Kim Jong

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un thanked the South's outgoing president Moon Jae-in for his efforts to improve inter-Korean relations, Pyongyang and Seoul said Friday, in an unexpected move following signs the isolated state could resume nuclear testing.

North Korea has test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon designed to boost its nuclear fighting capability, state media reported Sunday, a day before its chief rivals the United States and South Korea begin annual military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

Kim Jong Un oversaw a huge public procession to celebrate the birthday of North Korea's founding leader, state media images showed on April 16, but the anniversary passed without an anticipated show of military strength.

North Korea on Thursday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of weapons launches this month, South Korea's military said.

North Korea fired a suspected submarine-launched ballistic missile into the sea on Oct. 19, the South's military said, the nuclear-armed country's latest advance in weapons technology and one that could give it a second-strike capability.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles developed to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland, as he vowed to build an "invincible" military to cope with what he called persistent U.S. hostility, state media reported on Oct. 12.

North Korea is willing to consider another summit with South Korea if mutual respect between the neighbors can be assured, state news agency KCNA said on Sept. 25, citing Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North's leader Kim Jong Un.

Nuclear-armed North Korea unveiled a new submarine-launched ballistic missile at a military parade in Pyongyang, state media reported on Jan. 15 in a show of strength days before Joe Biden's inauguration as U.S. president.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the United States is his nuclear-armed nation's "biggest enemy", state media reported on Jan. 9, in comments that throw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden.

Kim, who marks 10 years in power this year, promised to put "state defense capabilities on a much higher level, and put forth goals for realizing it" during the Eighth Party Congress, which began on Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.