By EDITH M. LEDERER and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press
A senior North Korean diplomat is reiterating that his country won't give up its nuclear weapons despite numerous international demands to do so. Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong characterized his country's nuclear weapons as crucial to keeping a "balance of power" with South Korea. Kim amplified his country's longstanding complaints about U.S.-led military exercises with South Korea and Japan. He complained about "growing threat of aggression" from Washington and its allies. South Korea has said the exercises were necessary to counter North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats. Numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions have demanded that the North stop building nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will make a rare trip abroad next week to attend a military parade in the Chinese capital, North Korean and Chinese state media said Thursday. With Russian President Vladimir Putin also coming for the parade, the event will underline the three-way alignment among Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang. China will hold the parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. No leaders from the United States or major Western European countries are expected, in part because of their differences with Putin over the war in Ukraine. China borders North Korea and is its closest ally.
President Joe Biden praised the cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S. at countering what he described as North Korea's "dangerous and destabilizing cooperation with Russia." Biden spoke ahead of a meeting Friday in Peru with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The talks come amid heightened concerns about North Korea's growing military partnership with Russia and Pyongyang's stepped-up cadence of ballistic missile tests. White House officials are concerned that Pyongyang could be dialed up for more provocative action ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration and the early days of his administration.
By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press
South Korea's spy agency says North Korea has dispatched troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine. If confirmed, that could bring a third country into the war and intensify a standoff between North Korea and the West. The National Intelligence Service said in a statement Friday that Russian navy ships transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the Russian port city of Vladivostok from Oct. 8 to Oct. 13. It said more North Korean troops are expected to be sent to Russia. South Korean media, citing the NIS, reported that North Korea has decided to dispatch a total of 12,000 troops formed into four brigades to Russia. The NIS did not immediately confirm the reports.
China appears to be keeping its distance as Russia and North Korea move closer to each other with a new defense pact that could tilt the balance of power among the three authoritarian states. Experts say Chinese leaders are likely fretting over a potential loss of influence over North Korea and how that could increase instability on the Korean Peninsula. Beijing so far has not commented on the deal and only reiterated boilerplate statements that it seeks to uphold peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and advance a political settlement of the North-South divide.
North Korean state media says Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in the country on Tuesday for a two-day visit. Putin's first trip to the country in 24 years comes amid international concerns about the two countries' expanding military cooperation. Putin is expected to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for talks as they deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Putin will visit the North on Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of Kim. North Korean state media didn't immediately provide more details. Russia confirmed the visit in a simultaneous announcement. Putin also will visit Vietnam.
South Korea's military says it's detecting signs that North Korea is installing its own loudspeakers along their border, a day after the South blared anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts over its speakers for the first time in years. South Korea said its loudspeaker broadcast on Sunday was in retaliation for the North sending over 1,000 balloons filled with trash and manure over the last couple of weeks. North Korea has described its balloon campaign as a tit-for-tat against South Korean civilian groups flying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.
South Korea says it'll suspend a rapprochement deal with North Korea to punish it over its launches of trash-carrying balloons. The South Korean announcement Monday came a day after North Korea said it would halt its balloon campaign. Observers say South Korea needs the 2018 deal's suspension to restart blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts, K-pop songs and outside news from border loudspeakers. They say such broadcasts have previously stung in the rigidly controlled North. In the past several days, North Korea flew hundreds of balloons to drop trash and manure on South Korea in reaction against previous South Korean civilian leafleting campaigns.
