North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to U.S. and South Korean officials, the latest in a series of weapons tests this year. 

North Korea condemned Japan’s plan to deploy upgraded long-range missiles across the country, calling the move a dangerous military escalation, according to the communist regime’s state-run media.

South Korea may reinstate a no-fly zone near the border with North Korea, Unification Minister Jung Dong-young said in a recent briefing.

North Korea is claiming its latest missile launch was a successful test of an improved version of a large-caliber multiple rocket launcher with better strike capability, mobility, intelligence and accuracy.

Thirteen fewer North Koreans defected across the southern border in 2025 than the year before for an annual tally of 224, according to recent data from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification.

North Korea may grow more hostile next year unless diplomacy resumes, the South’s unification minister has warned while urging renewed efforts to restart talks with Pyongyang.

In its latest weapons test, North Korea launched one ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, according to the South’s military.

North Korea denounced the Trump administration’s latest sanctions targeting cybercrimes that help finance its illicit nuclear weapons program, accusing the United States of harboring “wicked” hostility toward Pyongyang and vowing unspecified countermeasures.