North Korea Acknowledges Holding U.S. Soldier For First Time
- Pyongyang said the U.S. soldier fled due to ill feelings about “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” in the U.S. Army, with no immediate mention of his fate in North Korea (NYT)
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North Korea Crisis
North Korean Leader Calls for ‘Offensive’ War Prep, Replaces Top General
- Kim Jong Un replaced the country’s top general and said Pyongyang’s military should prepare for a possible war in an “offensive” way at a military meeting, state media reported; the move comes as South Korea and the United States are planning joint military drills for later this month, which North Korea has denounced (Yonhap)
North Korea Hacks Russian Missile Developer
North Korea Acknowledges U.S. Soldier Who Ran Across Border
- Pyongyang called the UN Command at the demilitarized zone to acknowledge that a U.S. soldier ran across the border from South Korea last month, but has still not responded directly to the United States through diplomatic channels, a State Department spokesperson said (Bloomberg)
- Meanwhile, North Korea denounced the new U.S. special envoy on the country’s human rights as “wicked” and “mudslinging” (Reuters)
North Korea Vows to Boost Ties with China to “New High”
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to further develop the countries’ friendship and cooperation after meeting with a visiting Chinese delegation (Reuters)
North Korea Shows Off Latest Weapons to Russia’s Defense Minister
- The weapons include Pyongyang’s new Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and two new drone designs (BBC)
Chinese and Russian Envoys Celebrate Ties With North Korea
- Military delegations from China and Russia arrived in North Korea yesterday in a rare flurry of public diplomacy ahead of Pyongyang’s celebration tomorrow to mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Korean War; Russia’s defense ministry said the visit will help strengthen military ties between the two countries, though Russia has denied U.S. accusations that it is receiving North Korean munitions for the war in Ukraine (Reuters)
- As North Korea has emerged from pandemic-era isolation, the United Nations reported last month that Russia has resumed sending oil to North Korea for the first time since 2020; a U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson said yesterday that China and Russia “have a potential role to play” in urging North Korea back to the negotiating table over nuclear arms control (Bloomberg)
High-Level Chinese and Russian Delegations to Visit North Korea
- The visits this week come as Pyongyang prepares to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War and include the highest-level Chinese official to visit North Korea since the pandemic began and Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (CNN)
- Late yesterday, North Korea fired two missiles into waters off of its east coast hours after a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine arrived in South Korea (Reuters)
UN Talking with North Korea About Detained U.S. Soldier
- The discussions are taking place under a mechanism established during the Korean War armistice; neither North Korea nor the UN have yet made any comments on the status of the Travis King (Reuters)
North Korea Fires Missiles into the Sea
North Korea Detains U.S. Soldier Who Crossed Border Without Authorization
- U.S. officials said they were working to respond to the detention of a U.S. soldier who willingly chose to cross into North Korea without permission yesterday rather than board a flight to the United States, where he was expected to face disciplinary charges; the incident occurs during a period of renewed tensions over North Korea’s nuclear capabilities (Reuters)
- Travis T. King, the soldier who was detained, had served jail time in South Korea on assault charges; North Korean state media did not immediately make any mention of the incident (Al Jazeera)
U.S. Nuclear-Armed Submarine Arrives in South Korea
- The visit is the first by a U.S. Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) since 1981; South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, speaking aboard the vessel, said it demonstrated the credibility of extended deterrence (Yonhap)
- Hours later, North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles in what South Korea called a “grave provocation” (Bloomberg)
South Korea and United States Launch New Nuclear Deterrence Initiative
- The newly formed Nuclear Consultative Group will meet in Seoul to discuss strategies to deter North Korea from using its atomic weapons and how best to manage the U.S. nuclear arsenal in the region (Bloomberg)
United States Ready for North Korea Talks Without Preconditions
- U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Joe Biden administration has communicated a willingness to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear program (CBS)
- Meanwhile, the United States held joint missile defense drills with Japan and South Korea days after a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile test (Reuters)
North Korea Test Fires Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
- A missile was fired into the East Sea from near Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s military, following North Korean warnings about the trajectory of U.S. military planes earlier this week (Yonhap)
North Korea Accuses U.S. Planes of Violating Airspace
- A spokesperson for North Korea’s defense ministry said U.S. aircraft have made several “provocative” flights over the East Sea and Yellow Sea this month, and that there is no guarantee that Pyongyang will not shoot down such planes in the future (Yonhap)
- North Korea also denounced U.S. plans to deploy nuclear submarines to the peninsula (Al Jazeera)
- Later in the day, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s sister, said the country scrambled its air force to repel a U.S. spy plane that attempted to enter the North’s exclusive economic zone eight times (ABC)
South Korea Recovers Debris from North Korean Satellite
- After analyzing the pieces of the failed satellite, experts said it “had no military use at all,” indicating that North Korea is far from its goal of utilizing satellites for reconnaissance (NYT)
South Korean President Hardens Unification Ministry’s Approach to North Korea
- After appointing a hawkish new unification member, President Yoon Suk Yeol said the ministry needed to focus less on providing aid and more on promoting liberal democratic values (Reuters)
Mass Rallies Held on Anniversary of Korean War Outbreak
- More than 120,000 people participated in rallies in the capital, Pyongyang, yesterday, to mark the seventy-third anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, state media reported; though it began with North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in 1950, the demonstrators said the war stemmed from U.S. aggression (Yonhap)
U.S., South Korea Discuss China Visit, North Korea Threatens Strong Response
- While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his South Korean counterpart to relay the results of the visit, North Korea warned it would respond “overwhelmingly and aggressively” to any new U.S. security measures on the peninsula (Reuters)
Seoul Moves Forward With Missile Defense System Decried by Beijing
- South Korea completed an environmental impact assessment of a missile defense system yesterday that it is deploying with the United States; the first time South Korea deployed such a system, in 2017, China suspended some forms of economic cooperation (Nikkei)
North Korea Calls Blinken’s China Visit a “Begging Trip”
- While in Beijing, the U.S. Secretary of State urged China to use its position of influence to convince Kim Jong-Un to cease missile launches (Reuters)
North Korea Criticizes Failed Satellite Launch
North Korea Holds Defense Strategy Meeting
- In the multi-day meeting, North Korean leadership will discuss a new defense strategy for the changing international system (Reuters)
- Meanwhile, the United States is sending a nuclear submarine to South Korea for exercises (Guardian)
North Korea Tests Two Missiles Amid U.S.-South Korea Military Drills
- The launch of the two ballistic missiles into the sea, North Korea’s first test this month, comes in response to a fifth round of drills south of the border, which the North Korean Defense Ministry characterizes as an “inevitable response” to “provocation” (AP)