Page 2 - North Korea

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

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

US calls on silent China to use its sway over Russia and North Korea

The U.S. and South Korea have called on China to use its influence over Russia and North Korea to prevent escalation after Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to Russia to aid Moscow's war against Ukraine. Beijing has so far stayed quiet. In a rare meeting earlier this week, three top U.S. diplomats met with China's ambassador to the United States to emphasize U.S. concerns and urge China to use its sway with North Korea to try to curtail the cooperation, according to a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the sides had a robust conversation just this week" and that China knows U.S. expectations are that they'll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities." But I think this is a demand signal that's coming not just from us, but from countries around the world, he said at a news conference in Washington with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts. Liu Peng

North Korea boasts of its new long-range missile targeting the US

North Korea on Friday bragged of its recently tested new intercontinental ballistic missile, calling it the world's strongest, a claim viewed by outside experts as propaganda though the test showed an advancement in the North's quest to build a more reliable weapons arsenal. A missile launched by North Korea on Thursday flew higher and stayed in the air for a longer duration than any other weapon the country had so far fired. It signaled that the North has achieved progress in acquiring a nuclear-armed ICBM that can hit the U.S. mainland. But foreign experts assess that the country has still a few remaining technological issues to master before acquiring such a functioning ICBM. On Friday, the North's Korean Central News Agency identified the missile as Hwasong-19 ICBM and called it the world's strongest strategic missile and the perfected weapon system. KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un observed the launch, describing it as an appropriate military action to express North Korea's resolve

China's silence striking, says Zelenskyy on deployment of N Korean troops

Zelenskyy strongly condemned Russia's decision to involve North Korean troops in the ongoing war against Ukraine

About 8K N Korean troops at Ukraine's border, expected in combat soon: US

Some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia near Ukraine's border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days, the Biden administration said Thursday. The new figure is a dramatic increase from a day earlier, when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would only say some of the troops had moved toward Ukraine's border in the Kursk region, where Moscow's forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion That also would mean most of the North Korean troops that the US and its allies say have been sent to Russia are now on the Russia-Ukraine border. The US has estimated there are about 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia. Seoul and its allies assess that the number has increased to 11,000, while Ukraine has put the figure higher, at up to 12,000. Of the 8,000 in Kursk, we've not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces but we would expect that to happen in the coming days, Blinken said at a news conference wi

North Korea launches new intercontinental ballistic missile to threaten US

North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday in its first test in almost a year of a weapon designed to threaten the US mainland and occurring days ahead of the US election. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the missile test and was at the launch site, calling the launch an appropriate military action to show North Korea's resolve to respond to its enemies' moves that has threatened the North's safety, according to its Defence Ministry. The United States, South Korea and Japan had also identified the weapon as an ICBM and condemned the launch as raising tensions. The launch came as Washington warned that North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine, likely to augment Russian forces and join the war. North Korea confirmed the launch hours after its neighbours detected the firing of what they suspected was a new, more agile weapon targeting the mainland US. The statement was unusually quick since North Korea usually describes its .

Russia, Ukraine exchange strikes as N Korea's top diplomat visits Moscow

Russia and Ukraine exchanged scores of drone strikes Wednesday as North Korea's top diplomat arrived in Russia for talks after his country reportedly deployed thousands of soldiers to help Moscow's war efforts. Ukraine's air force said that Russia launched 62 drones and one missile overnight, adding that 33 of them were intercepted and 25 were jammed. The drones struck a residential building and a kindergarten in Kyiv, injuring nine people, including a child, according to the city administration. "Russian drones did not change their constant tactics they approached the capital from different directions, at different heights, it said. Russian attacks also targeted other regions of Ukraine, killing at least four and injuring about 30 others over the past 24 hours, authorities said. At the same time, Russian forces have pressed their slow-moving offensive in eastern Ukraine. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry announced the capture of the village of Kruhlyakivka in the Kharkiv region. T

North Korea sends foreign minister to Russia as troops train to fight

North Korea said on Tuesday its top diplomat is visiting Russia, in another sign of their deepening relations as rival South Korea and Western nations say the North has sent thousands of troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said a delegation led by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui departed for Russia on Monday, but didn't specify the purpose of the visit. The announcement of Choe's visit came hours after the Pentagon said North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia, who are expected to arrive in battlefields in Ukraine within the next several weeks". South Korean and Western leaders have expressed concern that North Korean involvement could help prolong Russia's aggression in Ukraine, and that Russia may offer technology in return that could advance the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programme. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday that some of the North Korean soldiers have .

No cap on Ukraine's use of US arms if N Korea joins Russia's war: Pentagon

Ukrainian military intelligence said on Thursday that the first North Korean units had been recorded in the Kursk border region