Pyongyang

Kim Jong Un says North Korea is facing its “worst-ever situation” and called on “grassroots” members of the ruling Workers’ Party to be more proactive and responsible in carrying out the country’s new five-year economic plan.

North Korea said on Monday that the UN Security Council’s position (UNSC) on missile launches by Pyongyang amounted to double standards that violated the country’s sovereignty and right to self-defence.

North Korea launched two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea near Japan on Thursday, underscoring the country’s weapons advancements, fueling tension ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and ramping up pressure on the new Biden administration.

North Korea has not responded to behind-the-scenes diplomatic outreach since mid-February by President Joe Biden’s administration, including to Pyongyang’s mission to the United Nations, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters on Saturday.

South Korea will host North Korea for a series of World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers later this year, the Asian Football Confederation said on Friday.

North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs are an urgent priority for the United States and Washington remains committed to denuclearization of the country, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.

North Korea has stolen more than $300 million worth of cryptocurrencies through cyberattacks in recent months to support its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, a confidential UN report said.

North Korea is pushing ahead with its nuclear weapons programme in spite of international sanctions, according to an internal UN report.

North Korea has displayed what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) at a military parade in Pyongyang, state media reported on Friday.

Pyongyang “should focus and be developed on subverting the US, the biggest obstacle for our revolution and our biggest enemy”, Kim told the five-yearly congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, the official KCNA news agency reported.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has admitted his five-year economic plan for the isolated country failed to meet its targets in “almost every sector”.

As Asia says goodbye to 2020 - a tumultuous year that saw the planet roiled by a deadly pandemic - celebrations will be smaller, shorter and more muted amid fears of coronavirus flare-ups.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said last week at a forum in Bahrain it was “hard to believe” the North has been spared from the pandemic, which has sickened more than 68.2 million people across the globe, including more than 1.5 million fatalities. Kang also criticized the isolated regime for failing to cooperate with Seoul on a cross-border response.

Pastor So Gang-suk said at a news conference in Seoul that Korean Churches failed to exert leadership and fulfil their responsibility amid the spread of the infectious disease.

Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke to his Australian counterpart Marisa Payne on Friday, weeks after the October 2 incident that saw airport staff take women off several planes to examine them to check whether they were the mother of a baby abandoned at Hamad International Airport (HIA).

Kaduna State Government has unveiled plans to organise the maiden edition of its international marathon race in November this year.

A powerful typhoon was barreling up the already soaked Korean Peninsula Monday, toppling trees, causing small landslides and knocking out power to thousands of South Koreans before taking aim at flood-prone North Korea.

Kim Jong Un said his relationship with Donald Trump was like a “fantasy film”, according to the publishers of a new book on the US president set to unveil 25 private letters exchanged between the two leaders.

A huge fleet of Chinese fishing boats has been operating illegally in North Korean waters catching hundreds of millions of dollars worth of squid, a study showed Wednesday.

Seoul prosecutors have opened an unprecedented probe into North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister over Pyongyang’s blowing up of a liaison office last month, officials said Thursday.

North Korea on Saturday denounced UK for announcing sanctions against two organisations that the British government has said are involved in forced labour, torture and murder in North Korean prison camps.

United States Deputy Secretary of State, Stephen Biegun, on Wednesday rejected reports that he was seeking to meet North Korean officials during a visit to South Korea this week but reiterated that Washington is open to resuming talks.