Kim Jong

Construction of the satellite was completed this month, and Kim Jong Un ordered the launch to go ahead as planned during a visit to the North Korean space agency.
Details of the launch date have not been announced.
In his address to the space agency officials, Kim Jong-un spoke about the deployment of "several reconnaissance satellites in different orbits."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has built its first-ever military spy satellite and that he planned to launch it on an undisclosed date, state media reported Wednesday.

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 Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called on his country to expand production of "nuclear materials for weapons" and create more powerful weapons, AFP reported.

Kim's latest threat came ahead of the planned arrival of a US Navy strike group in South Korea.

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.

In order to ensure that its economic and political interests in the Korean Peninsula region are not threatened by the West, China wants North Korea to avoid sabre-rattling, especially during the National Congress, where Chinese President Xi Jinping will be declared President for an unprecedented third term, media reports said.

North Korea has passed a law declaring its readiness to launch preventive nuclear strikes, including in the face of conventional attacks, state media said on Sept. 9. 

The move effectively eliminates the possibility of denuclearisation talks, with leader Kim Jong Un saying the country's status as a nuclear state was now "irreversible".

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stressed his country will never abandon the nuclear weapons it needs to counter the United States, which he accused of pushing to weaken the North's defenses and eventually collapse his government, state media said Friday.

Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea, saying in a televised interview on Friday that he would not turn down a chance to visit and work for peace.

A potential papal visit to the isolated, nuclear-armed country was previously floated in 2018 when Seoul's former president Moon Jae-in embarked on a round of diplomacy with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea on Thursday said it found four new fever cases in its border region with China that may have been caused by coronavirus infections, two weeks after leader Kim Jong Un declared a widely disputed victory over COVID-19.