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N. Korea's Kim reprimands officials for delay in education material factory construction
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected building sites for school supply and teaching tool factories and reprimanded cabinet and education officials over delays in the construction, state media reported Wednesday. Kim visited the sites the previous day to inspect construction progress and tour the factories, emphasizing the importance of strengthening the material foundation of the education sector and improving educational conditions and the environment, the Korean Central News Agency sai
Nov. 5, 2025 -
Kim Jong-un appears open to talks with US: NIS
North Korea appears willing to engage in talks with the United States despite the North's silence during last week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in South Korea, Seoul’s intelligence agency told lawmakers Thursday. According to Reps. Park Sun-won of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Lee Seong-kweun of the main opposition People Power Party — executive secretaries of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee — the National Intelligence Service reported in a closed-door b
Nov. 4, 2025 -
Hegseth backs Trump’s green light for S. Korea’s nuclear-powered subs
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday backed US President Donald Trump’s recent approval for South Korea to build nuclear-powered submarines, saying Washington will coordinate closely with the State and Energy departments to move the plan forward — a development seen as marking a major shift in the allies’ defense cooperation. “We are going to work closely with the Department of State and the Department of Energy to fulfill President Trump’s commitment in a deliberate manner,” Hegseth tol
Nov. 4, 2025 -
North Korea test-fires artillery rockets during Hegseth’s JSA visit
North Korea fired a barrage of artillery rockets toward the Yellow Sea this week, in what appeared to be another show of force timed to coincide with key security events in South Korea, including a joint visit by the South Korean and US defense chiefs to the Demilitarized Zone. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that the North launched about 10 rockets from a multiple launch rocket system at around 4 p.m. Monday, aimed toward waters off the northern Yellow Sea. The launch occurred le
Nov. 4, 2025 -
Lee vows to achieve self-reliant defense, efforts for dialogue with N. Korea
President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that South Korea will step up plans to build a self-reliant military by significantly bolstering its defense capabilities, while continuing efforts to resume talks with North Korea. "We will significantly strengthen our national defense capabilities and make sure to realize our hope for self-reliant defense," Lee told a budget speech, saying "our people's pride" will be undermined if South Korea continues to rely on foreign nations over its defense capabiliti
Nov. 4, 2025 -
N. Korea says ex-titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, dies at 97
North Korea's state media reported Tuesday that the North's former titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, who had led Pyongyang's diplomacy for decades, has died at the age of 97, with leader Kim Jong-un expressing deep condolences over his death earlier in the day. Kim Yong-nam, former chairman of the North's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly, died the previous day from multiple organ failure related to cancer-linked poisoning, the North's Korean Central News Agency reported. Kim Yong-nam ha
Nov. 4, 2025 -
S. Korea bolsters space surveillance with 5th satellite launch
South Korea on Sunday launched its fifth military reconnaissance satellite, completing the nation’s space-based surveillance network designed to strengthen its independent intelligence and early-warning capabilities against North Korean threats. The satellite — referred to as the “final eye” of South Korea’s Kill Chain preemptive strike system — lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:09 a.m. — 2:09 p.m. in South Korea — according to Seo
Nov. 2, 2025 -
N. Korea's Kim inspects special operations unit's war readiness
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected the combat readiness of a military special operations unit and gave instructions for its development, the North's state media reported Sunday. Kim visited the headquarters of the 11th Corps of the Korean People's Army the previous day and watched a training session, expressing "great satisfaction" with its perfect war posture, the Korean Central News Agency said. The 11th Corps is the North Korean military's most elite special forces unit, which depl
Nov. 2, 2025 -
Lee, Xi agree to reboot high-level dialogue, turn thaw into economic gains
GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province — The leaders of South Korea and China agreed Saturday to reboot a regular high-level dialogue to strengthen strategic coordination on regional and global issues, pledging to turn their thaw into tangible economic cooperation and work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul’s presidential office said. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a 100-minute, in-person summit Saturday — their first since Lee took office — on t
Nov. 1, 2025 -
N. Korea says to hold key party meeting in mid-December
North Korea will convene a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in mid-December to discuss preparations for a key party congress, state media reported Saturday. The WPK's political bureau has decided to hold the 13th party plenary meeting of the eighth central committee in mid-December, according to the Korean Central News Agency. At the upcoming meeting, the North will review the execution of this year's party and state policies and "decide on a series of important issues inclu
Nov. 1, 2025 -
N. Korea, Russia discuss economic cooperation: KCNA
North Korea and Russia held a joint economic committee meeting this week to discuss ways to implement bilateral cooperation plans, its state media reported Saturday. Yun Jong-ho, North Korea's external economic relations minister, and Alexander Kozlov, Russia's minister of natural resources, held the meeting in Pyongyang on Friday to discuss economic cooperation, according to the Korean Central News Agency. North Korea and Russia have been expanding exchanges since they signed a comprehensive st
Nov. 1, 2025 -
Hegseth says US 'not blind' to N. Korean threat, refuses to preview DMZ message
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday the United States is "not blind" to North Korean threats, stressing that Seoul and Washington have shared interests about how the allies look at the threat and security challenges in a broader regional context. Hegseth made the remarks during a press availability on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus in Kuala Lumpur, responding to a question from Yonhap News Agency about whether he has a message
Oct. 31, 2025 -
South Korea to launch 5th spy satellite from US
South Korea will launch its fifth domestically developed military reconnaissance satellite from the US this weekend, marking the completion of the country’s multiyear “425 Project” aimed at establishing an independent surveillance network to monitor North Korea, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite is scheduled to lift off around 1 a.m. Sunday (US time) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to the ministry. The launch represents t
Oct. 31, 2025 -
Kim Jong-un visits hospital building site after Trump departs peninsula
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made his first public appearance in over a week to inspect a hospital construction site on the outskirts of Pyongyang, according to photos released by the state news agency a day after US President Donald Trump departed South Korea. According to the Korean Central News Agency on Friday, Kim visited the nearly completed construction site of Gangdong-gun Hospital on Thursday, marking his return to public activities following a brief hiatus during Trump’s visit to So
Oct. 31, 2025 -
2 N. Korean captives in Ukraine pled to take them to S. Korea: activist
Two North Korean prisoners of war in Ukraine, captured while fighting for Russia and detained since early 2025, have pleaded with a visiting documentary producer to bring them to South Korea, an activist said Friday. Jang Se-yul, head of a North Korean defectors' group in South Korea, disclosed the meeting between two North Korean captives in their 20s and a South Korean documentary producer Tuesday at a prisoner camp near Kyiv, where they are currently held. The North Korean soldiers first came
Oct. 31, 2025