SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret to Pyongyang on Monday over drones sent into North Korea earlier this year, actions he called &quot;irresponsible.&quot; Seoul initially denied any official role in the January drone incursion &mdash; with authorities suggesting it was the work of civilians &mdash; but Lee said a probe had revealed government officials had been involved. The North warned in February of a &quot;terrible response&quot; if it detects more drones crossing the border from the South, prompting Seoul to investigate the claims. Pyongyang said it downed a drone carrying &quot;surveillance equipment&quot; in early January. Photos released by state media showed the wreckage of a winged craft scattered across the ground alongside grey and blue components that allegedly included cameras. &quot;It has been confirmed that a National Intelligence Service official and an active-duty soldier were involved,&quot; Lee told a cabinet meeting. &quot;We express regret to the North over the unnecessary military tensions caused by the irresponsible and reckless actions of some individuals.&quot; He added that South Korea&#39;s constitution bans private individuals from conducting acts that could &quot;provoke the North.&quot; &quot;Such actions, even when deemed necessary for national strategy, must be approached with extreme caution,&quot; he said. Lee has sought to repair ties with North Korea since taking office last year, criticizing his predecessor for allegedly sending drones to scatter propaganda over Pyongyang. His repeated overtures, however, have gone unanswered by the North. Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is standing trial over charges that his administration sent drones into the North to provoke a backlash and create a pretext for declaring military rule. Yoon was impeached and ousted from office in April last year and has been sentenced to life in prison over his declaration of martial law. &#39;Most hostile state&#39; Lee&#39;s expression of regret follows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un&#39;s labelling of Seoul as the &quot;most hostile state&quot; in a policy address in March, in which he vowed to &quot;thoroughly reject and disregard it.&quot; Kim also reaffirmed his commitment to maintaining the country&#39;s nuclear arsenal, describing it as an &quot;irreversible course.&quot; During Yoon&#39;s presidency, relations between Seoul and Pyongyang hit rock bottom, with the North sending balloons filled with garbage, including animal manure, in response to propaganda leaflets send northward by South Korea-based activists, many of them North Korean defectors. The two Koreas technically remain at war, as the 1950&ndash;53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and both enforce mandatory military service for men.

Asia

Seoul initially denied any official role in the January drone incursion — with authorities suggesting it was the work of civilians — but Lee says a probe had revealed government officials had been involved.



South Korea president says regrets 'reckless' drones sent to North

SEOUL: North Korea will never change its status as a nuclear-armed state, its leader Kim Jong Un said, state media reported on Tuesday. The declaration -- delivered on Monday -- follows Kim&#39;s reappointment a day earlier as head of the authoritarian nation&#39;s highest policymaking body, the State Affairs Commission. &quot;We will continue to firmly consolidate our status as a nuclear-armed state as an irreversible course, while aggressively stepping up our struggle against hostile forces,&quot; he said in a policy speech at the rubber-stamp legislature in Pyongyang. In a lengthy policy address reported by the official Korean Central News Agency, the third-generation leader addressed a wide range of issues, from nuclear weapons and defence policy to economic goals and relations with South Korea. &quot;We will, in line with the mission entrusted by the Constitution of the Republic &hellip;., further expand and advance our self-defensive nuclear deterrent,&quot; he said, referring to nuclear weapons. Pursuing an expansion of nuclear weapons to consolidate its status as a nuclear-armed state has been &quot;entirely justified&quot;, he added. The isolated country will ensure &quot;precise readiness&quot; of its nuclear forces, he said, to fend off &quot;strategic threats&quot;. Kim did not mince words about his southern neighbour, which he called &quot;the most hostile state&quot;. &quot;We will designate South Korea as the most hostile state and deal with it by thoroughly rejecting and disregarding it,&quot; Kim said. Pyongyang will &quot;make it pay mercilessly -- without the slightest consideration or hesitation -- for any act that infringes upon our Republic,&quot; he added. Kim&#39;s remarks targeting Seoul come despite repeated overtures by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, a dovish leader who took office in June, for dialogue without preconditions. Pyongyang has ignored these gestures. 1.5 timesKim is the third-generation ruler of the state founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1948, and has ruled the country since his father&#39;s death in 2011. The North&#39;s legislature re-elected Kim as president of state affairs, KCNA reported earlier, without saying whether the decision was unanimous or whether there was any dissent. Critics argue that elections in North Korea are pre-determined and designed to give the leadership a veneer of democratic legitimacy. On the economic front, Kim outlined a goal of increasing industrial output by 1.5 times. Over the next five-year plan period, the isolated country &quot;must significantly strengthen the development foundations of the overall industrial sector&quot;, he said, in order to &quot;raise industrial production by about 1.5 times&quot;. There had been &quot;clear progress in economic growth&quot; over the past five years, he said. &quot;Over the past five years, we have renovated key machine factories... while overcoming various difficulties and deviations&quot;, he noted. Such feats &quot;shattered... false claims of hostile forces that there can be no prosperity without nuclear abandonment&quot;, he said.

A picture of Kim Jong Un taken on December 10, 2025, and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 11, 2025 [KCNA via KNS/AFP]

In a lengthy policy address reported by the official Korean Central News Agency, the third-generation leader addressed a wide range of issues, from nuclear weapons and defence policy to economic goals and relations with South Korea.

N. Korea's Kim vows 'irreversible' nuclear status, warns Seoul of 'merciless' response

SEOUL: North Korea&#39;s legislature has re-elected Kim Jong Un as president of state affairs, state media reported on Monday. Kim&#39;s reappointment as head of the authoritarian nation&#39;s highest policy-making and governing body, the State Affairs Commission, was announced by the state news agency, KCNA. Critics argue that elections in North Korea are pre-determined and designed to give the country&#39;s leadership a veneer of democratic legitimacy. &quot;The Supreme People&#39;s Assembly of the DPRK reelected Comrade Kim Jong Un as President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People&#39;s Republic of Korea at the First Session, the first state affairs activity of its 15th term, on March 22,&quot; KCNA reported. The report said the decision to re-elect Kim to the &quot;top post&quot; reflected &quot;the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people.&rdquo; Kim is the third-generation ruler of the nuclear-armed state founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1948 and has ruled the country since his father&#39;s death in 2011. Photos released by KCNA show Kim dressed in a western, formal suit, seated at the center of a stage, flanked by top officials in front of two giant statues of his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather. Prior to the event, 687 deputies were elected to the SPA, with North Koreans over 17 given the choice of approving or rejecting the sole candidate put forward by the ruling party. The new deputies were duly approved with 99.93% of votes in favour and 0.07% against, KCNA reported earlier, with turnout at 99.99%. The Pyongyang assembly hall was &quot;full of the extraordinary political awareness and revolutionary enthusiasm&quot; by the newly elected members, it said. Analysts say the current assembly session may also take up possible constitutional amendments that could include formally codifying inter-Korean relations as those between &quot;two hostile states.&quot; The gathering follows a five-yearly meeting of the ruling party last month.

Analysts say the current assembly session may also take up possible constitutional amendments that could include formally codifying inter-Korean relations as those between "two hostile states."

North Korea's Kim reappointed as president of state affairs

BEIJING: Passenger train service between China and North Korea is set to resume on Thursday, six years after it was suspended in 2020 due to the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/who-regrets-us-notification-of-withdrawal-rejects-accusations-over-covid19-response" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19 pandemic</a>, travel operators told AFP. The service will be open to Chinese people working and studying in <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/north-korea-says-willing-to-get-along-with-us-if-acknowledged-as-nuclear-power" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">North Korea</a>, as well as North Koreans working, studying and visiting family abroad, according travel agents for official ticketing booths in Beijing and Dandong. Tourists will not yet be eligible to buy tickets. &quot;It&#39;s great to see the international train service resuming,&quot; Rowan Beard, tours manager at Young Pioneer Tours, told AFP on Tuesday. He confirmed his company, one of several firms that specialize in travel to North Korea, would also be able to book tickets running from Thursday. &quot;While it isn&#39;t initially intended for tourists, it will provide another travel option once tourism to North Korea eventually returns, serving as an alternative to flying.&quot; Train journeys between the two countries were halted in 2020 as they imposed strict measures against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, direct flights and train services resumed between North Korea and Russia, as the two have pulled closer since the outbreak of the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/russia-ukraine-to-exchange-500-pows-on-march-56-negotiator" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">war in Ukraine</a>.

A cargo train crossing the DPRK-China Friendship bridge from Dandong to Sinuiju in July 2020. (NK News)

The service will target Chinese workers and students in North Korea, as well as North Koreans abroad for work, study or family visits.

China-North Korea trains to resume after six-year halt: travel agents

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has suggested his country could &quot;get along&quot; with the United States but declared that South Korea &mdash; Washington&#39;s security ally &mdash; remained its &quot;most hostile&quot; enemy, state media reported Thursday. Kim made the remarks at the end of a landmark party congress, urging Washington to respect Pyongyang&#39;s status as a nuclear power. His words came as speculation grows that US President Donald Trump may seek some kind of meeting with Kim on the sidelines of a visit to China in April. If Washington &quot;respects our country&#39;s current status as stipulated in the Constitution ... and withdraws its hostile policy ... there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States,&quot; Kim said, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). But he appeared to close the door on any notion of building closer ties with South Korea, saying he would &quot;permanently exclude&quot; Seoul as one of his nation&#39;s &quot;compatriots.&quot; North Korea has &quot;absolutely no business dealing with South Korea, its most hostile entity,&quot; Kim said, calling Seoul&#39;s recent dovish efforts &quot;deceptive.&quot; Pyongyang amended its constitution in 2024 to define South Korea as a &quot;hostile state&quot; for the first time. A &quot;grand&quot; military parade marked the end of the Workers&#39; Party congress, a once-in-five-years event that directs state efforts on everything from foreign policy to war planning. North Korea has used such parades in the past to show off its newest weapons, offering a rare source of insight into the strength of its armed forces. Trump overtures&nbsp;US President Donald Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was &quot;100%&quot; open to a meeting. Trump even bucked decades of US policy by conceding that North Korea was &quot;sort of a nuclear power.&quot; A Trump-Kim meeting in April would mark a major breakthrough after years of deadlocked diplomacy following the collapse of their 2019 summit in Hanoi over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up from its nuclear arsenal in return. Kim appeared alongside China&#39;s Xi Jinping and Russia&#39;s Vladimir Putin at a grand military parade in Beijing last year &mdash; a striking display of his powerful friends and elevated status in global politics. Pyongyang has particularly drawn much closer to Moscow, sending thousands of troops to aid Russia&#39;s war against Ukraine. Analysts say Russia is giving North Korea military technology, food, and energy supplies in return, allowing it to sidestep tough international sanctions. &quot;With Moscow now providing a substantial economic lifeline &mdash; effectively neutralizing the bite of UN sanctions &mdash; Kim Jong Un no longer feels the same urgency to respond&quot; to Washington&#39;s dialogue gestures, Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Asia Center, told AFP.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says if Washington 'respects our country's current status as stipulated in the Constitution ... and withdraws its hostile policy ... there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States'.

North Korea says willing to 'get along' with US if acknowledged as nuclear power

Pyongyang has significantly stepped up missile testing in recent years; analysts say this drive is aimed at improving precision strike capabilities, challenging the US as well as South Korea and testing weapons before potentially exporting them to Russia.

North Korea fires ballistic missile: Seoul

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed troops fighting in an &quot;alien land&quot; in a New Year message to soldiers, state media reported Thursday, in which he underscored Pyongyang&#39;s alliance with Russia. Without mentioning Ukraine, Kim addressed personnel in what the state-run Korean Central News Agency&nbsp;described as &quot;overseas operations units,&quot; congratulating their &quot;heroic&quot; defense of the nation&#39;s honor and instructing them to &quot;be brave.&quot; &quot;As the whole country is enveloped in a festive atmosphere of greeting the new year, I all the more miss you, who are fighting bravely on the battlefields in the alien land even at this moment, true to the order of your homeland,&quot; he said, according to the KCNA. &quot;Behind you are Pyongyang and Moscow,&quot; Kim said in the message. North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia&#39;s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies. At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates. Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, and food and energy supplies from Russia in return. North Korean soldiers are instructed to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, according to South Korea&#39;s intelligence service. The North Korean leader praised soldiers for strengthening the &quot;invincible alliance&quot; with Russia and called on them to fight &quot;for the fraternal Russian people.&quot; Two North Korean prisoners of war held by Ukraine said they hoped to start a &quot;new life&quot; in the South, according to a letter seen by AFP in December. Previous reports had indicated that the two men, held captive by Kyiv since January 2025 after sustaining injuries on the battlefield, were seeking to defect to the South. In the letter, the two prisoners thanked those working on their behalf &quot;for encouraging us and seeing this situation not as a tragedy but as the beginning of a new life.&quot; &quot;We firmly believe that we are never alone, and we think of those in South Korea as our own parents and siblings and have decided to go into their embrace,&quot; they wrote.

North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia's nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies; at least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates.

North Korea's Kim hails troops fighting in 'alien land': Report

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured a factory making new multiple rocket launchers and hailed the weapons systems&#39; ability to &quot;annihilate the enemy,&quot; state media reported Tuesday. Kim&#39;s visit to the factory was reported a day after Pyongyang said it had carried out a test-fire of two strategic long-range cruise missiles in a show of &quot;combat readiness&quot; against foreign threats. Accompanied by top officials from North Korea&#39;s missile program, Kim said the new weapons system would serve as his military&#39;s &quot;main strike means,&quot; according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). He said the new multiple rocket system was a &quot;super-powerful weapon system as it can annihilate the enemy through sudden, precise strike with high accuracy and devastating power&quot;, KCNA said. The system would be &quot;used in large quantities for concentrated attack in military operations&quot;, KCNA added. State media images showed Kim standing next to the massive new missile systems in a vast factory with propaganda on the walls. North Korea is still technically at war with the South, and its vast artillery arsenal has long been believed by analysts to be central to its strategy should conflict break out on the peninsula. A 2020 study by the RAND think tank assessed that North Korean artillery systems could inflict 10,000 casualties in just an hour if targeting major population centers like the South Korean capital Seoul. Pyongyang has also significantly increased missile testing in recent years. Analysts say this drive is aimed at improving precision strike capabilities, challenging the United States as well as South Korea, and testing weapons before potentially exporting them to Russia.

Says new multiple rocket system a "super-powerful weapon system as it can annihilate the enemy through sudden precise strike with high accuracy and devastating power"; system would be "used in large quantities for concentrated attack in military operations.”

North Korea's Kim says new rocket launchers can 'annihilate the enemy'

SEOUL:&nbsp;North Korea test-fired two strategic long-range cruise missiles, state media reported Monday, hailing the exercise as a show of &quot;combat readiness&quot; against foreign threats. Leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the drill &mdash; staged Sunday over the Yellow Sea to the west of the Korean peninsula &mdash; and called for &quot;unlimited and sustained&quot; development of his nuclear weapons forces, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. The goal of the exercise was to review the &quot;counter-offensive response posture and combat capability of long-range missile sub-units,&quot; KCNA said. The missiles flew for more than two hours, state media said, sharing photos of the missiles being fired and hitting a target. Seoul&#39;s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired Sunday at 8:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday) from the Sunan area near the capital, Pyongyang. Kim vowed Pyongyang &quot;would as ever devote all their efforts to the unlimited and sustained development of the state nuclear combat force,&quot; KCNA said. North Korea last staged a ballistic missile test in early November, around a week after US President Donald Trump &mdash; on a tour of the region &mdash; expressed interest in meeting with Kim. Pyongyang did not respond to the offer. At that time, Trump had just approved South Korean plans to build a nuclear-powered submarine. Last week, Pyongyang showed off a nuclear submarine of its own. Photos published by KCNA showed Kim walking alongside a purportedly 8,700-tonne submarine at an indoor assembly site, surrounded by officials and his daughter Kim Ju Ae. Pyongyang viewed Seoul&#39;s development of nuclear subs as &quot;an offensive act severely violating its security and maritime sovereignty,&quot; Kim said, according to KCNA. North Korean state media last week also published a defence ministry statement condemning the docking of the US Navy&#39;s nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Greenville in South Korea&#39;s Busan. The cruise missile launch drill was aimed at countering these moves, said Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. &quot;The arrow-type cruise missiles, with a range of around 2,000 kilometres, are capable of striking not only the entire Korean peninsula but also rear bases of US forces stationed in Japan,&quot; Yang told AFP.

State's leader Kim Jong Un oversees drill, staged last week over the Yellow Sea, urges "unlimited and sustained" development of his country's nuclear weapons forces.

North Korea tests cruise missiles in show of 'combat readiness'

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered officials to step up production of missiles and construct more factories to meet his military&#39;s growing need for the projectiles, state media said Friday. Pyongyang has significantly increased missile testing in recent years &mdash; aimed, analysts say, at improving precision strike capabilities, challenging the United States as well as South Korea, and testing weapons before exporting them to key ally Russia. In a visit to munitions factories accompanied by top officials, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim had ordered the factories to prepare for a busy year ahead. The North Korean leader said they needed &quot;to further expand the overall production capacity&quot; to keep pace with demand from Pyongyang&#39;s armed forces and ordered the building of new munitions plants, KCNA reported. &quot;The missile and shell production sector is of paramount importance in bolstering up the war deterrent,&quot; Kim said. North Korea and Russia have drawn closer since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago, and Pyongyang has sent troops to fight for Russia, along with artillery shells, missiles, and long-range rocket systems. In return, Russia is sending North Korea financial aid, military technology, and food and energy supplies, analysts say. Washington has also pointed to evidence that Russia is stepping up support for North Korea, including providing help on advanced space and satellite technology, in return for its assistance in fighting Ukraine. Analysts say satellite launchers and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) share much of the same underlying technology. &quot;With its ICBM program already at a stage widely seen as having achieved core objectives, Pyongyang is likely to further accelerate development next year,&quot; said Ahn Chan-il, a researcher originally from North Korea. The country is likely to shift &quot;focus toward testing and producing systems linked to potential exports to Russia &mdash; including medium- and intermediate-range missiles,&quot; he added. Nuclear-powered sub&nbsp;Kim&#39;s visit was reported a day after state media said he had toured a nuclear submarine factory and vowed to counter the &quot;threat&quot; of South Korea producing its own such vessels with Washington&#39;s backing. The North Korean leader also learned about research into &quot;new underwater secret weapons,&quot; KCNA said. North Korea is expected to &quot;seek advanced military technologies from Russia, including nuclear-powered submarine capabilities and fighter jets, as it looks to address its air force&#39;s relative weakness,&quot; analyst Ahn told AFP. Kim was reported on Thursday to have overseen the test launch of new-type high-altitude long-range anti-air missiles over the Sea of Japan. And he said that &quot;new modernization and production plans&quot; would be unveiled at his ruling Korean Workers Party&#39;s first congress in half a decade, expected in early 2026.

Europe

North Korean leader says needed 'to further expand the overall production capacity' to keep pace with demand from Pyongyang's armed forces, orders building of new munitions plants; country expected to 'seek advanced military technologies from Russia, including nuclear-powered submarine capabilities and fighter jets.'

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