North Korea

March 10, 2025 4:48 PM

North Korea fires missiles after slamming US-South Korea drills

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Monday, hours after condemning the South Korean and U.S. militaries for launching drills that Pyongyang called a "dangerous provocative act" that risked accidentally sparking a confrontation. South Korea's military said the missiles were fired from North Korea's western region toward the Yellow Sea. The launch was the first reported ballistic missile test since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January. The missiles were believed to be ...

March 6, 2025 12:12 PM

South Korea air force jets accidentally drop bombs on homes, injuring 15

Fifteen people were injured in South Korea on Thursday after bombs dropped by fighter jets landed in a civilian district, damaging houses and a church during military exercises in Pocheon, the Air Force and the fire department said. The Gyeonggi-do Bukbu Fire Services said in a statement that 15 people were wounded, out of which two were seriously hurt. Pocheon is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Seoul, near the heavily militarised border with North Korea. South Korea's Air Force s...

February 28, 2025 12:27 PM

North Korea’s Kim orders nuclear readiness after missile test, KCNA says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a test-launch of strategic cruise missiles and ordered full readiness to use nuclear attack capability, which would ensure the most effective defence for the country, state media said on Friday. The test was designed to warn "enemies, who are seriously violating the security environment of the (country) and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment" and to demonstrate "readiness of its various nuke operation means," KCNA news agency said. ...

February 27, 2025 4:33 PM

North Korea has sent more troops to Russia, reports citing Seoul’s spy agency say

North Korea has deployed additional troops to Russia, but the scale of the contingent was not immediately known, South Korean media reported on Thursday, citing the country's intelligence agency. The additional troops have been sent to the battlegrounds in Russia's Kursk region, the reports said. Russian forces are fighting Ukrainian troops who thrust across the border into the western Russia region. The spokesperson's office at the National Intelligence Service (NIS) did not answer telephone ...

February 22, 2025 3:42 PM

North Korea seen using ChatGPT in AI education

North Korea is apparently using ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) service developed by OpenAI of the United States, in its higher education AI studies, according to a media report on Saturday. According to the report from Voice of Korea, a Pyongyang external propaganda outlet, members of an AI research institute at Kim Il Sung University were seen learning ChatGPT and its functionalities, reports Yonhap news agency. Learning material used by the institute explained how ChatGPT...

February 18, 2025 5:14 PM

South Korea’s parliament presses for Yoon’s removal as impeachment trial winds down

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol could try to impose martial law again or undermine constitutional institutions should he be reinstated, lawyers for parliament argued on Tuesday as his impeachment trial entered its final phase. After weeks of testimony by high-ranking current and former officials, including some facing criminal charges for their role in the brief imposition of martial law on December 3, lawyers for both sides summarised their arguments and evidence at the Constitutional Cou...

January 13, 2025 12:01 PM

The dangers of Pakistan – North Korea nexus

On 6 January, North Korea tested a hypersonic missile. A hypersonic missile is one that can travel at more than five times the speed of sound, which makes it more difficult to track and shoot down. The test coincided with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to South Korea. North Korea released photographs that showed its leader Kim Jong-un watching the missile-test along with his daughter. Pyongyang said the missile reached a top speed of Mach 12 -- that is 12 times the speed ...

December 23, 2024 2:06 PM

South Korea detects signs of North Korea preparing more troops, drones for Russia

South Korea's military said on Monday that it has detected signs of North Korea preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. North Korea has already provided 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, and was seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be shipped to Russia after leader Kim Jong Un guided a test last month, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). "Suicide drones are one...

December 19, 2024 3:02 PM

South Korea’s allies cheered Yoon’s foreign policy, ignored domestic discord

As South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's relations with the opposition broke down this year, Western diplomats hoped the internal tensions would not affect his tough stance on China and North Korea that had won praise from Washington. It didn't work. A focus on a foreign policy seen as favourable to the West, limited attention on the political discord in South Korea, and a hesitation to be seen interfering in domestic matters, left its partners blindsided when Yoon briefly imposed martial law...

December 12, 2024 2:28 PM

South Korean President Yoon vows defiance amid rising impeachment threats, accuses North Korea of election interference

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would "fight to the end" on Thursday as his own political party shifted closer to voting with the opposition to impeach him over his short-lived martial law order that threw the U.S. ally into turmoil. In a lengthy televised address, the embattled leader of Asia's fourth-largest economy also claimed North Korea had hacked South Korea's election commission, throwing doubt on his party's landslide election defeat in April. Yoon is hoping his political...