North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops onto a war footing from 5 p.m on Friday after his government issued an ultimatum to Seoul to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts by Saturday afternoon or face military action.
South Korea's military threatened retaliation against North Korea on Monday after it accused the North of planting land mines inside the Demilitarised Zone border that wounded two soldiers last week, calling it a cowardly act of provocation.
North Korea is creating its own time zone, moving its clocks back by 30 minutes to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese rule, the official KCNA news agency said on Friday.
North Korea released video footage on Monday of a Canadian pastor confessing before a Pyongyang church congregation that he had committed crimes against the state.
North Korea is not interested in an Iran-like dialogue with the United States to give up its nuclear capabilities, the isolated country's foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
China will begin the trial on July 28 of a Korean-American missionary arrested last year over a non-profit school he ran near the sensitive border with North Korea, his lawyer said, in a case that sparked outcry from international Christian groups.
A teenaged North Korean soldier walked across the world's most heavily militarized border on Monday in a bid to defect to South Korea, South Korean Defense Ministry officials said.
Data stolen from U.S. government computers by suspected Chinese hackers included security clearance information and background checks dating back three decades, U.S. officials said on Friday, underlining the scope of one of the largest known cyber attacks on federal networks.
South Korea on Wednesday test-launched a new ballistic missile that can hit all of North Korea, the president's office said, developed under a new agreement with the United States that lets Seoul extend the weapon's range to up to 800 km (500 miles).
The United States will extend its cyber defense umbrella over Japan, helping its Asian ally cope with the growing threat of online attacks against military bases and infrastructure such as power grids, the two nations said in a joint statement on Saturday.
The United States tried to deploy a version of the Stuxnet computer virus to attack North Korea's nuclear weapons program five years ago but ultimately failed, according to people familiar with the covert campaign.
The United States and two key Asian allies discussed how to increase pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program and will urge China to help bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table, officials said.
Photographs showing a North Korean missile launched from a submarine were manipulated by state propagandists and the country may be years away from developing such technology, analysts and a top U.S. military official said on Tuesday.
The United States is discussing with China imposing further sanctions against North Korea as the reclusive country is "not even close" to taking steps to rein in its nuclear weapons program, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday.
The United States and China clashed over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea on Saturday, as China's foreign minister asserted its sovereignty to reclaim reefs saying its determination to protect its interests is "as hard as a rock".
North Korea said on Saturday it had successfully conducted an underwater test-fire of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which, if true, would indicate progress in the secretive state's pursuit of building missile-equipped submarines.
North Korea's military warned on Friday of "unannounced targeted strikes" against South Korea's navy, accusing the South of violating its territorial waters off the peninsula's west coast, the scene of deadly naval clashes in the past.
North Korea condemned on Friday plans by Japan to hold a summit in New York on the abduction of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang decades ago, saying the issue had been resolved and accusing Tokyo of escalating a human rights campaign against North Korea.
Satellite images taken between January and this month show a North Korean nuclear reactor that can yield material for atomic bombs may be operating again at low power or intermittently, U.S. experts said on Wednesday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is due to unveil an updated cyber strategy on Thursday that will stress the military's ability to retaliate with cyber weapons, a capability he hopes will help deter attacks.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to expand Japan's non-combat role in armed conflicts beyond "areas around Japan" could see Tokyo becoming dragged into action in the South China Sea in support of U.S. forces, government and ruling party sources say.
