Page 2 - Kim Jong Un

Senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defects to South Korea

Any high-level defection can be an intelligence bonanza for South Korea, allowing it to look at the workings of North Korea's secretive government

Sister of Kim Jong hints at resuming flying trash balloons toward S Korea

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Sunday to respond to what she called a fresh South Korean civilian leafleting campaign, signalling North Korea would soon resume flying trash-carrying balloons across the border. Since late May, North Korea has floated numerous balloons carrying waste paper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts and even manure toward South Korea on a series of late-night launch events, saying they were a tit-for-tat action against South Korean activists scattering political leaflets via their own balloons. No hazardous materials have been found. South Korea responded by suspending a 2018 tension-reduction deal with North Korea and resumed live-fire drills at border areas. In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong said that dirty leaflets and things of (the South Korean) scum were found again in border and other areas in North Korea on Sunday morning. Despite the repeated warnings of (North Korea), the (South Korean) scum are not ...

Sister of Kim Jong calls S Korea's live-fire drills 'suicidal hysteria'

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called South Korea's recent front-line live-fire drills "suicidal hysteria" as she threatened unspecified military steps on Monday if further provoked. The warning by Kim Yo Jong came after South Korea performed firing exercises in its tense land and sea borders with North Korea in the past two weeks. The exercises were the first of their kind since South Korea suspended a 2018 agreement with the North aimed easing frontline military tensions in June. "The question is why the enemy kicked off such war drills near the border, suicidal hysteria, for which they will have to sustain terrible disaster," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. She accused South Korea's conservative government of deliberately escalating tensions as a way to escape a domestic political crisis. She said the riskiness of the South Korean drills is clear to everyone as they happened amid "a touch-and-go situation" established after the US,

In a first, North Korean officials seen wearing lapel pins with Kim's image

For the first time, North Korean officials have been seen wearing lapel pins with the image of leader Kim Jong Un, another sign the North is boosting his personality cult to the level bestowed on his late dictator father and grandfather. North Koreans are required to wear pins over their hearts which for decades bore images of either the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, or his son Kim Jong Il, or both. The existence of pins dedicated to Kim Jong Un had not been verified until state media published photos on Sunday showing officials wearing his pins at a ruling Workers' Party meeting. The pins are part of a state-sponsored mythology surrounding the Kim family which treats Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il like gods. They are memorialised with numerous statues across North Korea, their birthdays are two of the country's main holidays and their portraits are hung in all homes and offices. Few question current leader Kim Jong Un's hold on power, but few images honouring the 40-year-old have be

N Korea launches ballistic missile toward sea, after US-S Korea-Japan drill

North Korea launched at least one short-range ballistic missile off its east coast Monday, South Korea's military said, a day after the North vowed offensive and overwhelming responses to a new US military drill with South Korea and Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's southeastern town of Jangyon at 5.05 am. It said an additional, unidentified ballistic missile launch trajectory was detected 10 minutes later, a suggestion that North Korea might have performed two missile launches. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea's military has boosted its surveillance posture and is closely exchanging related information with the United States and Japan. The launch came two days after South Korea, the US and Japan ended their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region. In recent years, the three countries have been expanding their trilateral security partnership to better cope with North Korea's evolving nuclear threats and China's ...

N Korea tests multiwarhead missile, Kim covets weapon to overwhelm US

North Korea said Thursday it had successfully tested a multiwarhead missile, a sophisticated weapon coveted by leader Kim Jong Un to overwhelm missile defenses in the continental United States. The statement contradicted South Korea's assessment of a failed launch Wednesday of a different type of weapon. The launch tested the separation and guidance control of individual mobile warheads to ensure the capability of the Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets" and a decoy that separated from the missile was verified by radar, it said. It was North Korea's first known launch event related to the development of a multiwarhead missile, though outside experts believe it was a preliminary test. KCNA, citing the country's Missile Administration, said it was significant to bolstering North Korea's missile forces and developing missile technologies that testi

N Korea launches more trash balloons; South calls it 'irrational'

South Korea threatened on Tuesday to restart anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts in the latest bout of Cold War-style campaigns between the rivals after North Korea resumed its trash-carrying balloon launches. On Monday night, North Korea floated huge balloons carrying plastic bags of rubbish across the border in its fifth such campaign since late May an apparent response to South Korean activists flying political leaflets via balloons. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called North Korea's balloon activities a despicable and irrational provocation. In a speech marking the 74th anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War, Yoon said Tuesday that South Korea will maintain a firm military readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations by North Korea. South Korea's military said North Korea floated about 350 balloons in its latest campaign, and about 100 of them eventually landed in South Korean soil, mostly in Seoul and nearby areas. Seoul is about 40-50

North Korea has resumed balloon launches likely to drop trash: Seoul

The launches came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a major defence deal that observers worry could embolden Kim to direct more provocations

With new pact with North Korea, Russia raises stakes with West over Ukraine

Behind the smiles, the balloons and the red-carpet pageantry of President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last week, a strong signal came through: In the spiralling confrontation with the US and its allies over Ukraine, the Russian leader is willing to challenge Western interests like never before. The pact that he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisions mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang if either is attacked. Putin also announced for the first time that Russia could provide weapons to the isolated country, a move that could destabilise the Korean Peninsula and reverberate far beyond. He described the potential arms shipments as a response to NATO allies providing Ukraine with longer-range weapons to attack Russia. He bluntly declared that Moscow has nothing to lose and is prepared to go to the end to achieve its goals in Ukraine. Putin's moves added to concerns in Washington and Seoul about what they see as an alliance in which North Korea

Russia-North Korea pact may dent China's influence, but its sway undeterred

Experts say China's leaders are likely fretting over potential loss of influence over North Korea after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the deal this week

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 ...

From Pyongyang to Putin: Nuclear diplomacy shifts amid Ukraine standoff

Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated tensions by threatening to arm North Korea in response to US and allied support for Ukraine

S Korea fires warning shots as North Korean soldiers make third incursion

South Korea's military said Friday that it had fired warnings shots the previous day to repel North Korean soldiers who temporarily crossed the rivals' land border for the third time this month. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said several North Korean soldiers while engaging in unspecified construction work on the northern side of the border briefly intruded the military demarcation line that bisects the countries at around 11 am Thursday. The South Korean military in response broadcasted a warning and fired warning shots, to which the North Korean soldiers retreated. The joint chiefs didn't immediately release more details. South Korea's military has said it believes the previous two border intrusions this month weren't intentional as the North Korean soldiers have retreated after the warning shots and the North has not returned fire. The South's military says it has been observing increased North Korean construction activity in frontline border areas since April, such as ...

Deal between Putin, Kim requires immediate military assistance: North Korea

The deal could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War

Putin, Kim ink mutual defence pact; North Korea vows unconditional support

On his first visit to Pyongyang since July 2000, Putin explicitly linked Russia's deepening of ties with North Korea to the West's growing support for Ukraine

Russia, N Korea sign partnership, vows closer ties amid rivalry with West

North Korea is under heavy UN Security Council sanctions over its weapons program, while Russia also faces sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine

Russia discusses deployment of long-range weapons with closest partners

Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea on Wednesday, with the United States and its allies saying they fear Moscow could provide aid for Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programmes

Vladimir Putin visits North Korea for first time in 24 years; key details

Putin's visit to North Korea has angered US as South Korea called the Western nation to discuss potential implications

Putin vows to build trade, security with North Korea that West can't touch

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for supporting his actions in Ukraine and said their countries will cooperate closely to overcome US-led sanctions as he headed to Pyongyang on Tuesday for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Putin's comments appeared in an op-ed piece in North Korean state media hours before he was expected to arrive in the North for a two-day visit as the countries deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington. Putin, who will be making his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, said he highly appreciates its firm support of his invasion of Ukraine. He said the countries would continue to "resolutely oppose" what he described as Western ambitions to "to hinder the establishment of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for justice". Putin also said Russia and North Korea will develop unspecified trade and payment systems "that are not controlled by the West" and jointly oppo

S Korean soldiers fire warning shots after N Korean troops' intrusion

South Korean soldiers on Tuesday fired warning shots to repel North Korean soldiers who temporarily crossed the rivals' land border for the second time this month, South Korea's military said. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said around 20 to 30 North Korean soldiers, while engaging in unspecified construction work on the northern side of the border, briefly crossed the military demarcation line that bisects the countries as of 8:30 a.m. It said the North Korean soldiers retreated after the South broadcasts warnings and fired warning shots and the South's military didn't spot any suspicious activities after that. The South also fired warning shots on June 11 after another group of North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the MDL. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that Tuesday's incident occurred in a different area along the central frontline region. It said it doesn't believe the North Korean soldiers intruded the border intentionally and that the North did not return fire. The South