South Korea’s ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to 30 years in prison for drone flights over North Korea that prosecutors said were meant to provoke Pyongyang and justify martial law. Yoon denies wrongdoing and is already serving a life sentence tied to his failed 2024 martial law order.
Posts tagged as “Pyongyang”
Xi Jinping met Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang and pledged broader cooperation in a visit aimed at strengthening China-North Korea ties. The summit comes as North Korea deepens military cooperation with Russia and continues expanding its nuclear program.
North Korea has disclosed a new facility for producing nuclear bomb fuel as Kim Jong Un called for an “exponential” expansion of the country’s nuclear forces. State media said Kim claimed weapons-grade nuclear material production has more than doubled in five years.
Kim Jong Un has arrived in Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by top military officials. The meeting has sparked concerns of a potential arms deal and is expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear weapons program and stalled negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington. Kim's visit is the first foreign trip since he met with U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 and is expected to take place in the Russian city of Vladivostok.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is expected to travel to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin for talks on a potential arms sale to support Russia's war in Ukraine. The visit follows a July visit by Russia's defense minister to Pyongyang, and U.S. officials are actively advancing the negotiations. The outcome of the talks remains to be seen.
This week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the first visit by a Russian defense minister to North Korea since the fall of the Soviet Union. Kim Jong Un and Shoigu met in Pyongyang to discuss military issues and the regional security environment, and Shoigu accompanied Kim to a defense exhibition featuring North Korea's banned ballistic missiles. The visit is seen as a sign of the strengthening ties between North Korea, Russia, and China, and a reminder of the ongoing tensions between North Korea and the U.S. over North Korea's nuclear program.
North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile on Wednesday, which flew for 74 minutes before landing in the Sea of Japan. Japan has responded by strengthening its surveillance and maintaining military preparedness with the U.S., while the international community awaits a response from the U.N. Security Council. It is unclear how the U.S. and its allies will respond to the launch.
North Korea has announced the successful test of a new long-range ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18, which it claims is the “most powerful piece” of its growing nuclear arsenal. The test was met with condemnation from the international community, with the United Nations Security Council condemning the launch and the United States expressing its concern. Analysts have said that the test is a sign of North Korea’s continued efforts to build up its nuclear arsenal and enhance its counterattack capabilities.