Japan discovers bodies on ‘ghost boat’ of suspected North Korea origin

Kim has said extreme weather, the coronavirus pandemic and being cut off from Chinese trade could lead to another food crisis in North Korea.

The North Korean leader didn't rule out the possibility of entering into dialogue with Washington but said his country should be more prepared to have an adversarial relationship with the Joe Biden administration.

Pyongyang has told the World Health Organization that it has yet to find a single coronavirus infection. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to arrest people who refuse a vaccine.

The North Korean leader said failures during the pandemic and a "grave incident" had threatened the safety of the people. Elsewhere, Romania is selling off excess vaccines. Follow DW for the latest.

The boat had originally set off towards Europe from the Libyan city of Zuwara. Over 120 migrants were aboard.

Residents of several floods that disrupted Chinese villages in Henan province were evacuated with an emergency boat bridge built overnight.

Heavy rain and flooding in provinces along North Korea's east coat have inundated wide swathes of farmland as the impoverished country organizes relief efforts.

Rescuers in Bangladesh were searching for survivors after a boat carrying over 40 refugees capsized in the Bay of Bengal. The Rohingya were trying to escape the Bhashan Char island camp.

North Korea appears to have restarted activities at its main plutonium-producing reactor in Yongbyon, the UN atomic agency, IAEA, has said in an annual report. The apparent resumption of operations comes as Pyongyang has been voicing threats to expand its nuclear arsenal amid continued tensions with the United States.

Analysts say cash-strapped Pyongyang is returning to its strategy of trying to obtain concessions from the international community by threatening nuclear proliferation.

North Korea escapee Hiroko Saito says she and 97,000 others were deceived into relocating to the North in the 1960s with promises of "paradise on Earth." Instead, she suffered starvation, repression and loss.

Pyongyang has said it would take action if a new Indo-Pacific alliance between the US, Australia and the UK had "even the smallest negative effect" on North Korea's security.