic criticism that he's preemptively made concessions to Tokyo without receiving corresponding steps in return. It took 12 years to restore the shuttle diplomacy' but our ...

North Korea insults US Prez Biden, slams defence agreement with Seoul

The powerful sister of North Korea's leader says her country would stage more provocative displays of its military might in response to a new US-South Korean agreement to intensify nuclear deterrence to counter the North's nuclear threat, which she insists shows their extreme hostility toward Pyongyang. Kim Yo Jong also lobbed personal insults toward US President Joe Biden, who after a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday stated that any North Korean nuclear attack on the US or its allies would result in the end of whatever regime took such action. Biden's meeting with Yoon in Washington came amid heightened tensions in the Korean Peninsula as the pace of both the North Korean weapons demonstrations and the combined US-South Korean military exercises have increased in a cycle of tit-for-tat. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-fired around 100 missiles, including multiple demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U

North Korea vows strong ties with Russia on leaders' summit anniversary

North Korea vowed on Tuesday to strengthen its ties with Russia on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the first summit between the leaders of the two nations

Japan gets ready to shoot down North Korea spy satellite debris

Japan's defense chief on Saturday ordered troops to activate missile interceptors and get ready to shoot down fragments from a North Korean satellite that may fall on the Japanese territory. North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un said earlier this week that its first military spy satellite that will be launched at an unspecified date. North Korea has test-fired about 100 missiles since early last year, saying it was responding to joint U.S.-South Korean military drills that it calls an invasion rehearsal. Several of the missiles flew over Japan or landed off the northern Japanese coast. Last week, North Korea test-launched a solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Saturday instructed troops to ready PAC-3 surface-to-air missiles in southwestern Japan, including Okinawa and nearby islands, in an area believed to be under a flight path of a North Korean rocket that will carry the satellite. He also ordered the deployment of

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Kim Jong-un says N Korea has finished development of 1st spy satellite

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has completed the development of its first military spy satellite and ordered officials to go ahead with its launch as planned, state media reported Wednesday. During his visit to the North's aerospace agency Tuesday, Kim stressed it's crucial to acquire a space-based surveillance system in the face of what he called US-led security threats, the Korean Central News Agency said. North Korea says its spate of weapons tests, including its first test-launch of a solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland last week, are a response to joint military exercises between the United States and its regional allies South Korea and Japan. At the National Aerospace Development Administration, Kim said military reconnaissance was crucial for North Korea to effectively use its methods of war deterrence, according to KCNA. Kim said the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 had been built as of April and order

South Korea, US, Japan hold missile defence drills against N Korean threats

The exercise focused on practicing procedures to detect and track a computer-simulated ballistic missile target, and share related information

G-7 envoys urge tough stance on Chinese, North Korean aggression

Top diplomats from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are tackling two major worries in Northeast Asia, vowing a tough stance on China's increasing threats to Taiwan and North Korea's unchecked tests of long-range missiles. Another major crisis, Russia's war in Ukraine, will also consume the agenda Monday as the diplomats gather in this Japanese hot spring resort town for Day Two of talks meant to pave the way for action by G-7 leaders when they meet next month in Hiroshima. For the American delegation, the meeting comes at a crucial moment in the world's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and efforts to deal with China, two issues that G-7 ministers from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union regard as potent challenges to the post-World War II rules-based international order. A senior U.S. official travelling with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that the Biden administration's goal for the

North Korea tests solid-fuel ICBM to improve nuclear counterattack power

According to the statement, "the test-fire proved that all of the new strategic weapon system's parameters fully matched the requirements of the design in terms of accuracy"

North Korea fires missile that may have been a new type of weapon

North Korea on Thursday conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in a month, possibly testing a new more mobile, harder-to-detect missile for the first time, its neighbours said, as it extends its provocative run of weapons tests. Japan briefly urged residents on a northern island to take shelter in an indication of its vigilance over North Korea's evolving missile threats. The missile was launched on a high angle from near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and fell in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan following a 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) flight, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staffs said in a statement. It described its range as medium or longer. The US National Security Council called it a long-range missile and Japan's government said it likely had an intercontinental range. South Korea's military believes North Korea launched a new type of ballistic missile, possibly using solid fuel, a defense official said under the condition of ...

S Korea to conduct radiation test on 89 North Korean defectors from May

Among the 89 defectors to undergo the testing, nine defectors will be the ones who received the result of having suspected radiation exposure during the govt's similar radiation testing held in 2017

N Korea fires missile toward East Sea, Japan says taking all precautions

As Pyongyang fired an unspecified ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan on Thursday, the Prime Minister's Office of Japan issued a warning of 'taking all the necessary precautions' at this crucial time.Japan has issued a warning that a North Korean missile may have landed in Hokkaido Prefecture or neighbouring waterways.Taking to Twitter, the Japan PMO wrote, "Dedicate maximum effort to gather & analyze information, & provide the public speedy & adequate information. Ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels, & other assets."As the missile is seen as to have possibly landed in Japan's waters, the Prime Minister's Office has urged to take all possible measures for precaution, including readiness for contingencies as well.North Korea on Thursday fired an unspecified ballistic missile towards the East Sea of Japan on Thursday, Yonhap News Agency said citing the South Korean military.According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they discovered the launch. However, ...

Xi tells Kim Jong-un to bolster 'strategic guidance' over bilateral ties

The remarks came as Kim received a message from Xi as the latter thanked the North Korean leader for congratulating him on his re-election as president of China

North Korea claims to test underwater nuclear attack drone 'Haeil-2'

The system will serve as an advantageous and prospective military potential of the armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)

South Korea, US, Japan call for support of ban on North Korea workers

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

S Korea, US, Japan hold anti-N Korea submarine drill over missile threats

The South Korean, US and Japanese navies began their first anti-submarine drills in six months on Monday to boost their coordination against increasing North Korean missile threats, South Korea's military said. The two-day drills come as North Korea's recent unveiling of a type of battlefield nuclear warhead prompted worries the country may conduct first nuclear test since 2017. The maritime exercises in international waters off South Korea's southern island of Jeju involved the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and naval destroyers from South Korea, the US and Japan, South Korea's Defence Ministry said in a statement. The training was arranged to improve the three countries' capacities to respond to underwater security threats posed by North Korea's advancing submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other assets, the statement said. It said the three countries were to detect and track unmanned South Korean and US underwater vehicles posing as enemy submarines and other

Kim Jong-un wants North Korea to make more nuclear material for bombs

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his nuclear scientists to increase production of weapons-grade material to make bombs to put on his increasing range of weapons. The report in state media on Tuesday followed a series of missile launches seven launch events in this month alone and rising threats to use the weapons against his enemies. North Korea's weapons tests and US-South Korea military exercises have intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle, underscoring heightened tensions in the region. Officials say North Korea could further up the ante in coming weeks or months with more provocative displays of its military nuclear program, possibly including its first test detonation of a nuclear device since September 2017. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim during a meeting on Monday with officials and scientists at a state nuclear weapons institute stressed the need to ramp up bomb fuel production to meet his goals to expand his nuclear arsenal exponentially, and issued ..

North Korea test-fires 2 more missiles as tensions rise with South

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 ..

Nuclear drone to generate 'radioactive tsumani' tested: North Korea

North Korea claimed on Friday to have tested a nuclear-capable underwater drone designed to generate a gigantic radioactive tsunami that would destroy naval strike groups and ports. Analysts were skeptical that the device presents a major new threat, but the test underlines the North's commitment to raising nuclear threats. The test this week came as the United States reportedly planned to deploy aircraft carrier strike groups and other advanced assets to waters off the Korean Peninsula. Military tensions are at a high point as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and US-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in the past year in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said the new weapon, which can be deployed from the coast or towed by surface ships, is built to stealthily infiltrate into operational waters and make a super-scale radioactive tsunami through an underwater explosion to destroy naval strike groups and majo