Kim Jong

North Korea has unveiled a new "suicide drone," state media said Monday, with leader Kim Jong Un overseeing a performance test of the weapons, which experts said could have come from Russia.

Wearing a cream baker boy hat, Kim was shown beaming as he watched, aided by high-powered binoculars, as the drones blew up targets, images in state media showed.

North Korea has deployed 250 ballistic missile launchers to its southern border, with leader Kim Jong Un describing the weapons as a "powerful treasured sword" to defend its sovereignty, state media said Monday.

The olive green mobile launchers were displayed during a special "transferring" ceremony in the capital Pyongyang on Sunday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

In 2021, photos circulating online showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un having lost a significant amount of weight, prompting many to wonder if his different appearance was due to illness or simply a diet.

However, an anonymous analyst told South Korea’s “NK News” that Kim “may have decided to lose weight to improve his public image.”

Russia and Vietnam pledged on Thursday to deepen ties as President Vladimir Putin made a state visit aimed at bolstering his alliances to counter Moscow's growing isolation over the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin begins a state visit to Vietnam on Thursday, a day after signing a mutual defense pact with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

Putin and Kim inked a strategic treaty at a summit in Pyongyang that included a pledge to come to each other's aid if attacked. Kim also pledged his "full support" for Russia's war on Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoyed a red carpet welcome, a military ceremony and an embrace from North Korea's Kim Jong Un during a state visit Wednesday to Pyongyang where they both pledged to forge closer ties.

Kim hailed a "new era" in relations as he began summit talks with Putin, who in turn thanked his host for backing Russia's war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday hailed North Korea for "firmly supporting" Moscow's war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defense ties between the two nuclear-armed countries.

South Korea announced Sunday that it would resume loudspeaker propaganda campaigns against the North, after Pyongyang sent a fresh barrage of trash-filled balloons across the border.

"We will install loudspeakers against North Korea today and carry out the broadcast," the president's office said in a statement.

North Korean state media on Friday released images of leader Kim Jong Un supervising tests of a multiple rocket launcher system, a day after Seoul accused Pyongyang of firing a volley of short-range ballistic missiles.

The photos showed Kim, in a brown leather jacket, smiling with uniformed generals as he supervised the simultaneous launch of what appeared to be 18 projectiles.

North Korea has sent balloons full of trash, toilet paper and suspected animal faeces into the South, local media reports said Wednesday, with Seoul's military slamming Pyongyang for their "low class" actions.