The Latest Breaking News from Sung Kim

The leaders of the rival Koreas have exchanged letters expressing hope for improved bilateral relations, which have plummeted amid a freeze in nuclear negotiations and North Korea’s accelerating weapons development

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol had a rare meeting on Tuesday with the visiting U.S. envoy on North Korea, a source familiar with the event said on Wednesday, as both sides seek to coordinate North Korea policy under Seoul's new government.

North Korea celebrated the 110th birthday of its deceased state founder, while a United States aircraft carrier group was in waters east of the peninsula with Pyongyang poised for provocations that could include its first nuclear test since 2017.

The U.S. envoy for North Korea will visit Seoul next week for meetings with South Korean counterparts to discuss the international response to the North's recent intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) launches, the State Department said.

The United States is pushing the U.N. Security Council to further sanction North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches by banning tobacco and halving oil exports to the country and blacklisting the Lazarus hacking group, according to a draft resolution reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday.

North Korea is prioritising ballistic missile programmes at expense of its citizens, US special envoy says

South Korea's president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said on Thursday strong deterrence was crucial in the face of nuclear and missile threats from North Korea amid a renewed warning by a top U.S. envoy of a potential nuclear test as early as next week.

North Korea might be considering conducting a nuclear test next week to coincide with national celebrations to mark the birthday of its deceased founder, the Biden administration’s point man for Pyongyang warned.

For the second time this week, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated South Korea for touting its supposed preemptive strike capabilities against the North, saying her country’s nuclear forces would annihilate the South’s conventional forces if provoked. In a statement carried Tuesday by North Korea’s…