Category Archives: North Korea

Kim Jong-un unveils housing for families of North Koreans killed in Ukraine war

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Leader vows to repay the ‘young martyrs’ who died as North Korea intensifies propaganda glorifying troops deployed to fight for Russia

North Korea has said it completed a new housing district in Pyongyang for families of North Korean soldiers killed while fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, the latest effort by leader Kim Jong-un to honour the war dead.

State media photos showed Kim walking through the new street – called Saeppyol Street – and visiting the homes of some of the families with his increasingly prominent daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju-ae, as he pledged to repay the “young martyrs” who “sacrificed all to their motherland”.

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‘Sacred sanctuary’: North Korea starts building memorial to soldiers killed in Ukraine war

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At least 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine

North Korea has begun constructing a memorial for its soldiers killed fighting in Russia’s war on Ukraine, state media reported, as leader Kim Jong-un hailed a “historic peak” in ties with Moscow.

The so-called Memorial Museum of Combat Feats will be built in the capital, Pyongyang, where Kim and Russia’s ambassador to North Korea attended a groundbreaking ceremony, according to a reports by the Korean Central News Agency on Thursday.

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North Korean soldier defects to South Korea across heavily fortified border

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Soldier’s is first reported defection to South Korea across 248km militarised zone since August 2024

A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea across the rivals’ heavily fortified border, South Korea’s military has said.

The military took custody of the soldier who crossed the central portion of the land border on Sunday, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement. It said the soldier expressed a desire to resettle in South Korea.

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North Korea executes citizens who distribute foreign TV shows, UN finds

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Human rights report highlights crackdown on personal freedoms in most restrictive country in the world

North Korea has executed people for distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, according to a UN human rights report.

Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher – including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said.

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US Navy Seals killed North Korean civilians in botched 2019 mission, report says

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New York Times says Trump authorized mission to plant listening device; team killed fishers they encountered

US Navy Seals shot and killed a number of North Korean civilians during a botched covert mission to plant a listening device in the nuclear-armed country during high-stakes diplomatic negotiations in 2019, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Citing unidentified sources, including current and former military officials with knowledge of the still-classified details, the newspaper said Donald Trump approved the operation during his first administration, as he was involved in historic talks with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

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Kim Jong-un promises to do ‘everything to assist’ Moscow after Putin meeting

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North Korean leader invited to visit Russia as Zelenskyy says Putin is displaying ‘impunity’ with new Ukraine strikes

Vladimir Putin has invited Kim Jong-un to visit Russia during a lengthy meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s biggest military parade, as Kim promised to do “everything I can to assist” Moscow.

North Korea has supported Russia in its war against Ukraine with weapons and troops, and the Russian president praised North Korean fighters for acting “courageously and heroically”.

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Xi, Putin and Kim: behind the choreographed image that could symbolise a shift in the global balance of power

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In an unprecedented spectacle the leaders of Russia, China and North Korea led a group of more than 20 world leaders at a victory day parade in Beijing

It is an image that, had it been published just a few years ago, would have been dismissed as a piece of mischievous photo-shopping: the leaders of Russia and China, accompanied by the head of a pariah regime whose mission to arm his country with nuclear weapons had been opposed at the United Nations by his two companions.

But dramatic shifts in the geopolitical landscape – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, crucially, the re-election of Donald Trump – have combined to bring Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un together in what many observers are calling a dramatic redrawing of the global balance of power.

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Xi Jinping says world faces ‘peace or war’, as Putin and Kim join him for military parade

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Trump criticises victory day event as China caps off week of diplomatic grandstanding seen as rebuke to the west

Xi Jinping said the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held China’s largest-ever military parade, joined by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in a show of defiance to the west.

Putin and Kim, the authoritarian leaders of Russia and North Korea, were among dozens of world leaders who attended the parade, a massive display of military hardware and personnel, orchestrated to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

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Kim Jong-un arrives for Beijing military parade on special armoured train

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Slow but specialised form of transport has been used by the reclusive country’s leaders for decades

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has arrived in Beijing on his signature green train to attend a military parade in China celebrating the formal surrender of Japan in the second world war.

Kim left Pyongyang for China on Monday.

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Trump says he hopes to meet Kim Jong-un and raises prospect of US taking over some South Korean land

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South Korean president Lee Jae Myung uses Oval Office meeting to encourage Trump to engage with North Korean leader

Donald Trump has said he wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, possibly this year, in an attempt to revive the failed nuclear diplomacy of his first term as US president.

“I’d like to have a meeting. I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future,” Trump said during an occasionally awkward meeting at the Oval Office with South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, in which he raised the prospect of taking ownership of South Korean land that hosts a US military base.

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North Korea accuses South Korea of ‘deliberate provocation’ after warning shots fired at soldiers on border

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Seoul says military fired warning shots on Tuesday after troops from the North briefly crossed border

South Korea fired warning shots at North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the heavily fortified border earlier this week, Seoul said on Saturday, after Pyongyang accused it of a “deliberate provocation” that risks “uncontrollable” tensions.

South Korea’s new leader Lee Jae Myung has sought warmer ties with the nuclear-armed North and vowed to build “military trust”, but Pyongyang has said it has no interest in improving relations with Seoul.

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Putin hails ‘heroic’ North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine in letter to Kim Jong-un

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Letter marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule a sign of increasingly close ties between Russia and North Korea

Russian president Vladimir Putin hailed North Korean troops sent to fight in Ukraine as “heroic” in a letter to Kim Jong-un, North Korean state media reported on Friday.

In a letter marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule, Putin recalled how Soviet Red Army units and North Korean forces fought together to end Japan’s colonial occupation.

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South Korea’s military shrinks by 20% as low birthrate hits recruitment

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World’s lowest birthrate leaves Seoul 50,000 troops short of maintaining defence readiness, report warns

South Korea’s military has shrunk by 20% in the past six years, largely due to a sharp decrease in the population of men of enlistment age for mandatory service in the country with the world’s lowest birthrate, according to a report.

The sharp decline in the pool of men available for military service is also causing a shortfall in the number of officers and could result in operational difficulties, the defence ministry said in the report.

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North Korea removing propaganda loudspeakers in border areas amid efforts to ease tensions

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Seoul dismantled its loudspeakers a week ago, and Pyongyang appears to be following suit as President Lee Jae Myung seeks to improve ties with North

South Korea’s military has said North Korea has started dismantling some propaganda loudspeakers aimed at the South in parts of the border area, following similar moves by Seoul made in a bid to ease tensions.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t disclose the sites where the North Koreans were removing speakers and said further confirmation was needed as to whether the dismantling was taking place across all areas, adding it would continue monitoring related activities.

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South Korea begins removing loudspeakers on border with North to reduce tensions

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Overture from new president Lee Jae Myung is latest effort to revive dialogue with Pyongyang that stalled under his predecessor

South Korean authorities have begun removing loudspeakers that blare propaganda broadcasts along its border with the North, Seoul’s defence ministry said on Monday, as the new government of President Lee Jae Myung seeks to ease tensions with Pyongyang.

South Korea’s dismantling of the loudspeakers was a “practical measure that can help ease inter-Korean tensions without affecting the military’s readiness posture,” the ministry said in a statement.

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Moscow starts direct flights to North Korea amid decline in options for Russian tourists

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The Moscow-Pyongyang flights operated by Russia’s Nordwind Airlines will initially operate only once a month

Direct flights from Moscow to North Korea have begun this week, amid a strengthening of ties between the two nations and a decline in options for Russian tourists travelling abroad.

The first Moscow-Pyongyang flight, operated by Russia’s Nordwind Airlines, took off on Sunday, according to the Sheremetyevo airport’s website, and landed in the North Korean capital about eight hours later.

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North Korean defector to sue Kim Jong-un alleging torture and sexual violence in regime’s detention facilities

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Choi Min-kyung is seeking damages from the state represented by its leader and has also submitted a criminal complaint alleging crimes against humanity

A North Korean defector has filed a lawsuit against Kim Jong-un in a South Korean court, alleging torture and sexual violence in the regime’s detention facilities.

Choi Min-kyung, 53, is seeking 50m won (US$37,000) in damages from the North Korean state represented by its leader, Kim Jong-un, and six other officials. She also submitted a criminal complaint asking prosecutors to investigate crimes against humanity charges against Kim and five other officials.

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Kim Jong-un hails new North Korean beach resort as one of country’s ‘greatest feats’ this year

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North Korean leader was accompanied by his daughter Kim Ju-ae, widely presumed to be his heir, at opening of Wonsan Kalma tourist zone

Kim Jong-un is more accustomed to overseeing ballistic missile launches and political purges, but this week the North Korean leader opted for a change of pace with a family visit to a new beach resort – the vanguard in a tourism drive that may one day include foreign visitors.

Kim, who had swapped his trademark Mao suit for a dark suit, white shirt and tie that matched the sandy expanse of Wonsan Kalma, hailed the coastal resort as one of the country’s “greatest feats” of the year, the state-run KCNA news agency said in a report issued on Thursday.

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Ukraine and UK to jointly produce long-range drones, Zelenskyy says

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Ukrainian president says two countries will deepen defence cooperation with the objective to ‘stop Russian terror’

Ukraine and the UK are to deepen their defence cooperation by jointly producing long-range drones, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday after talks with Keir Starmer in Downing Street aimed at forcing Russia to “think about peace”.

Zelenskyy said his main objective was “to save as many lives as possible” and to “stop Russian terror”. Writing on social media, he called for “maximum political and diplomatic coordination” and closer work on “joint defence projects and weapons production”.

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Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv kills at least 15 people

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls it ‘one of the most horrific attacks’ on Ukraine’s capital since full-scale war began

Russia launched a sustained missile and drone attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 100 in what the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called “one of the most horrific attacks” on the Ukrainian capital since the full-scale war began in spring 2022.

Officials warned that the death toll from one of the deadliest Russian attacks on Kyiv this year could rise, as rescue operations continue.

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