North Korea leader Kim Jong Un said his country's hard-won nuclear weapons were a solid security guarantee and a "reliable, effective" deterrent that could prevent a second Korean War.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader, said another summit with the United States would only be useful for Washington at this point
North Korea has signaled that it won't meet U.S. President Donald Trump for further denuclearization talks unless he makes "major concessions," says Michael Green from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), adding that it has been mounting pressure on its South Korean relations as well.
Kim Yeon-chul leaves the job without having a single meeting with the North Koreans. He said he wanted to resign to take responsibility for tensions between the rivals.
Kim Yo Jong appears to be stepping out without her elder brother Kim Jong Un. Analysts say that may indicate that she could be moving into a bigger role within the country's leadership structure.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, reader in international relations at King's College London, discusses the global geopolitical landscape.
North Korea is attempting to put itself back on the map and become a bigger foreign policy priority for China and the United States, so as to obtain some much needed economic relief as a reward for promised good behavior, says Angela Mancini, partner at Control Risks.
Tensions have been rising between North and South Korea. Max Lin from NatWest says the Korean won could strengthen against the U.S. dollar if the pressure eases.
The two Koreas are likely to see a "ratcheting up" in tensions after North Korea's provocative demolition of the joint liaison office at the Kaesong industrial zone, says Jung Pak, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, is showing the world she is in charge of the country's foreign policies, says professor Lee Sung Yoon, who works at the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation and The Fletcher School, Tufts University.
Tensions between the two Koreas may continue to rise after a joint liaison office in a border town was blown up, analysts said on Wednesday.
North Korea made good on its threat to demolish the inter-Korean liaison office on Tuesday. South Korea confirmed that the building was demolished by "bombing."
North Korea's recent proclamations of aggression must be viewed against the country's frustration with what it sees as failed diplomacy, said an expert on Monday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister, Kim Yo Jong, seem to be in an increasingly visible "power partnership" as they prepare for possible military action against a joint liaison office at the Kaesong industrial zone, says John Park, director of the Korea Project at the Harvard Kennedy School.
"The U.S. professes to be an advocate for improved relations with the DPRK, but in fact, it is hell-bent on only exacerbating the situation," North Korean foreign minister Ri Son Gwon said.
"It would be good not only for the U.S. interests but also for the easy holding of upcoming presidential election," Kwon Jong Gun, director-general for U.S. affairs at North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said.
The North's Korean Central News Agency said all cross-border communication lines will be cut off in "the first step of the determination to completely shut down all contact means with South Korea and get rid of unnecessary things."
Kim Yo Jong also said North Korea could permanently shut the liaison office and a joint factory park in the border town of Kaesong, which have been symbols of reconciliation between the two countries.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, warned of the possible scrapping of the inter-Korean military agreement that promised to eliminate practical threats of war as a result of the clandestine leafletting.
The meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's powerful Central Military Commission marked Kim's first public appearance in three weeks.
Data also provided by 
