SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - Kyiv is willing to return captured North Korean soldiers to Pyongyang in exchange for the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday. In a post on X, he said he is ready to ready to hand them over to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia." His offer came just a day after he revealed that Ukrainian f

SEOUL, January 12 (AJP) - Ukraine has captured two wounded North Korean soldiers during an operation near Russia's border, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. "Despite their injuries, the two soldiers survived and have been transported to Kyiv," Zelensky wrote in a post on X, sharing photos of their captives. Ukraine forces captured them in Russia's western Kursk region, a territory currently occupied by Ukraine. They are currently being inv

SEOUL, January 10 (AJP) - About 4,000 North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia to support its war in Ukraine have been "killed and wounded in action," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. North Korea holds "no value for people," said Zelensky during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), an alliance of 57 counties, also known as the Ramstein group, which includes members of NATO as well as most of the European Union.

SEOUL, January 7 (AJP) - North Korea said on Tuesday that it had successfully test-launched a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) equipped with a hypersonic warhead. "The hypersonic glide vehicle of the missile fired northeastward at a launching ground in a suburb of Pyongyang..... accurately landed on the waters of simulated target," the renegade country's state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, confirming its IRBM launch the previous day.

SEOUL, January 06 (AJP) - North Korea will resume its international marathon competition this April, marking the first time the event will be held since its suspension in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The marathon, which features both professional and amateur runners, offers distances of 5 kilometers, 10 kilometers, a half marathon, and a full marathon (42.195 kilometers). The course winds through some of Pyongyang’s most iconic landmarks, including Kim Il Sung Squar

SEOUL, January 6 (AJP) -- North Korea fired a suspected hypersonic ballistic missile into the East Sea on Monday, just two weeks before Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. president. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military detected the projectile around noon. The ballistic missile, launched from the Pyongyang area, flew about 1,100 kilometers before landing in the waters. While the missile was initially believed to use an engine typically found in in

SEOUL, January 3 (AJP) - The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is currently investigating whether two children recently spotted with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong could be her kids, the spy agency here said on Friday. Speculation arose shortly after North Korea's state television aired footage of Yo-jong walking alongside a boy and a girl after attending an event for the New Year's celebrations in Pyongyang earlier this week. The NIS said it is lo

SEOUL, January 03 (AJP) - North Korean state media has extensively covered South Korea's "political turmoil" in the wake of last month's short-lived martial law debacle here. The official state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that the "unprecedented" impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is now facing arrest, has paralyzed state affairs, leading to "social and political chaos" in the South. The cove

SEOUL, January 2 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un apparently skipped his annual visit to the mausoleum of his grandfather Kim Il-sung and father Kim Jong-il on New Year's Day, according to state media. Senior party and military officials visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang to pay their respects to the regime founder and the former leader the previous day, the country's state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday, without mentioning