Korea

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 fired a ballistic missile Sunday, Seoul said, resuming a weapons-testing blitz after a month-long lull during the Beijing Winter Olympics, with the world's attention now focused on Ukraine.

North and South Korea restored their cross-border hotline on Oct. 4, a step that Seoul said could help improve relations after Pyongyang sparked global concern with a string of missile tests in recent weeks.

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.

North Korea has announced it will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19.

The decision puts an end to South Korea's hopes of using the Games to engage with the North amid stalled cross-border talks.

 In 2018, both sides entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits.

North Korea has blown up a joint liaison office used for talks between itself and South Korea, the latest sign that ties between the two longtime adversaries are rapidly deteriorating.

South Korea says that North Korea has exploded an inter-Korean liaison office building just north of the tense Korean border.
Seoul's Unification Ministry says the destruction of the building at the North Korean border town of Kaesong happened at 2:49 p.m. on June 16.

North Korea's latest test of super-large multiple rocket launchers a day earlier was a success, state media said on March 30.

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Sunday, the latest in a flurry of launches that South Korea decried as "inappropriate" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

U.N. experts say North Korea has increased imports and exports of banned and restricted goods such as coal and petroleum products as it continues to enhance its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of sanctions.

China and Russia on Dec. 16 proposed the U.N. Security Council lift a ban on North Korea exporting statues, seafood and textiles, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters, in a move Russia said is aimed at encouraging talks between Washington and Pyongyang.