China forcibly repatriated at least 260 more North Koreans in late April, according to two South Korean human rights groups, the latest in a series of reported forced repatriations since last yea...
South Korea is set to double its military drone fleet by 2026 to bolster its defense capabilities against threats from North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Seoul’s Presidential Office ...
Delegations from several European countries that were poised to visit North Korea to discuss reopening embassies and aid operations recently had their trips canceled at the eleventh hour, informe...
For all its advancements in ballistic missile technology, North Korea is hardly known for excellence in the realm of commercial air travel, maintaining a ragtag fleet of aging Soviet jets that ar...
Seoul has raised its terrorism alert level for five diplomatic missions overseas in response to reported North Korean threats against South Korean officials, the ROK foreign ministry announced on...
The U.S., South Korea and Japan joined a group of 50 countries in calling for continued monitoring of sanctions on North Korea’s weapons programs on Wednesday, following the dissolution of the ...
North Korean police officials from across the country gathered in Pyongyang this week for their first conference in 12 years, underscoring the country’s efforts to combat outside influence and ...
Dennis Halpin, a former State Department official who drew on his deep Catholic faith to advocate for human rights in both North and South Korea, died on Friday at his home in Virginia. He was 75...
North Korean workers are clearing a swath of a mountain directly opposite South Korea on the east coast, a video taken by NK News reveals, in what may be construction for an observation post or o...
A huge toy model of North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) appears to be available to purchase at a store for foreign visitors in Pyongyang, in what one expert called a...
Former President Donald Trump implied that the U.S. could withdraw troops from “wealthy” South Korea if it doesn’t pay more to station them for defense against North Korea, reiterating long...
North Korean trade with its top economic partner China rebounded in March to nearly $160 million, in the latest sign of strength in bilateral exchange. NK News Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin jo...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/05/why-north-korea-has-embraced-sustainable-development-ep-340/
Editor’s note: The following article is an opinion piece by John Everard, a former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts and the British ambassador to Pyongyang from 2006-2008. Views expressed in...
The U.N. panel that has been at the center of global efforts to monitor the implementation of sanctions on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program officially disbanded on Tuesday, following the f...
U.N. experts have confirmed that a North Korean ballistic missile hit the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv earlier this year after traveling to the country to inspect the debris from the attack. Three U...
Iran has dismissed speculation that a North Korean delegation traveled to the country to discuss military cooperation, stating the visit was purely for business opportunities. Foreign ministry ...
A slim majority of South Korean politicians and foreign policy decision-makers oppose the ROK acquiring nuclear weapons to counter North Korea, according to a new survey of 175 “strategic elite...
Forty-three North Korean defectors reached South Korea in the first quarter of the year, according to ministry of unification data released Tuesday, a slight increase on-year but still well below...
South Korea’s unification minister met with Protestant church leaders on Monday to ask for their help to “ensure the return of detained missionaries, abductees, detainees and prisoners of war...
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/ask-a-north-korean-can-north-korean-couples-get-divorced/
North Korea is phasing out the use of the term “Day of the Sun” to refer to the birth anniversary of founding leader Kim Il Sung, DPRK officials have reportedly told multiple foreign tourism ...
Russia pledged to donate eagles, pythons and dozens of other animals to North Korea’s main zoo last week, in a move that one expert compared to China’s panda diplomacy and described as an att...
North Korea recently demolished facilities near major roads connecting it to South Korea, Seoul’s defense ministry confirmed on Monday, while local media reported that the DPRK also installed l...
A large South Korean hotel in the coastal resort city of Gangneung has removed the name of a well-known North Korean official from a VIP suite that she used while staying there ahead of the 2018 ...
A Chinese shipyard that hosted a Russian vessel implicated in arms trade with North Korea is likely violating U.N. sanctions, putting it at risk of punitive actions, a sanctions expert told NK Ne...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unveiled his acquisition of a half dozen new Toyota SUVs on Thursday, traveling in an 18-vehicle convoy featuring the customized Japanese vehicles during a visit t...
South Korea’s unification minister and a top U.S. human rights official will visit the site where North Korea once abducted high school students next month, as Seoul makes a push to draw attent...
North Korea is notorious for how tightly it controls what the outside world can see. Every day, state media broadcasts carefully sanitized images of happy workers, patriotic rallies and appearanc...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a rocket test Thursday and demanded a “newly-established national defense industrial enterprise” fulfill annual production plans, according to state me...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/kim-jong-un-visits-military-university-on-key-army-holiday/
The vast majority of countries around the world have left behind the strict pandemic policies of the recent past, abandoning mask mandates and social distancing as virus fears have eased and peop...
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida deserve a joint nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize for boosting military ties to deter North Korean threats, a top U...
North Korea slammed the U.S. on Thursday for seeking alternatives to the U.N. Panel of Experts monitoring DPRK sanctions, claiming that the country only “grows stronger before harsher sanctions...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-korea-blasts-us-for-seeking-alternatives-to-un-sanctions-panel/
North Korea’s national carrier Air Koryo has changed its logo to comply with a new state policy opposing unification with South Korea, according to NK News analysis. The former logo featured a ...
Most reporting and research on North Korea paints a bleak picture of the country, focusing on its oppressive politics, routine violations of human rights and the dire humanitarian circumstances o...
Thousands of North Korean propaganda sector workers gathered in Pyongyang this week for a four-day conference on boosting worship of leader Kim Jong Un and eliminating reluctance to follow his or...
North Korea’s foreign ministry denounced U.S. military support for Ukraine on Wednesday, claiming the Biden administration is earning “enormous profits while feasting on ‘blood-mixed wine.�...
North Korea will likely reopen to tourists from all over the world in the second half of the year, according to a company specializing in DPRK travel, after Russian tourists recently became the f...
U.S. and South Korean forces are holding joint space operations drills for the first time this month, training to conduct strikes in response to North Korean GPS jamming attacks and other threats...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led a salvo missile launch to test the country’s “Nuclear Trigger’ system” for the first time this week. NK News Deputy Managing Editor Alannah Hill (@alan...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/one-mans-mission-to-map-all-of-north-korea-ep-339/
North Korea and Iran are set to discuss economic relations in Tehran in the coming days, according to state media, after Pyongyang dispatched its first government delegation to Iran in almost fiv...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-korea-and-iran-to-hold-talks-on-economic-cooperation-in-tehran/
South Korea’s ban on the consumption of North Korean media and other restrictions imposed by the National Security Act (NSA) limit freedom of speech and expression, the U.S. State Department st...
A prominent North Korean defector-author has won a defamation lawsuit against another defector who accused him of sexual crimes and a South Korean broadcaster that reported her story, court docum...
The current state of inter-Korean relations is dire, with North Korea announcing it no longer seeks reunification with the South and recent general elections in the ROK highlighting public disint...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led a salvo missile launch to test the country’s “Nuclear Trigger’ system” for the first time on Monday, according to state media, while blaming the U.S. a...
South Korea’s F-4E Phantom fighter jet completed its final live-fire exercises last week, marking the end of an era for the assets that were once vital to the ROK’s air defense against North ...
North Korean agricultural and forestry delegations headed to Russia over the weekend in what one expert described as a bid by Moscow to repay Pyongyang for its supplies of weapons. DPRK vice pr...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-korean-agricultural-and-forestry-delegations-to-visit-russia/
North Korea has started new construction at the country’s main space launch complex in recent days, according to NK News analysis of satellite imagery, as South Korean military authorities said...
The production company behind the popular Amazon Prime animation series “Invincible” is conducting an internal review after allegations emerged that one of the show’s sketches was found on ...
North Korea fired “multiple presumed short-range ballistic missiles” toward the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Monday afternoon, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The JCS ...
North Korea conducted “regular” tests of new cruise and anti-aircraft missiles on Friday, according to state media, the first such launches in over two months. “The DPRK Missile Administrat...
North Korea’s foreign ministry sharply criticized the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. on Friday for visiting South Korea and Japan, accusing her of “begging” for support to “enliven the weake...
The U.N. sanctions committee on North Korea has granted exemptions for two aid agencies to ship tents, thermometers and vaccine storage equipment to the country. U.N. documents show that the 1718...
North Korea’s trade with China jumped in March from the previous month but failed to match last year’s highs, with bilateral exchange slumping on-year in the first quarter of 2024. Total trad...
The news that a North Korean soccer player would soon compete in a South Korean league made headlines last month after the Japanese-born Ri Yong Jin signed with FC Anyang. But Ri is far from the ...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/the-north-koreans-who-made-their-mark-in-south-koreas-soccer-league/
An American cryptocurrency researcher currently serving time in prison for helping North Korea evade sanctions has requested to be resentenced following the amendment of guidelines, which could s...
A well-known Christian missionary organization that helps North Koreans flee the country pushed would-be escapees to sign contracts agreeing to be filmed and to attend classes on Christian faith ...
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
With the end of the U.N. Panel of Experts on North Korea fast approaching, NK News founder Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl) sits down in the studio to discuss the pros and cons of four alternative way...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/the-ups-and-downs-of-negotiating-with-north-koreans-ep-338/
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a bombastic ceremony to celebrate the ground opening of a new 10,000-home development in the capital on Tuesday, featuring a new song praising him as the n...
The U.S. is looking for alternatives to the expert panel monitoring North Korea sanctions both “inside and outside the U.N.,” Washington’s ambassador to the U.N. said Wednesday, assessing t...
A former North Korean diplomat faces 20 criminal charges in the U.S. for money laundering and other crimes after he allegedly deceived American banks into processing financial transactions for th...
North Korean state media mentioned South Korea’s recent parliamentary election for the first time on Tuesday, a move one expert said may be aimed at whipping up social unrest in the ROK. The pa...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-korean-state-media-makes-first-mention-of-recent-rok-election/
North Korea is capable of engineering bioweapons for military purposes with gene-editing technology like CRISPR, according to a new U.S. government report, highlighting possible efforts to advanc...
Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the worst tragedy in recent South Korean history: the sinking of the Sewol passenger ferry off the country’s southwest coast. The disaster claimed the live...
The North Korean bureaucracy, or rather the part responsible for foreign policy issues, is currently in the midst of a storm. Institutions that have existed for decades are being disbanded with...
The U.S. envoy to the U.N. told South Korea’s defense minister on Monday that Washington is looking for alternative ways to continue investigating North Korean sanctions breaches, after Russia ...
North Korea held a seminar on the state ideology of Juche for over 20 international friendship groups on Sunday, with experts telling NK News that official coverage of the event is aimed at convi...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met the leader of China’s national legislature on Saturday and stressed the importance of bilateral ties, though an expert told NK News that Beijing is likely ta...
South Korea marked the 76th anniversary of one of the darkest incidents in its history this month — the massacre of tens of thousands of people on the southern island of Jeju due to their alleg...
Glyn Ford is no stranger to North Korea or its people. Following on from his 2018 book “Talking to North Korea,” which encouraged a more open and less hostile approach to dealing with Pyongya...
The U.N. General Assembly convened on Thursday to discuss Russia’s veto of a resolution to extend the mandate of the expert panel monitoring North Korea sanctions, with several countries propos...
At least 50 members of pro-North Korea friendship groups from around the world have gathered in Pyongyang ahead of the country’s biggest holiday, according to state media, in what one expert sa...
The U.S., South Korea and Japan held a joint maritime drill this week on countering submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other “underwater threats” from North Korea, the ROK navy announc...
The outcome of South Korea’s general election on Wednesday dealt a major blow to President Yoon Suk-yeol, with the opposition Democratic Party (DP) winning 176 seats and the People Power Party ...
North Korea wants to send as many citizens as possible to study at Russian universities, the DPRK’s education minister reportedly said this week, amid concerns that such academic exchange is a ...
High-profile defector-lawmaker Tae Yong-ho lost his seat in parliament in South Korea’s general election on Wednesday, in a major setback to the former North Korean diplomat’s political caree...
The leaders of the U.S. and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to resuming diplomatic outreach to the DPRK on Wednesday despite its recent rejection of a summit with Tokyo, while pledging to simul...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned that his military is ready for “full mobilization” to “completely annihilate” the country’s enemies if provoked, according to state media on Thurs...
Ethnic Chinese residents of North Korea have returned to the DPRK for the first time in four years after a lengthy exile during the pandemic, the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang recently revealed. A...
The different rules between college basketball and the NBA were on display throughout this year’s March Madness tournament, with the amateur athletes playing two 20-minute halves rather than fo...
South Koreans head to the polls on April 10 to cast their votes in the general election to choose their next legislators. The NK News team sits down in the studio to discuss what impact, if any, ...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-koreas-impact-on-the-south-korean-general-election-ep-337/
New Zealand will deploy a patrol aircraft to support the monitoring and surveillance of illegal ship-to-ship transfers by North Korea, Japan’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday. In a press ...
Japan’s ambassador to the U.S. said Pyongyang is not ready to resolve the issue of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens, as Tokyo continues to make efforts to set up a meeting between...
The U.S. and South Korean navies conducted a nine-day mine exercise in waters near a southern port city this month, the ROK navy announced Tuesday, appearing to train to remove North Korean mines...
China’s third highest-ranked official Zhao Leji will lead a political delegation to North Korea this week, the two countries announced Tuesday afternoon. Zhao will attend the opening ceremony f...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/chinas-third-highest-ranked-official-to-visit-north-korea-this-week/
The brutal terrorist attack that killed more than a thousand in Israel last year and set off the ongoing conflict in Gaza has renewed scrutiny of Iran’s support for Hamas and Islamic extremism....
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/the-revolutionary-axis-linking-north-korea-iran-and-hamas/
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/ask-a-north-korean-what-are-working-hours-like-in-the-dprk/
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the construction site for the latest 10,000-apartment project in Pyongyang over the weekend, according to state media, revealing expansive plans for additi...
A delegation from North Korea’s education ministry is visiting Russia to discuss expanding the quota of DPRK students at Russian institutions, in what one expert called a likely “ploy” to e...
South Korea successfully launched its second military spy satellite into orbit on Monday, pushing forward an initiative to improve the country’s ability to monitor North Korea. The ROK’s mili...
When North Koreans turn on state television, they can expect to watch dry documentaries on the Kim family’s greatness, children’s cartoons extolling the virtues of patriotism and news reports...
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) appears to have purged its archive this year, deleting all content published before 2023 save for select reports on events attended by ...
The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling for an update to the landmark Commission of Inquiry (COI) on North Korean human rights abuses, a move one activist called the ...
South Koreans are set to go to the polls in less than a week to choose their lawmakers for the next four years, but despite heightened inter-Korean tensions and even warnings about the possibilit...
Exclusive photos taken on the ground in North Korea this year offer a glimpse of recent changes in the country, from new pandemic-related propaganda to the construction of a new dog meat restaura...
North Korean insurance firms have continued to conduct business overseas in the past five years, according to information in the latest U.N. Panel of Experts report, despite concerns that their p...
Correspondence between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin has shot up since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, according to NK News analysis of state media...
The South Korean YouTuber Lee Jae-ho was eating at a North Korean barbecue restaurant in China this year when a waitress posed an unexpected question. “Which country are you from? Are you Korea...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to use a new Cadillac SUV during his inspection of a missile test on Tuesday, according to NK News analysis of state media. The acquisition of a vehicle r...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/kim-jong-un-adds-cadillac-suv-to-growing-luxury-car-collection/
South Korean authorities confirmed that they are investigating an unflagged cargo ship suspected of breaching sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday, following reports it was seized off the countr...
Soccer’s world governing body has fined North Korea around $11,000 over its last-minute cancellation of a men’s World Cup qualifier against Japan last month. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee a...
Russia controversially vetoed a resolution to maintain the U.N. Panel of Experts on North Korea last week. NK News correspondent Shreyas Reddy (@shreyas_k_reddy) and news trainee Joe Smith (@nkjo...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/the-challenges-of-archiving-north-koreas-volatile-media-ep-336/
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided a successful test of the new “Hwasong-16B” hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on Tuesday, according to state media. The Rodong Sinmu...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-korea-says-kim-jong-un-led-hwasong-16b-hypersonic-irbm-test/
The U.S., South Korea and Japan staged joint aerial drills featuring a nuclear-capable bomber on Tuesday, following a North Korean ballistic missile launch earlier in the day. The allies’ fir...
South Korea sanctioned two Russian ships linked to North Korea’s arms trade with Moscow on Tuesday, as well as Russian individuals and companies allegedly involved in Pyongyang’s deployment o...
South Korea’s unification ministry has accused North Korea of attempting to interfere in next week’s general elections by publishing articles “belittling” President Yoon Suk-yeol — even...
North Korea fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) toward the East Sea (Sea of Japan) early Tuesday morning, according to the South Korean military, a few weeks after testi...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-korea-fires-at-least-one-ballistic-missile-toward-east-coast/
A South Korean student association has accused Seoul’s spy agency of “illegally” monitoring its members in an attempt to frame them as pro-North Korean, though the National Intelligence Ser...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently inspected a sprawling new campus for the Central Cadres Training School of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), according to state media on Sunday,...
The U.N. Panel of Experts overseeing DPRK sanctions has become an “obedient tool” in the hands of North Korea’s foes, according to Russia’s foreign ministry, explaining why it vetoed a re...
In the mountains of southeastern South Korea, Venerable Popta lives a monastic life as the abbot of Eunhae Temple, meditating daily and receiving visitors at his traditional Korean home. But whil...
Representatives of pro-North Korea friendship groups in the U.K., Russia and several other countries will travel to Pyongyang in April for a major holiday, marking the first time such foreign del...
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
Russia on Thursday vetoed the extension of the mandate for the U.N. Panel of Experts tasked with monitoring sanctions implementation against North Korea, arguing that the sanctions regime has los...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/russia-vetoes-un-panels-mandate-to-monitor-north-korea-sanctions/
On any given day, office workers in Seoul’s financial district shuttle in and out of shiny high-rises that overlook the Han River. Shoppers wander through shops at one of the city’s newest de...
A delayed U.N. Security Council (UNSC) vote on extending the mandate of the Panel of Experts overseeing North Korea sanctions is scheduled to take place on Thursday morning in New York, informed ...
The U.S. and South Korea have imposed coordinated sanctions on individuals and entities linked to money laundering in support of North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, the allies announ...
The chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency traveled to North Korea this week for talks on countering espionage, according to DPRK state media, a visit that an expert called a telltale si...
A much-anticipated soccer match between archrivals North Korea and Japan set to take place in Pyongyang this week ended before it had even begun, after the DPRK called off its plans to host the W...
The South Korean navy is conducting live-fire exercises all along the country’s coastlines this week to bolster readiness against North Korean naval threats, while commemorating those killed in...
North Korea will “reject any and all” contacts with Tokyo going forward, the leader’s sister Kim Yo Jong said Tuesday, a month after floating the possibility of a bilateral summit and a day...
North Korean soccer star Han Kwang Song is now playing for the DPRK’s top club side in Pyongyang, after international sanctions derailed his promising career in Europe. The Choson Sinbo, a pro-...
The U.S. and South Korea have launched a new task force to counter North Korea’s illicit efforts to procure fuel in support of its nuclear weapons program, the allies announced this week, in wh...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/us-rok-launch-new-task-force-to-counter-north-korean-oil-smuggling/
North Korea continues to process cargo through a border disinfection facility established during the pandemic despite taking steps to ease COVID-19 controls, according to NK Pro analysis. NK News...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/how-north-korea-rinses-the-dirty-proceeds-of-its-cyber-heists-ep-335/
Japan has issued an advisory that North Korean IT workers are impersonating Japanese nationals to secure jobs, underscoring the role of these skilled professionals in funding Pyongyang’s nuclea...
What was shaping up to be a remarkable return of international sports to North Korea on Tuesday ended up as an embarrassing own goal after the country suddenly scrapped its World Cup qualifier ag...
North Korean state television censored a pair of blue jeans when airing a British gardening show on Monday, a move that appears to reflect the regime’s efforts to restrict popular Western fashi...
Humanitarian organizations say North Korea’s ongoing border closure has made it “impossible” to accurately assess the level of need inside the country, according to the latest U.N. Panel of...
Russian nationals with ties to the mercenary Wagner Group conspired with North Korean officials in Syria to orchestrate weapons transfers, according to information in a new U.N. report. Pavel She...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/wagner-group-helped-smuggle-north-korean-weapons-to-russia-report/
A high-ranking North Korean official led a delegation to China and met foreign minister Wang Yi, among other officials, state media announced Monday. Kim Song Nam, director of the Central Committ...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has expressed condolences to Vladimir Putin over the deadly terrorist attack at a concert hall in Moscow last week. State media published a letter that Kim sent to...
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is pushing for a summit with Kim Jong Un in bid to boost his low approval rating, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister insinuated on Monday, claiming ...
The U.N. Panel of Experts overseeing DPRK sanctions is investigating allegations that North Korean officials engaged in multiple wildlife trafficking schemes in Africa between 2022 and 2023, acco...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the military’s top tank unit on Sunday, according to state media, lauding their history as the “first” group to enter the South Korean capital Seoul ...
The United States delayed a much anticipated Security Council vote on Friday that would decide whether the Panel of Experts (PoE) would continue, multiple sources told NK News. In an exclusive ...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/us-delays-vote-to-extend-un-sanctions-panel-on-north-korea/
South Korean auditors have launched an investigation into allegations that the former Moon administration failed to properly verify North Korea demolished front-line guard posts (GP) under an int...
There is no clear evidence that North Korean cybercriminals sought to steal weapons data from Russian defense companies, Moscow has told a U.N. sanctions panel, despite research linking the DPRK ...
North Korea blew past a U.N.-imposed cap on oil imports last year, smuggling in up to three times the allowed volume in defiance of international sanctions, according to a new assessment by U.N. ...
North Korea has abruptly canceled its plans to host a men’s World Cup qualifier against Japan in Pyongyang next week, despite already sending its national team to play the first leg in Tokyo, a...
U.S. and South Korean armed forces are holding joint urban combat drills this week that closely simulate operations against North Korean underground tunnels following a “Hamas-style attack.” ...
North Korea’s theft of cryptocurrency accounts for as much as half of its foreign financing and plays a major role in bankrolling the regime’s nuclear ambitions, a new U.N. report states, est...
A North Korean national has used a network of companies in Thailand and Laos to illicitly import brandy and other goods for the regime and access the international financial system in violation o...
One hundred thousand North Korean workers remained employed overseas in 2023, according to information in the latest U.N. Panel of Experts report, generating an estimated $500 million in annual r...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/100k-north-koreans-still-earning-money-for-regime-overseas-un-report/
A Moscow-based travel company is offering new tours to North Korea in partnership with DPRK authorities, the agency told NK News, setting it up to be the second Russian company to take travelers ...
In “La Corée du Nord en 100 questions: L’obsession nucléaire,” two French experts on East Asia, Juliette Morillot and Dorian Malovic, offer answers to 100 questions covering the history, ...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/book-review-a-realist-appraisal-of-north-koreas-nuclear-obsession/
Major disagreements among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) have put the future of the expert group tasked with monitoring North Korea sanctions in question, with a g...
The U.S. and South Korea wrapped up large-scale springtime military drills last week, but not without a response from the DPRK. NK News Managing Editor Bryan Betts (@BryanBetts21) sits down to di...
A South Korean man faces thousands of dollars in fines for importing and selling North Korean novels following his conviction for breaking the country’s inter-Korean exchange law. The Seoul C...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful static motor test firing for a “multi-stage solid-propellant rocket motor to be loaded in an intermediate-range hypersonic missile,” accor...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/kim-jong-un-oversees-hypersonic-missile-engine-test-state-media/
North Korea’s soccer association has rejected the applications of six news organizations to cover a World Cup qualifying match in Pyongyang later this month, including NK News. The DPRK did not...
China clashed with the U.N. special envoy on North Korean human rights at the ongoing U.N. Human Rights Council Session in Geneva on Monday, with Beijing denying that North Koreans entering China...
North Korea has sent around 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia in support of Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, South Korea’s defense minister said Monday. In a press conference, Shin W...
North Korea’s trade with its main commercial partner China slumped in the first two months of 2024, according to official statistics, after bilateral exchange reached a six-year high in Decembe...
Two large Russian delegations of officials and ballet performers are visiting North Korea this week to mark the 75th anniversary of a cultural and economic cooperation agreement, in the latest si...
North Korean state television aired a recent inter-Korean women’s soccer match over the weekend, notably referring to the South by its official name the Republic of Korea amid a shakeup in the ...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw salvo tests of a “super-large” multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) on Monday, according to state media, his fifth appearance at military drills in the...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un congratulated Vladimir Putin on Monday after the Russian leader clinched a fifth term in office, albeit in a rubber-stamp election against no credible opposition. ...
The South Korean military recently held large-scale reinforcement drills on border islands in the Yellow Sea, training to deploy forces in the event of a North Korean attack amid concerns about i...
North Korea’s ambassador to Cuba is leaving the country after finishing a five-year tour of duty, a departure that comes on the heels of the Caribbean state’s surprise move to establish forma...
North Korea fired at least three suspected ballistic missiles Monday morning toward the East Sea (Sea of Japan), according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and Japan’s defense min...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/north-korea-fires-first-suspected-ballistic-missile-in-two-months/
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used an armored car he recently received from Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the first time on Friday, Kim’s sister said via state media Saturday, holding up ...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw paratrooper drills on Friday simulating an infiltration operation into South Korea, according to state media, the fourth large-scale military training Kim ...
South Korea reconvened a planning committee on Friday that will recommend changes to the government’s long-term unification strategy based on input from defectors, young people and members of t...
South Korean and U.S. fighter jets conducted a series of live-fire exercises with an array of different missiles and bombs this week, training to intercept North Korean cruise missiles and carry ...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/us-rok-hold-live-fire-air-drills-on-bombing-north-korean-targets/
A global coalition of civil society groups has called on the U.N. to update a “groundbreaking” investigation into widespread North Korean human rights abuses, stressing the need for renewed a...
Russian forces have fired North Korean missiles at Ukraine some 50 times since launching its invasion in Feb. 2022, according to Uranian investigators, including at least three DPRK ballistic mis...
Photos taken from near the Demilitarized Zone this week confirm that North Korea has cleared remnants of the inter-Korean liaison office it blew up four years ago, though some parts of the struct...
The boom of artillery fire and rat-a-tat-tat of anti-aircraft guns rang out in the mountains outside Seoul on Thursday, as ROK tanks and U.S. military drones conducted firepower drills simulating...
A Seoul-based human rights organization is set to sue Pyongyang over a decades-long campaign to lure ethnic Koreans to move to North Korea through false promises, the first-ever South Korean laws...
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the U.N.’s groundbreaking investigation on North Korean human rights, which found that the scale of abuses in the DPRK “reveal a State that does not ha...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw tank drills on Wednesday, according to state media, inspecting a new main battle tank introduced in recent years and test-driving a model. It was Kim’s t...
The South Korean military conducted an aerial exercise simulating precision strikes against North Korean ballistic missile launchers on Wednesday, the penultimate day of large-scale U.S.-ROK Free...
Russian President Vladimir Putin said North Korea has sufficient nuclear capabilities to defend itself and has never sought Russia’s protection in exchange for providing soldiers for the war in...
The U.S. and South Korea launched large-scale springtime military exercises to practice “neutralizing” North Korean nuclear threats this month. Pyongyang has called the Freedom Shield exercis...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/north-koreas-unexpected-response-to-us-rok-military-exercises-ep-333/
A Russian cargo plane sanctioned by the U.S. over its alleged role in supporting the invasion of Ukraine detoured to North Korea this week, an unusual flight that experts say raises concerns abou...
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/ask-a-north-korean-how-do-north-koreans-interact-with-nature/
A South Korean pastor recently detained in Russia on espionage charges worked with North Korean escapees in the Far East city of Vladivostok, NK News confirmed on Tuesday. Baek Kwang-soon served ...
North Korea has recently upgraded its mobile telecommunications networks to 4G services, a technology expert confirmed, highlighting the country’s belated efforts to enhance its capabilities in...
North Korea offered top-performing “communist mothers” sightseeing flights over Pyongyang last week aboard a Soviet-era turboprop plane, according to state media, in a rare report on a novel ...
North Korea and Japan’s men’s soccer teams will face off in a World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang as scheduled later this month, in what will be the first international sporting event in the cou...
North Korea has removed the remnants of an inter-Korean liaison office it blew up four years ago, a development one expert saw as further evidence of Kim Jong Un’s recent push to distance the c...
North Korea has started building factories in all 20 cities and counties targeted for new construction under a sweeping rural development initiative, according to state media, after authorities h...
North Korean foreign ministry officials are visiting Mongolia for talks this week, marking the first DPRK delegation in five years to the country which has played a role in past nuclear talks. DP...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/north-korean-delegation-visits-mongolia-for-first-time-in-five-years/
North Korea attempted to jam a U.S.-ROK military navigation system throughout the allies’ large-scale exercises this week, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Friday. This is the first t...
South Korea’s foreign ministry will dissolve a division responsible for negotiating peace and denuclearization with North Korea, the ministry announced Friday, a move that experts say reflects ...
A U.S. court has ordered the forfeiture of nearly 150 cryptocurrency accounts allegedly used by two Chinese nationals to launder some $100 million in stolen assets for North Korea, U.S. court doc...
An ethnic Korean soccer player from Japan who has played for the North Korean national soccer team has made the move to South Korea’s domestic league, joining a short list of players whose care...
North Korea’s “draconian” measures to keep COVID-19 at bay by sealing its borders and further limiting freedoms had “devastating consequences” for the average citizen, according to a le...
The second Russian tour to North Korea since the start of the pandemic left for Pyongyang on Friday, as the DPRK pushes forward efforts to normalize tourism and market itself as a destination for...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led artillery drills on Thursday to demonstrate the military’s ability to strike the South Korean capital Seoul, according to state media, on the second day of D...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/north-korea-conducts-artillery-drills-says-seoul-within-range/
The South Korean air force conducted live-fire drills to practice intercepting cruise missiles and responding with guided bomb strikes into enemy territory on Thursday, simulating a conflict with...
North Korea broke ground on six more factories for an ambitious new regional development initiative this week, according to state media, as the regime looks to show it is making efforts to addres...
A series of statements by U.S. officials in recent days has appeared to soften Washington’s tone on North Korea, expressing a willingness to consider “interim steps” toward the goal of denu...
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led military drills on Wednesday simulating the takeover of a South Korean border guard post, according to state media, saying they were necessary to counter “th...
The South Korean air force held a drill simulating an air-to-air interception of North Korean cruise missiles on Wednesday, following the DPRK’s test launches of new cruise missiles earlier thi...
North Korea marked the fifth anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un’s trip to Vietnam by highlighting relations between Pyongyang and Hanoi, while making no mention of Kim’s failed summit with for...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/what-the-uns-role-in-north-korea-will-look-like-going-forward-ep-332/
North Korea has fallen far down the list of the U.S. government’s priorities during the Biden administration, to the point that the DPRK has been all but forgotten. But as the next presidential...
The U.N. has named a new resident coordinator to oversee the operations of its humanitarian and development organizations in North Korea, though the country’s border controls mean he is current...
North Korea said its soldiers are too busy carrying out construction projects to respond to “provocative” U.S.-South Korea joint military drills this week, a message experts said appears aime...
Families separated by the Korean War were dealt another blow when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that unification with South Korea is “impossible,” a declaration that will likely m...
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has sent an inspection team to North Korea this week, ahead of a World Cup qualifying match between the DPRK and Japan’s men’s soccer team in Pyongyang ...
A newly released South Korean documentary has put the spotlight back on the country’s first President Syngman Rhee — and on his hardline approach to North Korea still popular in conservative ...
North Korean cybercriminals targeted South Korean semiconductor companies in a possible bid to establish domestic capabilities to support Pyongyang’s satellite and missile development, Seoul’...
North Korea continues to rank as one of the world’s most repressive countries due to its reliance on strict surveillance, prison camps and other instruments of social control, according to a ne...
North Korean state media celebrated the fifth anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un’s “historic Hanoi summit” in Feb. 2019 — but not the one with U.S. President Donald Trump. Voice of Korea, ...
The U.S. and South Korea launched large-scale springtime military exercises to practice “neutralizing” North Korean nuclear threats on Monday, according to Seoul’s defense ministry. The fir...
South Korea and Ukraine offered conflicting estimates this week of how many artillery rounds North Korea has supplied to Russia, raising questions about the extent of Pyongyang and Moscow’s mil...
A group of some 100 Russian tourists became the first foreigners to visit North Korea in four years in February, and Russian authorities have announced that there will be two more tours to the co...
South Korea’s unification ministry has rejected humanitarian groups’ requests to contact North Korean partners to arrange aid shipments since last year, two ROK organizations told NK News thi...
Some defectors hailing from areas around North Korea’s nuclear test site have been found to have chromosomal abnormalities, according to a new report, though researchers say they cannot prove t...
North Korea’s women’s soccer team suffered a narrow loss to Japan in a make-or-break Olympic qualifier on Wednesday, missing out on its chance to secure a spot at the global sporting contest ...
The U.K. is engaged in talks with North Korea about sending a team to inspect its embassy in Pyongyang after four years of closure, British officials told NK News, in what could lay the groundwor...
North Korea’s first military spy satellite launched last year is functioning normally and able to adjust its orbit, aerospace experts have assessed, counter to the South Korean defense chief’...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was “ashamed and sorry” for neglecting economic development outside the capital during his time in power, according to state media on Thursday, promisi...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/kim-jong-un-says-hes-ashamed-and-sorry-for-neglecting-economy/
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/ask-a-north-korean-what-games-do-children-play-in-north-korea/
The U.S. and South Korea will kick off large-scale spring military exercises next week, featuring twice as many rounds of field training as last year and live-fire drills on shooting down North K...
A German delegation traveled to North Korea this week to inspect the condition of the country’s embassy in Pyongyang, in what appears to be the first visit by European staff in some four years....
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/how-a-new-cold-war-is-making-north-korea-more-risk-averse-ep-331/
Wednesday marks the fifth anniversary of the collapse of the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi, but while that failure has overshadowed bilateral ties in recent years, Republican frontrunner and f...
Last-minute venue changes, prompted by concerns over travel to North Korea, have complicated Olympic qualifying matches this week between the DPRK and Japan’s women’s soccer teams, underlinin...
Nearly a hundred Russian tourists visited North Korea earlier this month, becoming the first foreign travelers to enter the country in years. Now two of the travelers who joined the tour have sha...
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol should consider recruiting his predecessor Moon Jae-in to help engage North Korea, former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon proposed Monday. Lee, now head o...
A rare opportunity to reset relations between North Korea and the U.S. took place when Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump met in Hanoi for their second summit, and the whole city appeared to be buzzing...
A German delegation is currently in North Korea to inspect the condition of the country’s embassy in Pyongyang, according to the German Federal Foreign Office, in what appears to be the first v...
North Korea has once again failed to pay its contribution to the U.N budget on time, in what one expert said may be a sign of the DPRK’s post-pandemic financial difficulties. As of an update on...
North Korea has started a project to build 10,000 more homes in residential skyscrapers in the capital over the next year, according to state media, framing this as part of leader Kim Jong Un’s...
North Korea announced one of the most radical shifts in its official ideology in years at the beginning of 2024, with leader Kim Jong Un making clear that Pyongyang no longer aims to achieve peac...
The European Union blacklisted North Korea’s defense chief and key missile bureau on Friday over arms transfers to Russia, while the U.S. designated entities involved in a related shipping oper...
North Korea continues to keep its doors shut to foreign aid workers despite the efforts of humanitarian groups to return to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance, multiple international org...
A record number of North Korean delegations have visited Russia this month, with the two sides focusing on deepening sports and cyber ties while celebrating their shared anti-Western stance. The ...
South Korean defense minister Shin Won-sik said the U.S. will have to “give up its global leadership” if it gives into North Korean extortion and abandons its alliance with Seoul, responding ...
Editor’s note: The following article is an opinion piece by Rob York, director for regional affairs at the Pacific Forum. Views expressed in opinion articles are exclusively the author’s own ...
Seoul will designate July 14 as “North Korean Defectors’ Day,” the Ministry of Unification announced on Wednesday, a move that escapees welcomed while raising concerns that the day could be...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/south-korea-to-designate-july-14-as-north-korean-defector-day/
South Korean police launched search and seizure operations on a Supreme Court digital data bureau this month to confiscate servers compromised in cyberattacks by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Th...
South Korea’s unification ministry has budgeted $300,000 to start a new YouTube channel focused on providing “objective information about North Korea,” the ministry told NK News on Wednesda...
Last week, South Korea made the surprise move to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, despite Havana’s close relationship with North Korea over several decades. Given Cuba’s difficult ec...
South Korea’s unification ministry has identified a previously unknown gravesite in North Korea where hundreds of U.N. forces who died during the Korean War are likely buried, a finding that co...
The biggest South Korean civilian organization pushing for reunification has disbanded in response to North Korea’s decision to abandon unification as a goal, in a sign of how the policy change...
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korea’s leader, raised the possibility of engagement between Pyongyang and Tokyo last week but caveated that this is her “personal” view. NK New...
A North Korean ballistic missile that Russia used against Ukraine last month heavily incorporated foreign-sourced parts, including from the U.S., according to a new report. Researchers from Confl...
The U.S. is not just “wagging its finger” at North Korea over human rights but is willing to discuss America’s human rights record with Pyongyang as well, the U.S. special envoy for North K...
An Olympic qualifying match between the Japanese and North Korean women’s soccer teams will not be held in Pyongyang this Saturday as originally scheduled, according to the Asian Football Confe...
In a new book, the Canadian academic Andre Schmid offers a theoretical critique of North Korea’s economic and social development in the period from the Korean War’s Armistice to the middle of...
A Chinese man is awaiting extradition to the U.S. in Australia for his alleged role in raising cash for the North Korean regime in a multimillion-dollar tobacco smuggling operation, Australian au...
South Korea and Germany issued a joint cybersecurity advisory on Monday warning that North Korea is increasingly using cyber espionage to obtain military technologies and advance its weapons prog...
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has gifted a car to his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un, according to DPRK state media on Tuesday. The transaction, prohibited under U.N. sanctions, comes after...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/putin-gives-kim-jong-un-a-car-in-violation-of-un-sanctions/
A North Korean art festival scheduled for April will not feature any live performances by foreign participants this year, the DPRK’s culture ministry has told NK News, while a government offici...
A South Korean court sentenced three unification activists to 12 years in prison each on Friday for spying for North Korea, after they were charged with taking orders and accepting thousands of d...
During a recent visit to Washington, I was surprised by the significant impact of a now-infamous article by Robert Carlin and Siegfried Hecker on Korea watchers in the U.S. For those unfamiliar, ...
Following the first foreign tour to North Korea since before the pandemic, Russian regional authorities announced earlier this month that there will soon be two more tours to the DPRK, highlighti...
https://www.nknews.org/gallery/on-the-border-north-koreas-remote-gateway-to-the-world-in-photos/
North Korean IT workers created and sold thousands of illegal gambling websites to South Korean criminals to raise billions of dollars in illicit funds for the Kim Jong Un regime over an unspecif...
The U.S. will significantly ease sanctions regulations on humanitarian and journalistic activities in North Korea, a decision one expert lauded as a welcome move. The Office of Foreign Assets...
North Korea appears to have amended its national anthem to remove a reference to the Korean Peninsula amid a wider purge of anything representing unification with South Korea. The amendment comes...
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korea’s leader, issued a response to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday night, floating the possibility of engagement between Pyongya...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/kim-yo-jong-floats-possible-engagement-between-north-korea-and-japan/
Pyongyang blasted U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights Julie Turner on Thursday, following her arrival in South Korea the previous day, in rhetoric that activists described as particul...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/north-korea-slams-us-human-rights-envoy-after-her-arrival-in-seoul/
North Korean cybercriminals have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to advance their spear-phishing efforts targeting DPRK-focused experts and organizations, Microsoft and OpenAI announced We...
A Seoul court sentenced a South Korean pastor to five years in prison on Wednesday for molesting five North Korean defector students who attended his private boarding school, a significantly ligh...
Kim Jong Un recently visited a weapons factory and highlighted the importance of increasing munitions to combat North Korea’s enemies, state media reported Thursday. Accompanied by ruling party...
Kim Jong Un oversaw the test of new surface-to-sea missiles on Wednesday as part of efforts to strengthen North Korea’s navy and fend off “invasion” from South Korean forces. The “Padas...
On the second floor of Seoul’s National Museum of Korea sit two artifacts that command the attention of anyone who enters the room. The Pensive Bodhisattva statues, whose roots can be traced ba...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/how-south-koreas-national-treasures-were-nearly-lost-to-north-korea/
The first group of tourists to visit North Korea since before the COVID-19 pandemic returned home to Russia this week after a 4-day trip to Pyongyang and the Masikryong Ski Resort. NK News Data C...
North Korea has acquired a Russian robot in a bid to modernize its education system, the company that produced the model confirmed to NK News, with an expert raising concerns over how such a tech...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/north-korea-shows-off-russian-robot-designed-to-help-educators/
North Korea launched “several” cruise missiles off the east coast, South Korean military stated on Wednesday. This is North Korea’s fifth cruise missile test in less than a month. The last ...
The 18th Pyongyang International Film Festival (PIFF) is set to go ahead this year, its sponsors told NK News, in what could mark the first return of the event since before the COVID-19 pandemic....
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
Monitoring North Korea and the U.S.-ROK alliance requires knowledge of a variety of acronyms and abbreviations that often sound similar and confusing, especially due to militaries and governments...
Anti-doping officials were recently allowed into North Korea to test DPRK weightlifters, likely becoming the first foreigners to enter the country since 2020 outside a narrow band of state-approv...
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification imposed six fines for violations of the Inter-Korean Exchange Act last year, the ministry announced on Monday, amounting to KRW 8.2 million (USD 6,160). Ac...
Russia’s ambassador to North Korea says the two countries are eyeing the establishment of a “direct rail service,” among other transportation links, as the first group of Russian tourists i...
North Korea tested a new “controlled rocket artillery shell and ballistic control system” on Sunday, according to state media. The Academy of Defense Development fired the 240mm controlled ro...
On Feb. 9, 1954, 76 Korean and 12 Chinese POWs set sail from Incheon, South Korea to Madras, India to begin uncertain new lives in an undecided country. Diehard anti-communists, traitors to South...
A group of Russians departed for North Korea on Friday, marking the first tourists to visit the country since the COVID-19 pandemic, NK News confirmed. Natalia Zinina, a manager at Vostok Intur t...
North Korea has secured the “lawful” right to “annihilate” South Korea if provoked by recently redefining its policy toward Seoul, leader Kim Jong Un said to the country’s military in a...
A group of Russian nationals are gearing up to become the first tourists to enter the DPRK since it closed its borders in early 2020. The trip aligns with the ongoing cooperation between Russia a...
President Yoon Suk-yeol asserted that South Korea is capable of quickly developing nuclear weapons but would refrain from doing so to avoid sanctions such as those levied on North Korea. “Som...
Russia appears to be continuing to use North Korean missiles to strike targets in Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian police official on Wednesday, following launches in December and early January....
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited multiple foodstuff and other factories on Wednesday, state media announced, as part of his “regional development 20×10 policy” aimed at reviving econo...
North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament “unanimously” abolished a law on economic cooperation with South Korea and legislation on the Kumgangsan special tourism zone on Wednesday, according t...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/north-korea-formally-abolishes-law-on-cooperation-with-the-south/
South Korea and Russia have gone back and forth in recent days after Moscow took issue with President Yoon Suk-yeol’s description of North Korea at a defense meeting. The NK News team discusses...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/how-north-korea-started-spat-between-moscow-and-seoul-ep-328/
In the crowded streets of Seoul, life moves with the vibrant urgency of a city that has mastered the art of thriving amid tensions. Yet, beneath this picture of normalcy, South Korean military pl...
Russia’s ambassador to North Korea believes this year will see a “breakthrough” in Moscow-Pyongyang relations, according to his interview with Russian state media. “I don’t want to get ...
South Korea’s unification ministry announced this week its plans to amend government protocols on how to deal with the bodies of North Koreans who wash up on South Korean shores. The ministry...
North Koreans’ consumption of foreign media grew in the years immediately before the COVID pandemic, a previously classified survey of DPRK escapees shows, a development that one expert said ma...
“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. Readers may submit their quest...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/ask-a-north-korean-does-the-dprk-have-digital-payment-systems/
North Korea and Belarus celebrated the 32nd anniversary of diplomatic relations last week, and while they have maintained only trivial ties for most of that time, that could be about to change. S...
North Korean state media condemned South Korean defense minister Shin Won-sik’s remarks on eliminating enemy leadership as a “psychological prelude” to a physical conflict, a threat one exp...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/north-korea-calls-rok-defense-ministers-comments-prelude-to-war/
North Korean clinics lack medicine and the knowledge to treat malnutrition and childhood illnesses on a nationwide level, UNICEF stated in its end-of-year humanitarian report, citing North Korean...
More than one thousand North Koreans entered Russia last year, a five-fold increase from 2022 but still well below pre-pandemic levels, new data from the Russian government shows. The Russian F...
South Korea and Russia have gone back and forth in recent days after Moscow took issue with President Yoon Suk-yeol’s description of North Korea at a recent defense meeting. Seoul’s foreign...
North Korea launched cruise missiles carrying new “super-large” warheads on the west coast Friday, according to state media the following day, confirming a report from the South Korean milita...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/north-korea-says-it-tested-new-super-large-cruise-missile-warhead/
South Korea released its new National Cybersecurity Strategy on Thursday with a focus on strengthening “preemptive” and “offensive” capabilities to counter North Korea’s increasing cybe...
North Korea fired “several” cruise missiles before noon on Friday as part of a test on the country’s west coast, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It is the fourth c...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected naval projects at the Nampho Dockyard on the west coast, according to state media on Friday, calling warship construction key to the country’s ongoing ...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/kim-jong-un-inspects-warship-construction-on-west-coast/
Late last year, I traveled to Japan to meet with journalists, government analysts and academics knowledgeable about North Korea, seeking their insights on the DPRK and Tokyo’s ties with Pyongya...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/experts-agree-japans-ties-with-north-korea-are-going-nowhere-fast/
Donald Trump is likely to seek a “reckless deal” with North Korea that would endanger the U.S. and its allies, his former national security adviser warns in a new edition of a book about his ...
Cuba’s new ambassador to North Korea has taken up his post, DPRK state media reported on Thursday, making him the latest foreign diplomat to assume his position in the capital. According to the...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/02/cubas-new-ambassador-to-north-korea-takes-up-post-in-pyongyang/
Very few South Korean airports have equipment designed to detect hostile drones, an opposition party lawmaker told NK News Tuesday, leaving them vulnerable to North Korean reconnaissance and othe...
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol slammed North Korea as an “irrational group” for developing nuclear weapons and rejecting the concept of shared Korean ethnicity, speaking in back-to-back...
Russia sent over 100,000 barrels of refined petroleum to North Korea last year amid growing ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, according to new U.N. data. North Korea received a total of 105,845 ...
Some three weeks ago, longtime North Korea watchers Robert Carlin and Siegfried Hecker set off alarm bells from Washington to Seoul when they asserted that “like his grandfather in 1950, Kim Jo...
https://www.nknews.org/2024/01/has-kim-jong-un-really-made-a-strategic-decision-to-go-to-war-ep-327/