N. Korea to hold major festivals for late founding leader's birth anniversary

North Korea plans to hold various large-scale celebratory events, both online and offline, on the occasion of the 110th birth anniversary of its late founding leader next month, according to its state media Thursday. The North will hold a major spring festival in Pyongyang with magic shows and performances by art troupes around mid-April to commemorate Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, on April 15, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. "(The festival) w

March 24, 2022

WFP extends N. Korea aid project until 2023

The World Food Programme (WFP) has extended its aid program for North Korea by one year until the end of 2023, its website showed Thursday, with strict border restrictions against the COVID-19 pandemic in place there. Under the UN agency's revised Interim Country Strategic Plan for North Korea posted on its website, it will provide additional food aid worth $32.56 million for 803,134 North Koreans through next year. The WFP had planned to offer $182.43 million worth of aid to 3.6 million people

March 24, 2022

China says 91,900 barrels of oil, 18% of annual cap, supplied to N. Korea in 2021

China reported that it had provided around 91,900 barrels of refined petroleum to North Korea last year, tantamount to 18 percent of the UN-mandated oil import cap, while Russia claimed that it had no longer supplied oil in the same period. The UN Security Council sanctions committee on North Korea has recently updated the total amount of refined petroleum products that were exported and transferred by Beijing and Moscow to Pyongyang last and this year. Under UNSC Resolution 2397, North Korea

March 23, 2022

NK working with Russian cybercriminals: Sullivan

North Korea is cooperating with cybercriminals around the world, including those from Russia, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, amid heightened cybersecurity concerns around the world due to Russia’s war with Ukraine. 　 “All I can say, generally, is that North Korea’s cyber capabilities have been manifest in the world and they work with all kinds of cybercriminals around the world, including Russian cybercriminals,” Sullivan told the press briefing on Tue

March 23, 2022

Former US envoy for N. Korea tapped to lead Pacific Island talks

Joseph Yun, a former US point man on North Korea, has been appointed to lead the Joe Biden administration's negotiations with three small Pacific Island countries, according to the Department of State on Tuesday. Biden picked the former Korean-American career diplomat as Special Presidential Envoy for Compact Negotiations, it said in a press release. "Ambassador Yun has more than 33 years of diplomatic experience, including as the US special representative for North Korea policy and as the

March 23, 2022

N. Korea works with all kinds of cyber criminals, including Russians: Sullivan

North Korea possesses significant cyber capabilities and works with all kinds of cyber criminals including those from Russia, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday. The remarks came after President Joe Biden warned of Russian cyber attacks. "All I can say generally is that North Korea cyber capabilities have been manifest in the world and they work with all kinds of cyber criminals around the world, including Russian cyber criminals," Sullivan said in a press briefing

March 23, 2022

Security alert issued against NK threat, Russia-Ukraine cyberwar

The South Korean government has issued a cybersecurity alert against North Korea’s growing cyber threat, hacking attempts during the presidential transitional period, and escalating cyberwarfare after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced that it has increased the Cyber Protection Condition or CPCON level by one notch higher as of 9:00 a.m. on Monday as part of widespread government-level efforts. Under the raised warning, the South Korean m

March 21, 2022

NK keeps mum after suspected artillery firing

North Korea stayed mum Monday regarding artillery shots fired the previous day, which were seen as part of an ongoing wintertime military exercise.   　 The North fired suspected artillery pieces into the West Sea from an unspecified location in South Pyongan Province on Sunday, likely from multiple rocket launch systems, according to South Korea’s military.   　 The North’s state media outlets, including the Korean Central News Agency and Rodong Sinmun, have not reported

March 21, 2022

NK hackers stole $400m in cryptocurrency last year: report

North Korean hackers launched at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year and stole nearly $400 million worth of digital assets, according to a blockchain data firm report submitted to the US Senate. 　 The heist marked a 40 percent increase from 2020 when it stole about $300 million, according to Jonathan Levin, co-founder of Chainalysis, in a written testimony submitted to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban affairs for a hearing on digital assets and illicit fi

March 20, 2022

NK fires 4 suspected shots from multiple rocket launchers into Yellow Sea: officials

North Korea on Sunday fired four suspected shots from multiple rocket launchers into the Yellow Sea, South Korean military officials said, the latest in a series of provocations that could heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula. “There were shots believed to be that of North Korea’s multiple rocket launchers this morning,” an official of the South Korean military said. “We are maintaining our defense readiness posture while closely following related developments,&rdq

March 20, 2022

N. Korea fires 4 suspected shots from multiple rocket launchers into Yellow Sea: officials

North Korea on Sunday fired four suspected shots from its multiple rocket launchers into the Yellow Sea, South Korean military officials said, the latest show of force that could heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea's National Security Council (NSC) held an emergency vice-ministerial meeting over the four shots that fell into the western waters during a span of an hour from 7:20 a.m. from an unspecified location in South Pyongan Province, according to officials. Park Kyung-me

March 20, 2022

1,500 N.Koreans are at risk of being repatriated by China: UN investigator

The United Nations’ independent investigator on human rights in North Korea urged China and Russia to stop forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees and abide by the requirements of UN conventions forbidding refoulement. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, expressed his concerns over the perennial but weighty issue in his report which will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Mar. 2

March 18, 2022

UN rapporteur urges provision of vaccines to N. Korea

The UN special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights has repeated his call for the international community to send enough COVID-19 vaccines to the reclusive country, a report showed Friday. Tomas Ojea Quintana described it as a "new way" to engage with the North in his report on its human rights situation to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council next week, with his six-year term ending in August. "A new way of thinking needs to take hold," the report read. "This

March 18, 2022

Kim Jong-un views US military presence as ‘bulwark’ against China threat: Pompeo

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un views US forces stationed in South Korea as a counterweight and “bulwark” against China’s “real threat” to his sovereignty, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. The former top US diplomat underscored that a critical lesson he learned from nuclear talks with Pyongyang is Kim’s perception of the United States Forces Korea, although the Trump administration “didn’t get all the way to try to convinc

March 17, 2022

N. Korea silent about apparent missile launch failure

North Korea's state media stayed mum Thursday on the country's latest suspected missile test, a day after the South Korean military said the launch appeared to have failed. The North fired a projectile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang that appeared to have exploded in midair at an altitude below 20 kilometers, according to informed sources. The North's tightly controlled official media, including the Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, did not carry any reports on the lau

March 17, 2022

US condemns N. Korea's ballistic missile launch, urges Pyongyang to engage in dialogue

The United States on Wednesday condemned North Korea's latest missile launch while confirming the North has fired a ballistic missile. "The United States condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launch," a spokesperson for the US Department of State told Yonhap News Agency in an email. Seoul earlier said the North fired an unidentified projectile early Wednesday (Seoul time) but that more analysis was required to determine the type of missile launched. "Like the DPRK's recent test of

March 16, 2022

Kim inspects major housing project site in Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected a major housing construction site in the country’s capital, state media reported Wednesday, stepping up domestic activities amid the regime’s continued weapons launches threatening the security in the region. 　 The Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday said Kim visited the construction site of 10,000 apartments in Songsin and Songhwa districts of eastern Pyongyang that is nearing completion. Kim had attended the groundbreaking ceremony of

March 16, 2022

N. Korea launches unidentified projectile in first test since presidential election

North Korea on Wednesday fired an unidentified projectile, in its first launch since the conservative People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol’s win in the March 9 presidential election. But, the launch appears to have failed immediately after liftoff, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. According to South Korea’s military, North Korea launched the projectile at 9:30 a.m. from an airfield in Sunan, an airfield outside the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The projectile,

March 16, 2022

UN aviation agency voices concern over recent NK missile launches

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) expressed concern Wednesday about North Korea's continued missile launches, stressing the move poses a "serious risk" to international civil aviation. The Montreal-based UN agency's governing body reiterated its concern over the North's recent "unannounced missiles launches which pose a serious risk to international civil aviation," according to a statement posted on its website. "As an ICAO Member State, the DPRK is e

March 16, 2022

N. Korea seems to have failed in projectile launch: S. Korean military

North Korea on Wednesday fired an unidentified projectile, but the launch appears to have failed soon after liftoff, South Korea's military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the North launched the projectile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at 9:30 a.m. Other Details were not immediately available. "The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the US are conducting an additional analysis," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters. Speculation has been widespread tha

March 16, 2022