The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Monday (April 6, 2026) that the regret expressed by Seoul over a January drone incursion into the North is “wise behaviour”.

Earlier in the day, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret to Pyongyang over drones sent into the nuclear-armed North earlier this year, actions he called “irresponsible”.

“The ROK president personally expressed regret and talked about a measure for preventing recurrence. Our government appreciated it as very fortunate and wise behaviour for its own sake,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, using the official name of South Korea.

Seoul initially denied any official role in the January drone incursion — with authorities suggesting it was the work of civilians — but Mr. Lee said a probe had revealed government officials had been involved.

The North warned in February of a “terrible response” if it detects more drones crossing the border from the South, prompting Seoul to investigate the claims.

Pyongyang said it downed a drone carrying “surveillance equipment” in early January.

Photos released by state media showed the wreckage of a winged craft scattered across the ground alongside grey and blue components that allegedly included cameras.

“It has been confirmed that a National Intelligence Service official and an active-duty soldier were involved,” Mr. Lee told a cabinet meeting.

“We express regret to the North over the unnecessary military tensions caused by the irresponsible and reckless actions of some individuals,” he said.

He added that South Korea’s constitution bans private individuals from conducting acts that could “provoke the North”.

“Such actions, even when deemed necessary for national strategy, must be approached with extreme caution,” he said.

Ms. Kim Yo Jong said her brother had taken Mr. Lee’s remark “as a manifestation of a frank and broad-minded man’s attitude”, but warned Seoul to “stop any reckless provocation against the DPRK and refrain from any attempt at contact”, using the initials of the North’s official name.

“The ROK side should be mindful that it will be forced to pay a price… if such a provocation as violating the inalienable sovereignty of our state occurs again,” she warned.

‘Most hostile state’

Mr. Lee has sought to repair ties with North Korea since taking office last year, criticising his predecessor for allegedly sending drones to scatter propaganda over Pyongyang.

His repeated overtures, however, have gone unanswered by the North.

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is standing trial over charges that his administration sent drones into the North to provoke a backlash and create a pretext for declaring military rule.

Yoon was impeached and ousted from office in April last year and has been sentenced to life in prison over his declaration of martial law.

Mr. Lee’s expression of regret follows North Korean leader Mr. Kim Jong Un’s labelling of Seoul as the “most hostile state” in a policy address in March in which he vowed to “thoroughly reject and disregard it”.

North Korea’s leader also reaffirmed his commitment to maintaining the country’s nuclear arsenal, describing it as an “irreversible course”.

During Yoon’s presidency, relations between Seoul and Pyongyang hit rock bottom, with the North sending balloons filled with garbage, including animal manure, in response to propaganda leaflets sent northward by South Korea-based activists, many of them North Korean defectors.

The two Koreas technically remain at war, as the 1950–53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and both enforce mandatory military service for men.

North Korea and Belarus’s strongmen leaders signed a “friendship and cooperation” treaty on Thursday (March 26, 2026) after Kim Jong Un gave a lavish welcome to President Alexander Lukashenko on his maiden visit.

Besides supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine — around 2,000 North Korean soldiers are thought to have died — both nations are under Western sanctions and are accused of gross human rights violations. The two men met last year in China.

“In the modern realities of global transformation — at a time when the world’s major powers openly ignore and violate the norms of international law — independent countries must cooperate more closely and consolidate their efforts aimed at protecting their sovereignty and improving the well-being of their citizens,” Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Mr. Lukashenko as saying.

“We oppose the illegitimate pressure on Belarus from the West and express our support and understanding for the measures taken by the leadership of Belarus aimed at ensuring social and political stability and economic development,” Belta quoted Mr. Kim as saying.

Earlier, Belta showed Mr. Kim and Mr. Lukashenko hugging at a lavish welcome programme on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) at the start of the two-day visit involving an artillery salute and goose-stepping soldiers before a large flag-waving crowd.

Mr. Lukashenko visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun — where Mr. Kim’s embalmed father and grandfather lie in state — to pay his respects, flanked by top North Korean officials, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

Petals from Putin

Mr. Lukashenko, 71, who has ruled Belarus since 1994 and has swung firmly behind Moscow since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, also laid a bouquet on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Belarus and North Korea are part of a push driven by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr. Putin to create what they call a “multipolar world” to challenge Western hegemony.

They have both provided Moscow assistance in its Ukraine war, with Minsk serving as a launchpad for the invasion and Moscow stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have estimated that the North has sent thousands of soldiers to Russia, primarily to the Kursk region, along with artillery shells, missiles and rocket systems.

Russia and North Korea signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2024 that obliges either side to provide “military and other assistance” should the other be attacked.

Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies from Russia, helping Pyongyang reduce its reliance on its long-time backer China.

U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to build ties with Belarus in his second term, easing sanctions and welcoming it to his “Board of Peace”.

Mr. Trump met Mr. Kim three times in his first term, and there has been speculation of a re-run when the U.S. president makes his visit — delayed by the Iran war — to China on May 14-15.

NK-cosmetics

Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said that in addition to the treaty of friendship and cooperation, the two sides would agree to cooperate in an array of fields from agriculture to information.

“Our greatest interest… is strengthening truly friendly, partnership relations. We have friends here, and they are waiting for us. Just as we await them in Belarus,” he told state news agency BelTA.

Trade between the two countries is “modest”, but areas for growth include Belarus exporting pharmaceutical products and food to North Korea, Mr. Ryzhenkov said.

“Meanwhile, various cosmetic products, which are renowned for their quality and affordable prices, can be imported from the DPRK,” he added, using the initials of the North’s official name.

The visit is intended to “show solidarity” among nations opposed to the Western order, Lee Ho-ryung of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses told AFP.

“Kim will try to use the occasion to raise its diplomatic profile and strengthen solidarity among the so-called anti-Western bloc,” she said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to irreversibly cement his country’s status as a nuclear power while maintaining a hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he called the “most hostile” state, state media said Tuesday (March 24, 2026).

In a speech on Monday (March 23, 2026) to Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament, Mr. Kim accused the United States of global “state terrorism and aggression,” in an apparent reference to the war in West Asia, and said the North will play a more forceful role in a united front against Washington amid rising anti-American sentiment. But Mr. Kim didn’t call out U.S. President Donald Trump by name and said whether his adversaries “choose confrontation or peaceful coexistence is up to them, and we are prepared to respond to any choice.”

His comments largely aligned with his statements at last month’s ruling Workers’ Party Congress, where he vilified Seoul but left open the door for dialogue with the Trump administration, urging Washington to drop its demands for the North’s nuclear disarmament as a precondition for talks.

State media said the Supreme People’s Assembly, which concluded its two-day session on Monday (March 23, 2026), passed a revised constitution but did not specify the changes. There had been expectations the revisions would codify South Korea as a permanent enemy and remove references to shared nationhood. That’s in line with Mr. Kim’s hard-line stance after he declared in 2024 that the North would abandon its long-term goal of a peaceful unification with the South.

Analysts say Mr. Kim’s vilification of South Korea reflects his view that Seoul, which helped arrange his first meetings with Trump in 2018 and 2019, is no longer a useful intermediary with Washington but an obstacle to his push for a more assertive regional role. He has also shown sensitivity to South Korean soft power, driving aggressive campaigns to block the influence of its culture and language among North Koreans as he seeks to tighten his family’s authoritarian grip.

In his speech, Mr. Kim expressed pride in the country’s rapid expansion of nuclear weapons and missiles in recent years, calling it the “right” choice to counter future threats and “hegemonic pursuits” by “gangsterlike” imperialists, a term the North often uses for the United States and its allies.

“The dignity of the nation, its national interest and its ultimate victory can only be guaranteed by the strongest of power,” Mr. Kim said. “The government of our republic will continue to consolidate our absolutely irreversible status as a nuclear power and will aggressively wage a struggle against hostile forces to crush their (anti-North Korean) provocations and schemes.”

Mr. Kim has suspended all meaningful dialogue with Washington and Seoul since the collapse of his second summit with Mr. Trump in 2019 over U.S.-led sanctions on the North.

Mr. Kim has recently been prioritising Russia in his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for aid and military technology. Facing the possibility of the war winding down, analysts say Mr. Kim may try to keep his options open by taking a more measured approach toward Washington to preserve future dialogue, with the long-term aim of securing U.S. sanctions relief and tacit recognition as a nuclear state.

However, some experts believe that the United States and Israel’s joint attacks on Iran and the killing of Tehran’s previous supreme leader may have raised Mr. Kim’s bar for reviving dialogue with Washington.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to root out “evil” and scolded lazy officials while praising his troops fighting with Russia against Ukraine, state media said on Friday (December 12, 2025), capping a major meeting of Pyongyang’s top brass.

The three-day meeting of the regime’s central committee discussed key policy issues as well as plans for a congress of its ruling party, expected in early 2026— North Korea’s first in five years.

Wrapping up the meeting on Thursday (December 11, 2025), Mr. Kim condemned “the wrong ideological viewpoint and inactive and irresponsible work attitude” of some officials, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

North Korea’s Defence Minister warned on Saturday (November 8, 2025) of more “offensive action”, as Washington and Seoul criticised Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile launch.

North Korea’s missile launch on Friday (November 7, 2025) came just over a week after U.S. President Donald Trump — on a tour of the region — expressed interest in meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Mr. Pyongyang did not respond to the offer.

Mr. Pyongyang’s Defence Minister No Kwang Chol said Washington “has become brazen in its military moves to threaten the security” of the North, and that it was “intentionally escalating the political and military tension in the region”.

“We will show more offensive action against the enemies’ threat,” he said, according to Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Earlier in the week, before Friday’s (November 7, 2025) launch, U.S. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and his South Korean counterpart visited the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) where they “reaffirmed the strong combined defence posture and close cooperation” between their countries.

On Wednesday (November 5, 2025), the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan for logistics support and crew rest, according to Seoul’s navy — an act North Korea’s Mr. No said was “further escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula”.

Mr. No also said Hegseth’s DMZ visit was meant to “fan up war hysterics”.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Friday (November 7, 2025) that North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch “highlights the destabilising impact” of Pyongyang’s actions, adding that the United States was “consulting closely with our allies and partners”.

South Korea’s military had strongly condemned Pyongyang’s missile launch.

Seoul’s military “urges North Korea to immediately cease all actions that heighten tensions between the two Koreas”, it said in a statement.

Mr. Trump, last week, also announced that he had approved South Korea’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine.

Developing such a submarine would mark a significant leap in South Korea’s naval and defence industrial base, analysts say, joining a select group of countries with such vessels.

They have said Seoul’s plan to construct an atomic-driven vessel would likely draw an aggressive response from Pyongyang.

South Korean lawmakers, briefed by the defence intelligence agency, said earlier this week that Pyongyang appears ready to promptly carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test, should leader Mr. Kim decide to proceed.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said military brotherhood between his country and Russia would “advance non-stop”, state media KCNA reported on Friday (October 24, 2025). Mr. Kim made the comments during a speech at the groundbreaking ceremony for a memorial for North Korean soldiers who fought alongside Russian troops in Russia’s Kursk region during Moscow’s ongoing war with Ukraine, KCNA said.

“The years of militant fraternity, in which a guarantee has been provided for the long-term development of the bilateral friendship at the cost of precious blood, will advance non-stop,” Mr. Kim said, according to KCNA. Challenges by the “domination and tyranny” cannot hinder the two countries’ ties, he added. The event was the latest public honouring of North Korean troops who fought in Russia to repel an incursion by Ukrainian forces. Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin have signed a mutual defence pact. North Korea has sent soldiers, artillery ammunition and missiles to Russia to support Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Kyiv and Seoul estimate North Korea deployed more than 10,000 troops to the war in return for economic and military technology assistance from Russia. South Korea’s intelligence agency estimated in September that about 2,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed in the fighting. Putin remained defiant on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump hit Russia’s two biggest oil companies with sanctions to pressure the Kremlin leader to end the war.

Mr. Trump will visit South Korea, North Korea’s bitter rival, next week.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang will unveil a policy to advance both its nuclear arsenal and conventional military power at an upcoming key ruling party meeting, state media said Saturday (September 13, 2025).

Since a failed summit with the United States in 2019, North Korea has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear weapons and declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.

While visiting weapons research facilities this week, Mr. Kim said Pyongyang “would put forward the policy of simultaneously pushing forward the building of nuclear forces and conventional armed forces”, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Mr. Kim also emphasised the need to “modernise” the country’s conventional armed forces, without specifying the date of the party meeting.

The North Korean leader has been emboldened by the war in Ukraine, securing critical support from Russia after sending thousands of North Korean troops to fight alongside Moscow.

Moscow and Pyongyang signed a mutual defence pact last year when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the reclusive state.

Seoul has repeatedly warned that Russia is stepping up support for Pyongyang, including the potential transfer of sensitive Russian military technology, in return for North Korea’s assistance in fighting Ukraine.

“In essence, it reflects (Kim’s) view that nuclear forces alone have limits as a deterrent, and that Pyongyang is seeking to boost its war-fighting capability by modernizing its conventional arsenal,” Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.

“North Korea’s military technology cooperation with Russia seems to be also expanding into the conventional arms sector, and modernisation plans tailored to ‘modern warfare’ are likely to be laid out as a mid- to long-term agenda” at the upcoming meeting, he added.

At the last party congress in January 2021, Kim unveiled an ambitious military agenda, pledging to develop advanced weapons such as military spy satellites and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Analysts say they expect the upcoming meeting to be held early next year.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin flanked China’s President Xi Jinping at a massive parade in Beijing this month, drawing an acidic response from US President Donald Trump, who accused the three leaders of plotting against the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing by train on Tuesday (September 2, 2025) to attend a military parade with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, an event that observers say could potentially demonstrate three-way unity against the United States.

Mr. Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the 26 world leaders who will join China’s President Xi Jinping at Wednesday’s massive military parade in Beijing that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and China’s fight against Japan’s wartime aggressions.

It’s set to be Mr. Kim’s first time attending a major multilateral event during his 14-year rule, and the first time Kim, Xi and Putin, all key challengers of the US, have gathered at the same venue. None of the three countries have confirmed a private trilateral leaders’ meeting.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Mr. Kim was greeted at Beijing railway station by senior Chinese officials. Kim was cited as saying he was pleased to visit China and expressing thanks to Xi and his government for their cordial hospitality.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency issued a photo of a smiling Kim, dressed in a black suit and red tie, stepping off his train at the station.

Bilateral meetings

In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers earlier Tuesday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said that Kim will likely receive special protocol and security measures on par with those given to Mr. Putin, according to Lee Seong Kweun, a lawmaker who attended the meeting.

The spy agency said Mr. Kim may stand alongside Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin on the rostrum at Tiananmen Square during Wednesday’s parade, and anticipated that he will hold bilateral meetings with the Chinese and Russian leaders and interact with other heads of state at a reception and cultural performance as he seeks to further break out of isolation and expand his diplomatic footing, Mr. Lee said.

It is Mr. Kim’s first visit to China since 2019 and the fifth visit in total since he inherited power upon his father’s death in late 2011.

Mr. Putin arrived in China on Sunday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional summit, as well as the Beijing parade. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russia’s Tass news agency on Sunday that a meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim on the sidelines was “under consideration.” North Korea observers are paying keen attention to Kim possibly meeting Xi bilaterally as well and holding even a trilateral meeting with Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin. The three leaders have met bilaterally previously but have yet to hold a trilateral meeting.

Kim to restore China ties

North Korea’s foreign policy priority has been Russia in recent years as it has been supplying troops and ammunition to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine in exchange for economic and military assistance.

According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last year. In its latest briefing to lawmakers, the South Korean spy agency said it believes roughly 2,000 of them have so far died in combat, Lee said.

Mr. Kim has also agreed to additionally send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to Russia’s Kursk region, and the agency assesses that the first 1,000 are already in Russia, Mr. Lee said.

North Korea’s relations with China have reportedly turned sour in recent years, but experts say Mr. Kim likely hopes to restore ties as China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner and aid benefactor and he would want to brace for the end of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Kim developing partnerships

Since aligning with Russia, North Korea has become more vocal in international affairs beyond the Korean Peninsula, issuing diplomatic statements on conflicts in the Middle East and in the Taiwan Strait, while portraying itself as a part of a united front against Washington.

Some experts say Mr. Kim’s presence at the multilateral event in Beijing is part of efforts to develop partnerships with other nations close to China and Russia.

Mr. Kim’s trip comes as President Donald Trump and new liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung have repeatedly expressed their hopes to restart talks with North Korea. North Korea has been shunning talks with the US and South Korea and pushing to expand its nuclear and missile arsenals since Kim’s earlier round of diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.

Before departing for China on Monday, Kim visited a North Korean missile research institute to review progress on developing a new engine for a “next-generation” intercontinental ballistic missile, KCNA reported.

The North in recent years has tested various versions of ICBMs capable of reaching the US mainland, and analysts say the next-generation ICBM likely refers to a long-range weapon with multiple nuclear warheads that can defeat US missile defence systems.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left Pyongyang by train on Monday to attend a military parade in China, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said, the first time he will have taken part in a major multilateral diplomatic event.

The reclusive leader, who rarely leaves North Korea, is expected to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday, Yonhap said.

At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the North Korean leader is due to attend the military parade in Beijing on Wednesday to celebrate the formal surrender of Japan in World War Two, state media said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has cultivated a close relationship with Mr. Kim, will also be at the parade.

An official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry declined to comment on the media reports. South Korea’s intelligence agency was not immediately available for comment.

Mr. Kim is expected to hold separate talks with both Xi and Putin on the sidelines of the event, analysts say.

“Unlike his grandfather Kim Il Sung, who attended many diplomatic events, Kim Jong Un and his father Kim Jong Il didn’t show up at any event where many leaders appeared,” said Cheong Seong-chang, vice president of Sejong Institute, a Seoul-based research centre.

Kim Jong Un seems to want to further bolster relations with Beijing following the latest summit between South Korea and the United States, Cheong said.

South Korea will send National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik to the Chinese event, the Unification Ministry said.

The ministry said it was unsure whether Woo would be able to hold bilateral talks with Mr. Kim on the sidelines of the event.

The defeat of imperial Japan in 1945 and the rise to power of the Communists in China in 1949 were crucial events helping to prepare the way for the 1950-53 Korean War, which resulted in the division of the peninsula into the China-backed Communist North and the U.S.-backed capitalist South.