Pyongyang

Russian ambassador summoned in South Korea as tensions rise with North

South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the country's new defense pact with North Korea on Friday, as border tensions continued to rise with vague threats and brief, seemingly accidental incursions by North Korean troops. Earlier Friday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a vague threat of retaliation after South Korean activists flew balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border, and South Korea's military said it had fired warning shots the previous day to repel North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the rivals' land border for the third time this month. That came two days after Moscow and Pyongyang reached a pact vowing mutual defense assistance if either is attacked, and a day after Seoul responded by saying it would consider providing arms to Ukraine to fight Russia's invasion. South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun summoned Russian Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev to convey Seoul's stance on the deal ...

N Korea installing its own loudspeakers along the border, says S Korea

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff didn't immediately comment on the number of suspected North Korean speakers

Seoul to resume loudspeaker broadcasts as Pyongyang sends trash balloons

South Korea says it will restart anti-North Korean propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts in border areas in response to continuing North Korean campaigns to drop trash on the South with balloons. Following an emergency security meeting led by South Korean national security director Chang Ho-jin, the officials decided to install and begin the loudspeaker broadcasts in border areas on Sunday, Seoul's presidential office said in a statement. The move is certain to anger North Korea and potentially prompt it to take its own retaliatory military steps. Chang and other South Korean security officials berated Pyongyang for attempting to cause anxiety and disruption in South Korea and stressed that North Korea will be solely responsible for any future escalation of tensions between the Koreas. North Korea over the weekend flew hundreds of trash-carrying balloons to South Korea in its third such campaign since late May, the South's military said, just days after South Korean activists floated ..

Amid tensions, N Korea conducts first test flight of new cruise missile

North Korea said Thursday it conducted its first flight test of a new cruise missile, as it expands its military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and neighbours. The report in state media came a day after South Korea's military said it detected the North firing several cruise missiles into waters off its western coast. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff did not provide more specific assessments, including the number of missiles fired or their flight characteristics. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the Pulhwasal-3-31 missile is still in its development phase and that the launch did not pose a threat to neighbours. It described the missile as strategic, implying an intent to arm them with nuclear weapons. The cruise missile launches were North Korea's second known launch event of the year, following a Jan. 14 test-firing of the country's first solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile, which reflected its efforts to advanc

N Korea's Kim boasts of achievements during key year-end political meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised what he called achievements and victories that strengthened national power and boosted the country's prestige this year, as he opened a key political meeting to set new policy goals for 2024, state media reported on Wednesday. Experts said that during this week's year-end plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, North Korea would likely hype its progress in arms development because the country lacks economic achievements amid persistent international sanctions and pandemic-related economic hardships. In his opening-day speech at the meeting that began on Tuesday, Kim defined 2023 as a year of great turn and great change both in name and reality, in which (North Korea) left a great trace in the glorious course of development in the efforts to improve the national power and enhance the prestige of the country, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA said North Korea achieved a rapid advancement in its defence capabilities

S Korea slams Pyongyang's planned satellite launch, warns of consequences

South Korea "strongly warned" against North Korea's plan to launch a satellite in the coming weeks, vowing to make Pyongyang pay "due prices" if it goes ahead with the launch

North Korea criticizes UN, US for raising Pyongyang's human rights issue

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,"

US, South Korea jointly warn Pyongyang against nuclear weapons use

The US and South Korea jointly warned North Korea on on Thursday that use of any kind of nuclear weapon against Seoul or other regional allies would result in the end of Kim Jong Un's regime, as Pyongyang continued to rattle the peninsula with escalating missile tests. North Korea has launched more than two dozen missiles over the last two days in response to US-South Korean military exercises that began on Monday. The launches have sent South Koreans scrambling for shelter and further frayed the nerves of a population already mourning the loss of more than 150 people at a horrific Halloween crowd crush. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup, after meeting on Thursday at the Pentagon, released a joint statement saying they strongly condemned North Korea's escalating military flexing, including ballistic missile test launches, multiple rocket launches and coastal artillery. Any use of nuclear weapons, including lower-yield tactical nuclear ...

N Korea fires 2 ballistic missiles towards sea as US redeploys carrier

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters Thursday after the United States redeployed an aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula in response to Pyongyang's previous launch of a nuclear-capable missile over Japan. The latest missile launches suggest North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is determined to continue with weapons tests aimed at boosting his nuclear arsenal in defiance of international sanctions. Many experts say Kim's goal is to eventually win US recognition as a legitimate nuclear state and the lifting of those sanctions, though the international community has shown no sign of allowing that to happen. The latest missiles were launched 22 minutes apart from the North's capital region and landed between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The first missile flew 350 kilometers (217 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 80 kilometers (50 miles) and the second flew 800 kilometers (497

Kamala Harris to visit S Korea amid Pyongyang's nuclear testing threat

US Vice President Kamala Harris will arrive in South Korea on Thursday just a day after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles amid an escalation of Pyongyang's continued nuke testing

N Korea to hold key parliamentary meet on Sep 7, organisational issues key

North Korea will convene a key parliamentary meeting in Pyongyang next month to discuss organisational and other pending issues

Pyongyang fired unidentified projectile toward eastern sea: South Korea

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff didn't immediately say whether the projectile was ballistic or how far it flew

Top nuke envoys of South Korea, China discuss Korean Peninsula security

Chinese envoy expressed concerns over rising tension on the peninsula and reaffirmed commitment to play a "positive role" but said the key to a resolution to issue is in hands of Pyongyang, Washington

N Korea's massive military parade imminent, suggests satellite imagery

North Korea appears to be making final-stage preparations for a military parade involving a large number of troops ahead of another key anniversary next week.

'Pyongyang will not fire a single bullet toward Seoul', says Kim Yo-jong

Kim Yo-jong again took issue with the South Korean defense chief's talk in public last week of his troops' "preemptive strike" capabilities, boasting repeatedly about Pyongyang's nuclear combat force

North Korea test-fires 9th missile ahead of South Korean Prez poll

Notably, the ninth missile launch conducted by Pyongyang this year comes just four days ahead of the Presidential election in South Korea on March 9

North Korea confirms test of ballistic missile capable of striking Guam

North Korea confirmed Monday it test-launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of reaching the US territory of Guam.

North Korea calls for unity on anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death

North Korea on Friday commemorated the 10th anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il's death with calls for greater public loyalty toward his son and current leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea ignores US offer for talks, citing its hostile policy

North Korea said on Thursday it will ignore a US offer for talks unless it withdraws its hostile policy on the North, days after Washington said it reached out to Pyongyang through various channels

North Korea celebrates 75th party anniversary amid economic woes

North Korea celebrated the 75th anniversary of its ruling party with outside observers expecting leader Kim Jong Un to take centrestage in a massive military parade in capital Pyongyang