Three South ​Korean military officers ‌conducting an operation ​south ⁠of the Military Demarcation Line in the ‌western sector of the ‌Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) ‌separating ⁠the two ⁠Koreas were injured in an explosion, South ​Korea’s ‌Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement ‌on Monday (September 21, 2026).

Two were ​evacuated by helicopter. The ⁠third is expected to be transported ‌by road before being airlifted by helicopter, the JCS said, without ‌providing further details.

South ​Korean media reported earlier ⁠on Monday (September 21) that ⁠the unexplained explosion might have ‌been caused by a ​mine.

North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Saturday (September 12, 2026), its neighbours said, a day after the U.S., South Korea and Japan ended their trilateral military drill that North Korea views as a provocation.

The North Korean ballistic launch event, the first in about three weeks, came as the country was continuing its weapons display after rebuffing U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back a major bilateral military drill with South Korea in a goodwill gesture.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launches of several missiles from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area. It said the missiles flew about 250 kilometres each in a direction toward North Korea’s eastern waters. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it has boosted its surveillance posture and was closely exchanging information on the launches with the U.S. and Japan.

South Korea’s presidential national security council issued a statement urging North Korea to halt ballistic missile firings that violate UN Security Council resolutions.

The U.S. Pacific Command said the North’s launch event did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. territory or to its allies. It said the U.S. remains committed to the defence of the U.S. homeland and its allies in the region.

On Friday (September 11, 2026), the U.S., South Korea and Japan ended their five-day Freedom Edge exercise as scheduled. The U.S. Pacific Command said the militaries of the three countries “trained side by side across air, sea and cyber domains, sharpening the interoperability that keeps the region secure.” It cited maritime maneuvers, air refuelling, cyber coordination and medical drills.

South Korea’s military earlier said the exercise is defensive in nature and meant to enhance a joint response capability against North Korean nuclear threats.

Hours after the trilateral exercise began Monday (September 7, 2026), North Korea’s defence minister Kim Song Gi criticised the exercise and threatened to take “strong and reflective countermeasures from the standpoint of power.” On Sunday (September 6, 2026), North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for building a more reliable nuclear deterrent in a ceremony marking the commissioning of the country’s second naval destroyer. North Korea has said its two destroyers can carry nuclear-capable missiles. The second destroyer was damaged earlier during a botched launch last year, but it was relaunched after repairs.

Mr. Kim has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal after his high-stakes diplomacy with Mr. Trump collapsed in 2019. In the last month, Mr. Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea. He cited what he called a good relationship with Mr. Kim, who views the drill as an invasion rehearsal.

But Mr. Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, rebuffed Mr. Trump’s move, saying just shortening the drill would not change its “provocative, aggressive nature.” North Korea’s military later launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, apparently following through with its previous threat to respond to the U.S.-South Korean drill.

Now apparently emboldened by his advancing nuclear programme and deepened ties with Russia and China, experts say Mr. Kim wants greater U.S. concessions in potential diplomacy with the U.S.. Kim Jong Un said earlier this year that he could return to talks if the U.S. drops its “hostile policy” against his country and respects what he calls the North’s status as a nuclear state.

North ​Korea’s Foreign Ministry condemned a U.S. decision ‌to approve the sale of advanced air-to-air ​missiles and related equipment to ⁠South Korea, warning the move would worsen tensions on the Korean peninsula, state media KCNA said ‌on Saturday (June 13, 2026).

The Ministry’s Director-General for External Policy said in a statement ‌carried by KCNA that military ‌cooperation ⁠between Washington and Seoul was being “systematically ⁠strengthened” despite what it called international concern over rising tensions in and around the peninsula.

The official cited ​the U.S. State ‌Department’s approval of a nearly $300 million foreign military sale of advanced air-to-air missiles and related equipment to South Korea as ‌the latest example.

“U.S. arms exports are ​war exports,” the official said, adding that North Korea would continue ⁠strengthening its self-defensive deterrent to maintain the regional balance of power.

North Korea routinely criticises U.S.-South ‌Korea military cooperation as preparation for war.

It separately criticised South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung over a joint statement with European Union leaders during a visit to Europe, which described North Korea’s ‌status as a nuclear weapons state and its ​military cooperation with Russia as “illegal”, KCNA said on Saturday(June 13, 2026).

KCNA said it was ⁠a violation of North Korea’s sovereignty, South Korea ⁠had shown there could be no “peaceful coexistence” between the two Koreas ‌and that Pyongyang would continue to regard the South as a hostile ​state.

A ​South Korean ‌appeals court on Wednesday (April 29, 2026) ​gave ⁠a seven-year jail term to ‌former President Yoon Suk ‌Yeol ‌on ⁠charges including ⁠obstructing investigators trying to execute an ​arrest ‌warrant since his short-lived 2024 martial law declaration.

The ‌Seoul High ​Court delivered the ⁠ruling in a televised hearing, ‌the first decision by a special court division ‌set up to handle ​cases linked to Yoon’s ⁠martial law ⁠bid in December 2024.

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 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.

The launch comes as the United States and South Korea conduct their annual Freedom Shield military drills. The development also follows recent warnings from Kim Yo Jong and renewed discussions in Washington about possible talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A South Korean court trying former President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges ‌put off a sentencing request till next week after a marathon session ​on Friday (January 9, 2026), in a case that could give him the death penalty over his failed martial law bid in 2024.

Mr. Yoon, who is accused of masterminding an insurrection, could face the death penalty or life in prison under South Korean law if found guilty. South Korea has not executed a death-row inmate since 1997, although it has not abolished the death penalty.

A special prosecutor had been expected to make their request for a sentence to the ​Seoul Central District Court for Yoon and seven other defendants on Friday but ⁠the court decided to resume proceedings on January 13 after more than 12 hours of arguments.

Prosecutors have alleged that Mr. Yoon and then-Defence Minister, Kim Yong-hyun, began devising a scheme as far back as October 2023 to suspend Parliament ​and assume legislative powers.

Prosecutors accuse Mr. Yoon of ⁠seeking to brand his political opponents – including then-opposition leader Lee Jae Myung – as “anti-state forces” and to detain them.

They have said Mr. Yoon and Mr. Kim also tried to manufacture a pretext for martial law by escalating tensions with North Korea through a covert drone operation.

While ‌the botched bid to impose martial law lasted only about six hours, it sent ‌shockwaves through South Korea, which is Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a key U.S. security ally and was long considered one of Asia’s most resilient democracies.

Mr. Yoon, 65, ‍has denied the charges. The conservative former career prosecutor has argued he had the powers as President to declare martial law and that his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over ‍opposition parties’ obstruction of government.

South Korean rescue workers were searching Monday (November 10, 2025) for nine missing crew members after a Chinese fishing boat capsized off the country’s southwestern coast.

South Korea’s Coast Guard said two crew members were rescued by a nearby cargo vessel after their boat capsized about 150 kilometres southwest of Eocheong island, off the port city of Gunsan.

Patrol vessels and aircraft were continuing to search for the missing.

The accident came a day after South Korean officials responded to the capsizing of another Chinese fishing boat in international waters about 80 kilometres west of South Korea’s southwestern Gageo island, which killed at least two crew members.

South Korean officials rescued six others from that boat and were continuing their search for three missing crew members on Monday.

South Korea’s special prosecutor on Monday (November 10, 2025) indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on additional charges of abusing power and aiding an enemy state related to his short-lived imposition of martial law last year.

Yoon attempted to provoke military conflict between South and North Korea in order to declare martial law, a prosecutor’s spokesperson told a briefing, citing evidence found on a military official’s mobile phone that included some words suggesting potential provocations against North Korea, such as “drones” and “surgical strike”.

According to the memo, Yoon, former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former military intelligence chief Yeo In-hyung planned to induce a North Korean attack against the South, the spokesperson said.

The trio wanted to create tensions in the country as a condition for Yoon to declare martial law, she said.

Kim and Yeo were also indicted on the same additional charges, the prosecutor said.

The special prosecutor’s team has accused Yoon and his military commanders of ordering a covert drone operation into the North to inflame tensions between the neighbours and justify his martial law decree.

In October last year, North Korea said the South had sent drones to scatter anti-North Korean leaflets over Pyongyang, and published photos of the remains of a crashed South Korean military drone.

South Korea at the time declined to disclose whether it had sent the drones.

Yoon and Kim denied they declared martial law to harm South Korea’s national interests. Yeo said he deeply regretted not challenging the order from Yoon, according to media reports. The prosecutor’s spokesperson said Yeo was making excuses that did not make sense about the notes discovered on his mobile phone.