The outbreak forced leader Kim Jong Un to wear a mask in public likely for the first time since the start of the pandemic, but the scale of transmissions inside North Korea wasn't immediately known. A failure to slow infections could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated. Some experts say the North, by its rare admission of an outbreak, may be seeking outside aid.
The size of the outbreak wasn't immediately known, but it could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated. Some experts say the North, by its rare admission of an outbreak, may be seeking outside aid.
The official Korean Central News Agency said tests of samples collected Sunday from an unspecified number of people with fevers in the capital, Pyongyang, confirmed they were infected with the omicron variant.
In response, Kim during a ruling party Politburo meeting called for a thorough lockdown of cities and counties and said workplaces should be isolated by units to block the virus from spreading, KCNA said. He urged health workers to step up disinfection efforts at workplaces and homes and mobilise reserve medical supplies.
Kim said it was crucial to stabilise transmissions and eliminate the infection source as fast as possible, while also easing the inconveniences to the public caused by the virus controls. Kim insisted that the country will surely overcome what he described as an unexpected outbreak because its government and people are united as one.
North Korea's state TV showed Kim and other senior officials wearing masks as they entered a meeting room, although Kim removed his mask to speak into a set of microphones. Still photos distributed by KNCA showed Kim unmasked and sitting at the head of a table where all other officials remained masked.
South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, couldn't immediately confirm whether it was the first time state media showed Kim wearing a mask since the start of the pandemic.
North Korea has maintained strict anti-virus controls at its border for more than two years and didn't provide further details about its new lockdown. But an Associated Press photographer on the South Korean side of the border saw dozens of people working in farming fields or walking on footpaths at a North Korean border town an indication the lockdown doesn't require people to stay home or it exempts farm work.
The measures described in state media and Kim's declaration that economic goals should be met possibly indicate that North Korea isn't strictly confining people to their homes and is focusing more on restricting travel and supplies between regions to slow the viral spread, analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea's Sejong Institute said.
The North's government has shunned vaccines offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because those have international monitoring requirements.
Seoul's Unification Ministry said South Korea is willing to provide medical assistance and other help to the North based on humanitarian considerations. Relations between the Koreas have deteriorated since 2019 amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations and the North's increasingly provocative weapons demonstrations.
Kim Sin-gon, a professor at Seoul's Korea University College of Medicine, said North Korea likely is signaling its willingness to receive outside vaccines shipments, but wants many more doses than offered by COVAX to inoculate its entire population multiple times. He said North Korea would also want COVID-19 medicines as well as medical equipment shipments that are banned by U.N. sanctions.
The omicron variant spreads much more easily than earlier variants of the virus, and its fatality and hospitalisation rates are high among unvaccinated older people or those with existing health problems. That means the outbreak could cause a serious situation because North Korea lacks medical equipment and medicine to treat virus patients and many of its people are not well-nourished, Kim Sin-gon said.
Ahn Kyung-su, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea, said North Korea may want an international shipment of COVID-19 treatment pills. But he said the North's admission of the outbreak is also likely designed to press its people harder to guard against the virus as China, which shares a long, porous border with the North, has placed many cities under lockdown over virus concerns.
Despite the elevated virus response, Kim Jong Un ordered officials to push ahead with scheduled construction, agricultural development and other state projects while bolstering the country's defense postures to avoid any security vacuum.
The North will likely double down on lockdowns, even though the failure of China's zero-COVID approach suggests that approach doesn't work against the fast-moving omicron variant, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul's Ewha Womans University.
For Pyongyang to publicly admit omicron cases, the public health situation must be serious, Easley said. This does not mean North Korea is suddenly going to be open to humanitarian assistance and take a more conciliatory line toward Washington and Seoul. But the Kim regime's domestic audience may be less interested in nuclear or missile tests when the urgent threat involves coronavirus rather than a foreign military.
North Korea's previous coronavirus-free claim had been disputed by many foreign experts. But South Korean officials have said North Korea had likely avoided a huge outbreak, in part because it instituted strict virus controls almost from the start of the pandemic.
Early in 2020 before the coronavirus spread around the world North Korea took severe steps to keep out the virus and described them as a matter of national existence." It quarantined people with symptoms resembling COVID-19, all but halted cross-border traffic and trade for two years, and is even believed to have ordered troops to shoot on sight any trespassers who crossed its borders.
The extreme border closures further shocked an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program, pushing Kim to perhaps the toughest moment of his rule since he took power in 2011.
North Korea had been one of the last places in the world without an acknowledged COVID-19 case after the virus first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 spread to every continent including Antarctica. Turkmenistan, a similarly secretive and authoritarian nation in Central Asia, has reported no cases to the World Health Organization, though its claim also is widely doubted by outside experts.
In recent months, some Pacific island nations that kept the virus out by their geographic isolation have recorded outbreaks. Only tiny Tuvalu, with a population around 12,000, has escaped the virus so far, while a few other nations Nauru, Micronesia and Marshall Islands have stopped cases at their borders and avoided community outbreaks.
North Korea's outbreak comes as China its close ally and trading partner battles its biggest outbreak of the pandemic.
In January, North Korea tentatively reopened railroad freight traffic between its border town of Sinuiju and China's Dandong for the first time in two years, but China halted the trade last month due to an outbreak in Liaoning province, which borders North Korea.
The 5th Conference of the Frontrunners in the Three Revolutions, which kicked off in Pyongyang on November 18, closed with the adoption of an appeal that calls for the glorification of "the great era of Kim Jong-un", according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The three-revolution movement is a mass movement devised under Kim Il-sung, the North's late founder and grandfather of the current leader, to continue "the revolution in the realms of ideology, technology and culture even after the establishment of the socialist system", Yonhap News Agency quoted the KCNA as saying.
At the start of the conference, Kim Jong-un sent a letter to the participants and called for strengthening the country's self-reliance.
"It is the feelings and aspiration of all the Korean people who live in the glorious era and the solemn call of the revolution to transform and change the whole society in line with the revolutionary idea and will of the respected Comrade Kim Jong-un," the KCNA said.
The conference took place as North Korea has been continuing to elevate Kim's political status ahead of the 10th anniversary of Kim Jong-un's leadership.
He rose to power in December 2011, following the sudden death of his father and former leader Kim Jong-il.
It marked the second of its kind held under the current leader after the fourth conference took place in November 2015.
The previous sessions were held in 1986, 1995 and 2006.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) dismissed reports that claimed Kim Yo-jong ousted Kim Jong-un after a coup, reports Yonhap News Agency.
A separate government official also said such reports are not true.
Citing a report from US-based tabloid "Globe", some news outlets here said Kim Yo-jong staged a coup between May 6 and June 5, and removed Kim Jong-un from the post.
The report claimed Kim Jong-un at recent events is actually an impostor, pointing out that his appearance is different than the past, with substantial weight loss.
Speculations about Kim Jong-un's well-being have been brought up by media regularly since last year.
In July, the NIS dismissed rumours over Kim Jong-un's health problems as "groundless".
The North Korean leader earlier this month attended a defence development exhibition in Pyongyang and called for boosting military capabilities.
He was also seen smoking cigarettes with officials at the event, according to photos released by the North.
Kim's armoured train departed from Beijing at 2.08 p.m., according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not confirm the information on Kim's journey but said it would issue an official press release.
Kim is expected to reach the North Korean capital on Thursday, reports Efe news.
As on previous occasions, Kim's agenda has not been made public, but he is reported to have held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.
Yonhap reported that on Wednesday, Kim visited the facilities of a Chinese traditional medicine firm for close to 30 minutes, after which he had lunch with Xi.
This was Kim's fourth visit to China in the last year and came amid reported preparations for a second meeting between Kim and US president Donald Trump to resume denuclearization talks.
The first meeting between Kim and Xi in Beijing took place ahead of North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympics held in South Korea, which kicked off a process of rapprochement between the two Koreas.
The other two summits with Xi in May and June occurred soon after his meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and with Trump in Singapore.
Putin expressed his readiness to hold a summit with Kim at an "early date" in a message sent on the occasion of North Korea's liberation, coinciding with the 73rd anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported.
"I affirm that I am ready to meet you at an early date to discuss urgent issues of bilateral relations and important matters of the region," Putin said.
Earlier in May, the Russian President invited Kim to the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian coastal city of Vladivostok between September 11 and 13, but Pyongyang was yet to respond.
Putin also invited his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in, Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the forum.
If Kim and other leaders decided to attend, it would be an unprecedented international gathering in which leaders from five of the six countries that have been working on nuclear disarmament meet.
An invitation was sent by the Indonesian Coordinating Human Development and Cultural Affairs Minister Puan Maharani to the President of the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong-nam, during a meeting in Pyongyang earlier this week, Efe news reported.
Puan tweeted that "the Asian Games is a time for friendship between countries". Widodo also invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the inaugural ceremony.
North and South Korea agreed in June during a meeting at the border to walk under the same flag at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games and compete with joint teams in some categories.
The two Koreas, technically still at war, walked together at the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in February in the South Korean county of PyeongChang which marked the first steps towards the recent rapprochement between the two Koreas and Washington.
In a carefully choreographed encounter at around 9 a.m., Trump and Kim strode towards each other, arms extended, in the red-carpeted reception area of the grand Capella Hotel, in Singapore's Sentosa Island, reports The New York Times.
This is the first time a sitting American President and North Korean leader have ever met.
The two leaders then shared a 12-second handshake in the courtyard of the British-colonial style hotel against a backdrop of American and North Korean flags.
Posing for photographs, Trump put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. Then the two, alone except for their interpreters, walked off to meet privately in an attempt to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programme.
"I feel really great," Trump said.
"It's gonna be a great discussion and I think tremendous success. I think it's gonna be really successful and I think we will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt."
Kim spoke in Korean, saying that "the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward, but we've overcome all of them, and we are here today".
The goal of the summit was to ratify the outlines of a joint statement, to be released before the two men left Singapore later on Tuesday, that laid out a framework for additional talks, reports The Washington Post.
After their one-on-one meeting which lasted for about 45 minutes, the two leaders were joined by senior aides for an expanded bilateral meeting and working lunch.
Asked how the earlier discussion went, Trump said: "Very, very good," The Straits Times reported.
On the US side, Trump's team included Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim.
The North Korean delegation included Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, Vice-Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Yong Chol.
The two delegations are sitting across a nearly 80-year-old, 4.3 metre-long teak wood table formerly used by the Chief Justice of Singapore in the daily administration of the court.
It has been loaned by the Singapore National Gallery to the US Embassy.
On Monday, North Korea's Choe and US Ambassador Sung Kim led a working-level meeting to finalise last minute details of the summit.
The two leaders reached Singapore on Sunday followed by their individual meetings with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The summit, which was almost scrapped by a mercurial Trump last month, comes after a flurry of diplomatic activities and barrage of invective and insults traded between the US President and an equally aggressive Kim.
While the US seeks complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Kim fears giving up of all nukes may invite an invasion by Washington.
In 2017, Pyongyang fired off ballistic missiles and even conducted the most powerful nuclear test till date infuriating the US. Its sole ally China was left embarrassed.
The summit also marks a diplomatic landmark between the two countries with a long history of tense ties.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended without an official peace treaty. Previous US Presidents have made several attempts to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons, without success.
Two major diplomatic efforts - an agreement in 1994 and the six-party talks in the 2000s - were ultimately abandoned, with both sides either failing to agree or accusing the other of not abiding by the terms of the agreements.
(Photo Credit: New York Post)
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the two leaders will talk in Singapore about "establishing new North Korea-US relations, building a permanent and durable peace-keeping mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, realising the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and other issues of mutual concern, as required by this new era", reports Efe news.
The summit will be the first between the two countries and will be held "under the watchful eye and great expectations of the whole world", KCNA added.
Leading North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported Kim's arrival in Singapore on Sunday on the front page with several photos of him at the Changi airport with an Air China plane and the welcome ceremony by Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
This is Kim's first-known trip outside Northeast Asia since taking power in 2011.
The second page of the newspaper focuses on the official meeting that Kim held with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the presidential palace Istana later on Sunday.
Another editorial includes details of the event, saying that North Korea will "seek normalisation through dialogue" with a country, (whose name is unspecified), provided that that nation "respects the autonomy" of North Korea.
North Korean state television KCTV also reported Kim's trip in its morning news briefing with images of his arrival and his meeting with the Singaporean Prime Minister.
Except for a meeting between Lee and Trump scheduled for Monday, the US President and the North Korean leader have almost the entire day free before the summit starts on Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the exclusive Capella Hotel in Sentosa Island.
Trump arrived in Singapore also on Sunday, shortly after attending the G7 Summit in Canada.
Meanwhile on Monday, senior North Korean and US diplomats held last-minute talks in Singapore to come up with a draft agreement to be presented to the leaders of the two countries during their summit, reports Yonhap News Agency.
Ambassador Sung Kim, the US State Department's top Korea expert, met Choe Son-hui, the North's Vice Foreign Minister, at the Ritz Carlton hotel.
Choe and Kim have already held several rounds of discussions at Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border that were reportedly focused on summit agenda items, including denuclearisation and security assurance measures.
At the same time, Trump has also set an ambitious goal for his interactions with Kim aiming for an end to the official 70-year state of war between the US and North Korea.
After a meeting Kim Yong-chol, the North Korean leader's emissary, in Washington on Friday, Trump confirmed that the Singapore summit he had canceled last week was back on track.
"I think we're going to have a relationship, and it will start on June 12th," the President said.
Kim Yong-chol traveled to Washington after two days of negotiations with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York to hand over a letter from Kim Jong-un to Trump.
Trump said that "it ended up being a two-hour conversation with the second most powerful man in North Korea" during which they discussed a whole range of subjects.
Tamping down hopes of an imminent breakthrough, Trump said: "We're not going to go in and sign something on June 12th and we never were. We're going to start a process. And I told them today, 'Take your time. We can go fast. We can go slowly'. But I think they'd like to see something happen.
"You're talking about years of hostility; years of problems; years of, really, hatred between so many different nations. But I think you're going to have a very positive result in the end."
As a goodwill gesture, Trump said that he will not be putting any more sanctions on North Korea, but the existing ones will continue.
Pompeo, however, has asserted that the US won't budge from the ultimate goal of denuclearising North Korea.
"I have been very clear that President Trump and the United States objective is very consistent and well known: the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," he sad on Thursday.
North Korea poses a major threat with the nuclear devices as well as missiles capable of reaching the US mainland that it has developed.
After it tested them last year, the two leaders traded threats and abuses, while the US succeeded in tightening the UN sanctions on North Korea.
Later this year they cooled down and agreed to talk.
While preparations were going on for the talks, there was a burst of "tremendous anger and open hostility" coming out of Pyongyang last month, which Trump cited to call off the talks.
They were provoked by comments from Trump's new National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence invoking a "Libyan model" for dealing with North Korea.
It upset Pyongyang because after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi shutdown his nuclear programme in 2003 after which he was overthrown and killed in 2011 following attacks by US and its European allies.
Bolton and Pence have been sidelined and Pompeo, whom Trump has praised for negotiating with North Korea, has taken centre stage.
While Trump would score points internationally and domestically by pulling off the summit and soften his hardline image by having the summit, Kim Jong-un appears to be equally invested in the denuclearisation talks that could translate to economic development for his impoverished country that is under severe economic sanctions.
Trump said that if the nuclear issue is resolved, he expected South Korea, Japan and China to provide aid to North Korea, without any cost to the US for rebuilding it.
Trump said that during the meeting with Kim Yong-chol they talked about ending the Korean War which continues formally.
"And there is a possibility of something like that," he added.
Trump tweeted that he would greet the men when they return on Thursday with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was in Pyongyang to arrange the planned talks.
"I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health," he tweeted.
He added that Pompeo had a "good meeting" with Kim and said a date and place have been set for the meeting between the two leaders.
The Americans, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-song and Tony Kim, were able to "walk on the plane without assistance", the White House said. They had been jailed for anti-state activities and placed in labour camps, CNN reported.
While Kim Dong Chul had been in North Korean custody since 2015, the other two were arrested in 2017. Their convictions were widely condemned.
Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, which bills itself as the only privately-run university in the North Korean capital.
Ahead of his visit, the second to North Korea in six weeks, the US Secretary of State said that he hoped North Korea would "do the right thing" and release the detainees.
South Korea's presidential Blue House welcomed the release of the Americans, saying it would have a "positive effect" for upcoming negotiations.
Blue House spokesman Yoon Young-chan also called upon the North to release six South Korean prisoners.
In a statement provided to the BBC, the family of Tony Kim "thanked all those who worked towards and contributed to his return home".
"We also want to thank the President for engaging directly with North Korea," the family added.
Yoon Young-chan, senior press secretary for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said at a press briefing that during the April 27 summit, Kim told Moon that he will shut down the nuclear test site and show the process to the world, Xinhua news agency reported.
Kim said he will invite experts and reporters of South Korea and the US to North Korea for the transparent shutdown. Pyongyang conducted all of its six nuclear tests in the Punggye-ri test site.
Moon and Kim held the third-ever inter-Korean summit in the South Korean side of the border village of Panmunjom. Kim became the first North Korean leader to step onto South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
After the summit, they confirmed a common goal of the complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, and agreed to have multilateral talks, including China and the US, to declare an end to the Korean War and alter the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty by the end of this year.
The peninsula remains technically at war as the war ended with armistice, not a peace treaty.
Kim told Moon that the Punggye-ri test site is in a good shape, rebutting the contention by some media that North Korea would close the already collapsed nuclear test site.
Moon welcomed Kim's decision to openly shut down the nuclear test site, agreeing to discuss when to invite experts and reporters of South Korea and the US to North Korea.
Kim told Moon that the US will realise, after holding talks with Pyongyang, that North Korea was not a country to use its nuclear weapons toward South Korea, the Pacific Ocean, or the US.
The North Korean leader said his country has no reason to live with difficulty because of the nuclear programme when it meets the US frequently and build mutual trust to promise the end to the Korean War and non-aggression.
The summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump is forecast to be held in May or early June.
Kim told Moon that there will be no repetition of war on the peninsula, strongly affirming that there will never be any use of force.
In a separate press briefing, Moon's spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said the South Korean President had a telephone conversation with Trump for 75 minutes from 9.15 p.m. local time on Saturday to exchange views over the result of the inter-Korean summit.
Trump congratulated the successful inter-Korean summit, while Moon expressed gratitude for Trump's strong support that led to it.
Moon and Trump exchanged opinions on ways to successfully hold the North Korea-US summit, agreeing to continue close consultations in a bid to reach an agreement on the summit on detailed ways to realize the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Moon also had a phone dialogue for 45 minutes from 10 a.m. local time on Sunday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to explain and share the results of the inter-Korean summit.
The Army would extend full support to the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea's Moon Jae-in to ensure the meeting was held in an atmosphere of stability, the spokesperson told Efe news.
It was decided that the first part of the Key Resolve drills, which started on Monday, would conclude on Thursday and the second part, which would last approximately one week, would start after the summit.
The allies have already concluded the Foal Eagle exercises, which began on April 1 and were deliberately cut to half their normal duration of a month amid the rapprochement with North Korea.
Pyongyang has long denounced the joint drills in South Korea as a rehearsal to invade its territory and on many occasions responded with missile tests, but this year the exercises have the nod of the North Korean regime, which reportedly agreed to their conduct during a meeting with South Korean officials in March.
The communication on Monday between Beijing and Washington also included a message from Chinese President Xi Jinping for his US counterpart, Donald Trump, a statement said on Tuesday, Efe news reported.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the US has discussed Kim's visit with South Korea and Japan.
"We see this development as further evidence that our campaign of maximum pressure is creating the appropriate atmosphere for dialogue with North Korea," she said.
Kim Jong-un travelled with his wife Ri Sol-ju on Sunday to Beijing making it his first overseas visit since coming to power in 2011.
During the visit, Kim met Xi and expressed his commitment to achieve the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
"I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un," Trump said in an interview about the first year of his presidency with The Wall Street Journal newspaper.
"I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised," said the US President.
Trump, however, declined to confirm whether or not he had spoken with Kim, Efe news reported.
"I don't want to comment on it. I'm not saying I have or haven't. I just don't want to comment," he replied, when asked by WSJ if he had contacts with the North Korean leader.
Trump has been of late more open, on more than one occasion, to having a dialogue with North Korea.
On January 10, the White House cited Trump's willingness to hold talks "at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances" with Pyongyang.
The US has had no official contacts with North Korea for years. Over the past few month Trump had hostile exchanges Kim, who has repeatedly been mocked by Trump as a "rocket man" over his weapons programs.
According to the US President, "all these harsh comments were part of a strategy".
"You'll see that a lot with me," Trump said of his belligerent remarks towards the North Korean leader, but added "then all of a sudden somebody's my best friend.
"I could give you 20 examples. You could give me 30. I'm a very flexible person."
On January 9, South and North Korea held a "historic" meeting after a gap of two years. The delegations agreed to ensure "the safety and success" of the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics in the South.
North Korea has expressed its interests in attending the Winter Olympics, in February which marks an important moment of possible rapprochement between the two Koreas after a year of tensions triggered by Pyongyang's continuous weapons tests and the US President's aggressive remarks towards the regime.
When Asked if Kim intended to "drive a wedge" between Seoul and Washington by opening the talks with South Korea, the US President did not rule it out.
"If I were them, I would try," he said, but added "The difference is I'm President, other people aren't. And I know more about wedges than any human being that's lived."
"We achieved the goal of completing our state nuclear force in 2017," Kim said in a televised message broadcast by the North Korean state network.
"A button is always on my desk," the North Korean leader said, adding that "this is reality, not a threat".
He called for an increase in production of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deployment.
He stressed the need to "mass-produce nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles and accelerate their deployment," the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted Kim as saying.
Kim also said that his country's nuclear forces have gained a powerful deterrent against the US and that Pyongyang's weapons were capable of hitting all of its mainland territory.
Kim also urged Washington and Seoul to end their joint military manoeuvres, which the regime criticised as an attempt to invade its country, and extended his hand to Seoul, saying that North and South Korea must improve their relations.
Throughout 2017, North Korea intensified its weapons tests with the launch of about 20 missiles, three of which were intercontinental, and completed its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date in September.
The regime's repeated weapons tests have triggered a record number of sets of UN sanctions against the Asian country, four in one year.
Speaking to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang on Saturday, Kim Jong-un said "nuclear weapons of North Korea are a precious fruition borne by its people's bloody struggle for defending the destiny and sovereignty of the country from the protracted nuclear threats of the US imperialists", Efe reported citing state news agency KCNA.
Kim, also the chairman of the WPK, said Pyongyang's nuclear programme, which has led to multiple missile tests this year as well as the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, was "safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and northeast Asia".
He added his country's nuclear ambitions have provided the foundations for strong economic development, despite sanctions imposed by the "US imperialists and their vassal forces" to force North Korea into abandoning its weapons programme.
During the plenary session, which is held at least once a year, the North Korean leader's younger sister Kim Yo-jong was elected to the party's politburo, a sign of her rising importance and clout within the North Korean regime.
Choe Ryong-hae, a close aide of the leader, joined the party's Central Military Commission, while Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho was appointed to the central committee's politburo, according to the state agency.
In a rare direct statement, Kim said he "will consider with seriousness exercising of a corresponding, highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history", the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report said
"I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue.
"I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard (senile old person) with fire," CNN quoted Kim as saying.
The North Korean also said that Trump comments were reflective of "mentally deranged behaviour".
In his first address to the UN, Trump on Tuesday said that the US was ready to "totally destroy" North Korea if it was forced to defend its allies, a warning seen as unprecedented for a US president delivering an address to the world's leaders and top diplomats.
Responding to the speech, Kim said Trump's comments amounted to an insult, reports CNN.
"I'd like to advise Trump to exercise prudence in selecting words and to be considerate of whom he speaks to when making a speech in front of the world."
North Korea was scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly on Friday night, but dropped off of its planned roster spot. The country could still get a slot at another time.
On Thursday, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the media that Pyongyang could test a powerful nuclear weapon in the Pacific Ocean in response to Trump's threats.
"This could probably mean the strongest hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean. Regarding which measures to take, I don't really know since it is what Kim Jong-un does," said Ri.
Meanwhile, the White House on Thursday night took the another step in its so-called "peaceful pressure" campaign to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear programme, expanding sanctions on North Korea and those who do business with the country.
"The launching drill was conducted with the aim at calming down the belligerence of the US which has recently cried out for using military muscle against North Korea, and at bolstering up operation capability for attack and counterattack to counter it with swift and powerful military counteraction, examining the order to deal with nuclear warheads and confirming action procedure of actual war," said North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
A Hwasong-12 medium-range ballistic missile "zoomed to the sky with dazzling flash and big explosion" and "crossed the sky above Hokkaido of Japan along the preset flight track and accurately hit the preset target waters in the Pacific," Xinhua news agency cited the report as saying.
The missile was fired from Sunam near Pyongyang and flew 3,700 km with an altitude of 770 km and hit the targeted spot in the northern Pacific, according to earlier media reports.
Kim said the "combat efficiency and reliability of Hwasong-12 were thoroughly verified, operation members' capacity for actual war is also very perfect and the work for increasing combat power of Hwasong-12 has been realized," according to KCNA.
Kim also said the the final goal of North Korea in developing its nuclear and missile programs was to establish a strategic equilibrium with the US.
"Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with US and make the US rulers dare not talk about military option for North Korea," he was quoted as saying by KCNA.
The draft resolution circulated to the Security Council members came after North Korea's sixth nuclear test and repeated missile launches, BBC reported.
Pyongyang also claimed to have developed a hydrogen bomb and continues to threaten to strike the US. China and Russia were both expected to oppose further sanctions, the report said.
North Korea is already under highly restrictive sanctions imposed by the UN that were intended to force the leadership to curtail its weapons programmes.
In August, a new round of sanctions banned exports including coal, costing North Korea an estimated $1 billion -- about a third of its entire export economy. The draft US proposal called for a total ban on supplying a range of oil products to North Korea and a ban on its textile export industry.
It also suggested freezing the assets of Kim and the North Korean government, as well as banning him and other senior officials from travelling. North Korean labourers would also be banned from working abroad.
But the US is expected to face opposition from China and Russia, which both supply oil to North Korea and wield vetoes at the Security Council. Both the countries have been pushing for an alternative solution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that the amount of oil his country exports to North Korea -- some 40,000 tonnes -- is negligible.
Russia and China said that the US and ally South Korea stop their military drills -- which anger the North -- and end the deployment of the controversial anti-missile Thaad system in South Korea, in return for Pyongyang ceasing its nuclear and missile programme.
The proposal was rejected by the US and South Korea. On Thursday, the South's military announced it had completed the deployment of Thaad, reported Yonhap news agency.
US President Donald Trump had previously warned that Washington could cut off trade with countries that do business with North Korea.
The US had indicated that if the resolution is not passed when the Security Council meets next Monday it may impose its own sanctions unilaterally.
Kim made the inspection during a visit to the country's Nuclear Weapons Institute, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
However the agency did not disclose when the visit was made, reports CNN.
"The hydrogen bomb, the explosive power of which is adjustable from 10 kilotonne to hundreds kilotonne, is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on strategic goals," KCNA reported.
Electromagnetic pulse is an intense wave of electrical energy generated by the detonation of a nuclear weapon.
"Scientists further upgraded its technical performance at a higher ultra-modern level on the basis of precious successes made in the first hydrogen bomb test," the agency added.
In January 2016, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which Pyongyang claimed to be a successful trial of a hydrogen bomb, reports Yonhap News Agency.
North Korea has carried out five nuclear tests since 2006, including two last year.
Pyongyang boasted about its nuclear missile programme in Sunday's report, saying it has the know-how and materials to make as many weapons as it wants.
"All components of the hydrogen bomb were 100 per cent homemade and all the processes ranging from the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials to precision processing of components and their assembling were indigenously developed, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants," CNN quoted the KCNA report as saying.
The Kim Jong-un regime has also unveiled photos indicating that it may be developing a new submarine-launched, solid-fuel missile, called the Pukguksong-3 and a Hwasong-13 ICBM.
Sunday's development comes amid heightened tensions after North Korea tested two ICBMs in July.
Analysts said the ICBM tests could put much of the US mainland within range, including Los Angeles and Chicago.
US President Donald Trump earlier warned North Korea of "fire and fury". In response, Pyongyang threatened to fire a salvo of missiles into waters near the American territory of Guam though it held off on the plan later.
The official Korean Central News Agency said the test fire of a new gorund-to-ground strategic ballistic missile "Hwasong-12" was successfully carried out on Sunday by scientists and technicians in the field of rocket research.
North Korea top leader Kim Jong Un guided the test fire on the spot, said the report.
"The test fire was conducted at the highest angle in consideration of the security of neighbouring countries. The test fire aimed at verifying the tactical and technological specifications of the newly developed ballistic rocket capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead," it said.
The missile "accurately hit the targeted open waters 787 km away after flying to the maximum altitude of 2111.5 km along its planned flight orbit, said the report.
"Kim Jong Un hugged officials in the field of rocket research, saying that they worked hard to achieve a great thing," said the report.
The Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine is currently docked at a naval base in South Korea's Busan, where it was recently joined by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group, the Daily Mail reported.
Pyongyang has warned that if the USS Michigan "tries to budge even a little, it will be doomed to face the miserable fate of becoming a underwater ghost.
"The urgent fielding of the nuclear submarine in the waters off the Korean peninsula, timed to coincide with the deployment of the super aircraft carrier strike group, is intended to further intensify military threats toward our republic," a North Korean website claimed.
Pyongyang also warned of sinking the USS Carl Vinson if it edged any closer to the North.
"Whether it's a nuclear aircraft carrier or a nuclear submarine, they will be turned into a mass of scrap metal in front of our invincible military power centred on the self-defence nuclear deterrence," the website said.
The threats come as relations between North Korea and the US become increasingly tensed, with President Donald Trump hinting that America was willing to take military action if Kim Jong-un carried out another missile test after Friday's failed test.
The US President is famously guarded about his strategic military thinking, but suggested that his administration will be the one to de-fang Kim.
"This should've been done and taken care of by the Obama administration. Should've been taken care of by the Bush administration. Should've been taken care of by Clinton."
Trump said North Korea had "disrespected" China by attempting to launch another ballistic missile as the President counts on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to encourage Pyongyang to give up its pursuit of missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
In a show of force against North Korea, the US has dispatched USS Carl Vinson to the waters off the Korean peninsula and was on Saturday spotted sailing north offshore Nagasaki in Japan towards North Korea.
"North Korea disrespected the wishes of China and its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today (Friday). Bad!," Efe news quoted Trump as saying in a tweet.
On Friday, Pyongyang carried out a fresh ballistic missile trial that allegedly exploded minutes after being launched, said South Korean and the US military sources.
Washington has asked China for help to negotiate with Pyongyang, without dismissing a military action.
Earlier this month, after North Korea carried out a missile launch, Beijing urged both parties to be careful.
Pentagon sources on Saturday told CNN that US Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr. has ordered the Nimitz-class supercarrier and all its support ships towards the Korean peninsula.
The USS Carl Vinson -- controlled by the US Third Fleet in the Pacific ocean -- suspended a scheduled visit to Australia and after leaving Singapore turned towards the Korean peninsula.
It was already deployed to the peninsula a month ago to participate in the annual military exercises with South Korea.
Defence sources said the deployment was in response to the new military developments in North Korea, which recently carried out several medium-range ballistic missile tests and test-fired new missile engines.
It is not uncommon for the US to deploy a nuclear powered aircraft carrier to areas as a sign of strength during a crisis.
The strike group's change of route comes just after US President Donald Trump met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida to discuss the need to stop the military advancements of Pyongyang.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump and Xi agreed on the "urgency of the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme" and agreed to work together to resolve the issue "peacefully".
Earlier this year, China called on both North Korea and the US to tone down tension on the Korean peninsula -- North Korea by suspending its nuclear weapons programme and the US by stopping military exercises with South Korea that inflame Pyongyang.
Trump days before meeting Xi warned that the US was prepared to act unilaterally to stop North Korea's nuclear advances should China be unwilling to use its leverage over Pyongyang.
The nuclear-powered, 97,000-ton Vinson, one of 10 active US aircraft carriers, has more than 60 aircraft and about 5,000 personnel. It is based in San Diego.
The statement by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi came after the Foreign Minister announced the expulsion of North's Ambassador Kang Chol from the country for not issuing an apology over his recent criticisms of the investigation into Kim Jong-nam's assassination, Efe news reported.
"The statements by the ambassador were obviously aimed at manipulating the matter," Zahid said during a meeting with members of the ruling party.
"We have been professional in our probe in terms of interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence, whether it was DNA samples or CCTV footage," he added.
Malaysian authorities have given Kang until 6 p.m., on Monday to leave the country.
The measure comes amid escalated tensions between Malaysia and North Korea over the killing of Kim Jong-nam on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport using the VX nerve agent.
On Friday, Malaysia issued an arrest warrant for Kim Uk Il, an employee of North Korea's Air Koryo airlines who has sought refuge at his country's embassy in Kuala Lumpur, in relation to the crime.
Authorities also sought to interrogate North Korean diplomat Hyon Kwang Song. However, his diplomatic immunity means he cannot be arrested.
Both reportedly went to see off four North Koreans suspected of planning the lethal nerve agent attack on Kim Jong-nam.
So far, the only people detained over the murder are two women -- Indonesia's Siti Aisha and Vietnam's Doan Thi Huong -- who allegedly rubbed the VX on Kim Jong-nam's face using a handkerchief.
The police believe the four North Koreans recruited the two women, who maintain that they were hired to play a prank on the victim.
The US and South Korea have accused Pyongyang of plotting the murder.
However, Malaysia is yet to point any fingers at Pyongyang over the death, which North Korea claims occurred due to a heart attack.
Trump's response comes after Kim said in his New Year Speech that he wants good relations with the US but could consider a change of approach if Washington maintains its sanctions.
"I also look forward to meeting with Chairman Kim who realizes so well that North Korea possesses great economic potential!" Trump said in a tweet wherein he quoted from the New Year speech of the North Korean leader.
"Kim Jong Un says North Korea will not make or test nuclear weapons, or give them to others - & he is ready to meet President Trump anytime." PBS News Hour," he wrote on Twitter.
Last summer, Trump created history by becoming the first US President to have a summit meeting with a North Korean leader in more than five decades. The two met in Singapore, during which they agreed towards a North Korean denuclearization program.
In recent weeks, the two leaders have indicated that they plan to meet again. A date and venue of the second summit meeting between the two have not been decided yet.
The US navy said yesterday that a US aircraft carrier will lead the drill in the coming week, a fresh show of force against North Korea as tensions soar over the hermit state's weapons programme.
The move will likely rile Pyongyang which has previously responded angrily to joint exercises.
The Donga Ilbo daily, quoting a government source, said satellite pictures show ballistic missiles mounted on launchers being transported out of hangars near Pyongyang and in the North Phyongan Province.
The US and South Korean military officials suspect the North might be preparing to launch missiles capable of reaching the US territory, the newspaper said.
This could be the Hwasong-14 inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), whose range could extend to Alaska, or Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missiles which Pyongyang threatened to fire towards the US Pacific territory of Guam in August, the report said.
Another possibility is that the North might be preparing to test a new Hwasong-13 ICBM, it added, that has a longer maximum range than the other two missiles and could potentially reach the US West Coast.
A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report, saying: "We don't comment on any matters of military intelligence".
"We are keeping a close watch over the North," he added.
The joint drills led by the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier come after hectic US military hardware movements around the Korean peninsula in recent days.
These follow a flurry of missiles from Pyongyang, which conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test last month in defiance of international sanctions.
Yesterday the nuclear-powered USS Michigan submarine arrived at the southern South Korean port of Busan, just days after another nuclear-powered submarine -- the USS Tuscon -- left after a five day visit.
Earlier this week the US flew two supersonic heavy bombers over the Korean peninsula, staging the first night- time joint aviation exercises with Japan and South Korea.
That mission came 17 days after four US F-35B stealth fighter jets and two B-1Bs flew over the peninsula.
Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said it was "highly likely" that the North could launch missiles in response to next week's joint navy drill.
US President Donald Trump's continued threats of military action against Pyongyang if it does not tame its weapons ambitions have fuelled fears of conflict on the Korean peninsula.
But military intervention against North Korea would have "devastating consequences", NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned yesterday, after Trump said diplomatic efforts had failed.
"My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong-un," Trump said in a tweet on Friday night.
"It will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 and 28. I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim and advancing the cause of peace!"
Trump revealed in his State of the Union address on February 5 that the meeting would be in Vietnam but did not disclose the city or the date, reports The New York Times.
US officials had earlier explored Da Nang, a coastal city where American troops arrived in 1965 for a war that would scar a generation, but the North Koreans were reported to prefer Hanoi since the country has an embassy there.
The meeting will be the second between Trump and Kim after an inaugural get-together last June in Singapore. Trump emerged from that meeting declaring that he had all but resolved the decades-long nuclear dispute and later declared that he and Kim "fell in love".
In another series of tweets also on Friday night, Trump said: "North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse.
"He may surprise some but he won't surprise me, because I have gotten to know him and fully understand how capable he is. North Korea will become a different kind of Rocket - an Economic one!"
But while North Korea has refrained from further nuclear and missile tests, it is yet to make any concrete commitment to eliminating its arsenal.
Friday's announcement comes just days after a confidential UN report found that the North Korean nuclear and missile programme remains intact, CNN reported.
Last week, intelligence officials warned that North Korea was "unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability".
The State Department's top negotiator with North Korea, Stephen Biegun, had released a statement earlier Friday following a meeting in Pyongyang with North Korean officials, but did not mention the location for the summit.
Trump and Kim had been scheduled to hold a working lunch before holding a joint press conference later, but those plans were abruptly abandoned around midday.
"The two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearisation and economic driven concepts. No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was cited as saying by CNN.
She added that the two leaders had "had very good and constructive meetings".
The original White House programme for the day had planned for a "Joint Agreement Signing Ceremony" as well as a working lunch for the two leaders, but expectations were abruptly dashed with the cancellation of both.
Kim was seen leaving the Metropole hotel in central Hanoi, while Trump's motorcade also departed from the venue of the summit for the Marriott hotel, where a press conference was scheduled for later.
Reporters at the Metropole hotel were first told that the lunch was delayed, before a White House spokesperson announced there had been "a programme change".
The summit, the second between the two leaders in less than a year, was held to kickstart the stalled denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, as agreed at their first meeting in Singapore last year.
Kim and Trump had met earlier on Thursday at the Metropole hotel, during which the North Korean leader had said that he would not have attended the summit if he did not want to denuclearise.
"If I wasn't willing to do that, I wouldn't be here right now," Kim said. He also told reporters that he was feeling good about what could be achieved.
"It's too early to tell but I wouldn't say that I'm pessimistic. What I feel right now, I do have a feeling that good results will come out," Kim told reporters through a translator.
Trump said he was in "no rush" during the negotiation process, saying: "Speed is not important. What's important is that we do the right deal."
During his meeting with Abe at the White House on Friday, Trump highlighted his primary goal, which is gaining more access to Japan's market for American farmers, The New York Times reported.
"We'll be discussing, very strongly, agriculture," Trump said.
"Because, as the Prime Minister knows, Japan puts very massive tariffs on agriculture - our agriculture - going for many years, going into Japan. And we want to get rid of those tariffs."
The two sides were also discussing economic and security concerns, and advisers from the two countries wrapped up a series of meetings on Friday on efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
On Friday evening, the leaders and their wives were scheduled to celebrate the birthday of US First Lady Melania Trump over dinner, and on Saturday to play a short round of golf.
Trump's aggressive approach to trade, along with security concerns about North Korea and China, has brought Japan back to the negotiating table.
The President has already placed tariffs on Japanese steel and aluminium and has threatened to impose hefty tariffs on the approximately 1.7 million cars that Japan sends annually to the US.
Trump's remarks come after he pulled the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation pact that Abe had negotiated with former President Barack Obama.
Japan, which formalised the trade agreement last year with the remaining 11 nations, initially refused to strike a separate deal with the US, insisting that it should instead return to the pact.
Trump indicated on Friday that a deal could be in the final stages by the time he heads to Japan in May to meet the new emperor, Naruhito, The New York Times said.
"I think it can go fairly quickly. Maybe by the time I'm over there, maybe we sign it over there. But it's moving along very nicely, we'll see what happens," he added.
Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin met in the Russian city of Vladivostok on Thursday in what was the first ever summit between the two leaders.
Kim arrived back in the North Korean capital in his special armored train and was received with a welcome ceremony attended by senior officials of the regime, the Workers' Party and the army, the KCNA news agency reported.
The North Korean news agency did not specify the exact time of Kim's return, after leaving Vladivostok on Friday following his meeting the previous day with Putin to discuss the process the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula as well as bilateral ties, reported Efe news.
It also marked Kim's first visit abroad since the Hanoi summit in February with the President of the US, Donald Trump, which ended abruptly without an agreement on the denuclearization process that was underway.
On Friday, KCNA published comments made by Kim during the meeting with Putin in which he blamed the US for the failure of the summit at Hanoi for maintaining a unilateral position and warned that his country was prepared for any possible situation.
Putin expressed his support for the need to offer security guarantees in exchange for disarmament by Pyongyang, consistent with the position of another important partner of the North Korean regime.
Putin said that Pyongyang only needed security guarantees, and that it would require the US to show its desire for a constructive dialog.
Putin is an advocate of reviving six-party talks - consisting of China, North Korea, South Korea, the US, Japan and Russia - to ensure Pyongyang gets security guarantees in return for disarmament.
Xi's opinion piece was published in Rodong Sinmun ahead of his visit on Thursday, reports Efe news.
The two-day visit by Xi will be a first by a Chinese President in the last 14 years and the first since he came to power in 2013. It follows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's four visits to China in the past year.
"We will actively contribute to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region by strengthening communication and coordination with the North Korea," Xi said.
The op-ed makes a clear reference to the denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, which have been stalled since the failed Hanoi summit in February.
In the Vietnamese capital, Pyongyang pushed for a gradual denuclearization process accompanied by the progressive lifting of sanctions, while Washington said that it will not lift any part of the sanctions as long as the regime does not eliminate its nuclear programmes along with chemical and biological weapons.
In the article published on Wednesday, Xi said that Beijing wants to resolve the concerns of the regime through dialog, in an apparent show of support to the denuclearization proposal by Pyongyang.
Xi's statements indicate that with the visit, China will try to show the US - with which Beijing is currently amidst an ongoing trade dispute - that Beijing has great influence over North Korea.
Regardless of the power of Beijing to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table, China - as the main source of income for the regime - has the key to compliance with the strict sanctions that weigh on North Korea for its weapons tests and that are part of the "maximum pressure" strategy designed by the US.
After reading the letter, Kim "said with satisfaction that the letter is of excellent content".
Kim said he would "seriously contemplate the interesting content", Xinhua reported citing KCNA.
The KCNA report, however, did not disclose more details about the content of the letter.
"After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon)," Donald Trump tweeted from Osaka, where he is attending the G20 summit, reported Efe news.
"While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!," Trump added.
It has been rumoured that Trump was scheduled to visit the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea during his visit to Seoul this Saturday and Sunday, but the White House had assured that the US President would not meet Kim Jong-un there.
Trump has held two summits with the North Korean leader, the first a year ago in Singapore, where both pledged to "work toward the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," according to a joint communiqué released after the meeting.
During the second summit between held at the end of February in Hanoi, Vietnam, the pair failed to agree on how the denuclearisation process should be carried out.
Pyongyang advocates a gradual process accompanied by the progressive lifting of sanctions, while Washington maintains that it will only eliminate sanctions when Kim ends and dismantles its nuclear program.
Since the Hanoi summit, contact between teams of both countries have been minimal and North Korea has hardened its rhetoric towards the US and also South Korea.
In May, the North Korean regime tested several short-range ballistic missiles, but the White House was cautious in its reaction in order not to upset the denuclearisation dialog.
In recent weeks, as Trump's trip to Japan and South Korea approached, the president has resumed his diplomacy towards Kim. Both sides exchanged letters this month, the most recent of which was last week when the US leader said that Kim had congratulated him on his 73rd birthday.
Trump will arrive in Seoul on Saturday afternoon, where he plans to stay for 24 hours to meet with Moon and discuss the North Korean situation.
The US President wanted to visit the Korean demilitarised zone during his first visit to South Korea in 2017, but ultimately he could not do so due to bad weather.
Kim "guided the test-fire of (a) new weapon again on Friday morning", the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"The national defence scientists showed a perfect result in the test-fire, too, and helped cement bigger confidence in this weapon system.
"It is our party's goal of defence building to possess invincible military capabilities no one dare provoke and to keep bolstering them," KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
"Everyone should remember that it is the party's core plan and fixed will for defence building to possess such a powerful force strong enough to discourage any forces from daring to provoke us."
KCNA did not provide other details on the weapon, including its name, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The report came a day after South Korea's military said that the North fired two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. It said that they flew around 230 km at a maximum altitude of 30 km.
Military experts say that the projectiles bear outward similarities to the US' Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a surface-to-surface missile system.
Friday's firing came six days after North Korea flew two projectiles believed to be short-range ballistic missiles, though the North said later it tested a "new weapon". It also was the sixth such launch since late July.
North Korea has carried out weapons tests in recent weeks in apparent protest of the ongoing joint military exercise by South Korea and the US, which it sees as a rehearsal for invasion.
Earlier this week, the North warned that inter-Korean dialogue won't resume unless the South offers a "plausible excuse" for its combined military exercise with the US.
"Our military is observing the situation and maintaining readiness," CNN reported citing a JCS statement.
Meanwhile, a senior US administration official said the US is monitoring the situation and consulting with its allies.
This the 10th such launch by North Korea since May.In August, two projectiles were launched.
A US official had then confirmed that North Korea launched short-range ballistic missiles, and said they appear to be similar to other recent launches.
The previous four rounds of launches by North Korea were believed to be short-range missile tests, which would violate UN resolutions.
Talks between North Korea and the US have stalled with Washington refusing to lift sanctions until Pyongyang fully abandons its nuclear programme. The North conducted several smaller weapons tests late in 2019, in what was seen as an attempt to pressure the US into making concessions, the BBC reported.
Speaking at a party meeting here on Wednesday, Kim said North was no longer bound by the self-declared moratorium, as the US continued joint military drills with South and had stepped up their sanctions.
"Under such condition, there is no ground for us to get unilaterally bound to the commitment any longer, the commitment to which there is no opposite party, and this is chilling our efforts for worldwide nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation," state news agency KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
He also threatened that "the world will witness a new strategic weapon" by the North "in the near future", while giving no further details.
In response to the North Korean leader's latest threats, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he and Kim "did sign a contract, talking about denuclearisation".
"I think he's a man of his word," he said, as he headed into New Year events in Florida.
US Foreign Secretary Mike Pompeo said he hoped the North would choose peace over war.
Kim and Trump held face-to-face talks in Singapore in June 2018, and in Vietnam in February 2019, aimed at denuclearisation.
The two leaders also held an "impromptu" meeting at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea in June.
(IANS)
Kim paid tribute to his predecessor at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in the capital Pyongyang. After his death, Kim Jong-il was made "Eternal General Secretary" of the secretive communist nation.
Kim Jong-un laid flowers before the embalmed bodies of his father and grandfather, Kim Il-sung, who founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948, Efe news reported.
Kim paid the "highest tributes" to his father. He was accompanied by several senior North Korean officials but the news agency did not reveal the date of the event.
It did, however, publish images of the ceremony, which showed that Kim's entourage was smaller than in previous years.
On several occasions, the birthdays of North Korea's former leaders have been celebrated with huge public events and fireworks.
It was Kim's first public appearance since January 25, an absence that has given rise to rumours that his withdrawal was linked to the outbreak of COVID-19 in neighbouring China.
North Korea has already closed its borders to tourism and requires any citizen returning from China to enter into quarantine.
As of yet, the so-called hermit kingdom has not reported any cases of the new coronavirus, which has killed over 1,600 people in China. The outbreak is concentrated around the city of Wuhan in Hubei province.
More than 70,000 people have now been infected with the virus, the vast majority of them in China.
Kim Jong-un, officially the Marshal of the Republic, inherited his role after his father's death in 2011.
Little is known of the leader, who is thought to be around 36 or 37.
North Korea has been a communist family dynasty since its founding and its border with South Korea, known as the Demilitarized Zone, is one of the most heavily guarded in the world.
(IANS)
This was the top leader's first public appearance in state media in more than 20 days. Kim Jong-un was last seen in state media on April 11 presiding over a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party.
"All the participants broke into thunderous cheers of 'hurrah!' extending the greatest glory to the Supreme Leader who has brought about a new change" in the development of the fertiliser industry, Xinhua reported citing the KCNA.
Kim was joined by his sister Kim Yo Jong as well as other senior officials, it added.
[caption id="attachment_448617" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Image Credit- Twitter[/caption]
A completion ceremony of the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory, which has been built as the production base of fertilizer, was splendidly held on May Day, the international holiday of the working people of the whole world, the report said.
The speculations about Kim's health started after the state media reported his absence from a key ceremony commemorating the 108th birth anniversary of his late grandfather and national founder, Kim Il-sung. He has never skipped a visit to the mausoleum on the April 15 anniversary since taking office in late 2011.
[caption id="attachment_448618" align="alignnone" width="980"] Image Credit- Twitter[/caption]
The speculations escalated after a CNN report last week, citing a US official, said that Washington was looking into intelligence that Kim Jong-un was in "grave danger" after a surgery.
But North Korean state media outlets, such as the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper and the official Korean Central News Agency, have put out routine stories, such as Kim Jong-un sending diplomatic letters and conveying gifts to honoured citizens.
Yesterday, a North Korea defector elected as a lawmaker in South Korea claimed he was "99 per cent" sure that Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un died after surgery amid rising speculation over his health, according to a media report.
"I've wondered how long he could have endured after cardiovascular surgery. I've been informed that Kim died last weekend," Ji Seong-ho, who earned a proportional representation seat of a minor party in the April 15 elections, told Yonhap News Agency, adding that North Korea may make the related announcement this weekend.
"It is not 100 per cent certain, but I can say the possibility is 99 per cent. North Korea is believed to be grappling with a complicated succession issue," he said.
Ji did not reveal the source of where he got his information and his claim cannot be verified independently, said the Yonhap News Agency report. The lawmaker-elect said that Kim Yo-jong, sister of the North's leader, is likely to succeed him, as many experts have already speculated.
However, it is not rare for Kim Jong-un to disappear from the public eye. His longest absence from public view was in September 2014, when he disappeared for an unprecedented 40 days and returned limping.
Seoul's intelligence agency later said that he had a cyst removed from his ankle.
(With agency inputs)
On May 1, Kim Jong-un attended a ceremony to mark the inauguration of a fertilizer plant in Sunchon following a three-week absence from the public eye, putting an end to rumours that he was sick or dead, reports Efe news.
Since then, photos of Kim have been missing from North Korean media reports and the matter came up at a press conference held on Friday by the spokesperson of South Korea's Unification Ministry, Yoh Sang-key.
"The relevant authorities are keeping a close watch," Yoh told reporters.
"There was a time in January when he was also absent from the public view for 21 days. So, we are watching the situation over his absence from media reports," he added.
The 36-year-old North Korean dictator has been absent from the public more frequently than ever this year.
Kim Jong-un attended a concert on January 25 and disappeared for 21 days until February 16.
He was again not seen for 19 days between March 22 and April 10.
On April 11, he chaired a meeting of the political bureau of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) before disappearing again.
The state-run media released video footage on May 2 showing Kim inaugurating a fertilizer plant.
The video recorded a day earlier showed the leader cutting a ribbon at the event, ending three weeks of speculation about his wellbeing.
His prolonged absence, which coincided with several important events he was expected to attend, including the commemoration of the birth of the country's founder and Kim's grandfather Kim Il-sung, on the main national holiday on April 15, gave rise to rumours that the North Korean leader had suffered a health crisis.
The speculation was also fuelled by the state media reporting that during his last public event, Kim Jong-un named his sister as a member of the powerful WPK political bureau, a move interpreted by some commentators as a succession plan.
While Pyongyang's state-run media continued to report on actions by the leader during his absence, such as the sending of diplomatic letters to foreign governments and messages of appreciation directed at workers, there were no images of Kim Jong-un until early May.
(IANS)
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The KCNA reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over the preliminary meeting for the fifth meeting of the Seventh Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) through a video conference on Tuesday and made the decision.
"At the preliminary meeting, the WPK Central Military Commission took stock of the prevailing situation and suspended the military action plans against the South brought for the fifth meeting of the Seventh Central Military Commission by the General Staff of the Korean People's Army," Xinhua reported citing the KCNA report.
"The meeting examined agenda items of major military policy to be laid before the fifth meeting of the Seventh WPK Central Military Commission, and made a study of a report and decisions, which will be submitted to the fifth meeting, and some documents carrying the state measures for further bolstering the war deterrent of the country," it said.
A week ago, the army announced a detailed military action plans in protest against the South Korean authorities for failing to stop "defectors" from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets to the North.
The action plans proposed by the General Staff of the Korean People's Army include redeployment of troops to the Mount Kumgang tourist area and the Kaesong Industrial Zone, and security guarantee for the people to distribute propaganda leaflets to the South in the border areas.
(IANS)
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Kim Jong-un Missing Again! S.Korea Closely Monitoring Renewed Absence
During the meeting held on Saturday, Kim also said he took "the pre-emptive measure of totally blocking Kaesong" after the "runaway" returned to the border city on July 19 after crossing the military demarcation line, three years after fleeing to the South, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"To tackle the present situation, he declared a state of emergency in the relevant area and clarified the determination of the Party Central Committee to shift from the state emergency anti-epidemic system to the maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert," Yonhap News Agency quoted KCNA as saying.
The meeting unanimously adopted the "maximum emergency system" decision, it said.
Meanwhile, the South Korean military said it was trying to confirm related facts over the alleged border crossing, while a Unification Ministry official added that along with other government agencies, it was working to verify Pyongyang's claim.
The KCNA said that the suspected patient was put under strict quarantine as a primary step after several medical check-ups of the upper respiratory organ and blood showed "an uncertain result" that can be defined as a suspected case.
It added that "all the persons in Kaesong City who contacted that person and those who have been to the city in the last five days are being thoroughly investigated, given medical examination and put under quarantine".
"Despite the intense preventive anti-epidemic measures taken in all fields throughout the country and tight closure of all the channels for the last six months, there happened a critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country," Kim was quoted as saying in the KCNA report.
In January, North Korea declared the launch of a national emergency system against the new coronavirus, shutting down its borders and tightening quarantine measures, reports Yonhap News Agency.
North Korea is yet to report a case of coronavirus but has intensified its preventive efforts across the country, calling its fight against the virus is a "political matter" that will determine the fate of the country.
(IANS)
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In the report, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Kim suggested practical ways to give full play to the advantages of the country's social system during third-day session of the eighth Congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.
In his report reviewing the work of the Party's seventh Central Committee, Kim analysed and evaluated in depth the shortcomings exposed and lessons drawn from work in the past five years, setting forth "directions and ways for opening up a fresh golden age" by carrying out reforms in such fields as "education, public health, literature and arts", KCNA said.
During the session, Kim and the congress attendees also doubled down on the Party's general stance to comprehensively expand and forge external relations, including ties with South Korea, KCNA added.
Relations with Seoul went cold starting June, 2020 after Pyongyang demolished an inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong in retaliation for the South's failure to stop activists from sending anti-North Korean leaflets.
North Korea opened the eighth Party Congress on Tuesday amid expectations of a new five-year economic development plan and new policies on relationship with the US.
The Congress will continue on Friday is the first in nearly five years, according to the KCNA report.
During the previous Congress held in 2016 for the first time in more than 30 years, the North announced its five-year development plan that ended last year and declared the "byongjin" policy of simultaneously seeking nuclear weapons and economic advance.
(With IANS Inputs)
Ri Sol-ju was last seen in January last year when she attended a concert celebrating Lunar New Year's Day at the Samjiyon Theater in Pyongyang with leader Kim, Yonhap reported.
On Tuesday, Kim and Ri watched the performance at Mansudae Art Theater commemorating the birthday of the late leader, according to the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party.
As the first lady, Ri was often seen accompanying Kim in his public activities in the past. In 2019, she was seen riding white horses up Mount Paekdu, considered one of the country's most sacred mountains, with Kim.
She has also accompanied Kim on his "field guidance" trips, including visits to the Mount Kumgang resort on the country's scenic east coast and the spa resort in Yangdok County in central North Korea in 2019.
Ri's absence from public view since early last year stirred up a wide range of speculation that she could be pregnant or that she could be avoiding public activities for her children amid concerns over the new coronavirus.
South Korea's state intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), told lawmakers on Tuesday that Ri seems to be staying away from public view amid the antivirus campaign.
The agency added that she appears to be spending time with her children and that "no unusual signs have been detected."
Observers say Ri's appearance at the concert may reflect the North's apparent show of confidence in its antivirus campaign.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang has claimed to be coronavirus-free, but it has taken relatively swift and drastic antivirus measures since early last year, including sealing its borders and imposing strict restrictions on movement.
North Korea appears to have celebrated the 79th birthday of late leader Kim Jong-il in a low-key manner without major provocations.
Earlier, the state media reported leader that Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the body of the former leader and his father lie in state. Also enshrined at the mausoleum is the body of Kim Il-sung, the national founder and grandfather of the current leader.