North Korea on Saturday accused the South of firing warning shots at its troops near the border, saying it risked raising tensions to "uncontrollable" levels.

There were dozens of activists and police officers, their attention fixed on one man: Ahn Hak-sop, a 95-year-old former North Korean prisoner of war who was making his way home, to the other side of the border that divides the Korean peninsula.

By Joyce Lee and David Brunnstrom SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -North Korea is stepping up criticism of South Korea's new President Lee Jae Myung as he prepares for his first summit with U.S President Donald Trump,

Pyongyang regularly criticizes such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has paid an emotional tribute to soldiers who have died fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine, saying his ‘heart aches’ in a rare admission of military losses.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemned South Korean-U.S. military drills and vowed a rapid expansion of his nuclear forces to counter rivals, state media said Tuesday, as he inspected his most advanced warship being fitted with nuclear-capable systems.

A Chinese national has been sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling firearms and other military items to North Korea, the US justice department said. Shenghua Wen, 42, received around $2m (£1.5m) from North Korean officials to ship the items from California, according to a statement from the agency on Monday.

Barely two months into office, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung faces a pivotal foreign policy test, heading into back-to-back summits in Tokyo and Washington that reflect the wider struggle of U.