North Korea slammed military drills between South Korea, Japan, and the US, threatening to respond by exercising its right to self-defense "more intensively."

North Korea on Friday slammed the US and South Korean joint air drills over the Korean peninsula. “North Korea will resolutely deter any attempt at military provocation by the hostile forces and firmly defend the security interests of the state,” said a Foreign Ministry statement.

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

Pyongyang's first test-fire of 2025 came as Blinken, America's top diplomat, met with South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok. Choi assumed the interim role after the South Korean Parliament voted to impeach a second president in two weeks.

Hundreds of North Korean troops have been killed fighting against Ukraine over the last few months, according to South Korea ’s intelligence agency. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea said 300 of Pyongyang’s troops have been killed and another 2,700 wounded since joining Vladimir Putin’s forces last year.

North Korea last fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew more than 680 miles from the Pyongyang area before splashing down in the Sea of Japan on Jan. 6.

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.

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.

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.

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".