North Korea

"Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harboured ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army," the country's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim made the remarks during a visit to Anbyon county, Kangwon province, where river banks were toppled and some 200 hectares of farmland were flooded due to heavy rains brought by last week's typhoon, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

With senior delegations from China and Russia present, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took to the reviewing stand to observe the military parade in Kim Il Sung Square late Thursday to mark Victory Day, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The Defence Ministry in Seoul renewed the warning after Pyongyang's Defence Minister Kang Sun-nam slammed the arrival of the USS Kentucky, an 18,750-tonne Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), in South Korea and the inaugural meeting of the South Korea-US Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) this week, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"In response to North Korea's long-range ballistic missile launch that threatens the peace and safety of the Korean Peninsula and the international society, the government has decided to impose unilateral sanctions against four individuals and three organisations involved in nuclear and missile developments and funding," the foreign ministry said.

Guided by Kim, the North launched a new type of the Hwasong-18 missile in a test aimed at reconfirming the technical creditability and operational reliability of the country's core weapon system, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from an area in or around Pyongyang at about 10 a.m. (local time) without elaborating further, reports Yonhap News Agency. "While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States," the JCS said.

"I have already notified beforehand the counteraction of our army upon authorization. In case of repeated illegal intrusion, the U.S. forces will experience a very critical flight," Kim Yo-jong said in a statement published by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In a research report released by the Ministry's Institute for American Studies, North Korea likened the current military tensions in the region to the night before the outbreak of the Korean War as it slammed the US and South Korea for their "delusional anti-communist military confrontation" and "rhetorical threats", reports Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea made the assessment following a plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, attended by leader Kim Jong-un, that wrapped up the previous day, referring to its botched attempt to launch a rocket carrying a military spy satellite on May 31, Yonhap news agency reported.