John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, said of Hegseth's remarks on North Korea's status as a nuclear power: "We've not made such a recognition. I can't speak to what the incoming team will—how they'll characterize it. We've not gone so far as to make that recognition."

While South Korea experiences historic domestic political turmoil, Kim Jong Un and his regime continue to threaten peace and stability in the region and pose a direct threat to the U.S. homeland.

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.

South Korea’s military says North Korea has test-fired multiple missiles toward its eastern waters in its second launch event of 2025.

Kim Jong Un warned that North Korea ’s rivals could not ignore its new hypersonic ballistic missile, which was tested while US secretary of state Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea on Monday.

The danger of violence begins with the security service defending the president — and extends to firebrands confronting one another.

North Korea test fires a ballistic missile as Blinken visits Seoul, where he warned that Putin could provide Kim Jong Un with advanced space technology.

North Korea has not responded to reports of its troops captured or killed by Ukraine forces. It has never publicised the deployment or large shipments of North Korean artillery shells and other weapons sent to Russia to help its war against Ukraine, although they marked the country’s first intervention in a major armed conflict overseas in decades.

Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been in detention since he was apprehended Wednesday in a massive law enforcement operation at his residential compound, faces potential rebellion charges linked to his declaration of martial law on December 3,

“Over the course of next year, Putin will likely face mounting domestic problems. Russia’s central bank has forecast economic growth of 0.5 to 1.5 per cent in 2025, down from 3.5 to 4 per cent in 2024, suggesting that the wartime boom may have run its course.”