Kim Ki-nam was known as ‘the North Korean Goebbels’ in the South due to his role as head of propaganda department
Kim Ki-nam, the propaganda chief who served all three generations of North Korean leaders and cemented their political legitimacy, has died, official media have said.
Kim Ki-nam died on Tuesday aged 94 from multiple organ failure, official KCNA news agency reported.
Continue reading...South Dakota governor says she met North Korean dictator in same book in which she describes killing her dog
The South Dakota governor, Republican vice-presidential hopeful and self-confessed dog-killer Kristi Noem’s bizarre claim in a new book to have met the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has been dismissed by experts as “dubious” and not “conceivable”.
The Dakota Scout first reported Noem’s claim, which is in her forthcoming book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward.
Continue reading...Report to United Nations security council says remnants of Hwasong-11 violate arms export embargo on Russian ally
The debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on 2 January was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, UN sanctions monitors told a security council committee in a report seen by Reuters.
In the 32-page report, the UN sanctions monitors concluded that “debris recovered from a missile that landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 2 January 2024 derives from a DPRK Hwasong-11 series missile” and is in violation of the arms embargo on North Korea.
Continue reading...Top-ranking Chinese official Zhao Leji met Kim Jong-un during three-day visit to Pyongyang
A top ranking Chinese official reaffirmed ties with North Korea during a meeting in Pyongyang on Saturday with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, China’s state media reported, in the highest-level talks between the allies in years.
The visit by Zhao Leji, who ranks third in the ruling Communist party hierarchy and heads the ceremonial parliament, came as North Korea has test-fired missiles to intimidate South Korea and its ally, the US.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s foreign minister calls veto ‘guilty plea’ amid claims Pyongyang is aiding Moscow’s war against Kyiv
Russia has blocked the renewal of a UN panel monitoring sanctions against North Korea, weeks after the body said it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The move was met with a flurry of criticism, including by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who took to social media to call the veto “a guilty plea” amid allegations that Pyongyang is aiding Moscow in its war against Kyiv.
Continue reading...Footage of green-fingered BBC presenter obscured from waist down to hide ‘symbol of US imperialism’
His calm demeanour and wholesome vocation have apparently endeared him to one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. But there is something about Alan Titchmarsh that North Korea’s censors can’t quite forgive – his jeans.
The green-fingered broadcaster and author of raunchy novels has been a fixture on state television since 2022, albeit with the addition of a blurred effect from the waist down.
Continue reading...Last-minute decision on Tuesday’s match leaves football bodies searching for alternative venue
North Korea has abruptly cancelled its 2026 World Cup qualifying match with Japan next week, leaving organisers frantically searching for an alternative venue.
North Korea reportedly decided it would no longer host the match, which had been scheduled for next Tuesday at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang, a day before the teams met in Tokyo on Thursday in the first of their two Asian qualifying Group B qualifiers.
Continue reading...Changes in orbit of Malligyong-1 suggest Pyongyang is successfully maneuvering the satellite
North Korea’s first spy satellite is “alive”, space experts have said, after detecting changes in its orbit that suggested Pyongyang was successfully controlling the spacecraft – although its capabilities remain unknown.
After two fiery failures, North Korea successfully launched the Malligyong-1 satellite into orbit in November. Pyongyang’s state media claimed it has photographed sensitive military and political sites in South Korea, the US and elsewhere, but has not released any imagery. Independent radio trackers have not detected signals from the satellite.
Continue reading...State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington he ‘didn’t know there was such a thing as a Russian luxury car’
A US spokesperson has mocked president Vladimir Putin’s gift of a Russian car to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as he accused Moscow of violating UN resolutions.
North Korean state media said on Tuesday that Kim was “presented with a car made in Russia for his personal use by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Jin Guanghua was arrested by the AFP in Melbourne last year and is facing extradition to the US
A Chinese national has been quietly arrested and detained in Australia for 11 months at the request of US authorities investigating an alleged tobacco smuggling conspiracy that generated an estimated A$1.1bn (US$700m) in revenue to North Korea.
Jin Guanghua, 52, was arrested by the Australian federal police in Melbourne last March. Described in US court documents as an Australian resident, Jin was kept in custody in Melbourne for several months before being transferred to immigration detention while awaiting extradition.
Continue reading...North Korea’s leader has increased his displays of military aggression but analysts are split on whether it’s a sign of electoral interference or a war footing
When a highly militarised dictatorship fires artillery shells in the direction of its neighbour, which it has just denounced as its “greatest enemy”, then tests cruise missiles and underwater nuclear attack drones, it is reasonable to believe that armed conflict could follow.
But when that country is North Korea, conventional geopolitical punditry is often left wanting.
Continue reading...South Korean military says it is analysing the launch along with US intelligence authorities
North Korea has fired multiple cruise missiles off an eastern military port, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff have said.
The missiles were launched about 8am (2300 GMT Saturday) and were being analysed by South Korean and US intelligence authorities, South Korea said, without specifying how many missiles were fired.
Continue reading...The Arch of Reunification – built in 2000 after a landmark inter-Korean summit – has disappeared from satellite imagery
North Korea has demolished a monument that symbolised hope for reconciliation with the South, days after the regime’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas was no longer possible.
In the latest sign of rising tensions on the peninsula, the Arch of Reunification – built in 2000 after a landmark inter-Korean summit – has disappeared from satellite imagery, according to the NK News website. It was not immediately clear when or how it had been taken down, NK News said.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Report shows Russian ships loading at North Korean port, amid accusation that Pyongyang supplies missiles and shells
The UK has provided satellite photographs of North Korean cargo shipments to Russia to a panel of UN experts as part of an attempt to trigger an official investigation into arms deals in violation of international sanctions.
North Korea has been accused of supplying ballistic missiles and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to the Russian government for its war in Ukraine since Vladimir Putin met with Kim Jong-un in Russia’s far east in September.
Continue reading...Footage shows two 16-year-olds being sentenced in front of hundreds of their peers in an amphitheatre
Video footage released by an organisation that works with North Korean defectors shows North Korean authorities publicly sentencing two teenagers to 12 years’ hard labour for watching South Korean videos.
The footage, which shows the two 16-year-olds in Pyongyang convicted of watching South Korean films and music videos, was released by the South and North Development Institute (Sand).
Continue reading...South Korea says backgrounds of recent defectors including some ‘elite class’ indicate growing discontent with regime of Kim Jong-un
The number of North Koreans who defected to South Korea tripled last year, as the easing of border closures imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic encouraged students, women and diplomats to make the perilous journey.
At 196, the number was still well below the pre-pandemic average, but South Korean authorities said the backgrounds of many recent defectors pointed to growing discontent with the regime of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
Continue reading...In a speech, the North Korean leader has called for constitutional change to identify the south as ‘number one hostile state’
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has called for a change to the constitution to identify South Korea as the “number one hostile state”, ending the regime’s commitment to unifying the Korean peninsula.
In a speech to the supreme people’s assembly – North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament – Kim said he no longer believed unification was possible and accused the South of attempting to foment regime change and promote unification by stealth.
Continue reading...Intense speculation over future role for Kim Jong-un’s daughter, who is reportedly 10, comes as North Korea fires shells near South Korean islands
The young daughter of Kim Jong-un is seen as her father’s heir apparent, South Korea’s spy agency has said for the first time, after speculation that the North Korean ruler is grooming her to become the fourth member of the dynasty to lead the country since its foundation more than seven decades ago.
There has been intense international speculation about Kim Ju-ae, who is reportedly about 10 years old, since she made her first public appearance in November 2022 when she watched a long-range missile test launch with her father.
Continue reading...Washington and Kyiv claim Moscow turning to other states under sanctions to sustain its war effort
Russia has started using ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea to attack Ukraine, Washington and Kyiv have claimed, in an indication that Moscow plans to further expand its arms deals with regimes under sanctions in order to sustain its war effort.
Washington also alleged Russia was in talks with Iran to buy short-range ballistic missiles. The US intelligence assessment is that Iranian missiles have not yet arrived in Russia, but that the deal will eventually be done.
Continue reading...Japan’s government has called a meeting of its national security council in response to the launches
North Korea has tested a long-range ballistic missile that is theoretically capable of striking anywhere on the US mainland, Japan officials said, in the regime’s first round of missile tests for about a month.
The missile appeared to have flown about 1,000km (620 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of more than 6,000km before landing in the sea east of the Korean peninsula on Monday.
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