US designates NK border guard bureau, others for corruption, human rights violations

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a number of individuals and entities, including North Korea's border guard bureau, for serious human rights violations and other crimes. The move came as part of the designation of over 65 individuals and entities in 17 countries by the US to mark International Anti-Corruption Day, which falls on Friday, and Human Rights Day, observed annually on Dec.10th. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the designations partly aim to disrupt and deter

Dec. 10, 2022

Top nuclear envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to meet in Indonesia next week

The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan will meet in Indonesia next week to discuss the North Korea issue, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday. Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will have back-to-back bilateral and trilateral meetings with his American and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, from Monday to Tuesday in Jakarta, according to the ministry. They are expected to share

Dec. 8, 2022

S. Korea warns businesses against hiring NK IT workers

South Korean authorities warned businesses against inadvertently hiring IT staff from North Korea who mask their true identities and take advantage of remote opportunities to skirt international sanctions and earn cash, which is used to bankroll the isolated country’s nuclear and missile programs. “These workers are making millions of dollars annually for the work they do for global IT companies. … And by the day, the money they bring in is making up a bigger part of the dolla

Dec. 8, 2022

South Korea to amend laws to ‘prevent forced repatriation of North Koreans’

South Korea’s Ministry of Unification says it would seek to amend its laws to protect North Koreans who fled their country from being repatriated against their will. The proposal for amendment to laws on the protection of North Korean refugees, posted on Wednesday, requires the Minister of Unification to confirm the settlement intentions of North Koreans who came to South Korea by sea or land or via a third country. The amendment would also give the Minister of Unification authority to all

Dec. 8, 2022

S. Korea warns of N. Korean IT workers with disguised nationalities

The South Korean government on Thursday issued an interagency advisory to caution local tech companies about North Korean IT workers allegedly seeking employment under assumed nationalities. This follows reports that North Korea is using these workers as a source of foreign currency earnings that are being channeled into the North’s nuclear and missile development. In the advisory, the Foreign, Unification and ICT ministries called for stronger background checks in hiring IT workers at hom

Dec. 8, 2022

UN Security Council plans ‘closed-door’ discussion on NK human rights despite calls

The UN Security Council will discuss the human rights situation in North Korea behind closed doors this week for a third consecutive year, since 2020 despite human rights organizations’ calls for an open discussion. The US will raise North Korean human rights issues under “Any Other Business (AOB),” at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, a US diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to The Korea Herald on Wednesday i

Dec. 7, 2022

N. Korea to hold parliamentary meeting on Jan. 17: KCNA

North Korea plans to convene a meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament in Pyongyang in January to discuss next year's tasks and budget issues, according to its state media Wednesday. The standing committee of the Supreme People's Assembly held a meeting Tuesday and decided to hold the 8th session of the 14th SPA on Jan. 17, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The session is mainly intended to discuss issues related to tasks for 2023, state budget issues and organizational matt

Dec. 7, 2022

N.Korea continues tit-for-tat artillery amid simmering tensions

North Korea on Tuesday fired around 100 artillery shells toward the inter-Korean maritime buffer zone in a tit-for-tat action against South Korea and US live-fire drills staged near the border, further escalating tensions on the peninsula. Around 90 artillery shots were fired from the area of Kosong County in Kangwon Province toward buffer zones in the East Sea from 10:00 a.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed, adding the artillery firing continued until this aftern

Dec. 6, 2022

Crypto hacking behind N. Korea’s renewed nuclear ambition

This is the first installment of a three-part series shedding light on North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and their links to the hermit regime’s nuclear ambitions. -- Ed. Borders were closed and trade was cut off while international sanctions continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, further isolating North Korea, one of the world’s most impoverished nations. But its regime has discovered new ways of raking in funds to continuously pursue its missile ambitions and divert sa

Dec. 6, 2022

North Korea fires 130 artillery shells into buffer zones: JCS

North Korea on Monday fired around 130 artillery shells into inter-Korean maritime buffer zones as South Korea and the US kicked off regular live-fire drills near the border. The artillery shells were fired from Jangsan Cape in South Hwanghae Province and Kumgang County in Kangwon Province from around 2:59 p.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday afternoon. The artillery shots fell inside the buffer zone, but north of the Northern Limit Line, violating a 2018 dea

Dec. 5, 2022

S. Korea slaps sanctions on eight North Korean individuals, seven agencies for ICBM test

South Korea announced additional sanctions on North Korea on Friday in response to growing security threats from North Korea, highlighted by its long-range missile launch last month. Seoul has decided to impose independent sanctions on eight North Korean individuals and seven institutions involved in the secretive regime's nuclear and missile development programs, according to the foreign ministry. Those added to the blacklist include officials at financial institutions related to the North

Dec. 2, 2022

[Newsmaker] Kim Jong-un’s daughter, 10, leads fashion wave in North Korea

Since weeks ago when Kim Jong-un revealed his 10-year-old daughter Kim Ju-ae to the world openly for the first time, her fashion style has proven to be an instant hit in North Korea, and her styling seems to be sending young North Koreans abuzz. The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, published pictures of North Korean women in white and pink padding jackets similar to that previously worn by Kim’s daughter when they inspected the launch of an intercontinen

Dec. 1, 2022

NK leader meets Air Force commanders, pilots over last month's massive warplane protest against S. Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the promotion of hundreds of officers involved in last month's warplane activities apparently targeting South Korea, according to Pyongyang's state media Thursday. Kim congratulated the commanding officers and pilots of the Air Force who contributed to "strikingly demonstrating" its power against the enemy and its "invincible stamina by successfully conducting large-scale flying operations," the official Korean Central News Ag

Dec. 1, 2022

N. Korea to hold key party meeting this month amid concerns over nuclear test possibility

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a politburo session of the ruling party and decided to convene a key party meeting later this month, North Korean state media reported Thursday. During the meeting held the previous day, Kim said the "internal and external circumstances of the year 2022 created on the advance of the Korean revolution were the unprecedented adversity that tested our will and fighting efficiency," according to the Korean Central News Agency. Despite challenge

Dec. 1, 2022

Kim appears with daughter again, vows rapid nuclear build-up

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to make the country’s military strength “more absolute and irreversible” and push for nuclear buildup at an “exceptionally rapid speed” at a pseudo-event celebrating the successful launch of the new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile where he brought his second daughter Kim Ju-ae again. “It is the truth taught by history that only when we become the strongest, not the weak, in the present world where the stren

Nov. 27, 2022

Kim’s ‘beloved’ daughter unlikely to be successor, experts say

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought his “beloved” second child, styled just like her mother this time, into the public eye for the second time in about a week through a photo published in state media on Sunday. Photos showing a very intimate father-daughter moment at a large-scale event celebrating the successful launch of the new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, suggest that Ju-ae has emerged as a very important figure to the North Korean leader, or possibly a cand

Nov. 27, 2022

N. Korean leader makes second public appearance with daughter

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a second public appearance with his daughter during a photo session with officials involved in this month's intercontinental ballistic missile launch, state media said Sunday. Photos published by the Korean Central News Agency showed the daughter, presumed to be Kim's second child, Ju-ae, dressed in a long black winter coat with a fur collar and with her hair partially tied back, as she walked hand in hand or linking arms with her father. The appear

Nov. 27, 2022

Xi says he attaches great importance to China-N. Korea ties in letter to Kim: KCNA

Chinese President Xi Jinping has said he attaches great importance to his country's relations with North Korea in a letter recently sent to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the North's official news agency reported Saturday. Xi made the remarks in a letter sent on Tuesday in reply to Kim's congratulatory message dispatched last month after the Chinese president secured his third term. "Through several rounds of meetings, I and my comrade, General Secretary (Kim), established

Nov. 26, 2022

S. Korea to cremate body of presumed N. Korean found near border amid Pyongyang's silence

South Korea said Friday it will cremate the body of a presumed North Korean woman found near the inter-Korean border in July, as there has been no response from Pyongyang on the offer of returning it. The unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs sought to notify the North of its plan to return the body and had set a deadline of Thursday for Pyongyang to respond. "But North Korea has not shown any response regarding the return of the body," the ministry's deputy spokesper

Nov. 25, 2022

N. Korea holds national conference of security officers for socialist system

North Korea has held a five-day national conference of the country's officers in charge of security and counterintelligence affairs, Pyongyang's state media reported Friday, in an apparent move to rally internal loyalty. The 5th Conference of Security Officers opened in Pyongyang on Saturday "to firmly guarantee" the development of the ruling Workers' Party by strengthening its security organ, according to an English-language report carried by the official Korean Central

Nov. 25, 2022