Dictator seen with daughter at celebration for scientists and technicians who finally put Malligyong-1 into space after two failed attempts
The North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, has celebrated a “new era of a space power” with his family including daughter Ju Ae and the scientists who put the North’s first spy satellite into orbit.
Pyongyang’s launch of the Malligyong-1 on Tuesday was its third attempt after failures in May and August.
Continue reading...As Seoul claims Russia helped Pyongyang carry out spy satellite launch, North Korea warns of stronger armed forces on border
North Korea has warned it will deploy new weapons and stronger armed forces along its heavily armed border with South Korea, as officials in Seoul claimed that Russia had helped Pyongyang carry out a satellite launch.
In a sign of rising tensions on the peninsula, North Korea said on Tuesday it would restore “all military measures” it had halted under a 2018 confidence-building agreement with South Korea.
Continue reading...Rocket launch underlines Kim Jong-un’s ability to sidestep UN sanctions and suggests ballistic missile building abilities have reached a higher level
North Korea is already believed to be capable of striking the US mainland with a nuclear weapon; now it claims that it can spy on enemy troops, after state media reported the regime’s first successful launch of a surveillance satellite, drawing an immediate response from South Korea.
While Japan, South Korea and the US could not immediately confirm if the satellite’s payload had entered orbit late on Tuesday, a North Korean presence in space would add to military tensions on the peninsula and highlight the ineffectiveness of international sanctions.
Continue reading...Pyongyang claims success on third attempt – breaching a 2018 agreement meant to reduce tensions, says South
South Korea has moved to partially suspend a 2018 military agreement with North Korea, which said it had successfully launched its first military spy satellite into orbit, the Yonhap news agency reported.
“North Korea is clearly demonstrating that it has no will to abide by the 19 September [2018] military agreement designed to reduce military tension on the Korean Peninsula and to build trust,” the South’s prime minister, Han Duck-soo, told an extraordinary cabinet meeting that approved suspending the deal.
Continue reading...Regime can no longer afford all its diplomatic missions, including some to longtime allies such as Angola where it has maintained ties since 1975
While Kim Jong-un basks in the afterglow of his recent visit to Russia, North Korea is scaling back its presence overseas, with reported plans to close almost a quarter of its diplomatic missions blamed on its sanctions-hit economy.
While the regime moves closer to China and Russia amid new tensions on the Korean peninsula, years of UN-led sanctions have forced it to close embassies and consulates in as many as a dozen locations, including those in countries Pyongyang views as longtime allies.
Continue reading...Russia bombards 100 settlements within 24 hours as top Ukrainian commander warns war has become deadlocked
• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates
Russia has carried out its biggest artillery attack so far this year, Ukraine has said, as Kyiv’s top general admitted the war had reached a deadlock, with little prospect that his troops would make “a deep and beautiful breakthrough”.
Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander in chief, gave a bleak assessment of the situation on the battlefield, 20 months after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion.
Continue reading...Despite questions over quality, scale of munition shipments indicates Moscow plans to continue conflict for long time
In pouring rain, a jubilant crowd waving pompoms and flowers greeted the Russian foreign minister as he stepped on to the airport asphalt in Pyongyang.
While the heavily choreographed welcoming scenes were a familiar sight in totalitarian North Korea, Sergei Lavrov’s rare visit to the country came amid mounting evidence that Pyongyang has started to provide artillery rounds to Russia, opening up a supply line that could have profound implications for the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Authorities say thousands of people dispatched by North Korea to work for US companies fed millions of dollars to missile program
Thousands of information technology workers contracting with US companies have for years secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program, FBI and Department of Justice officials said.
The justice department said Wednesday that IT workers dispatched and contracted by North Korea to work remotely with companies in St Louis and elsewhere in the US have been using false identities to get the jobs. The money they earned was funneled to the North Korean weapons program, FBI leaders said at a news conference in St Louis.
Continue reading...Sergei Lavrov praises Kim Jong-un for ‘unambiguous support’ for Ukraine war on visit that could pave way for summit with Vladimir Putin
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said Moscow’s relations with North Korea have reached a “new level”, as concern grows over deepening military ties between the two countries amid the war in Ukraine.
Speaking on Thursday in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, Lavrov hailed last month’s summit in Russia’s far east between Vladimir Putin and the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, as evidence that bilateral ties were at a “qualitatively new, strategic level”.
Continue reading...Suspension of operations at Yongbyon complex points to reprocessing work for nuclear arms, South Korean government source quoted as saying
North Korea has halted the nuclear reactor at its main atomic complex, probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korean news report has said, citing a government source.
The operation of the five-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex has been suspended since late September, according to intelligence assessments by US and South Korean authorities, the report said.
Continue reading...Travis King arrived on US military flight and will undergo medical review and reintegration process
Travis King, the American soldier who fled across the border from South Korea to North Korea in July, has landed at a US military base in Texas after being taken back into US custody.
CNN reported that King arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston on a US military flight in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Continue reading...Jens Stoltenberg says ‘we must prepare ourselves for a long war’
There are reports from Russia about two further drone attacks in addition to the ones reported earlier near the capital.
Another drone was downed in Russia’s Voronezh region, local governor Aleksandr Gusev and the ministry of defence said. According to Gusev, there were no casualties or damage.
Continue reading...Moscow’s defence minister shows North Korean leader weapons including hypersonic missiles at airfield near Vladivostok
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships on Saturday, accompanied by Vladimir Putin’s defence minister.
Sergei Shoigu greeted Kim at Russia’s Knevichi airfield, about 50km (30 miles) from the Pacific port city of Vladivostok. The North Korean leader then inspected a guard of honour.
Continue reading...Alexander Lukashenko put forward axis plan during summit with Vladimir Putin in Sochi as rumours of arms deal persist
Alexander Lukashenko has expressed interest in creating a trilateral partnership with Russia and North Korea amid rumours that Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un were negotiating an arms deal to sustain Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Belarusian leader made the remarks during a summit with Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where the two held their seventh face-to-face meeting this year.
Continue reading...Belarusian president’s suggestion comes during a meeting with his Russian counterpart. This live blog is closed.
In its daily public intelligence briefing on the war in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence appears convinced of Ukrainian claims to have inflicted significant damage on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Citing satellite imagery, it writes:
Despite the Russian ministry of defence downplaying the damage to the vessels, open-source evidence indicates the Minsk [landing ship] has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov [submarine] has likely suffered catastrophic damage.
Any effort to return the submarine to service is likely to take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a realistic possibility that the complex task of removing the wreckage from the dry docks will place them out of use for many months. This would present the Black Sea fleet with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance.
Continue reading...Ukraine claims to have seized the village of Andriivka in Donetsk; Lukashenko says Belarus has been supplying Russia with fuel
Continue reading...Russian president also gave Kim at meeting the gift of a ‘glove from a space suit that has been to space’ amid warnings from US and South Korea about any weapons deal
Kim Jong-un has visited a factory that builds advanced fighter jets, as his tour of Russia moves into its third day and the Kremlin revealed he and Vladimir Putin had exchanged gifts of rifles during their summit this week.
Two days after meeting Putin at a space base in Russia’s far east, where they discussed satellite technology and – possibly – a deal to provide North Korean arms for the war in Ukraine, Kim’s armoured train arrived in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he visited a factory that makes Russia’s most modern fighter jets, Russian news agencies reported.
Continue reading...North Korean media report that Kim was briefed on space vehicles during his meetings in Russia, though no specific detail of any deal has emerged
Kim Jong-un invited President Vladimir Putin to visit North Korea during their meeting in Russia on Wednesday, Pyongyang’s state media reported, amid warnings that Kim was poised to offer the Kremlin artillery shells and other munitions for the war in Ukraine.
Kim told Putin that their closely watched meeting had brought bilateral ties to a new level, and expressed his willingness to foster stable, future-oriented relations for the next 100 years, news agency KCNA said.
Continue reading...Russia’s propagandists trumpeted the president’s North Korean connection as, in isolation, he threatened to cross a serious line
The situation is dire when you’re boasting of closer ties with North Korea, but Vladimir Putin in 2023 finds himself in just that situation with nothing left to lose.
The Russian fanfare before the summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has rivalled the anticipation for his meetings with western leaders, where he would attempt to woo or spar with opponents such as Barack Obama or Angela Merkel.
Continue reading...North Korean leader backs Moscow in ‘protecting its sovereignty and security against the hegemonic forces’ that oppose it
Kim Jong-un has offered Vladimir Putin his support for Russia’s “sacred fight” against the west during talks that also touched on possible Russian help with North Korea’s space programme.
The North Korean and Russian leaders met on Wednesday at a space base in the far east of Russia amid warnings that Kim was poised to offer the Kremlin artillery shells and other munitions for the war in Ukraine.
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