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).
The talks have followed North Korea’s testing of a ballistic missile from a submarine last Wednesday.
They "reaffirmed the importance of continued close... coordination on North Korea to achieve complete denuclearization," it said.
The meeting was the first formal working-level discussion since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met briefly at the inter-Korean border zone in June.
The meeting in Stockholm will be the first formal working-level talks since the leaders of the two nations met in June, vowing to renew negotiations that had stalled after the failed attempt in February 2019.
Korean delegation chief Kim Myong-gil is optimistic about the upcoming session in Sweden.
