Category Archives: North Korea

FBI seeks arrest of man claiming to be North Korea ‘special delegate’

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Spaniard alleged to have conspired with cryptocurrency expert to help Pyongyang evade US sanctions

The FBI has issued an arrest warrant for a Spanish man who claims to be a “special delegate” working for the government of North Korea, accusing him of recruiting a cryptocurrency expert in an attempt to help Pyongyang circumvent US sanctions.

Alejandro Cao de Benós, a 47-year-old Spanish national who describes himself as Pyongyang’s special delegate for the committee for cultural relations with foreign countries, is alleged to have conspired with Virgil Griffith, a US cryptocurrency expert, to “illegally provide cryptocurrency and blockchain services to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)”.

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Kim Jong-un buries mentor amid North Korea Covid crisis

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State media photos show Kim carrying Hyon Chol-hae’s coffin and throwing earth into his grave as country battles ‘fever’ cases amid Covid outbreak

Kim Jong-un attended the funeral for a top North Korean official, state media reported on Monday, helping carry his coffin, as the country maintained the much-disputed claim that its coronavirus outbreak is subsiding.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim attended the funeral on Sunday of Hyon Chol-hae, a Korean People’s Army marshal who reportedly played a key role in grooming him as the country’s next leader before Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, died in late 2011.

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Biden and South Korean president mull expanding joint military exercises

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US president willing to meet Kim Jong-un, while Seoul says deployment of US ‘strategic assets’ was discussed

Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the “threat” posed by North Korea, a move that is expected to enrage the regime as speculation builds that it could conduct a nuclear test.

Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was “sincere and serious” about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

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North Korea’s Covid caseload passes 2 million amid global concern about regime’s pandemic plan

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Experts believe North Korean authorities are underreporting deaths to prove that their response has been effective

Experts have questioned North Korea’s claim that it is achieving “good results” in its battle against a Covid-19 outbreak, as the number of people with symptoms of the virus surpassed 2 million.

The regime reported 263,370 new fever cases on Friday and two deaths, taking the total caseload to 2.24 million, including 65 deaths, according to state news agency KCNA.

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North Korea promotes traditional medicines in bid to fight Covid outbreak

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State media have told patients to use painkillers as well as unverified home remedies such as willow leaf tea

North Korea is ramping up production of drugs and medical supplies including sterilisers and thermometers as well as encouraging the use of traditional Korean medicines said to reduce fever and pain as it battles an unprecedented coronavirus outbreak.

Traditional medicines were “effective in prevention and cure of the malicious disease,” state-run news agency KCNA said, although no medical evidence exists for those claims.

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White House braced for North Korean nuclear test during Biden’s Asia trip

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National security adviser says intelligence reflects ‘long-range missile test or a nuclear test, or frankly both’

The White House is braced for a North Korean missile or nuclear test while Joe Biden is on a trip to South Korea and Japan, which begins on Friday.

The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Wednesday: “Our intelligence does reflect the genuine possibility that there will be either a further missile test, including long-range missile test, or a nuclear test, or frankly both in the days leading into, on or after the president’s trip to the region.

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North Korea on brink of Covid-19 catastrophe, say experts

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Number to have fallen ill reportedly at almost 1.5 million as country grapples with what it calls ‘fever’

North Korea stands on the brink of a Covid-19 catastrophe unless swift action is taken to provide vaccines and drug treatments, experts have said, as the number of people reported to have fallen ill rose to almost 1.5 million.

The isolated country reported another big rise in new cases of what it continues to refer to as “fever” on Tuesday, days after it admitted it had identified Covid-19 infections for the first time since the start of the global pandemic.

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Don’t accidentally hire a North Korean hacker, FBI warns

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Employing remote IT workers who are secretly working for Kim Jong-un’s regime poses risks and may breach sanctions, say US agencies

US officials have warned businesses against inadvertently hiring IT staff from North Korea, saying that rogue freelancers were taking advantage of remote work opportunities to hide their true identities and earn money for Pyongyang.

An advisory issued by the state and treasury departments and the FBI said the effort was intended to circumvent US and UN sanctions, and bring in money for North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The officials said companies who hired and paid such workers may be exposing themselves to legal consequences for sanctions violations.

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North Korea ‘in great turmoil’ over Covid death toll, says Kim Jong-un

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Regime reports another 21 deaths as fresh outbreaks of coronavirus in South Africa and US concern health officials

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has warned his country has been thrown into “great turmoil” after reporting another 21 deaths, days after the secretive state first admitted it was in the grip of a coronavirus outbreak.

The nation’s total death toll now stands at 27, with 524,440 illnesses attributed to a rapid spread of fever consistent with Covid since late April. The regime said 243,630 people had recovered and 280,810 remained in quarantine. However, it did not specify how many of the cases and deaths had been confirmed as Covid-19 infections.

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North Korea reports 15 deaths and nearly 300,000 new ‘fever’ cases as Covid outbreak spreads

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Despite nationwide lockdown, there are now more than 800,000 suspected cases in the unvaccinated country

North Korea said on Sunday a total of 42 people had died as the country began its fourth day under a nationwide lockdown aimed at stopping the impoverished country’s first confirmed Covid-19 outbreak.

At least 296,180 more people came down with fever symptoms, and 15 more had died as of Sunday, the outlet said.

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North Korea: Kim Jong-un declares Covid outbreak a ‘great disaster’

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Pyongyang reports 21 more deaths as it scrambles to slow spread of the virus across unvaccinated population

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has declared the country’s first Covid-19 outbreak a “great disaster” as it reported 21 more deaths.

State media said 174,440 people were newly found with fever symptoms on Friday alone as the country scrambles to slow the spread of Covid-19 across its unvaccinated population.

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North Korea says six dead after admitting Covid outbreak for first time

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Regime has said it is imposing ‘maximum emergency measures’ and 187,800 people are being ‘isolated and treated’ after showing signs of fever

North Korea has announced its first Covid-19 death amid an “explosive” outbreak of fever, state media said on Friday, one day after the regime admitted for the first time that it was tackling a coronavirus outbreak.

The official KCNA news agency said six people had died, adding that one of them had tested positive for the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

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North Korea admits to Covid outbreak for first time and declares ‘severe national emergency’

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Omicron infections create ‘biggest emergency incident in the country’, according to state media, as Kim Jong-un chairs response meeting

North Korea has declared a “severe national emergency” after confirming its first outbreak of Covid-19, prompting its leader, Kim Jong-un, to vow to quickly eliminate the virus.

State media reported on Thursday that a sub-variant of the highly transmissible Omicron virus, known as BA.2, had been detected in the capital, Pyongyang.

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South Korea’s new president offers North economic plan in return for denuclearisation

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Elected in a tight contest in March, Yoon Suk-yeol proposes ‘audacious’ plan for Pyongyang at his inauguration in Seoul

South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has offered North Korea “an audacious plan” to transform its creaking economy in return for abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.

Speaking on the first day of his presidency on Tuesday, Yoon said: “While North Korea’s nuclear weapon programmes are a threat not only to our security and that of North-east Asia, the door to dialogue will remain open so that we can peacefully resolve this threat.”

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North Korea launches suspected ballistic missile

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Kim Jong-un had earlier vowed to quickly bolster nuclear arsenal and threatened to use it against rivals

North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile toward its eastern waters on Wednesday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, a few days after the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, vowed to bolster his nuclear arsenal “at the fastest possible pace” and threatened to use nuclear weapons against other countries.

The launch, the North’s 14th round of weapons firing, also came six days before a new South Korean president takes office for a single five-year term.

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Kim Jong-un oversees missile test that North Korea claims advances nuclear program

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Leader appears well pleased with latest test of what state media reported was a new type of tactical guided weapon

North Korea has test-fired a new weapons system, under the supervision of leader Kim Jong-un, that it claims will boost the efficiency of its tactical nuclear weapons, state media reported.

The “new-type tactical guided weapon ... is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes,” the official Korean Central News Agency said early on Sunday, without specifying when the test took place. It said the test was successful.

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North Korea marks founder Kim Il-sung’s birthday with mass parade but no weapons

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Kim Jong-un is expected to display advanced weapons at military parade later this month and escalate missile testing

Thousands of North Koreans marched in a choreographed display of loyalty to the ruling Kim family during a massive civilian parade celebrating the birthday of the country’s founder attended by his grandson and current leader, Kim Jong-un.

State media images showed Kim waving from a balcony overlooking the vast square in Pyongyang named after his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, as huge columns of people carrying red plastic flowers and floats with political slogans marched below.

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North Korea could hold nuclear test next week, US envoy warns

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US says Pyongyang may escalate recent provocations with a weapons test on 110th anniversary of founder Kim Il-sung’s birth

North Korea could be planning its first nuclear weapon test in nearly five years, according to a senior US official who urged the regime to step back from further provocations following its recent long-range missile test.

Sung Kim, the special representative for North Korea policy at the US state department, said Washington believes Pyongyang could demonstrate its growing nuclear weapons capacity on 15 April, an annual holiday held to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung.

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North Korea would ‘annihilate’ South if provoked, warns Kim Jong-un’s sister

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Warning points to a rise in tensions on the peninsula after the North conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in five years

The influential sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has said the country’s nuclear forces would “annihilate” the South Korean military if it launched a pre-emptive strike against the regime.

Kim Yo-jong, who holds several senior positions in the government and ruling party, said the North had no intention of starting a second Korean war, but would respond if provoked and leave the South’s military in a state of “total destruction and ruin”.

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‘Scum-like guy’: North Korean leader’s sister attacks South Korea defence minister

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Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, issues blistering attack on Seoul and ‘reckless remarks’ by Suh Wook

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called South Korea’s defence minister a “scum-like guy” for talking about preemptive strikes on the North, warning that the South may face “a serious threat”.

Kim Yo-jong’s statement on Sunday came amid heightened tensions between the rival Koreas over the North’s spate of weapons tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years.

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