North Korean leader Kim Jong-un urged the country to exponentially increase its nuclear arsenal and mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons able to strike within South Korean territory, labeling South Korea as an “undoubted enemy” at a key party meeting, North Korean state media reported Sunday. In response to Kim’s explicit threat, the South Korean military publicly warned that any nuclear attack...

On the final day of the party plenum, North Korea also held a ceremony delivering 30 “600mm super-large multiple-rocket launchers” — which had been produced since late October — to the military for deployment, North Korean state media said Sunday in a separate report. Kim said the super-large multiple-rocket launchers have the “range of striking South Korea and are capable of carrying tactical n...

But the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has continued to denounce Yoon for not taking proper actions against the infiltration of North Korean UAVs or countermeasures during the parliamentary briefing. “Five drones came down, but we were unable to shoot down any of them. The president, as the commander in chief of the country’s armed forces, should have something to say,” Rep. Sul Hoon ...

Seoul-based military experts pointed out that the South Korean military has improved its capability to detect small UAVs compared to the past when it was unable to detect and locate them at all. The South Korean military’s delayed assessment of unidentified objects after detection, however, would be one of the main reasons for missing the right time to bring down the UAVs before they entered vil...

Five uncrewed North Korean aerial vehicles on Monday intruded into South Korean airspace for the first time since 2017 and flew over Seoul and the western inter-Korean border area, prompting immediate counteraction from the South Korean military. The South Korean military scrambled Air Force fighter jets and attack helicopters after first identifying an apparent uncrewed aerial vehicle that flew...

This is the final installment of a three-part series shedding light on North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and their links to the hermit regime’s nuclear ambitions. -- Ed. The financially-isolated North Korean regime is behind one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists of all time. The North Korean state-run Lazarus Group, for instance, stealthily raked in hundreds of millions of dollars with only...

After a two-month long initial inter-agency investigation, the South Korean military announced during a closed-door briefing Thursday the outcome regarding the malfunction of a Hyunmoo 2-C ballistic missile. Further full-scale inspections to determine the precise cause of the accident will occur December to March next year. The military will focus on examining missile navigation, control and gui...

The activation of the SPACEFOR-KOR is a “logical step in reorganizing US military forces after the establishment of the Space Force” in 2019, given that a space detachment from the US Air Force has long been assigned to the US Forces Korea, said David Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a retired US Army Special Forces colonel. Space assets and capabilities ...

KF-21 exports The DAPA head also stressed that South Korea’s first homegrown KF-21 fighter aircraft will “fill the security vacuum by replacing long-running fighter jets and contribute to defending territorial airspace and national security.” South Korea in July began a long journey of 2,200 test flights that will run until 2026. Around 120 KF-21 fighter jets will be deployed to South Korean Ai...

The European Union on Monday levied sanctions on eight individuals and four entities, including North Korea’s Ministry of Rocket Industry and its subordinate trading company, for illegally providing support and funds for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. The EU unveiled a new round of unilateral sanctions aimed at North Korea for the first time since this April in response to the Kim J...

Foreign collaborators Cybersecurity experts and blockchain analysts also underscored that more attention should be paid to North Korea’s collaboration with foreign countries and nationals in each stage of cryptocurrency robbery. North Korea also has a history of conspiring with foreign nationals, including Canadian American and Nigerian partners to launder funds from North Korean-perpetrated cy...

The UN Security Council will discuss the human rights situation in North Korea behind closed doors this week for a third consecutive year, since 2020 despite human rights organizations’ calls for an open discussion. The US will raise North Korean human rights issues under “Any Other Business (AOB),” at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, a US diplomatic source with knowledge of the m...

North Korea on Tuesday fired around 100 artillery shells toward the inter-Korean maritime buffer zone in a tit-for-tat action against South Korea and US live-fire drills staged near the border, further escalating tensions on the peninsula. Around 90 artillery shots were fired from the area of Kosong County in Kangwon Province toward buffer zones in the East Sea from 10:00 a.m. local time, South ...

Who is Lazarus Group? The world’s most sophisticated cybercrime unit North Korea has several groups of world-class hackers trained at its elite institutions despite its poor internet infrastructure and severely restricted and state-controlled internet access. The state-run Lazarus Group, accused of committing high-profile cryptocurrency thefts, including the $625 million Ronin bridge heist in M...

North Korea on Monday fired around 130 artillery shells into inter-Korean maritime buffer zones as South Korea and the US kicked off regular live-fire drills near the border. The artillery shells were fired from Jangsan Cape in South Hwanghae Province and Kumgang County in Kangwon Province from around 2:59 p.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday afternoon. The artill...