North Korea

The barrage of eight missiles test-fired over 35 minutes extends a streak in weapons demonstrations this year that U.S. and South Korean officials say may culminate with a nuclear test explosion.

After saying there were no cases, officials on May 12 announced an outbreak. But without an adequate supply of tests, some say North Korea is "flying blind." And it still doesn't have vaccines.

The isolated East Asian country has only stated how many people have fevers daily, and has only identified a few of the cases as COVID-19 since admitting to an outbreak of the omicron variant.

North Korea has confirmed 15 more deaths and high numbers of fevers as it mobilizes more than a million health and other workers to try to suppress the country's first COVID-19 outbreak.

While the scale of the outbreak isn't known, 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.

North Korea has test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon designed to boost its nuclear fighting capability, state media reported Sunday, days after it passed its biggest state anniversary.

North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade amid heightened international tension.

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the South Korean defense minister a "scum-like guy" for talking about preemptive strikes on the North.

The launch comes six days after North Korea conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017 in an apparent attempt to pressure on the Biden administration amid stalled talks.