North Korea says US-South Korea nuclear drill shows need for stronger nuclear deterrence

November 2, 2026 10:53 AM

North Korea says US-South Korea nuclear drill shows need for stronger nuclear deterrence

North Korea said on Monday a recent US-South Korean joint military exercise was a nuclear war rehearsal targeting the country and vowed to accelerate efforts to strengthen its nuclear deterrent, according to state media KCNA. Kim Jong Sik, a deputy department director in the ruling Workers’ Party, said the Iron Mace exercise showed the US remained unchanged in its "wild ambition to stifle North Korea with nukes" and that such threats were "escalating with each passing day." He said Iron Mace...

North Korea’s Kim urges drone dominance, greater military AI use amid border tensions

October 30, 2026 12:14 PM

North Korea’s Kim urges drone dominance, greater military AI use amid border tensions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for his country to seize "absolute superiority" in drone technology as he attended an exhibition and demonstration of unmanned aeronautical technology, state media KCNA reported on Friday. The firepower demonstration featured tactical suicide attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, multipurpose drones and 600mm multiple rocket launchers, KCNA said. The display highlighted Kim's push to modernise North Korea's armed forces by using drones and artificial i...

North Korea’s Kim showcases missile capable of reaching US as Trump signals possible meeting

October 13, 2026 10:16 AM

North Korea’s Kim showcases missile capable of reaching US as Trump signals possible meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a defence industry museum displaying an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States, state media KCNA showed on Tuesday. The report came a day after US President Donald Trump said he might meet Kim during a planned trip to Asia. Trump is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China in mid-November. Kim, accompanied by his daughter known as Ju Ae and wife Ri Sol Ju, attended the opening of the newly...

North Korea fires missiles days after South Korea’s hypersonic test

October 12, 2026 10:41 AM

North Korea fires missiles days after South Korea’s hypersonic test

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Monday, South Korea's military said, marking Pyongyang'sfourth launch in a monthand following Seoul's recent test of a hypersonic missile. The ballistic missiles, whichappeared to be of different types, were fired at around 9:20 a.m. local time (0020 GMT) from near Pyongyang, and one type flew more than 900 km (559 miles), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Earlier, Japan's coast guard said North Korea ha...

North Korea says Kim Jong Un oversaw hypersonic missile drill

October 4, 2026 5:16 PM

North Korea says Kim Jong Un oversaw hypersonic missile drill

North Korea said on Sunday it had tested a hypersonic missile under the supervision of leader Kim Jong Un, in a drill aimed at demonstrating the reliability of its nuclear deterrent. State media KCNA said the intermediate-range strategic missile, which it described as part of a hypersonic strategic weapon system, was launched on Saturday from eastern North Korea and struck a target about 1,000 km (621 miles) away in waters off the country's east coast. The drill was aimed at training missile t...

North Korea decides on measures to expand nuclear forces, KCNA reports

July 10, 2026 11:00 AM

North Korea decides on measures to expand nuclear forces, KCNA reports

North Korea has decided on measures to strengthen its nuclear forces "quantitatively and qualitatively" as leader Kim Jong Un called for modernising its military, state media KCNA reported on Friday. The measures and Kim's remarks came during an enlarged meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission on Thursday, KCNA said. Kim said North Korea's security and "true peace" could only be guaranteed by building a powerful military capable of controlling all threats, according ...

North Korea not bound to any treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, KCNA reports

May 7, 2026 10:22 AM

North Korea not bound to any treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, KCNA reports

North Korea is not bound to any treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, state media KCNA reported on Thursday, as Pyongyang continues to reject international pressure and sanctions to dismantle its nuclear programme. Kim Song, North Korea's permanent representative to the United Nations, said in a statement that the U.S. and some countries were "tarnishing the atmosphere" at the 11th NPT review conference being held at U.N. headquarters, bringing up the issue of North Korea's nuclear we...

North Korea revises constitution to drop references to unification of Korean Peninsula

May 6, 2026 12:30 PM

North Korea revises constitution to drop references to unification of Korean Peninsula

North Korea has revised its constitution to define its territory as bordering South Korea and remove references to reunification, according to a draft of the text reviewed by Reuters, codifying leader Kim Jong Un’s push to treat the two Koreas as separate states. The revision, believed to have been adopted at a March meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly, Pyongyang's rubber-stamp legislature, marks the first time North Korea has added a territorial clause to its constitution, Lee Jung-chul...

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

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...

UN watchdog says North Korea is boosting nuclear weapons capacity

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...