South Korea officially opened its embassy in Cuba on Friday, 11 months after Seoul established diplomatic relations with Havana, a longstanding ally of Pyongyang.

North Korea condemned on Friday joint military drills between South Korea, Japan and the United States held this week, threatening to respond by exercising its right to self-defence "more intensively".

John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, said of Hegseth's remarks on North Korea's status as a nuclear power: "We've not made such a recognition. I can't speak to what the incoming team will—how they'll characterize it. We've not gone so far as to make that recognition."

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, marking Pyongyang's latest show of force just days ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to office.

A South Korean crypto exchange operator was jailed for 4 years for “leaking military secrets” to Pyongyang hackers in exchange for Bitcoin.

Hundreds of North Korean troops have been killed fighting against Ukraine over the last few months, according to South Korea ’s intelligence agency. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea said 300 of Pyongyang’s troops have been killed and another 2,700 wounded since joining Vladimir Putin’s forces last year.

A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.

North Korea says it carried out its second missile test in two days — and this one was hypersonic. It came as U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited the region.

North Korea on Friday slammed the US and South Korean joint air drills over the Korean peninsula. “North Korea will resolutely deter any attempt at military provocation by the hostile forces and firmly defend the security interests of the state,” said a Foreign Ministry statement.

North Korea last fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew more than 680 miles from the Pyongyang area before splashing down in the Sea of Japan on Jan. 6.

Ukraine said it retrieved a diary from a North Korean soldier that contains a confession of stealing from his Russian comrade and battle tactics.

All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met in Beijing on Feb.