The following is the May 23, 2025, Congressional Research Service In Focus report, North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs. From the report North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts.

Mounting trade penalties, political upheaval, and fears of a side deal with Kim Jong Un are straining a decades-old security pact.

The United States extended its ban on travel to North Korea for the ninth year in a row, a federal notice showed, citing "imminent danger" posed by any trips to the authoritarian state.

South Korea's liberal frontrunner for president, Lee Jae-myung, was leading his main conservative rival Kim Moon-soo by more than 10 percentage points in an opinion poll issued on Tuesday, though the race has tightened a week ahead of the election.