The following is a list of events from the year 2023 in North Korea.

Incumbents

Events

January

* 25 January –

NK News NK News is an American subscription-based news website that provides stories and analysis about North Korea. Established in 2011, it is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea with reporters in Washington, D.C. and London. Reporting is based on infor ...

reports that the North Korean government has imposed a five-day lockdown in Pyongyang due to the spread of an unspecified respiratory infection.

March

* 20 March – North Korea conducts

drills A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to i ...

simulating a nuclear

counterattack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...

in response to joint

amphibious landing Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...

exercises by the United States and South Korea.

May

* 31 May – The launch of North Korean spy satellite '' Malligyong-1'' ends in failure due to its second stage malfunctioning, causing it to crash into the sea.

July

* 10 July – North Korea threatens to

shoot down ''Shoot Down'' is a 2006 documentary regarding the events surrounding the Brothers to the Rescue organization and the eventual shootdown of two of its aircraft. Based on five reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an Ame ...

any U.S.

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...

breaching its

airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...

following U.S. plans to deploy a

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN – t ...

near Korea. * 12 July – North Korea fires intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-18 into waters near

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

after threatening the US.

August

* 16 August – The Korean Central News Agency confirms United States Army soldier Travis King has been detained for illegal entry, claiming it was due to alleged racism within the U.S. Army and is seeking

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

status in the country. * 27 August – The North Korean government announces the lifting of certain pandemic-era travel restrictions, allowing citizens abroad to return to the country under medical observation for one week. * 31 August – The Korean Central News Agency reports that North Korea has conducted drills simulating a missile strike on South Korea, in protest at military drills conducted by South Korea with the United States.

September

* 12 September – 2023 North Korea-Russia summit:

North Korean leader The supreme leader () of North Korea is the ''de facto'' paramount leader of the Workers' Party of Korea, the state and the Korean People's Army. The title has not been written into the national constitution as a separate office, but it currently ...

Kim Jong Un arrives in Russia for a

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

with Russian President Vladimir Putin. * 13 September: The North Korea– Russia summit is held at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, Russia, lasting for four hours, with

Kim Jong Un vowing that North Korea will support Russian President Vladimir Putin. * 17 September: The 2023 North Korea–Russia summit concludes with Kim Jong Un returning to North Korea. * 27 September: North Korea deports

US soldier The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Travis King, who crossed into North Korea in July, back into U.S. custody.

November

* 1 November – South Korea's National Intelligence Service reports that North Korea has supplied Russia with over one million rounds of artillery shells for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Deaths

* 9 February:

O Kuk-ryol O Kuk-ryol (, born 7 January 1930) is a North Korean military general who served as Vice Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, as head of the Operations Department from April 2009 to June 2016. The son of O Jung-song and n ...

, 93, military officer, chief of the

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

(1980–1988) and vice chairman of the National Defence Commission (2009–2016). * 14 September:

Kim Il-chol Kim Il-chol (, born 1933) is a former member of the North Korean National Defence Commission and former Minister for Defence. He was born in Pyongyang in 1933. He graduated from Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and the "Soviet Union Naval Acad ...

, 90, military officer, minister of defence (1997–2009) and member of the National Defence Commission (1988–2010). * 1 October: Kim Yong-il, 76, diplomat and politician.

References

{{Asia topic, 2023 in 2020s in North Korea North Korea North Korea