North and South Korea Trade Rocket and Artillery Fire, Seoul Says

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea and North Korea exchanged rocket and artillery fire across their tense border on Thursday in their first armed clash in five years, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

No casualties were immediately reported on either side.

South Korea Plans to Spend Billions on Missile Shield

The South Korean Defense Ministry last week offered its five-year budget proposal, which includes a major focus — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars — on increasing the country’s ability to thwart possible North Korean missile strikes from reaching their targets, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

North Korea warns of ‘dark cloud of war’ as South begins naval drills ahead of ‘imminent’ nuclear test

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean and U.S. troops began naval drills Monday in a show of force partly directed at North Korea amid signs that Pyongyang will soon follow through on a threat to conduct its third atomic test.

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North Korea’s state media said Sunday that at a high-level Workers’ Party meeting, leader Kim Jong Un issued “important” guidelines meant to bolster the army and protect national sovereignty. North Korea didn’t elaborate, but Kim’s guidelines likely refer to a nuclear test and suggest that Pyongyang appears to have completed formal procedural steps and is preparing to conduct a nuclear test soon, according to South Korean analyst Hong Hyun-ik.