Page 8 - Kim Jong Un

Here's what to watch as N Korea ratchets up nuclear threat against the West

North Korea's nuclear capabilities may have risen to a stage where the US may not be able to offer enough incentives to roll them back

S Korea, US to hold simulated drill to prevent North Korea's use of nukes

South Korean and United States militaries will hold a tabletop exercise at the Pentagon next week to hone their joint response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea, Seoul officials said Friday. The one-day computer simulation set for Wednesday comes as the two countries push to strengthen their 70-year alliance in the face of North Korea's increasingly aggressive nuclear doctrine. The exercise is meant to focus on measures against North Korean nuclear threats and discuss how to boost a US extended deterrence America's ability to use its full capabilities, including nuclear, to deter attacks on its allies, South Korea's Defence Ministry said in a statement. It said the exercise would set up possible scenarios where North Korea uses nuclear weapons, explore how to cope with them militarily and formulate crisis management plans. Worries about North Korea's nuclear programme deepened in South Korea after the North conducted a record number of missile tests in 2022 and

Kim Jong breaks ground for housing, farm projects amid economic isolation

North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un attended groundbreaking ceremonies for new housing and farming projects, which are part of his push for domestic achievements as the country's economic isolation deepens amid his defiant pursuit of nuclear arms. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim broke ground Wednesday for the construction of a huge greenhouse farm in the outskirts of the capital, Pyongyang, where senior North Korean official Jo Yong Won in a speech said that providing Pyongyang residents with fresh vegetables in all seasons was a top priority. Kim also attended a ceremony marking the start of second-stage construction project to build 10,000 new homes in Pyongyang's Hwasong district. The project is part of broader plans to supply 50,000 new homes in the capital under a five-year national development plan that runs through 2025. Experts say North Korea has severe shortages in quality housing that deepened over decades of economic decay. But living condition

Kim Jong-un calls for stronger military power during photo session

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for bolstering the country's military strength at an unprecedented pace, during a photo session with the participants of a military parade held earlier this week

Kim Jong Un Shows off daughter, nuclear missiles at North Korean parade

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his young daughter took centre stage at a huge military parade, fuelling speculation that she is being primed as a future leader of the isolated country as her father showed off his latest, largest nuclear missiles. Wednesday night's parade in the capital, Pyongyang, featured the newest hardware in Kim's growing nuclear arsenal, including what experts said was possibly a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile he could test in the coming months. That missile was part of around a dozen ICBMs Kim's troops rolled out at the event an unprecedented number that underscored how he continues to expand his military capabilities despite limited resources in the face of deepening tensions with his neighbours and the United States. The parade was the fifth known public appearance by Kim's daughter, Kim Ju Ae, his second-born child who is believed to be around 10 years old. On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to visit troops as he lauded th

Kim Jong Un presides over big military parade, featuring nuclear weapons

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his young daughter to a huge military parade showing off the latest hardware of his fast-growing nuclear arsenal, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the United States, state media said Thursday. North Korean photos of Wednesday night's parade in the capital, Pyongyang, showed Kim, wearing a black coat and fedora, attending the event with his wife and daughter, in the young girl's latest recent public appearance. Kim was smiling and raising his hand from a balcony as thousands of troops lined up in a brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Square, named after his grandfather and the nation's founder. The parade marked the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army and came after weeks of preparations involving huge numbers of troops and civilians mobilized to glorify Kim's rule and his relentless push to cement the North's status as a nuclear power. State media reports didn't immediately mention whether Kim delivered

North Korean leader Kim brings daughter to visit troops

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to visit troops to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the country's army as he lauded the irresistible might of his nuclear-armed military, state media said Wednesday. The visit came amid indications North Korea is preparing to stage a massive military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where it could showcase the latest hardware of a growing nuclear weapons program that stokes the concern of its neighbors and the United States. In her fourth known public appearance, Kim's daughter Kim Ju Ae, believed to be 9 or 10 years old, stood closely with her father as he shook the hands of senior officials and sat next to him at a table. Analysts say Kim's decision to bring his daughter to public events tied to his military is to remind the world he has no intentions to voluntarily surrender his nuclear weapons, which he apparently sees as the strongest guarantee of his survival and the extension of his family's dynastic rule. State media

Kim Jong's disappearance raises speculations about his health again: Report

Speculations about North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un's health have again come to the fore, after his alleged disappearance before the mass parade slated to be held this week, Fox News reported

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un orders military to improve war readiness

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his military to expand its combat exercises and strengthen war preparedness as he looks to escalate an already provocative run in weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening tensions with its neighbours and Washington. Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission on Monday and encouraged the armed forces to perform ever-victorious feats and display matchless military strength to open a new phase in development, the country's official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday. The commission's members discussed a series of tasks aimed at inducing great change in the military, including constantly expanding and intensifying the operation and combat drills and more strictly perfecting the preparedness for war," the agency said. The meeting came amid signs that North Korea is preparing a massive military parade in the capital Pyongyang, to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean

N Korea sustains high defense spending in budget despite economic troubles

State media reports indicated Kim didn't attend the Supreme People's Assembly's two-day session that ended Wednesday

North Korea to boost nuclear warhead production 'exponentially': Kim Jong

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to increase the production of nuclear warheads exponentially and build a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, state media reported Sunday, signaling deepening animosities with the United States, South Korea and others. Kim's statement at a key ruling party meeting was released hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters, entering 2023 with another weapons test following a record number of missile firings last year. The currently established situation calls for our country doubling down our efforts to strengthen our military power overwhelmingly to safeguard our sovereignty, safety and basic national intertest to cope with the dangerous military moves by the U.S. and other hostile forces that target us, Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA cited Kim as saying North Korea is compelled to boost the production exponentially to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons. It also

North Korea's Kim Jong Un lays out key goals to boost military power

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presented unspecified goals to further bolster his military power next year at a meeting of top political officials, state media reported Wednesday, in an indication he'll continue his provocative run of weapons displays. Kim's statement came as animosities with rival South Korea rose sharply this week as the South accused the North of flying drones across the rivals' border for the first time in five years. This year, North Korea already performed a record number of missile tests in what experts call an attempt to modernize its arsenal and increase its leverage in future dealings with the United States. During the Tuesday session at the ongoing plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, Kim analyzed new security challenges in international politics and on the Korean Peninsula and clarified principles and directions to take in external relations and fights against enemies to protect national interests and sovereignty, according to the official Korea

Kim Jong Un claims North Korean successes, says it faces challenges

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for stronger effort to overcome hardships and challenges facing his country as he opened a key political meeting after carrying out a record number of missile tests this year. A plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party was convened in Pyongyang on Monday to review past projects and discuss next year's work plans, the official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday. Kim will likely use the meeting to reaffirm his resolve to expand his nuclear arsenal and introduce high-tech weapons targeting the US and South Korea while laying out projects to revive pandemic-battered public livelihoods, some experts say. In his opening comments, Kim compared hardships and challenges since a bigger party meeting in early 2021 to the ten-year struggle of the revolution. But he claimed North Korea has reported some successes in the arduous course and that his country's power has remarkably increased in political, military, economic and cultural areas. He ...

North Korea's Kim calls for key party meeting to review state affairs

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a major political conference before year's end where he's expected to address his increasingly tense relations with Washington and Seoul over the expansion of his nuclear and missile programs. North Korea's state media said Thursday that Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Politburo in which members reviewed the implementation of state policies in 2022 and decided to hold a larger plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee at an unspecified time in late December. Kim in recent years has used political conferences in late December or early January to review state affairs and reveal his most important goals in economic and foreign policy and arms development. It's possible that those meetings are replacing the function of Kim's New Year's Day speeches, which he has skipped since 2020 after using them for years to issue major announcements. During Wednesday's meeting in capital Pyongyang, Kim insisted that the ...

Kim Jong Un's daughter called 'most beloved' child in 2nd appearance

North Korea's leader has taken his daughter to a meeting with missile scientists in her second public appearance, in which state media called her Kim Jong Un's most beloved child, deepening outside debate over whether she is being primed as his successor. The daughter, believed to Kim's second child named Ju Ae and about 9 or 10 years old, was first unveiled to the outside world last weekend in state media photos showing her observing the North's intercontinental ballistic missile launch the previous day with her parents and other older officials. The daughter wearing a white puffy coat and red shoes was shown walking hand-in-hand with Kim past a huge missile loaded on a launch truck and watching a soaring weapon. On Sunday, the North's state media mentioned her for the second time, saying she and Kim took group photos with scientists, technicians, officials and other workers involved in what it called the test-launch of its Hwasong-17 ICBM. KCNA described her as Kim's most beloved

Kim Jong Un's sister makes insulting threats to Seoul over sanctions

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made insult-laden threats against South Korea on Thursday for considering unliteral sanctions on the North, calling the South's new president and his government "idiots" and "a running wild dog gnawing on a bone given by the US". Kim Yo Jong's diatribe came two days after South Korea's Foreign Ministry said that it was reviewing additional unilateral sanctions on North Korea over its recent barrage of missile tests. The ministry said it would also consider sanctions and clampdowns on North Korea's alleged cyberattacks a new key source of funding for its weapons program if the North conducts a major provocation like a nuclear test. "I wonder what sanctions' the South Korean group, no more than a running wild dog gnawing on a bone given by the US, impudently impose on North Korea," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. "What a spectacle sight!" She called South Korea's new President Yoon Suk Yeol and his ...

North Korea's Kim boasts new intercontinental missile as US flies bombers

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un boasted that a recently tested intercontinental ballistic missile is another reliable and maximum-capacity weapon to contain US military threats, state media reported on Saturday. The United States responded to the North's weapons launch by flying supersonic bombers in a show of force. The North's Korean Central News Agency said Kim oversaw the launch of the Hwasong-17 missile, a day after its neighbours said they had detected the launch of an ICBM that showed a potential ability to reach anywhere in the United States. KCNA said Kim observed the launch with his wife Ri Sol Ju and their beloved daughter as well as senior officials. State media photos showed Kim walking hand-in-hand with his daughter, who was clad in a white coat, together watching a huge missile loaded on a launch truck. It's the first time for North Korea to publish the photo of Kim's daughter. Observers say Kim observing a weapons launch with his family suggests that he was confide

K-Pop sensation BTS to give what could be last concert of band for years

South Korean boy band BTS will perform together on Saturday for the first time since the shocking announcement in June that the band would take an indefinite hiatus

North Korea says Kim Jong-Un supervised long-range cruise missile tests

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of long-range cruise missiles, which he described as a successful demonstration of his military's expanding nuclear strike capabilities and readiness for actual war", state media said on Thursday. Wednesday's tests extended a record number of weapons demonstrations this year by North Korea, which has punctuated its testing activity with threats to preemptively use nuclear weapons against South Korea and the United States if it perceives its leadership as under threat. Analysts say Kim is exploiting the distraction created by Russia's war on Ukraine, using it as a window to accelerate arms development as he pursues a full-fledged nuclear arsenal that could viably threaten regional US allies and the American homeland. South Korean officials say Kim may also conduct a nuclear test in the coming weeks or months, escalating a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power that can

Missile launches were 'simulation' of nuclear-strike on South: North Korea

North Korea preparing to hold its first nuclear weapon test in five years: Reports