North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the country's air force drills and stressed the importance of a step-up in war preparation, according to state media.

Pyongyang is dependent on the world's second-largest economy, but the "blood-cemented alliance" doesn't extend to security issues.

Two women who fled North Korea have been telling the United Nations about the plight of people still living in the country and urging the world body to hold North Korea's leader accountable for gross human rights violations.

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International visitors have returned to the DPRK for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic resealed the North Korean border. Visitors from Russia, an ally of the DPRK, traveled to Pyongyang, the capital, in February 2024; in February 2025, visitors from Britain, Canada, France and Germany arrived in the city of Rason.

Pyongyang has carried out frequent missile tests in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions and continues to build out its nuclear weapons program. The Kim Jong Un regime insists both are necessary for self-defense, citing "provocations" by the U.S. and its allies.

North Korean soldiers serving with Vladimir Putin's army have been accused of going on drunken rampages and terrorising local Russian communities. Pyongyang sent around 11,000 soldiers to Russia last year, in a bid to boost the Kremlin's troop numbers on the front lines.