North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday to mark the 74th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China, state media said. "Over the last 10-odd years, the CPC with you, the general secretary, as its core has made remarkable successes in the cause of the party and state building by uniting and inspiring the entire party and people under the banner of the socialist idea with Chinese characteristics in the new era,&q

North Korea's advancements in nuclear and missile capabilities have enabled the country to deploy its nuclear weapons "at any stage of conflict," the US Defense Department said in a new defense strategy revealed Thursday. The Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction has been updated for the first time since 2014. This update reflects the current and emerging challenges and threats associated with WMD, including the trend of actors that pose a threat to the US. The Penta

North Korea has stipulated the policy of strengthening its nuclear force in the constitution at a key parliamentary meeting, as leader Kim Jong-un said trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, the United States, and Japan poses "the worst actual threat." The decision was made at the ninth session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) held on Tuesday and Wednesday, with leader Kim's attendance, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). At the

North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday his country is "urgently" required to bolster its self-defense capabilities, claiming the Korean Peninsula faces the "immediate danger of nuclear war breakout." Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, Ambassador Kim Song attributed the "current dangerous situation" to South Korea and the United States, lambasting a series of steps that the allies have taken to bolster deterrence against evolvin

A South Korean court on Tuesday found a law banning private entities from sending leaflets or other items by balloon into North Korea unconstitutional. In a 7-2 decision, the Constitutional Court found the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, promulgated in 2020 during the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, unconstitutional. Scores of North Korean human rights groups filed the complaint with the Constitutional Court immediately after the law came into effect. After the conservative Presid

North Korea is scheduled to convene a key parliamentary meeting Tuesday amid keen attention over whether its leader Kim Jong-un will attend it to deliver any message related to his latest summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. North Korea earlier announced its plan to hold the ninth session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly on Tuesday to discuss organizational matters and the issue of reviewing and adopting various laws. The secretive regime's state media has not reported wh

North Korea released scathing criticism filled with abusive language on Monday in response to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's denunciation of internationally prohibited, potential military transactions between Moscow and Pyongyang during his speech at the UN General Assembly. South Korea, however, has opted to disregard the criticism, considering it unworthy of a response. North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency, primarily oriented toward an international audience, re

South Korea's foreign ministry on Friday called on Russia to "transparently explain" its recent dealings with North Korea amid growing speculation of an arms supply deal at last week's bilateral summit. "If it (Moscow) will not engage in such worrisome military cooperation with North Korea, Russia should transparently explain (its dealings with North Korea) so that the international community could find it acceptable," a ministry official said. The comments were m

North Korea held a Politburo meeting on Wednesday to discuss leader Kim Jong-un's recent visit to Russia and subsequent actions required to put the trip's outcomes into effect, state-run media reported Friday. Kim made his first public appearance following his extensive 10-day overseas trip by participating in a Political Bureau meeting at the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. During the meeting, Kim Song-nam, the director of the In

President Yoon Suk Yeol's speech at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday raised the possibility that Yoon has made it official that North Korea now stands behind Russia in terms of Seoul's priority in foreign relations, which could signal a downturn ahead in the inter-Korean relationship. As the South Korean leader warned North Korea not to pursue information and technology from Russia needed to enhance its weapons-of-mass-destruction capabilities, in ret

North Korean state-run media on Wednesday broadcast a documentary that featured North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's motorcade in Russia, notably escorted by vans manufactured by South Korea's auto giant, Hyundai Motor. The state-controlled Korean Central Television, which primarily targets the North's domestic audience, unveiled an hour-and-a-half-long documentary titled "A Historical Moment: Setting a New Milestone in North Korea-Russia Relations," providing a comprehensi

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that it will bury the Australian wife of an Australian Korean War veteran next to her husband at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan. The burial ceremony, which the Australian Embassy in Seoul will hold the next day, came four years after Olwyn Green died at 96, leaving behind her wishes that she be reunited with her husband, Lt. Col. Charles Green. The COVID-19 pandemic had prompted the wait. Green, commanding officer of the 3rd batta

A special train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Pyongyang after traveling to Russia for his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the North's state media reported Wednesday. The train reached Pyongyang on Tuesday evening, after completing "external revolutionary activities" that will shine in the history of strengthening friendly relations between North Korea and Russia, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Kim was welcomed by top party and

A mosaic mural depicting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was erected in Pyongyang, state media reported Tuesday, as North Korea has been bolstering its leader's personality cult. The North held a ceremony unveiling the mosaic Sunday at Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, a school for children of the privileged class, on the occasion of its 75th founding anniversary, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The painting described Kim, wearing a red scarf around his neck, as smiling while b

Leader Kim Jong-un has crossed back into North Korea after a trip to Russia that "opened a new chapter" for the development of the bilateral relations between the two nations, Pyongyang's state media reported Tuesday. Kim passed through the Tumangang Railway Station on the border between the two countries on early Monday morning, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim, who left Pyongyang on his armored train on Sept. 10, held a summit with Russian President Vlad

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was on his way back to Pyongyang on Sunday, wrapping up a six-day trip to the Russian Far East that focused on military cooperation with Moscow amid blistering criticism from the international community for defying sanctions. As his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin stoked fears across the West and its allies over a potential arms deal, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow is "illegal and

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has held talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on strengthening bilateral military cooperation and exchange, state media reported Sunday. Kim held the talks in Vladivostok on Saturday as he is on a tour of Russia's Far East after holding a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Wednesday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. They "exchanged their constructive opinions on the practical issues arising in further strengthe

A group of North Korean athletes has reportedly arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou to participate in the upcoming Asian Games. North Korea has registered 191 athletes to attend the Hangzhou Asian Games set to run from next Saturday to Oct. 8, according to the organizer's website. Some 60 North Korean athletes and coaches arrived at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport on Friday evening, Chinese media reported. They first arrived in Dandong, northeastern China, on Friday by b

The United States will press for further action over North Korea's provocations and other breaches of international law, a senior US official said Friday, after a recent summit between Pyongyang and Moscow deepened concerns about a potential arms deal between them. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the remarks, assessing that North Korea's talks with Russia over its potential supply of weapons for use in the war in Ukraine have continued to "advance." North Korean

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and inspected Russia's nuclear-capable bombers, missiles and a warship Saturday after he arrived in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok, Russian media reported. Kim has been touring Russia's Far East after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday at the Vostochny space center amid growing concerns over possible military cooperation between the two countries. Russia'