North Korea | DD News

April 19, 2026 10:38 AM

North Korea fires ballistic missiles again, flexing muscle amid Iran war

North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, accelerating its missile launches amid Iran war tensions and talk of possible meetings with the U.S. and South Korea. Pyongyang's intense missile activity - this was the fourth such launch this month and the seventh of the year - is meant to display its self-defence capabilities while gaining international leverage, some experts said. "The missile launches may be a way of showing that - unlike Iran - we have self-defence capabilities...

April 15, 2026 3:33 PM

UN watchdog says North Korea is boosting nuclear weapons capacity

North Korea has made "very serious" advances in its abilities to turn out nuclear weapons, with the probable addition of a new uranium enrichment facility, as it stepped up activity at a key complex, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday. Enriching uranium can provide an alternative, and experts say, a more effective, path to acquiring weapons-grade material in addition to reprocessing spent plutonium extracted from a nuclear reactor. Speaking in Seoul, the head of the International Atomi...

April 9, 2026 9:56 AM

North Korea unveils cluster-bomb missile, electronic warfare capability

North Korea tested anew cluster-bomb warhead on a ballistic missile and an electromagnetic weapon this week, state media KCNA reported on Thursday, in a move seen as part of efforts by Pyongyang to showcase its capacity to fight a modern war. The country's Academy of Defence Science and the Missile Administration also conducted tests of carbon-fibre bombs and a mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile system, KCNA said. Kim Jong Sik, a general who oversaw the tests, said the electromagnetic we...

April 8, 2026 10:49 AM

North Korea fires ballistic missiles as Pyongyang dismisses Seoul’s diplomacy hopes

North Korea fired several ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, following a separate launch detected a day earlier as Pyongyang doused Seoul's hopes of an easing in tensions. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the unidentified short-range missiles were launched at around 8:50 a.m. (2350 GMT Tuesday) from near Wonsan on the North's east coast. The missiles flew 240 km (150 miles), the JCS said, adding that South Korean and U....

March 30, 2026 3:34 PM

Air China resumes flights to North Korea but stops taking fresh bookings

China's flag carrier resumed flights between the capital Beijing and North Korea's Pyongyang on Monday, but it has stopped taking fresh bookings on the route, according to Chinese state media and a tour operator. Air China restarted the weekly flights for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese state media said and Reuters reported this month based on information from tour operator Young Pioneer Tours, which has had business in North Korea. But the airline stopped taking further bo...

March 24, 2026 9:46 AM

Kim Jong Un says North Korea’s nuclear status is irreversible, threatens South

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would permanently strengthen its nuclear forces and treat South Korea as its most hostile state, as he set out policy priorities in a speech to parliament, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday. Kim said Pyongyang's status as a nuclear-armed state was irreversible and expanding a "self-defensive nuclear deterrent" was essential to national security, regional stability and economic development. He rejected the idea that nuclear disarmament could b...

February 24, 2026 1:09 PM

North Korea’s Kim pledges economic push as his sister is elevated at party congress

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to solidify and develop the quality of the country's economy over the next five years, state media KCNA said on Tuesday, during a speech at a party congress where his high-profile sister was promoted. North Korea on Monday held the fifth day of the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers' Party, which sets out major policy goals for the nuclear-armed Asian nation for the next five years. Members of the congress started to map out plans and goals by sectors,...

February 12, 2026 10:31 AM

North Korea’s Kim positioning daughter as successor, Seoul spy agency briefing says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be taking steps to consolidate his daughter's position as successor, and there are signs she is providing input on policy matters, South Korean lawmakers said on Thursday, citing a spy agency briefing. South Korea's National Intelligence Agency (NIS) will be closely watching whether the daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, attends an upcoming meeting of the ruling Workers' Party and how she is presented, including whether she takes on any official...

January 4, 2026 12:46 PM

South Korea’s Lee begins China state visit after North fires missiles

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung began a state visit to China on Sunday, hoping to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula hours after rival North Korea launched ballistic missiles. The visit, Lee's first to China since taking office in June, comes amid heightened global tensions after Pyongyang's aggressive display, on the heels of the U.S. attack on Venezuela. Lee is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during the trip for their second meeting in just two months, an unusually shor...

January 2, 2026 9:50 AM

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter makes public visit to state mausoleum

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's daughter, Ju Ae, who is likely being prepared as his successor, accompanied her parents on her first public visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to former leaders, state media photos published on Friday showed. Ju Ae has been making increasingly prominent appearances in state media over the past three years, fuelling speculation by analysts and South Korea's intelligence agency that she may be in line to be the country's fourth-generation leader. Ch...