North Korea

September 14, 2024 10:53 AM

North Korea’s Kim meets Russia’s Shoigu, vows more cooperation, KCNA says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu and discussed deepening strategic dialogue between the two countries, state media KCNA said on Saturday. They had a "wide exchange of views on regional and international situations", and reached a satisfactory consensus on issues including more "cooperation to defend mutual safety interests," KCNA said. Kim said North Korea will continue to expand cooperation with Russia in accordance with the strategic partne...

September 13, 2024 12:53 PM

North Korea shows first photos of banned uranium enrichment site

North Korea for the first time showed images of the centrifuges that produce fuel for its nuclear bombs on Friday, as leader Kim Jong Un visited a uranium enrichment facility and called for more weapons-grade material to boost the arsenal. The state media report on Kim's visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base for weapon-grade nuclear materials was accompanied by the first photos of the centrifuges, providing a rare look inside North Korea's nuclear programme, which is bann...

July 12, 2024 10:07 AM

US, South Korea sign nuclear guideline strategy to deter and respond to North Korea

The U.S. commitment to deterrence against North Korea is backed by the full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear, U.S. President Joe Biden told South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in a meeting on Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit. The two leaders also authorised a guideline on establishing an integrated system of extended deterrence for the Korean peninsula to counter nuclear and military threats from North Korea, Yoon's office said. The guideline formalises the deployment o...

July 11, 2024 11:08 AM

South Korea to deploy ‘StarWars’ laser weapons targeting North Korean drones

South Korea will deploy laser weapons to shoot down North Korean drones this year, becoming the world's first country to deploy and operate such weapons in the military, the country's arms procurement agency said on Thursday. South Korea has called its laser programme the "StarWars project". The drone-zapping laser weapons the South Korean military has developed with Hanwha Aerospace are effective and cheap, with 2,000 won ($1.45) per shot, but quiet and invisible, the Defense Acquisition Prog...

June 27, 2024 11:10 AM

North Korea claims successful test to develop multiple warhead missile

North Korea has successfully conducted an important test aimed at developing missiles carrying multiple warheads, state media agency KCNA said on Thursday, a claim rejected by South Korea as "deception" to mask a failed launch. North Korea said the test was carried out on Wednesday using the first-stage, solid-fuel engine of an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The dispatch came a day after South Korea's military said North Korea had launched what appeared to be a hypersonic missile off it...

June 21, 2024 1:16 PM

Putin remarks about possible weapons for North Korea ‘incredibly concerning,’ US says

Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments on Thursday that Moscow may supply weapons for North Korea after signing a defense pact with Pyongyang are "incredibly concerning," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. Putin suggested after a visit to North Korea this week that weapons supplies to the isolated nuclear-armed country would be a mirror response to the Western arming of Ukraine. He also warned that U.S. ally South Korea would be making "a big mistake...

June 20, 2024 11:07 AM

North Korea, Russia sign pact to give all available military help if other is attacked

North Korea and Russia agreed to provide immediate military assistance if either faced armed aggression, under a pact their leaders signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's first visit in 24 years. The pledge is seen as the revival of a mutual defence agreement under a 1961 treaty adopted by the Cold War allies that was annulled in 1990 when the Soviet Union established diplomatic ties with South Korea. The agreement for a "comprehensive strategic partnership" signed by Russian Pres...

June 19, 2024 10:46 AM

Putin thanks Kim for unwavering support at summit, including on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a summit meeting on Wednesday after a grand welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Russian media said, as they pledged to develop their nations' ties. An honour guard including mounted soldiers, and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the square by the Taedong River running through the capital. The scene included children holding balloons, and giant portraits of the two leaders with national fla...

June 19, 2024 2:08 AM

Putin flies into North Korea with promise to back it against the US

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea on Wednesday for his first visit in 24 years, vowing to deepen trade and security ties with the reclusive nuclear-armed state and to support it against the United States. Russian state media showed Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shaking hands, embracing and talking beside Putin's plane. It touched down in Pyongyang around 2:45 a.m. following a stopover in Russia's far east. The leaders then rode in the same limousine and walked ...

June 18, 2024 11:04 AM

Putin to visit North Korea for first time in 24 years

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time in 24 years, the two countries said, underscoring Moscow's burgeoning partnership with the nuclear-armed state since the invasion of Ukraine. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invitation to Putin during a visit to Russia's Far East last September. Putin last visited Pyongyang in July 2000. In Washington, the White House said it was troubled by the deepening relations...