The United States has designated Russia’s Wagner mercenary group as a “transnational criminal organization”, piling pressure on the private army that has recruited tens of thousands of Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that Wagner, controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Russian President … Read more
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit with President Biden is aimed at selling Tokyo as the linchpin of eastern security and a bulwark against Chinese and North Korean aggression. It’s part of a historic shift for the island nation, which has committed to growing its military and shirking off its pacifist policy that was self-imposed … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s spike in missile tests, growing nuclear ambitions and other provocative acts pose a “serious threat” that could lead to a dangerous miscalculation and spark a wider conflict, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday. Speaking with The Associated Press at the presidential office in Seoul, the conservative … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s disclosure of his daughter in recent public events was likely an attempt to show his people that one of his children would one day inherit his power in what would be the country’s third hereditary power transfer, South Korea’s spy service told lawmakers Thursday. … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the “exponential” expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal and the development of a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, state media reported Sunday, after he entered 2023 with another weapons launch following a record number of testing activities last year. Kim’s moves are in … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters in its latest weapons display on Saturday, a day after rival South Korea conducted a rocket launch related to its push to build a space-based surveillance to better monitor the North. Tensions between the rival Koreas rose this week when … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets and flew surveillance assets across the heavily fortified border with North Korea on Monday, after North Korean drones violated its airspace for the first time in five years in a fresh escalation of tensions. South Korea’s military detected five drones from … Read more
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Friday, its latest weapons demonstration that came days after US and South Korean warplanes conducted joint drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea has conducted an unprecedented number of missile tests this year in … Read more
North Korea’s foreign ministry has denounced as “absurd” a United States report that the Russian mercenary force, Wagner Group, had received a shipment of North Korean rockets and missiles to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday that Pyongyang had sent an initial cache of weapons … Read more
The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers and advanced stealth jets in a show of force against North Korea on Tuesday, as the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un derided doubts about her country’s military and threatened a full-range intercontinental ballistic missile test. A B-52 fighter jet was part of joint US drills … Read more