North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the test-firing of long-range strategic cruise missiles involving units operating "tactical nukes" earlier this week aimed at strengthening the country's war deterrence, Pyongyang's state media said Thursday. On Wednesday, the North fired two long-range strategic cruise missiles that flew for "10,234 seconds along an oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in t...

WASHINGTON -- The United States continues to remain open to dialogue with North Korea without any preconditions, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council (NSC) said Tuesday. The remark comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country feels no need for dialogue with the US or South Korea. "Our goal is the complete, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and w...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has attended a ceremony to mark the completion of building a greenhouse farm in the country's eastern province on a key party anniversary, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday. A day earlier, Kim took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm in Hamju County, South Hamgyong Province, on the occasion of the 77th founding anniversary of the rul...

WASHINGTON -- The United States' defensive actions such as joint military drills and naval exercises with South Korea do not justify North Korea's missile provocations, a state department spokesperson said Monday. The remark comes after North Korea argued its missile tests are "self-defense" actions against US threats. "We reject the notion that our defensive actions to respond to the DPRK thre...

The South Korean government cannot accept North Korea using recent military drills between Seoul and Washington as a pretext for its "unlawful" provocations, a Seoul official said Monday. The remarks by the foreign ministry official came after the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) disclosed a recent series of its military drills, including those involving the operation of a nuclear-capab...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected an exercise of tactical nuclear operation units held in order to check and assess the "war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability" in response to recent joint military trainings by South Korea and the United States, Pyongyang's state media said Monday. Kim "guided" the drills that were conducted from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 while the allies were s...

The presidential National Security Council (NSC) strongly condemned North Korea's launch of two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Sunday, saying it was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. President Yoon Suk-yeol was briefed immediately after the launch and the NSC held a meeting presided over by National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han, according to the presidential o...

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off the east coast early Sunday, marking its seventh missile launch in 15 days. The missile launches came after North Korea on Saturday publicly justified its flurry of missile test launches as a “planned self-defensive” action against US military threats and denounced the US for repositioning a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier near the Korean...

North Korea stressed Saturday that its latest missile tests are "regular and self-defense" actions against US military threats, taking issue with a UN aviation agency's condemnation of its recent ballistic missile firing. In a statement, North Korea's National Aviation Administration said, "The missile test launch by the DPRK is a regular and planned self-defensive step for defending the country...

South Korea and the United States on Friday began another round of large-scale naval drills, including a redeployed US aircraft carrier, in waters off the Korean Peninsula as the allies vow to take tit-for-tat military actions against North Korean provocations. The two-day bilateral maneuvering exercises have been staged in international waters of the East Sea to “strengthen combined defense cap...

The South Korean government will push for the lifting of a ban on public access to North Korean television and media channels, a top official on inter-Korean relations told lawmakers Friday. The government will seek to "gradually" open the door for North Korean broadcasts, media and publications in an effort to promote mutual understanding between the two Koreas, Unification Minister Kwon Young-...

North Korea has come up with new guidelines on how to cope with the country's emergency health crisis and natural disasters at a key parliamentary meeting, its state media said Friday, amid efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and frequent flood damage. The plenary meeting of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), held in Pyongyang the previous day, adopted the law o...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his 70th birthday praising his leadership against "challenges and threats" from the United States, Pyongyang's state media said Friday. In the letter, Kim also lauded Putin's "signal achievements in attaining the grand strategic target for building powerful Russia" through his "energetic activities," according t...

North Korean bombers and fighter jets on Thursday made a rare formation flight and apparently conducted live-fire drills, in an assumed tit-for-tat military action to the recent strike exercises of the air forces of South Korea and the US. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military detected four North Korean bombers and eight fighter jets flying in formation over North Hwanghae Provin...

N. Korea fires two more ballistic missiles hours after US aircraft carrier redeployed near peninsula