Page 7 - North Korea

Russia supplied air defence missiles to N Korea in return for troops: Seoul

Russia has supplied air defence missiles to North Korea in exchange for sending its troops to support Russia's war efforts against Ukraine, a top South Korean official said Friday. The US, South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia in October, some of whom have recently began engaging in combat. It has been unclear what Russia would give North Korea in return. Shin Wonsik, national security adviser for President Yoon Suk Yeol, told a SBS TV program Friday that South Korea has found Russia provided missiles and other equipment to reinforce its air defence network for Pyongyang, the capital. Many observers say North Korea likely feels the urgent need to boost its air defence capabilities for the capital after the North last month accused South Korea of dropping propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang. North Korea threatened to take military action if leaflets were again dropped. South Korea's military has refused to confirm whether or not it was behind t

S Korea finds Russia supplied missiles to North Korea in return for troops

A top South Korean official says Russia has supplied anti-air missiles to North Korea in exchange for it sending troops. The US, South Korea and others say North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. What Russia would give North Korea in return has been the focus of keen attention. National Security Director Shin Wonsik told a SBS TV programme Friday that South Korea has found Russia has provided anti-air missiles and other equipment to reinforce its air defence network for Pyongyang, the capital. Shin says Russia has also give diverse economic assistance to North Korea. Seoul and Washington have voiced worries about possible Russian transfers of sensitive nuclear and missile technology to North Korea.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un says past diplomacy only confirmed US hostility

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his past negotiations with the United States only confirmed Washington's unchangeable hostility toward Pyongyang and described his nuclear buildup as the only way to counter external threats, state media said Friday. Kim spoke Thursday at a defence exhibition where North Korea displayed some of its most powerful weapons systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the US mainland, the North's Korean Central News Agency said. While meeting with army officers last week, he had pledged a limitless expansion of his military nuclear programme. Kim has yet to comment directly on Donald Trump's reelection as US president. During his first term, Trump held three highly orchestrated summits with the North Korean leader in 2018 and 2019, before the diplomacy collapsed over disagreements in exchanging the release of US-led economic sanctions and the North's steps to wind down its nuclear programme. During the speech at the ...

North Korea, Russia sign agreement to expand their economic cooperation

North Korea and Russia reached a new agreement for expanding economic cooperation following high-level talks in Pyongyang this week, the North's state media said Thursday, as they continue to align in the face of their confrontations with Washington. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency didn't elaborate on the details of the agreement signed Wednesday between its senior trade officials and a Russian delegation led by Alexandr Kozlov, the country's minister of natural resources and ecology. The Russian news agency Tass on Tuesday said officials following an earlier round of talks agreed to increase the number of charter flights between the countries to promote tourism. Kozlov, who arrived in North Korea on Sunday, met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his top economic official, Premier Kim Tok Hun, before returning home on Wednesday, KCNA said. During Kozlov's visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin's gifted Pyongyang's Central Zoo with more than 70 animals, ...

North Korea supplied more conventional weapons to Russia: South Korea

North Korea recently supplied additional artillery systems to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine, while some of the thousands of North Korean troops deployed in Russia have begun engaging in combat, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers on Wednesday. The South Korean assessment came after Russia warned on Monday that US President Joe Biden's decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied longer-range missiles adds fuel to the fire of the war. US officials said Biden's decision was triggered almost entirely by North Korea's entry into the war. In a closed-door briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service said that North Korea exported 170mm self-propelled guns and 240mm multiple rocket launch systems to Russia, according to lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the meeting. Lee told reporters that the NIS assessed those weapons are a type of artillery the Russian military doesn't operate so North Korea likely dispatched personnel

US accuses Russia of escalating Ukraine war by using North Korean troops

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the outgoing administration was adding fuel to the fire and seeking to escalate the conflict in Ukraine

North Korea may end up sending 100,000 troops to Russia for Ukraine war

Kim's decision to send North Korean troops to join Russia's fight against Ukraine has alarmed Kyiv's allies

Japan's minister visits Kyiv to stress mutual concern over N Korean troops

Japan's foreign minister arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss North Korea's deepening military alliance with Russia, including the deployment of thousands of troops to support Moscow's war in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, to reaffirm Japan's strong support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion and to discuss further sanctions against Moscow, Japan's Foreign Ministry said. High on the agenda was Tokyo's grave concern over growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, the ministry said. According to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia as part of a major defence treaty between the countries. Last week, Ukrainian officials said Ukraine and North Korean troops engaged in small-scale fighting while Ukraine's army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk border region, where Ukraine launched a surprise push on Augus

Biden praises cooperation at meeting with S Korean, Japanese leaders

President Joe Biden on Friday praised the cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the US at countering what he described as North Korea's "dangerous and destabilising cooperation with Russia". Biden spoke at the start of a meeting in Peru with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The talks came amid heightened concerns about North Korea's growing military partnership with Russia and Pyongyang's stepped-up cadence of ballistic missile tests. The meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru comes as North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow try to claw back land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized earlier this year. I'm proud of how far we've come, Biden said. Whatever the issue, we've taken it on together." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also ordered a series of ballistic missile tests in the lead-up to this month's US election and is claiming progress on effort

North Korea tests exploding drones as Kim Jong calls for mass production

North Korea tested exploding drones designed to crash into targets and leader Kim Jong Un called for accelerating mass production of the weapons, state media said Friday. The country's latest military demonstration came as the United States, South Korea and Japan engaged in combined military exercises involving advanced fighter jets and a US aircraft carrier in nearby international waters, in a display of their defence posture against North Korea. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency published photos of Kim talking with officials near at least two different types of unmanned aerial vehicles. They included those with X-shaped tails and wings that look similar to the ones the country disclosed in August, when Kim inspected another demonstration of drones that explode on impact. The drones flew various routes and accurately struck targets, KCNA said. Its images showed what appeared to be a BMW sedan being destroyed and old models of tanks being blown up. Kim expressed ...

Kim Jong-un orders mass production of attack drones

North Korea's Kim Jong-un has ordered testing of new ‘suicide attack drones’ and has also expressed his intention to start a mass production system for wider deployment of these drones.

N Korea ratifies defence treaty with Russia stating mutual military aid

North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid, the North's state media reported Tuesday, as the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Russia had completed the ratification of the treaty last week after it was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June. It is considered both countries' biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership treaty will take effect when both sides exchange documents on the ratification, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. North Korea ratified the treaty through a decree signed Monday by the country's president of state affairs, KCNA said, using one of Kim's titles. North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, has the right to ratify treaties but Kim can unilaterally ratify major ones, according to South Korea's ..

Russia amends comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with North Korea

Tass on Saturday reported Putin's signing of the law on ratification of the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty between Moscow and Pyongyang

N Korean GPS manipulation disrupted many planes, vessels: South Korea

South Korea's military said North Korea disrupted GPS signals from border areas for the second-straight day on Saturday, affecting an unspecified number of flights and vessel operations. Tensions between the rival Koreas have escalated as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un flaunts his advancing nuclear and missile program and engages in electronic and psychological warfare, such as flying thousands of balloons to drop trash and anti-South Korean propaganda leaflets in the South. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korean operations to manipulate GPS signals were detected from around the western border city of Kaesong and the nearby city of Haeju on Friday and Saturday, and said the activities disrupted dozens of civilian aircraft and several vessels. While warning aircraft and vessels near western border areas, South Korea's military did not specify how North Korea was interfering with GPS signals or detail the extent of disruptions. We urge North Korea to stop GPS ...

North Korea fired ballistic missiles outside Japan's economic zone

North Korea on Tuesday fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern sea, according to the South Korean military, as the country continued its weapons demonstrations ahead of the US presidential elections. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff didn't immediately say what type of ballistic missile it was or how far it flew. The launch came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a flight test of the country's newest intercontinental ballistic missile designed to reach the US mainland. North Korean state media claimed last week that the Hwasong-19 it tested on October 31 was the world's strongest ICBM, but experts say the solid-fuel missile was too big to be useful in a war situation. Experts say the North has yet to acquire some critical technologies to build a functioning ICBM, such as ensuring that the warhead survives the harsh conditions of atmospheric re-entry. The latest launches came after South Korean officials said the North was likely to dial up its military ...

South Korea, EU worry about Russia's technology transfer to North Korea

South Korea and the European Union on Monday strongly condemned North Korea's reported dispatch of troops to aid Russia's war against Ukraine and expressed concerns that Russia could reward North Korea with transfers of sensitive technology to enhance its nuclear and missile programs. North Korea's troop deployment, confirmed by the US and NATO, threatens to expand the almost 3-year-long war and is causing security jitters in South Korea and elsewhere about what Russia could give North Korea in return. After a meeting in Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell issued a joint statement condemning in the strongest possible terms North Korea's deployment and voicing worries about Russia's possible provision of materials and technology to North Korea in support of its military objectives. We are also deeply concerned about the possibility for any transfer of nuclear- or ballistic missile-related technology to the DPRK, which would ...

South Korea, EU condemn North Korea's reported troop dispatch to Russia

Top South Korean and European Union officials on Monday strongly condemned North Korea's reported troop dispatch to aid Russia's war against Ukraine and agreed to work together to try to block deepening military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. North Korea's alleged troop deployment threatens to expand the almost 3-year-long war and is causing security jitters in South Korea, where many worry Russia might reward the North by giving it sophisticated weapons technology or offering a defense commitment in the event of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula. In a meeting in Seoul, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun and the EU's visiting foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed serious concerns about North Korea's reported troop dispatch and strongly condemned it, according to a statement from the South Korean Defense Ministry. The two agreed to work together with the international community to try to obstruct Russian-North Korean security cooperation, the statement .

Zelenskyy urges allies to take steps before N Korean troops reach the front

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged its allies to stop watching and take steps before North Koreans troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield. Zelenskyy raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where the North Korean troops are being trained, and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine can't do it without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia. But instead America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is just waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukrainians as well, Zelenskyy said in a post late Friday on the Telegram messaging app. The Biden administration said Thursday that some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia's Kursk region near Ukraine's border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days. Western leaders have described the North Korean troop deployment as a significant ..

North Korea claims 'world's strongest' missile; experts doubt its usability

North Korea boasted Friday that the new intercontinental ballistic missile it just test-launched is the world's strongest, a claim seen as pure propaganda after experts assessed it as being too big to be useful in a war situation. The ICBM launched Thursday flew higher and for a longer duration than any other weapon North Korea has tested. But foreign experts say the test failed to show North Korea has mastered some of the last remaining technological hurdles to possess functioning ICBMs that can strike the mainland US. The North's Korean Central News Agency identified the missile as a Hwasong-19 and called it the world's strongest strategic missile and the perfected weapon system. The official media outlet said leader Kim Jong Un observed the launch, describing it as an expression of North Korea's resolve to respond to external threats to North Korea's security. The colour and shape of the exhaust flames seen in North Korean media photos of the launch suggest the missile uses ...

North Korea sends troops to Russia to help war as diplomat meets in Moscow

Russia's top diplomat on Friday hosted his North Korean counterpart for talks amid reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its military in the war in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui's visit to Moscow and her meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came on the heels of the Pentagon's statement that North Korea has deployed about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine within the next several weeks. Western leaders have described the North Korean troop deployment as a significant escalation that could also jolt relations in the Indo-Pacific region. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have specified the agenda for Choe's talks in Moscow, but in a closed-door hearing at South Korea's parliament, the South's spy agency said Choe may be involved in high-level discussions on sending additional troops to Russia and negotiating what the North would get in return. South Korean and Western officials have voiced concern that Russia may off