North Korea

North Korea has fired an "unidentified ballistic missile". This is reported by the South Korean agency Yonhap on the authority of the South Korean army. The announcement comes a few days after the previous missile test and comes a day before US Vice President Kamala Harris is expected in Seoul. She will meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday. The missile would have flown in the direction of the Sea of Japan. Further details have not been disclosed. UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, which can also carry one or more nuclear warheads, depending on the design. As a rule, these are ground-to-ground missiles.

North Korea has portrayed leader Kim Jong-un in a vulnerable way. For example, in a documentary, Kim looks thinner than before and sometimes has difficulty walking.   However, in the nearly two-hour film 'The Great Year of Victory, 2021', it is explained that he is tackling the problems of his country. Reports about Kim's health are closely followed internationally by intelligence services and experts. His totalitarian regime has nuclear weapons and regularly creates unrest by testing missiles. It is unclear who will succeed the leader if something happens to him and what that would mean for the stability of North Korea. The documentary talks about the development of missiles and other projects. These are presented as signals that the country is on its way to "victory". In practic...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has warned his people about possible food shortages. The state news agency KCNA reported this on Wednesday. At the same time, photos fuel speculation about his own health. Kim Jong-un is clearly emaciated in his face.   At the beginning of a multi-day meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee, Kim warned that "the people's food situation is now becoming tense". According to him, one of the reasons for this is the failed grain harvest as a result of a typhoon. The North Korean leader called on members of the Central Committee to solve the problem. A good harvest is "the militant task that our party and the state must perform with the highest priority," Kim said. It is the only way to provide people with a stable life and ensure the soci...