If you have been monitoring developments in North Korea lately, you could be forgiven for assuming that Kim Jong-un is a few short weeks away from quadrupling his nuclear weapons arsenal. Addressing the Central Military Commission on May 24, Kim emphasized the need for the North to bolster its nuclear weapons deterrent and accelerate the country’s artillery program. To underscore the point, Kim declared that he was putting Pyongyang’s strategic armed forces on high alert. The news was greeted with a mix of dread and mystery.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has died, according to a leading Hong Kong broadcast network.

North Korea's borders remain tightly sealed and security personnel are carrying out temperature checks, according to a South Korean press report.

After more than a year of legal disputes, a hostel on the grounds of the North Korean embassy has closed for good. Non-diplomatic use and foreign income generated for Pyongyang was considered a breach of sanctions.

The Japanese government believes recent belligerence by North Korea could be explained by the spread of COVID-19 in its territory, poor health on the part of leader Kim Jong Un, and other economic factors, the country’s defense minister said Thursday.

Microsoft said it won a court order that allowed the tech giant to take control of 50 websites that a North Korea-linked hacking group was using to carry out cyberattacks.

The aunt of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has re-emerged in Pyongyang, the capital, the country’s media said Sunday, dispelling rumors that she was purged after her powerful husband was executed on charges of plotting a coup to topple Kim in 2013.

The Czech intelligence services foiled a secret plan by North Korea to smuggle weapons parts and surveillance drones, leading to the expulsion of a North Korean diplomat from the country, according to a report. The report, published this week by the Czech daily Deník N, claims that the alleged plot was foiled by the Czech Security Information Service, known as BIS.

North Korea has had no cases of the new coronavirus that is spreading in neighboring China, a health ministry official said on state media on Sunday. North Korea has ended most flights with China and Russia, imposed mandatory quarantines on any foreigners arriving in the country and ended international tourism programs, among other measures.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first appearance in state-run media in three weeks on Sunday, the birthday of his father and late leader Kim Jong Il. The official Korean Central News Agency reported in the morning that Kim Jong Un visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, where the embalmed bodies of the two former leaders -- his grandfather and father -- lie in state.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top party officials of the "serious consequences" of failing to prevent an outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country, state media reported Saturday. The impoverished nation, with a weak and ill-equipped healthcare system, has closed its borders to prevent the spread of the disease into its territory.

Michael Hay, who founded and managed the longest-running foreign-backed law firm to be based in North Korea, died last Wednesday in South Korea, aged 58. His death was confirmed by friends and former colleagues to NK News. Hay – also a friend of this author – was well known among businesses and NGOs as one of the few lawyers to have ever successfully won commercial disputes in North Korea’s opaque legal system.

They scored $80 million by tricking a network into routing funds to Sri Lanka and the Philippines and then using a "money mule" to pick up the cash.

The test was the country’s second in a week and came as its main rival, South Korea, grappled with a large coronavirus outbreak.

The US is monitoring intelligence that suggests North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, is in grave danger after undergoing a previous surgery, according to a US official with direct knowledge.

China has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to three people familiar with the situation.

Where is the supreme leader Kim Jong Un? This question has become the talk of the Pyongyang, who too have not seen the North Korean leader after April 11 and the state-media has unusually been silent. Did Kim Jong Un die of a failed heart surgery? Is he in a vegetative state after a failed stent procedure? Or he is still alive and is simply holidaying at Wonsan where his train was spotted? These are some of the questions that everybody seems to be asking.

President Moon Jae-in said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic has opened up new opportunities for stalled inter-Korean cooperation, which he began promoting following the Panmunjeom Declaration announced after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un two years ago. Marking the second anniversary of the inter-Korean summit, Moon evaluated the "improvement in and challenges of" inter-Korean relations during the past two years.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un makes his first public appearance for 20 days, state media report, amid speculation about his health.

North and South Korea have exchanged gunfire in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) which divides the two countries. Seoul's military said shots from the North hit a South Korean guard post in the central border town of Cheorwon. It said it returned fire and delivered a warning announcement. There are no reports of injuries.