North Korea

In North Korea's first response to the Washington Declaration adopted during South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to the US, Kim Yo-jong said that the agreement reflects "the most hostile and aggressive will of action" against the North that will "only result in making peace and security of Northeast Asia and the world be exposed to more serious danger", according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Xi expressed his "heartfelt" thanks to the North's leader in a reply sent on April 12 to Kim's earlier message congratulating Xi's election as the Chinese president for a third term, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Xi said China and the North have maintained and developed their traditional friendly relations, even though international and regional security situations are changing "seriously and in a complicated way", reports Yonhap news Agency

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from around the Sunan area in Pyongyang at 8.48 a.m. and that the missile flew around 270 km at a top altitude of 560 km, reports Yonhap News Agency. The latest launch, the North's ninth show of force this year, came less than a week after it claimed to have conducted a "reconnaissance satellite" development test that the South called a ballistic missile launch.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said the North appears to have "unilaterally" cut off the liaison communication line, as the country has not answered routine calls since April 7, reports Yonhap News Agency.The two Koreas are supposed to hold phone calls twice a day, at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., via their joint liaison channel.

The two Koreas are supposed to hold calls twice a day -- once in the morning and the other in the afternoon -- via military and liaison hotlines set up across the border, but the North stopped answering calls from the South on Friday afternoon, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The North tested the Haeil-2 underwater strategic weapon system from April 4-7, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "The system will serve as an advantageous and prospective military potential of the armed forces of the DPRK essential for containing all evolving military actions of enemies, removing threats and defending the country," Yonhap News Agency quoted the KCNA as saying.

In a commentary, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) strongly criticised the allies' ongoing joint military drills and their scheme to hold a massive live-fire exercise in June, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The USS Nimitz carrier docked at ROK Fleet Command in the city, 325 km southeast of Seoul, after its strike group trained with the South Korean Navy in the international waters south of the southern island of Jeju the previous day, reports Yonhap News Agency. Its presence here is expected to send a warning to Pyongyang, which has been ratcheting up tensions through missile launches and repeated threats to use nuclear weapons in a contingency, observers said.

"The reality of the appalling human rights violations against the North Korean people must be fully revealed to the international community," he said during a Cabinet meeting. Under the North Korean Human Rights Act passed in 2016, the Unification Minister is required to submit an annual report to the National Assembly on the reclusive.

According to the source, Seoul participated as a co-sponsor in the draft resolution to be adopted at the 52nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which runs from February 27 to April 4, reports Yonhap News Agency. The draft resolution, led by Sweden and the European Union, urged the North.