North Korea on Saturday lambasted a recent trilateral meeting between South Korea, the US and Japan that discussed peace in the Indo-Pacific region, deriding the talks as an "insult" to peace.
A Ukrainian media outlet has reported that about 500 North Korean soldiers were killed in a missile strike by Kyiv in Russia's western Kursk region.
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Sunday that South Korea will have to pay a "dear price" for sending propaganda leaflets across the border the previous day.
NATO and Europe are crying hoarse about North Korean troops being deployed in Russia. According to the Pentagon, about 10,000 North Korean troops are ready to be deployed in the war zone, most of whom are undergoing training in Russia. This would imply strength of about one division.
Guided by Kim, North Korea carried out a "crucial" missile test that set milestones in "perpetuating the absolute superiority" of the country's armed forces, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
This year the North has cancelled several elements of the annual commemorations, including the Pyongyang Marathon, usually its biggest tourist money-spinner of the year.
The firings came on the eve of the 108th birthday of Kim Il-sung, the North's national founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang has taken relatively drastic anti-virus measures by closing its borders with China, where the coronavirus originated in late December.
North Korea is among just a few countries in the world that claim to have no coronavirus infections, generating speculation that it might be hiding an outbreak.
Arguably, President Kim has also obfuscated reality as he turned up at the testing site without a face mask, even as South Korea has been battling the scourge.
