Pyongyang

North Korea has fired a long-range ballistic missile, the South Korean military said Wednesday, days after Pyongyang threatened to down US spy planes that violated its airspace.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points ever, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for increased weapons development, including tactical nukes.

A military spy satellite launched by North Korea earlier in the day crashed into the Yellow Sea owing to an engine problem and it plans to carry out its second launch "as soon as possible," reported Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea has informed Japan that it will launch a satellite within two weeks, but Tokyo believes it could be a ballistic missile and is therefore taking precautions, AFP reported.

North Korea on Monday notified neighboring Japan that it plans to launch a satellite in coming days, which may be an attempt to put Pyongyang's first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit.

He gave green light for his "future action plan", state media in Pyongyang reported.
During his visit to North Korea's aviation agency, he emphasized that reconnaissance from space is key to confronting the US and South Korea, reports AP.

The US, South Korea and Japan have begun joint trilateral missile defense exercises in the Sea of Japan. Three destroyer squadrons from the three countries will participate in the maneuvers, the Seoul Navy said, quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

North Korea said Friday it flight-tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, a possible breakthrough in its efforts to acquire a more powerful, harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States.

North Korea on Thursday conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in a month, possibly testing a new type of more mobile, harder-to-detect weapons system, its neighbors said, in an extension of the North's provocative run of missile tests.

According to state television, he also said that Pyongyang should be fully prepared to use nuclear weapons at any time.
Kim made the remarks during an inspection of the country's nuclear weapons program, during which the trigger technology was tested.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led two days of military drills "simulating a nuclear counterattack", including the launch of a ballistic missile, state media reported Monday.