Events used to lionise Kim’s grandfather and father have been reduced, a move that could put the focus on Kim’s own achievements and policies instead.

North Korea state media reports show that video surveillance is becoming more common at schools, workplaces and airports, researchers wrote in a new report.

Zhao is the most senior Chinese official to visit Pyongyang since the country reopened its borders last year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic

Kim inspected a military university, telling staff and students that ‘now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before’.

Reports suggest it will be the new medium-range Typhon system, capable of firing high-speed anti-shipping projectiles or Tomahawk cruise missiles to address threats from North Korea and China.

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield will become the most senior US official to visit the demilitarised zone dividing the two Koreas since Vice-President Kamala Harris went there in 2022.

Read on for a closer look at the potential conflict scenarios, after two prominent analysts set North Korea watchers’ tongues wagging by warning Kim ‘has made a strategic decision to go to war’.

The launch was overseen by Kim Jong-un, who said the weapon showed the ‘absolute superiority’ of Pyongyang’s defence technology.

She cited Tokyo’s lack of ‘courage’ for ‘new’ North Korea-Japan ties, including its stance on the abduction issue and North Korea’s military programmes

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in parliament his government has lobbied for a possible summit meeting with the North Korean leader.

Showing North Korean soldiers gazing across an icy river towards China and occasionally descending from looming watchtowers to prowl border paths, the photos present a unique look into life in one of the world’s most secretive communist states.

A lack of funds has forced some schools operated by Chongryon – the association of North Korean residents in Japan – to amalgamate their operations, while others have closed.

Monday’s ballistic missile test is the North’s second this year. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in South Korea for a democracy summit, condemned the launch.

The destination of fighter jet exports will be limited to countries that have signed a deal with Japan on defence equipment and technology transfers, about 15 countries currently.

Kim Jong-un’s daughter Ju-ae’s growing public profile has political observers wondering if she’s next in line to become North Korea’s supreme ruler.

South Korea’s president lambasted North Korea on Friday over what he called its repressive rule and vowed to achieve a free, unified Korean peninsula.

In video-link meeting with US representative Jung Pak, China’s envoy Liu Xiaoming says stable peninsula is in the interests of the region and the world.

‘Tangible’ takeaways from a potential Japan-North Korea summit, especially on the abduction issue, are required if Kishida hopes to use foreign relation wins to boost his domestic approval, analysts say.

The two pariah states have been forging closer ties in recent months amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and Pyongyang’s continued nuclear weapons development. UN Security Council resolutions ban the export of luxury goods to North Korea.

Dialogue between North and South Korea has given way to fiery rhetoric and mutual threats of destruction. Neither side seems inclined to de-escalate, as the spectre of a second Trump presidency only adds to mounting concerns.

While North Korea appears to be warming up to Japan, its ties with Seoul have deteriorated, with Kim Jong-un saying the North had legal right to annihilate South Korea.

North Korea extends its streak of weapons demonstrations with its fifth barrage of cruise missiles in the past month.

‘Pyongyang opens its door’: a group of Russians have arrived in the country for a four-day trip, a few months after Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin met and pledged closer economic and military cooperation.

With daughter in tow, Kim threatens southern neighbour as he marks the anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s military.

Laws governing economic ties, including on the operation of the Mount Kumgang tourism project, will be abolished. Seoul said it does not recognise the unilateral move.