Kim Jong Un

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expects to make a rare trip abroad to meet with President Vladimir Putin in Russia to discuss providing arms to Moscow for its war in Ukraine, the United States said Monday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed his top general and called for stepping up war preparations "in an offensive way", including boosting weapons production and conducting more drills, state media reported Thursday.

Day 520 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shared center stage with senior delegates from Russia and China as he rolled out his most powerful nuclear-capable missiles in a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, marking a major war anniversary with a show of defiance against the United States and deepening ties with Moscow as tensions on the peninsula are at their highest point in years.

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.

Top North Korean officials vowed to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as they called their country's first, and failed, launch last month "the most serious" shortcoming this year and harshly criticized those responsible, state media reported Monday.

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's attempt to put the country's first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un's push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined a finished military spy satellite, which his country is expected to launch soon, during a visit to an aerospace facility where he described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for countering the U.S. and South Korea.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently facing challenging times, and alongside him, authoritarian leaders from around the world are concerned about his fate. Recent opinion polls indicate that he is on the verge of losing the upcoming May 14 elections.