Category Archives: North Korea

US urges North Korea to join direct talks after latest missile test by Pyongyang

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  • Biden official: ‘We reiterate our call for diplomacy’
  • South Korean leader fears return to war threats of 2017

The US on Sunday made a direct appeal to North Korea to join direct talks with no preconditions about its nuclear and missile programs, after Pyongyang sent a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into space.

“We believe it is completely appropriate and completely correct to start having some serious discussions,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters.

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US condemns North Korea after it launches longest-range missile test since 2017

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Test marks Pyongyang’s seventh weapons launch this month, highlighting expanding arsenal amid stalled denuclearisation talks

North Korea fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since the US president, Joe Biden, took office, possibly breaching a self-imposed suspension on the testing of longer-range weapons and sparking condemnation from the United States and its allies.

The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile launched on Sunday travelled on a lofted trajectory, apparently to avoid the territorial spaces of neighbours, and reached a maximum altitude of 2,000km (1,242 miles) and traveled 800km (497 miles) before landing in the sea.

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North Korea confirms barrage of missile tests as Kim Jong-un visits arms factory

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Pyongyang’s regime has carried out six tests in January ‘confirming the power of conventional warhead’

North Korea has test-fired more long-range cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles, state media says, part of a record-breaking streak of launches this year.

Pyongyang has conducted six weapons tests since the start of the year, including hypersonic missiles, one of the most intense barrages in a calendar month on record, while ignoring US offers of talks.

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No ‘fire and fury’ yet, but a game of nuclear brinkmanship with North Korea looms

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Analysis: Kim Jong-un’s pressure on Joe Biden has so far elicited only fresh sanctions. Pyongyang has now signalled it may resume nuclear and ICBM tests

North Korea has already conducted four test launches of ballistic missiles this year, but they could be a mere precursor to more serious provocations, as Kim Jong-un’s regime attempts to break the nuclear stalemate with the US.

Superficially, the recent tests were a reminder of the North’s ability to manufacture more sophisticated weapons – perhaps including those capable of evading missile defences – despite years of international sanctions.

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‘Second thoughts’: what makes North Korean defectors want to go back?

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South Korea is no promised land for escapees from a brutal regime – loneliness and poverty are common fates

No one knows what awaited Kim Woo-joo when he arrived back in North Korea, just over a year after he had fled the world’s most oppressive regime for a life of freedom in the South.

Earlier this month, the 29-year-old former gymnast approached the border separating the two Koreas, scaled a tall barbed-wire fence and walked the 2.5 miles across the heavily armed demilitarised zone (DMZ), dodging landmines but not security cameras, which captured his escape no fewer than five times.

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North Korea tests possible ballistic missile in third launch in two weeks

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South Korean military says projectile was fired into the sea, and comes after US imposed further sanctions on regime officials

North Korea has fired a possible ballistic missile, Japan’s Coast Guard said on Friday, which would be the country’s third such launch in two weeks.

South Korea’s military said an unidentified projectile had been launched into the sea off its east coast.

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North Korean hackers stole $400m in digital assets last year, says report

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The regime has launched at least seven cyber-attacks on cryptocurrency platforms, say blockchain experts

North Korea has launched at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms that extracted nearly $400m worth of digital assets last year, one of its most successful years on record, according to a new analysis.

“From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%,” said the report by blockchain experts Chainalysis, which was released on Thursday.

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North Korea conducts fresh ‘hypersonic missile’ launch

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Second launch in less than a week designed to put pressure on US and follows condemnation at UN

North Korea has test-fired a suspected ballistic missile that may be an improved version of a “hypersonic missile” it launched only last week, in a move designed to increase pressure on the US amid stalled nuclear talks and mounting economic problems for the regime.

Tuesday’s launch was detected at 7.27am on Tuesday from an inland area of North Korea toward the ocean off its east coast, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said in a statement.

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North Korea has launched possible ballistic missile, say Japan and South Korea

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Regime conducts first such launch of the year, with South Korea’s military saying the missile appears to have landed in the sea

North Korea has fired what could be a ballistic missile early on Wednesday, the first such test by Pyongyang of the new year.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of staff and the Japanese government said the projectile “appears” to be a ballistic missile, with South Korea saying it landed in the East Sea.

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Man who crossed into North Korea ‘defected to South in 2020’

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Seoul defence ministry says it is in the process of verifying facts about incident at the weekend

A man observed crossing the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea last week is believed to be a North Korean who previously defected to the South in 2020 in the same area, Seoul’s defence ministry has said.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said it carried out a search operation after detecting the person on Saturday on the eastern side of the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two countries.

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South Korean crosses demilitarised zone in rare defection to North

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The fate of the defector is unknown after they crossed the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas

A South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea’s military has said.

Years of repression and poverty in North Korea have led more than 30,000 people to flee to the South in the decades since Korean war hostilities ended with an armistice, but crossings in the other direction are extremely rare.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

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North Korea bans laughing for 11 days during mourning for anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s death – video

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Video from Pyongyang shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un looking very dour as he attends the memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of his father's death. As part of the national memorial, North Koreans have been banned from showing any sign of happiness. The restrictions include an explicit ban on laughter and alcohol during the 11-day period of mourning. On the exact anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s death, 17 December, North Koreans were even banned from going grocery shopping

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How has North Korea’s Kim Jong-un held on to power so long? – video

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Kim Jong-un emerged onto the world stage as a virtual unknown in 2011, a young man thrust into power at the head of North Korea – a nuclear-armed state – after his father's unexpected death. 

In the decade since, he has ruthlessly purged alleged political opponents, extended his country's nuclear capabilities, and tightened his grip on power as North Korea's supreme leader.

From diplomatic summits with Donald Trump to executing members of his own family and failing to stave off famine in his own country, Guardian correspondent Justin McCurry charts the highs and lows of Kim's first 10 years in office. 

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From ‘tempestuous’ child to little rocket man: 10 years of Kim Jong-un

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Some observers said he would survive a few months as the head of a nuclear-armed state but, a decade later, the North Korean leader has proved them wrong

It was not, perhaps, the image Kim Jong-un would have wanted to project in his first public appearance as the latest authoritarian leader of North Korea in 2011. As wailing citizens exhibited their grief along the snowbound streets of Pyongyang, Kim, then only in his late 20s, cut a forlorn figure.

Dressed in a long black coat, Kim walked with grim purpose alongside the hearse carrying his father, Kim Jong-il, one hand resting on the bonnet of the 1970s Lincoln Continental, the other executing an awkward salute. He was later seen crying and drying his eyes at the burial service, in footage broadcast on state television.

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Missile tests, horse rides and executions: Kim Jong-un’s leadership in pictures

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Kim Jong-un has defied the expectations of many, to mark 10 years in power following the death in 2011 of his father, Kim Jong-il. In that time, he has presided over famines, executions and nuclear tensions, while finding the time to inspect a fish pickling station and go horse riding

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North Korea says test was new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile

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State media report that device launched on Tuesday had ‘lots of advanced control guidance technologies’

North Korea says it has successfully tested a “new type” of submarine-launched ballistic missile, as the nuclear-armed country pursues ever more improved weapons.

The device had “lots of advanced control guidance technologies”, the official Korean Central News Agency said on Wednesday, adding that it was launched from the same vessel that the North used in its first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) tests five years ago. The latter point casts doubt on claims by Pyongyang in 2015 that it had launched a submarine-based missile.

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Defectors tell court they were promised ‘paradise on Earth’ in North Korea

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Five people seeking compensation say they were lured to country and then denied basic human rights

Five people who say they were lured to North Korea decades ago as part of a resettlement programme have told a court in Japan they were promised a “paradise on Earth” but were instead denied basic human rights.

The plaintiffs – four ethnic Korean residents of Japan and a Japanese woman who went to the North with her Korean husband and their daughter – are seeking 100m yen (£644,000) in damages from the regime of Kim Jong-un.

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North Korean leader watches extreme martial arts performance – video

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has watched an extreme martial arts demonstration by soldiers at a military event marking the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling party. In the video aired by the North's state-run television station, KRT, soldiers performed multiple shows of strength: smashing items, breaking free from chains, lying on glass and throwing knives. Kim smiled and clapped as he watched the show at the Defence Development Exhibition 'Self-Defence-2021'. During the exhibition, Kim said his country's weapons development is necessary in the face of the US' hostile policies and a military buildup in South Korea.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un marks 76th anniversary of ruling party – video

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The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has attended celebrations for the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' party of Korea. Kim made a speech to a gathering of officials, the KCNA news agency said. State media showed Kim addressing a room full of officials, with little social distancing, masks or other Covid measures apparent. Kim urged officials to focus on improving citizens' lives in the face of a 'grim' economic situation

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North Korea’s Kim Jong-un vows to build ‘invincible’ military and blames US for tensions

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The leader of the nuclear-armed country says there is ‘no basis’ to believe US actions are ‘not hostile’ during military exhibition

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reviewed a rare exhibition of weapons systems and vowed to build an “invincible” military, as he accused the United States of being the “root cause” of instability.

In an apparent continued effort to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul, Kim also said his drive to build up his military isn’t targeted at South Korea and that there shouldn’t be another war pitting Korean people against each other.

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