South Korea says the North Korean missile it recovered from off its coast was a 1960s-designed Soviet surface to air missile, the SA-5. Suggests that along with the SCUDs, many of the missiles fired last week were not North Korea’s latest designs. Such missiles were designed to shoot down high altitude warplanes, and North Korea did say it was practicing downing S.Korean and U.S. aircraft at the time. But similar missiles have been also used in ground attack roles by Russia in Ukraine, the South’s military said.

Toured the USS Ronald Reagan just hours after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier arrived in Busan, South Korea, the first such visit since 2018. Washington and Seoul say it is a sign of their commitment to deterring North Korea reuters.com/world/us-aircr… As they like to endlessly remind you, the Reagan is the US Navy’s “only forward deployed carrier,” and it’s based out of Japan. Its armament includes a mixture of more than 60 aircraft including F/A-18 Super Hornets but none of the new F-35s.

BREAKING: North Korea's assembly has passed a law enshrining its status as a nuclear weapons state. Leader Kim Jong Un said its status as a nuclear weapons state is irreversible and would never be negotiated away, KCNA reports "The utmost significance of legislating nuclear weapons policy is to draw an irretrievable line so that there can be no bargaining over our nuclear weapons," Kim Jong Un said

The nosedive in cryptocurrency markets has wiped out millions of dollars in funds stolen by North Korean hackers, digital investigators told @Reuters, possibly threatening a key source of funding for the sanctions-stricken country and its weapons programs. reuters.com/technology/cry… Old, unlaundered North Korean holdings monitored by blockchain firm Chainalysis have decreased in value from $170 mln to $65 mln. TRM Labs said one cache from a 2021 heist, which had been worth tens of millions of dollars, has lost 80% to 85% of its value reuters.com/technology/cry…

BREAKING: North Korea has fired an "unidentified projectile" off its east coast, South Korea's military says. Usually means a missile of some kind Japan's coast guard also reports launch of what it says could be ballistic missile from North Korea

BREAKING: North Kore responds to U.S. President Joe Biden's recent speech and newly completed policy review, saying they show he is intent on maintaining a hostile policy toward North Korea, a Foreign Ministry official said in a statement carried on KCNA Two statements by foreign ministry officials: one on Biden's speech with a mention of the policy review, and one on the administration's human rights criticism. And a third statement by Kim Yo Jong on the release of leaflets from South Korea

BREAKING: In statement via KCNA, North Korea's foreign ministry casts doubt on its involvement with US proposal for more talks in 2 weeks, says it does not expect the US to come up with a satisfactory proposal within that time Spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry says that they are not willing to negotiate unless US takes practical steps to end its hostile policies, and reiterates that the US has until the end of this year to come up with a new approach

Exclusive image of South Korean and Russian military jets over Dokdo earlier today (not) But seriously, warning shots is an escalation from the usual KADIZ incursions that South Korea complains about. uk.reuters.com/article/uk-sou…

South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reports that North Korea has executed several officials involved in working level talks before the Hanoi Trump-Kim summit, including Kim Hyok Chol the former ambassador to Spain who (briefly now it seems) served as Steve Biegun’s counterpart "Kim Hyok Chol was investigated and executed at Mirim Airport with four foreign ministry officials in March," an unnamed North Korea source said, according to the Chosun Ilbo, adding that they were charged with spying for the U.S.

NEW: North Korea’s foreign ministry says it doesn’t want to talk to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo any more. If talks resume, they want someone “who is more careful and mature in communicating with us” “At this time, only Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of the State, is talking nonsense that its meaning is to finish the working level negotiation between the DPRK and the U.S. by the end of the year, which subjects him to public ridicule.”

BREAKING: North Korea's foreign ministry has said Pyongyang will "never yield" to US demands, says to be considering breaking off denuclearisation talks, Russia's TASS news agency reports Kim Jong Un is set to make an announcement soon on talks, senior North Korean diplomat Choe Son-hui told a briefing in Pyongyang, according to TASS

Senior State Department official says this morning that North Korea asked for almost all sanctions imposed since 2016 to be lifted, including restrictions on "a broad range of products including metals, raw materials, transportation, seafood, coal exports, refined petroleum..." "We asked the North Koreans to clarify for us what they meant by this, their qualification, and it was basically all the sanctions except for armaments," the official told reporters.