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Sneha Bhowmik

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Jan 23 (Reuters) - Two hacker groups associated with North Korea, the Lazarus Group and APT38, were responsible for the theft last June of $100 million from U.S. crypto firm Harmony's Horizon bridge, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday.

On Jan. 13, the groups used a privacy protocol called Railgun to launder over $60 million worth of ethereum stolen during the theft in June, the FBI said in a statement

A portion of the stolen ethereum was subsequently sent to several virtual asset providers and converted to bitcoin, the FBI said.

The FBI said North Korea's theft and laundering of virtual currency is used to support its ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs.

In June last year, California-based Harmony said that a heist had hit its Horizon bridge, which was the underlying software used by digital tokens such as bitcoin and ether for transferring crypto between different blockchains.

Reuters in June reported that North Korean hackers were most likely behind the attack on Harmony, citing three digital investigative firms.

Harmony develops blockchains for decentralized finance - peer-to-peer sites that offer loans and other services without traditional gatekeepers such as banks - and non-fungible tokens.

Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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FBI says N. Korea-related hacker groups behind U.S. crypto firm heist

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Jan 23 (Reuters) - Two hacker groups associated with North Korea, the Lazarus Group and APT38, were responsible for the theft last June of $100 million from U.S. crypto firm Harmony's Horizon bridge, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday. On Jan.

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SEOUL, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday nominated a special envoy for human rights in North Korea, moving to fill a post that has been empty since 2017 amid debate over how rights issues fit with efforts to counter Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

President Joe Biden nominated Julie Turner, a long-time diplomat and current director of the Office of East Asia and the Pacific in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the Department of State, the White House said in a statement.

She speaks Korean and has previously worked on North Korean human rights as a special assistant in the envoy's office, the statement said.

The special envoy position - and a similar one in South Korea - had become controversial as preceding administrations tried to bring North Korea to the negotiating table. Some activists said human rights had been shunted aside in favour of national security priorities.

Biden vowed repeatedly after taking office in 2021 that human rights would be at the centre of his foreign policy, but the position had remained vacant.

South Korea's ambassador on North Korean human rights expressed disappointment last year that Biden's administration had yet to appoint an envoy for the issue at the time.

North Korea has repeatedly rejected accusations of human rights abuses and blames sanctions for a dire humanitarian situation. It accuses Washington and Seoul of using the issue as a political tool to smear Pyongyang's reputation.

A landmark 2014 U.N. report on North Korean human rights concluded that North Korean security chiefs - and possibly leader Kim Jong Un himself - should face justice for overseeing a state-controlled system of Nazi-style atrocities.

Since then, North Korea's coronavirus curbs have aggravated human rights violations, United Nations investigators have said, citing extra restrictions on access to information, tighter border security and heightened digital surveillance.

Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Biden nominates North Korea human rights envoy, first since 2017

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The White House on Tuesday nominated a special envoy for human rights in North Korea, moving to fill a post that has been empty since 2017 amid debate over how rights issues fit with efforts to counter Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

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SEOUL, Jan 19 (Reuters) - North Korea's parliament has outlined plans to normalise industrial production and meet its economic goals this year, despite the "worst-ever upheaval" amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2022, state media said on Thursday.

The reclusive country's rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, held a two-day meeting from Tuesday to discuss government budget, economic policy and personnel changes, the official KCNA news agency said.

South Korea's central bank has said the North's economy shrank in 2021 for a second straight year after suffering its biggest contraction in more than two decades the year before, hit by COVID-19 lockdowns and international sanctions over its weapons programmes.

Leader Kim Jong Un did not join the meeting, but Kim Tok Hun, premier of the cabinet, reviewed last year's work and laid out tasks this year for key industries.

The premier lauded the country for "successfully tackling the worst-ever upheaval since the founding of the country" amid the COVID-19 outbreak, despite "shortcomings" in implementing last year's plans.

The cabinet aims to expedite the production of overall sectors and make 2023 "a year of great turn and change in the course of development" marking the 75th anniversary of the country's foundation, Kim said.

"It will make sure that the economic indices and 12 major goals to be attained by all the sectors of the national economy are carried out without fail," Kim said, according to KCNA.

He called for normalising the production of metal factories and reinforcing iron mines and steel plants, and for operating chemical plants "at full capacity" to accelerate construction projects.

The country will also take "strong measures" to supply equipment, materials and funds to boost coal production, Kim said.

In another KCNA dispatch on budget deliberations, Finance Minister Ko Jong Bom said this year's overall spending is expected to rise by 101.7% from last year, without specifying numbers.

Some 45% of the total expenditure will be allotted to promote the economy and the people's livelihoods, while defence spending would take up 15.9%, about the same as last year, Ko said.

"The state budget for this year should be implemented without fail to financially support the work for bolstering up the country's defence capability, developing the economy and improving the people's standard of living," Ko told the parliament.

Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Michael Perry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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North Korea calls for normalising factories, economy after COVID 'upheaval'

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SEOUL, Jan 19 (Reuters) - North Korea's parliament has outlined plans to normalise industrial production and meet its economic goals this year, despite the "worst-ever upheaval" amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2022, state media said on Thursday.

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China’s exports to North Korea more than tripled in 2022

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China’s overall exports to North Korea more than tripled in 2022 from a year earlier as freight train operations between the two countries resumed following a suspension to limit the spread of COVID-19.

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Why the United States needs to address Pyongyang’s nuclear advances now.

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This article is talking about the recent military training between south korea and the us is effecting the south korea's relationship with north korea.

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미국 백악관은 현지시간으로 2일 북한의 한미연합훈련 비판에 대해 "우리는 역내 파트너들과의 연합훈련이 북한에 대한 일종의 도발이 된다는 생각을 거부한다"고 말했습니다.

백악관 국가안보회의(NSC) 대변인은 이날 연합뉴스와의 서면 질의를 통해 "이런 연합훈련은 과거 연습과 전적으로 일치하는 통상적인 훈련"이라며 이같이 밝혔습니다.

그러면서 "미국은 역내 평화와 안정을 보장하기 위해 동맹 및 파트너들과 긴밀한 협력을 지속하고 있다"고 덧붙였습니다.

이런 입장은 북한이 한국시간 2일 오전 외무성 대변인 담화를 통해 한미연합훈련 계획과 양국 국방장관 회담 내용 등을 비판한 데 대한 반응입니다.

한미연합훈련이 방어적 성격이란 기존 입장을 강조하면서, 연합훈련을 빌미로 긴장을 고조시키려는 북한의 시도를 차단하며 상황 관리에 나선 것으로 풀이됩니다.

북한 외무성 대변인은 조선중앙통신을 통해 발표한 담화에서 이달 예정된 한미 확장억제수단 운용연습과, 규모와 범위가 확대된 한미 연합야외기동훈련 등에 대해 "전면대결의 도화선에 불을 지피려 하는 것"이라고 주장했습니다.

또 로이드 오스틴 미 국방장관이 한미 국방장관회담에서 전략자산 전개를 강조한 점을 거론, "미국이 한반도와 주변지역에 전략자산들을 계속 들이미는 경우 우리는 그 성격에 따라 어김없이 해당한 견제 활동을 더욱 명백하게 할 것"이라고 말했습니다.

아울러 "미국이 적대시 정책과 대결 노선을 추구하는 한 미국과의 그 어떤 접촉과 대화에도 흥미가 없다"고 했습니다.

한미는 국방장관회담 이튿날인 지난 1일 B-1B 전략폭격기 등 미 전략 자산 전개 하에 서해 상공에서 편대비행을 하는 등 올해 들어 첫 연합 공중훈련을 실시했습니다.

백악관 NSC 대변인은 특히 "우린 대북 적대적 의도가 없고, 양국 및 역내 모든 우려 사항을 다루고자 진지하고 지속적인 외교를 추구하고 있다는 점을 분명히 해왔다"며 "그런 외교가 양국과 역내에 가장 도움이 될 것으로 믿으며, 그들이 편리한 시간과 장소에서 북한대표단과 만날 의향이 있음을 재차 반복한다"고 밝혔습니다.

외교와 대화를 통한 한반도 문제 해결이라는 조 바이든 정부의 대북 기조를 지속하겠다는 뜻으로, 언제 어디서건 대화를 통해 북한이 우려하는 모든 사항을 테이블 위에 올려놓을 수 있다는 기존 입장을 재차 상기한 것입니다.

NSC 대변인은 또 "동시에 우린 국제사회의 의지를 반영하는 유엔 안전보장이사회 결의를 완전히 이행하고, 불법적인 무기 프로그램을 발전시키고 역내 안정을 위협하는 북한의 역량을 제한하기 위해 동맹, 그리고 파트너들과의 협력을 지속할 것"이라고 말해 대북제재 이행에 대한 의지도 재확인했습니다.

[사진 출처 : 연합뉴스 / 국방부 제공]

[사진 출처 : 연합뉴스 / 국방부 제공]

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美 "한미훈련은 도발 아냐...北 편한 시간·장소서 대화 의향"

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미국 백악관은 현지시간으로 2일 북한의 한미연합훈련 비판에 대해 "우리는 역내 파트너들과의 연합훈련이 북한에 대한 일종의 도발이 된다는 생각을 거부한다"고 말했습니다. 백악관 국가안보회의(NSC) 대변인은 이날 연합뉴스와의 서면 질의를 통해 "이런 연합훈련은 과거 연습과 전적으로 일치하는 통상적인 훈련"이라며 이같이 밝혔습니다. 그러면서 "미국은 역내 평화와 안정을 보장하기 위해 동맹 및 파트너들과 긴밀한 협력을 지속하고 있다"고 덧붙였습니다.

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North Korea-backed hackers stole $1.7bn (£1.4bn) of crypto in 2022, says blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

This nearly quadruples the country's previous record for cryptocurrency theft - $429m in 2021.

The loot also made up 44% of the $3.8bn stolen in crypto hacks last year, which the firm called "the biggest year ever for crypto hacking".

Experts have said the country, facing heavy sanctions, is turning to crypto theft to fund its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests and analysts expect the seventh one this year, as the country accelerates its nuclear weapons programme under leader Kim Jong-un. Last year, Pyongyang launched a record number of ballistic and other missiles. This is despite the country's struggling economy.

"For context, North Korea's total exports in 2020 totalled $142m worth of goods, so it isn't a stretch to say that cryptocurrency hacking is a sizable chunk of the nation's economy," Chainalysis said in a report on Wednesday.

These hackers typically launder crypto through "mixers", which blend cryptocurrencies from various users to obfuscate the origins of the funds, the firm said.

Other experts have also said that North Korea launders stolen crypto through brokers in China and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Last month, the FBI confirmed that North Korea-affiliated Lazarus Group was responsible for a $100m crypto heist on a blockchain network called Horizon bridge last year.

Overall, decentralised finance protocols, or DeFi, accounted for over 82% of cryptocurrency stolen in 2022, Chainalysis' report said.

DeFi users know what will happen to their funds when they use them because smart contract codes governing these protocols are publicly accessible by default.

But this transparency also makes DeFi particularly attractive to hackers, who can scan the codes for vulnerabilities and "strike at the perfect time" to maximise their loot, according to the report.

David Schwed, chief operating officer at blockchain security firm Halborn, noted that DeFi developers "prioritise growth over all else", and funds that could be used to enhance security are often directed instead to rewards, in order to attract users.

DeFi developers can take a leaf from traditional financial institutions in making their platforms more secure, Mr Schwed said.

For instance, they can simulate different hacking scenarios to test their protocols, or design mechanisms to pause or halt transactions when suspicious activity is detected.

"You don't need to move as slow as a bank, but you can borrow from what banks do," he said.

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Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022

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North Korea-backed hackers stole $1.7bn (£1.4bn) of crypto in 2022, says blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. This nearly quadruples the country's previous record for cryptocurrency theft - $429m in 2021. The loot also made up 44% of the $3.8bn stolen in crypto hacks last year, which the firm called "the biggest year ever for crypto hacking".

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SEOUL-North Korea said the U.S. had pushed tensions on the Korean Peninsula to an "extreme red line," responding to recent promises by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to expand joint military drills with South Korea and enhance nuclear deterrence.

North Korea said it isn't interested in any contact or dialogue with the U.S. as long as Washington pursues what Pyongyang describes as a hostile and confrontational policy. The U.S. actions threatened to turn the Korean Peninsula into a "huge war arsenal," Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said Thursday, adding that it would respond to military moves by the U.S. with "overwhelming nuclear force."

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North Korea Accuses U.S. of Raising Tensions

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SEOUL-North Korea said the U.S. had pushed tensions on the Korean Peninsula to an "extreme red line," responding to recent promises by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to expand joint military drills with South Korea and enhance nuclear deterrence. North Korea said it isn't interested in any contact or dialogue with the U.S.

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FBI blames North Korea for $100 million crypto heist | CNN Politics

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The FBI on Monday evening blamed North Korean government-linked hackers for stealing $100 million in cryptocurrency last June from a California-based firm.

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China, Russia, North Korea and Iran want to replace America as the world's leading superpower, so I don't think they should be able to dictate our nation's food supply.

Food security is national security. We need to pass my bipartisan bill to stop them from buying U.S. farmland.

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China, Russia, North Korea and Iran want to replace America as the world's leading superpower, so I don't think they should be able to dictate our nation's food supply.

Food security is national security. We need to pass my bipartisan bill to stop them from buying U.S. farmland. https://t.co/rOm1I48W7N

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China, Russia, North Korea and Iran want to replace America as the world's leading superpower, so I don't think they should be able to dictate our nation's food supply.

Food security is national security. We need to pass my bipartisan bill to stop them from buying U.S. farmland. pic.twitter.com/rOm1I48W7N
— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) February 13, 2023

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China, Russia, North Korea and Iran want to replace America as the world's leading superpower, so I don't think they should be able to dictate our nation's food supply.

Food security is national security. We need to pass my bipartisan bill to stop them from buying U.S. farmland. https://t.co/rOm1I48W7N

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
China, Russia, North Korea and Iran want to replace America as the world's leading superpower, so I don't think they should be able to dictate our nation's food supply.

Food security is national security. We need to pass my bipartisan bill to stop them from buying U.S. farmland. https://t.co/rOm1I48W7N

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
China, Russia, North Korea and Iran want to replace America as the world's leading superpower, so I don't think they should be able to dictate our nation's food supply.

Food security is national security. We need to pass my bipartisan bill to stop them from buying U.S. farmland.

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Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, took centre stage at a military parade in Pyongyang that featured North Korea’s latest nuclear missile technology.

— in pictures https://t.co/A1hMIhtKjO

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Photos: North Korea shows off nuclear arsenal at night-time parade

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Kim Jong Un and his daughter took centre stage at a military parade featuring North Korea’s latest nuclear missiles.

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Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, took centre stage at a military parade in Pyongyang that featured North Korea’s latest nuclear missile technology.

— in pictures https://t.co/A1hMIhtKjO https://t.co/J7BusIdyvY

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Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, took centre stage at a military parade in Pyongyang that featured North Korea’s latest nuclear missile technology.

— in pictures https://t.co/A1hMIhtKjO pic.twitter.com/J7BusIdyvY
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 9, 2023

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Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, took centre stage at a military parade in Pyongyang that featured North Korea’s latest nuclear missile technology.

— in pictures https://t.co/A1hMIhtKjO https://t.co/J7BusIdyvY

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Photos: North Korea shows off nuclear arsenal at night-time parade

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.entities.urls[].description
Kim Jong Un and his daughter took centre stage at a military parade featuring North Korea’s latest nuclear missiles.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, took centre stage at a military parade in Pyongyang that featured North Korea’s latest nuclear missile technology.

— in pictures https://t.co/A1hMIhtKjO https://t.co/J7BusIdyvY

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Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, took centre stage at a military parade in Pyongyang that featured North Korea’s latest nuclear missile technology.

— in pictures https://t.co/A1hMIhtKjO

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Photos: North Korea shows off nuclear arsenal at night-time parade

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Kim Jong Un and his daughter took centre stage at a military parade featuring North Korea’s latest nuclear missiles.

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🚨🇰🇵 New footage from the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, where the fat rocketman unveils a new ICBM.

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🚨🇰🇵 New footage from the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, where the fat rocketman unveils a new ICBM. https://t.co/FpSsqgc4Ns

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🚨🇰🇵 New footage from the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, where the fat rocketman unveils a new ICBM. pic.twitter.com/FpSsqgc4Ns
— Terror Alarm (@Terror_Alarm) February 9, 2023

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🚨🇰🇵 New footage from the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, where the fat rocketman unveils a new ICBM. https://t.co/FpSsqgc4Ns

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🚨🇰🇵 New footage from the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, where the fat rocketman unveils a new ICBM. https://t.co/FpSsqgc4Ns

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🚨🇰🇵 New footage from the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, where the fat rocketman unveils a new ICBM.

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In general, most US based sources doesn't seem to be too much different as they all blame some kind of action towards NK. Very slight difference I noticed was that some articles blame some of US actions where as some blame/accuse NK of doing suspicious activities.

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Generally, most S. Korean news sources are investigating recent events such as the military activities in NK and how the US military can effect NK's actions. In other news sources, it covers NK's wrong doings.

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Many of the news wire reporters are living in S. Korea and have been part of providing news in east asia previously.

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Many social media sources tend to expose what the NK is currently doing and shows footage of the current state of NK. Whether they are accurate or not is up to interpretation. Additionally, I came across occasional political figures discussing about NK.

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N. Korea fires ballistic missiles after US-S. Korea drills

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Friday, its latest weapons demonstration that came days after U.S. and South Korean warplane…

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Kim Jong Un in 2022 fired off missiles at a record pace, lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons and thumbed his nose at global sanctions. He's likely to turn up the heat even more in the coming year.

Kim is expected to outline his plans for 2023 this week as his ruling Workers' Party wraps up a major year-end policy-setting meeting. The North Korean leader said during the gathering that he would strengthen the military, but details won't be known until state media publishes a report of the meeting around New Year's day. Last year's dispatch amounted to nearly 8,000 words.

With little threat of new sanctions and plans already afoot to further develop weapons including drones, submarines and missiles, Kim will likely look to continue honing his ability to deliver a credible nuclear strike against the U.S. and its allies.

Kim's actions in recent months indicate a broader shift away from the country's long-term goal of normalizing ties with Washington as a buffer against China and Russia, said Rachel Minyoung Lee, who worked as an analyst for the CIA's Open Source Enterprise for almost two decades. That means more policies designed to cope with a prolonged period of hardship, rather than exploring diplomatic overtures, she added.

"Based on North Korea's official pronouncements and media rhetoric since the beginning of the year, as well as its military actions in recent months, it seems unlikely the country will return to the negotiating table in the near term," Lee said.

Kim told the meeting of his firm belief in "the direction of the Korean revolution and the confidence in its invincibility," state media reported Thursday.

Kim's regime has defied United Nations resolutions by firing off about 70 ballistic missiles so far in 2022, nearly three times more than any other year since he took power a decade ago.

That has helped build a modern missile arsenal with solid-fuel rockets that are easier to hide, quicker to deploy and designed to evade U.S. defenses in the region. He's betting that will help deter another confrontation with the U.S. like in 2017, when former President Donald Trump threatened "fire and fury" in response to North Korea's weapons tests and American officials talked of a "bloody nose" strike on North Korea.

Nuclear test

Kim also appears ready to conduct his first nuclear test since 2017 as he seeks to miniaturize warheads for tactical weapons to strike South Korea and Japan, which host bulk of U.S. troops in Asia. An atomic detonation could also help increase the strength of a warhead he could attach to an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the American mainland.

"Disarmament talks don't fit into the development trends we are seeing," said David Schmerler, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

The U.S., South Korea and Japan have pledged a stern, coordinated punishment if Kim tests a nuclear weapon. But years of sanctions and isolation have failed to get Kim to change course. Now there's almost no chance Russia or China, which have veto power at the United Nations Security Council, would support any new measures against North Korea as they did back in 2017.

"Pyongyang doesn't see any chance or need of improvement in relations with the U.S. or South Korea at this point, so they are ratcheting up tensions to create a pretext to conduct their seventh nuclear test," said Lee Sang-keun, director of strategic research at Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy.

Russia may even be aiding North Korea financially by purchasing weapons it could use in Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, the U.S. has said. Pyongyang has dismissed the allegation as a baseless rumor, but it has also reestablished its sole train link with Russia that was halted almost three years ago due to COVID-19.

Kim has rebuffed U.S. attempts to return to nuclear disarmament talks and brought along his daughter for her state media debut to attend the November launch of an ICBM - signaling there's another generation ready to take over the Cold War's last continuous family dynasty and it will depend on nuclear weapons for its survival.

'Slap on the wrist'

Kim's propaganda machine, meanwhile has gone into overdrive to show the North Korean leader as caring for his people, issuing about two dozen reports on its official Korean Central News Agency this year about progress made in housing construction, which it said is an expression of the "loving care" of Kim's ruling party.

While Kim may not have met a U.S. president this year, "he was still able to get away with a record number of weapons tests without more than a slap on the wrist," said Soo Kim, a policy analyst with the Rand Corp. who previously worked at the Central Intelligence Agency.

"Since Kim has had a pretty productive year, he'll want to carry this momentum into 2023 to make further progress in his country's weapons development," she said. "To his benefit, the Russia-Ukraine war and rising tensions with China have, in some ways, diverted our attention away from the North Korean weapons threat."

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Kim Jong Un to ring in new year with missiles and nuclear threats

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Kim Jong Un in 2022 fired off missiles at a record pace, lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons and thumbed his nose at global sanctions. He's likely to turn up the heat even more in the coming year.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea confirmed Tuesday that Seoul and Washington are discussing its involvement in U.S. nuclear weapons management in the face of intensifying North Korean nuclear threats, after President Joe Biden denied that the allies were discussing joint nuclear exercises.

The purported difference came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un entered the new year with a vow to mass-produce battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and introduce a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the mainland U.S. Some experts say Kim would eventually aim to use his enlarged weapons arsenal to wrest outside concessions like sanctions relief.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a newspaper interview published Monday that the two countries were pushing for a joint planning and training involving U.S. nuclear assets and that the United States responded positively about the idea.

Asked by a reporter later at the White House about whether the two countries were discussing joint nuclear exercises, Biden replied, "No."

Yoon's top adviser for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, issued a statement Tuesday saying that Seoul and Washington "are discussing an intel-sharing, a joint planning and subsequent joint execution plans over the management of U.S. nuclear assets in response to North Korea's nuclear (threats)."

Kim said Biden likely answered "no" because a reporter tersely asked him about nuclear exercises without providing any background information.

In the Chosun Ilbo interview, Yoon said that while the U.S. nuclear weapons belong to the U.S., planning, intel-sharing and exercises involving them must be jointly conducted with South Korea. He said he finds it difficult to assure his people of a security guarantee with the current levels of U.S. security commitment.

South Korea has no nuclear weapons and is under the protection of a U.S. "nuclear umbrella," which guarantees a devastating American response in the event of an attack on its ally. But some experts question the effectiveness of such a security commitment, saying the decision to use U.S. nuclear weapons lies with the U.S. president.

Yoon's office didn't provide many details about his government's discussion with the United States. Some observers say South Korea is seeking to obtain a greater role on U.S. decision-making process on the deployment of its nuclear assets in times of tensions with North Korea.

Kim Taewoo, a former head of Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification, said the reported South Korea-U.S. discussion likely "benchmarked a NATO-style nuclear-sharing arrangement" that allows NATO member states' warplanes to carry U.S. nuclear weapons. He said the discussion still appears to be falling short of the NATO arrangement because possible nuclear exercises between the two countries would likely be South Korean air force aircraft escorting U.S. aircraft simulating nuclear strikes during joint drills.

"North Korea would take this sensitively. (South Korea and the U.S.) are discussing this to get North Korea to take this sensitively ... because that can be a deterrence against North Korea," Kim Taewoo said.

He said South Korea and the United States are likely using unofficial channels to discuss the topic. That allows South Korea to claim it's discussing the issue with the U.S. at the same time it allows Washington to deny that, he said.

Last year, North Korea performed a record number of weapons tests by launching a variety of ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan. In September, North Korea also adopted a new law authorizing the preemptive use of its bombs in a broad range of cases, including non-war scenarios.

After their annual meeting in November, the defense chiefs of the United States and South Korea issued a joint statement reaffirming the U.S. commitment to providing extended deterrence to South Korea and deploying U.S. strategic assets in a timely and coordinated manner as necessary and identify new steps to reinforce deterrence against North Korean threats. The statement also carried their agreement to bolster the alliance's information-sharing, joint planning and execution.

During a recently ended ruling party meeting, Kim Jong Un ordered the "exponential" expansion of his country's nuclear arsenal and the mass-production of tactical nuclear weapons missioned with attacking South Korea, as well as the development of a new ICBM tasked with having a "quick nuclear counterstrike" capability - a weapon he needs to strike the mainland, North Korea's state media reported Sunday.

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South Korea: Talks with US on management of nukes underway

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea confirmed Tuesday that Seoul and Washington are discussing its involvement in U.S. nuclear weapons management in the face of intensifying North Korean nuclear threats, after President Joe Biden denied that the allies were discussing joint nuclear exercises.

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For the local source, I used the Day.
It was surprising that this particular news source even had any news about North Korea during my initial searches. However, it also only really covers the military actions and training that is going on in the Korean peninsula and not much more. There were some mentions regarding policy and how the President or Vice president said something. Regardless, I think this is good news because if the local news needed to cover something that happened in Korea, it would mean that something bad has happened and knowing this fact can help us understand the level of tension between the U.S. and North Korea.