North Korean soldiers fighting in Russia's Kursk region against Ukraine have begun resorting to drastic measures to avoid capture, including "finishing off" fellow soldiers and suicide by grenade.

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said a North Korean soldier blew himself up with a grenade in Kursk, Russia.

John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, said of Hegseth's remarks on North Korea's status as a nuclear power: "We've not made such a recognition. I can't speak to what the incoming team will—how they'll characterize it. We've not gone so far as to make that recognition."

North Korea launched "several short-range ballistic missiles," that landed in the Sea of Japan Tuesday morning local time, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.