A Russian 'mystery plane' spotted in North Korea is making Washington nervous, after Kim Jong Un visited Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin this moth. The two leaders, deemed 'rogue' actors by the West, are believed to have discussed and possibly inked a weapons deal at a moment Moscow needs more ammunition for military operations in Ukraine.

Citing aviation tracking site FlightRadar24, Bloomberg described it as an an unscheduled Russian military VIP plane that landed in Pyongyang earlier this week.

The North Korean Ambassador to the UN warned that tensions with the US have escalated so far that there is a realistic potential for a nuclear conflict. The head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, expressed concern that nuclear tension between several states risks a catastrophe of “epic proportions.”

The American soldier who fled into North Korea two months ago is in US custody on a plane that has departed Chinese airspace, a senior Biden administration official told DailyMail.com.

Army Private Travis King, 23, was transferred to US custody in China on Wednesday, and is being flown to an undisclosed US military base, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss King's status. 

North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday of making 2023 an “extremely dangerous year,” saying its actions are trying to provoke a nuclear war and denouncing both U.S. and South Korean leaders for “hysterical remarks of confrontation” that it says are raising the temperature in the region.

Kim Song, North Korea’s U.N. ambassador, also said Washington was trying to create “the Asian version of NATO,” the military alliance that includes European nations and the United States and Canada.

South Korea’s opposition-controlled parliament has passed a motion urging President Yoon Suk-yeol to sack his prime minister over alleged incompetence and policy failures.

Lawmakers on Thursday voted 175-116 in favour of pushing for Han Duck-soo’s dismissal.

It will take ages to unpack the silos of information inbuilt in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok last week, coupled with the – armored - train-keeps-a-rollin’ conducted by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un straddling every nook and cranny of Primorsky Krai.

​The key themes all reflect the four main vectors of the New Great Game as it’s being played across the Global South: energy and energy resources; manufacturing and labor; market and trade rules; and logistics. But they go way beyond – exploring the subtle nuances of the current civilizational war.