President Yoon Suk Yeol's recent comment on the possibility of South Korea's own nuclear armament was an expression of his firm commitment to defending the nation against North Korea's growing nuclear threat, his office said Thursday. Yoon made the remark during a policy report by the foreign and defense ministers Wednesday, saying if North Korea's provocations intensify, "The Republic of Korea ...

North Korea will never compromise or concede on the fundamental interests and sovereignty of the country despite any challenges, North Korean state media said Tuesday, legitimizing the ruling party’s intransigence and determination to stand against foreign powers. In an article, the Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, echoed the country’s principle of strength-for-stre...

North Korea has called for strengthening quarantine measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the fast spread of the virus in such neighboring countries as South Korea and China, according to its state media Monday. The state-run Korean Central Television reported Sunday that virus cases shot up in the winter season in the South, China and Japan due to the fast spread of omicron subvariants...

North Korea held a mass rally in Pyongyang earlier this week to call for the thorough implementations of policy goals laid out during a major ruling party meeting late last year, its state media said Friday. Some 100,000 workers, students and members of the Workers' Party of Korea took part in the event at the May Day Stadium in the capital Thursday, vowing to carry out the decisions made during...

S. Korean spy agency says it cannot rule out possibility N. Korean drone filmed presidential office in Seoul

Former North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho appears to have been executed last year, a Japanese newspaper reported Wednesday. Ri seems to have been executed around between the summer and fall of last year, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, citing unnamed multiple sources. Four or five officials from North Korea's foreign ministry appear to have been executed successively around the time of Ri's...

But the development of solid-propellant rocket vehicles was imperative to launch a constellation of microsatellites for military surveillance and reconnaissance, the ministry said on Monday. Seoul can mass-produce solid-propellant launch vehicles at a lower cost in light of their relatively simple structures. “Our military will significantly develop our own space-based surveillance and reconnais...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the mausoleum of his late grandfather and father in his first reported public activity this year, according to Pyongyang's state media Monday. Kim paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of state founder and his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, are enshrined, on the occasion of the start of the new year, the K...

N. Korea seeks to deliver hawkish message to Yoon Suk-yeol government, say Seoul-based experts

N. Korea seeks to deliver hawkish message to Yoon Suk-yeol government, say Seoul-based experts

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed the need to "exponentially" increase the number of the country's nuclear arsenal, saying South Korea has emerged as an "undoubted enemy," Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday. He delivered the message during a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea that ended the previous day. It was held to set Pyongyang's major policy directions for th...

North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) into the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch from the Ryongsong area in Pyongyang at 2:50 a.m., adding the missile flew some 400 kilometers before splashing into the sea. It appears to be another response to Seoul's test launch of a homegrown solid-propellant space rocke...

Following series of recent provocations, Pyongyang’s military warning continues on the last day of 2022

North Korea has discussed policy goals for 2023 to draw up a draft resolution expected to be adopted at the close of an ongoing plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, according to state media Friday. During the fourth-day session of the WPK central committee's enlarged plenary meeting Thursday, participants held sectoral discussions to map out measures to implement "important tas...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has laid out ways to enhance the role of suborganizations of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, attending the third-day session of the party's plenary meeting, Pyongyang's state media said Thursday. During the enlarged meeting of the WPK's central committee Wednesday, Kim stressed the need to spur the "fighting efficiency" of party organizations and conduct party...