Seoul: North Korea is pressing ahead with its nuclear weapons program while evading sanctions, a United Nations report said, following a series of recent test-launches that have been downplayed by US President Donald Trump. The reclusive regime has declared a moratorium on nuclear blasts and long-range missile launches, and last year said its Punggye-ri atomic […]

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles into the sea on Friday and launched a scathing attack on “foolish” calls for dialogue from South Korean President Moon Jae-in, rejecting further peace talks with Seoul. It was the sixth round of launches in recent weeks in protest at ongoing joint military drills between […]

The US government has approved the sale of $800 million worth of helicopters to South Korea, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, hours after President Donald Trump said Seoul had agreed to pay more for the US military presence in the country. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the State Department had approved the sale of […]

North Korea has stolen up to $2 billion from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges through cyberattacks to fund its nuclear missiles program, according to a United Nations report seen by AFP Wednesday. The UN is investigating at least 35 reported instances of Pyongyang “attacking financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges and mining activity designed to earn foreign currency,” […]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the launch of “a new type of tactical guided weapon” as a “solemn warning” to the South, state media said Friday, a day after the North fired two missiles into the sea. Kim personally organised and guided the firing of the “state-of-the-art weaponry system” on Thursday and was […]

DefenceTalkWASHINGTON: China is making technological advances in a far shorter timeframe than it took the United States, rapidly narrowing the gap between the two countries, a senior US intelligence official said Tuesday. Reaping the benefits of sending tens of thousands of students and researchers to the United States, and a determined policy to buy and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-compressing-technology-gains-us-intel-official-72071/

DefenceTalkSEOUL: North Korea’s newly developed tactical weapon is thought to be a long-range artillery piece, a government source in Seoul said Friday, hours after Pyongyang’s media reported on leader Kim Jong-un’s supervision of its recent testing. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the communist leader oversaw the test of the “ultramodern” weapon […]https://www.defencetalk.com/north-korea-may-have-tested-new-long-range-artillery-71940/

DefenceTalkSouth Korean President Moon Jae-in has embarked on a “dangerous gamble”, analysts said, after he secured only minimal concessions from Kim Jong Un to reboot the North’s nuclear negotiations with Washington. Moon flew to Pyongyang this week for his third summit with Kim seeking a concrete gesture to rekindle the stalled denuclearisation talks between the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/moons-nuclear-diplomacy-a-dangerous-gamble-analysts-71874/

DefenceTalkNorth Korea still poses a “serious and imminent threat”, Japan said Tuesday in its first annual defence review since an outbreak of diplomacy on the Korean peninsula. Japan’s 2018 defence white paper also took aim at China’s rise as a military power, saying Beijing was sparking “strong security concerns in the region and international community, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/north-korea-still-serious-and-imminent-threat-japan-71822/

DefenceTalkWhen President Donald Trump announced the US would halt joint military drills with South Korea, he backed his controversial move by citing the “tremendous” costs of such exercises. On Monday, the Pentagon put a dollar amount — about $14 million — on the costs of Freedom Guardian, a large-scale joint drill that was to kick […]https://www.defencetalk.com/scrapped-drill-with-south-korea-would-have-cost-14-mn-pentagon-71732/