North Korea could conduct a “sudden missile launch” toward the end of the year with an eye on Donald Trump’s return to power, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), while also potentially supplying Russia with suicide drones for use against Ukraine.

JCS told reporters on Monday that the DPRK could launch an intermediate range ballistic missile with a hypersonic warhead around its end-of-year plenum, usually held in late December. The plenum is a key meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea to review achievements and set domestic and international policy goals for the year ahead.