South Korea officially opened its embassy in Cuba on Friday, 11 months after Seoul established diplomatic relations with Havana, a longstanding ally of Pyongyang.

North Korea condemned on Friday joint military drills between South Korea, Japan and the United States held this week, threatening to respond by exercising its right to self-defence "more intensively".

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, marking Pyongyang's latest show of force just days ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to office.

A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.

The JCS said the South Korean military has heightened surveillance for additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture to share info with the U.S. and Japan.

The launch event came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for talks with South Korean allies over the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues.

SEOUL: A South Korean rock singer with 150,000 followers live-steamed himself breaking into a court building on Jan 19, alongside hundreds of other furious supporters of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Eight days after Pyongyang launched a hypersonic ballistic missile, it fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

Mr. President, North Korea poses growing challenges to US national interests. You should initiate again an open-ended diplomatic process with Kim in which you are ready to trade sanctions relief for verifiable nuclear concessions.

The incoming US president Donald Trump wants to rekindle his relationship with Kim Jong Un, but the North Korean leader has other suitors now.