North Korea may officially acknowledge its troop deployments to Russia to secure strategic gains by formalizing its role as an official war participant amid mounting internal challenges in concealing such actions, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday. The ministry suggested Seoul detected "signs of unease" within North Korean society, as rumors, including accounts of families in tears, have surfaced and spread despite Pyongyang's efforts to keep its troop deployment to R

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited an offshore fishing farm under construction in the eastern port city of Sinpho, calling for regions to use their own natural and economic resources in a bid to develop themselves independently, state media reported Tuesday. The North's leader made the remarks during his visit to the Sinpho City Offshore Farm under construction in South Hamgyong Province, the Korean Central News Agency said, without disclosing the date of his inspection. During a v

North Korea and Russia have signed a protocol on enhancing sports exchanges for next year, the North's state media said Monday, as the two nations continue to bolster cooperation in various fields. Kim Il-guk, North Korea's minister of physical culture and sports, signed the protocol with Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev in Pyongyang the previous day, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. While details of the protocol were not disclosed, the KCNA said Kim and Degty

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his previous efforts for dialogue and diplomacy could not change US hostility toward his country. “We had explored every path we can with the US through dialogue. The only outcome that can come from it, I am convinced, is the superpower’s implacable logic of force and unchanging policy of hostility toward our country,” Kim was quoted saying in the Workers’ Party of Korea-affiliated newspaper Rodong Simun on Friday. Kim has yet to offic

North Korea on Friday denounced a resolution recently adopted by a United Nations committee regarding the country's human rights violations as a "politically motivated provocation." A spokesman from North Korea's foreign ministry made the statement in a press release carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency. On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly's Third Committee adopted a resolution calling the human rights situation in North Korea "grave

A senior North Korean general was wounded in a Ukrainian strike in Russia's western Kursk region, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing Western officials. The newspaper on Thursday said it is the first time Western officials have said a high-ranking North Korean military officer has become a casualty in the Russia-Ukraine conflict since Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia last month in support of its invasion. The officials did not say who the general is or how badly h

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said that his country went to every length in negotiations with the United States, but it only confirmed Washington's unwavering hostile policy toward Pyongyang, the North's state media said Friday. Kim made the remarks during a speech at the opening ceremony of an arms exhibition titled "National Defense Development-2024," in Pyongyang the previous day, the Korean Central News Agency said. "We have already gone to every length in ne

Hackers linked to North Korea’s military intelligence agency were found to be responsible for extorting ethereum cryptocurrency worth 58 billion won ($41.5 million) back in 2019, according to the National Office of Investigation of the Korean National Police Agency, Thursday. According to the KNPA, North Korea’s state-sponsored hacker groups Lazarus and Andariel were found to be involved in the theft of 342,000 ethereum tokens from the South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Upbit

North Korea and Russia concluded a ministerial meeting in Pyongyang aimed at expanding cooperation in the trade, economic, scientific and technological sectors on Wednesday, at a critical moment when global attention is focused on what Pyongyang might gain in return for dispatching troops to support Russia's war efforts in Ukraine. The Unification Ministry in Seoul on Thursday noted that neither Pyongyang nor Moscow revealed core agreements in the economic and trade sectors -- areas that co

North Korea and Russia have signed a protocol on expanding cooperation following their committee meeting on economy, science, and technology in Pyongyang, the North's state media reported Thursday. The two sides signed the agreement Wednesday after holding the 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation in Trade, Economy, Science, and Technology the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Yun Jong-ho, the external economic relations minister of

North Korea has held the 11th meeting of the intergovernmental committee on economic cooperation with Russia and discussed a range of issues on mutual cooperation, the North's state media reported Wednesday. Yun Jong-ho, the external economic relations minister of North Korea, and Russia's Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov attended the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation in Trade, Economy, Science and Technology in Pyongyang the previous day, the Korean

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected industrial factories under construction and urged their successful completion in 20 regions as planned, the North's state media reported Wednesday. Kim gave a "field guidance" at regional industrial factories under construction in Songchon County, South Phyongan Province, the previous day, stressing the country's policy of opening up "a new era of regional development," the Korean Central News Agency said. In a parliamen

The commander of US Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday that the United States has "not yet" seen North Korea's atmospheric reentry capability, a key technology required for the recalcitrant regime to advance its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. Adm. Samuel Paparo made the remarks during a forum in Washington as Pyongyang has been doubling down on its quest to secure reliable long-range warhead delivery vehicles as seen in the test-launch last month of a new Hwason

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has met with Russia's visiting natural resources minister and called for "more extensive and diversified" promotion of cooperative relations between their countries, state media reported Tuesday. The previous day, Kim met with Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov, who led a government delegation to North Korea for the 11th meeting of the countries' intergovernmental committee for cooperation in trade, economy, scie

A United Nations committee has voiced concern over the potential negative impact on North Korea's human rights situation following the North's decision to abandon its policy of seeking reunification with South Korea, a draft report showed Monday. The UN General Assembly Third Committee, which deals with human rights and humanitarian affairs, made the reference to the shift in the North's state policy in the latest draft resolution regarding the human rights violations in the reclu

The Unification Ministry in Seoul suggested Monday that the North Korean leader's directive for full war readiness -- alongside his framing of the Ukraine war as the start of global military intervention by the US and the West -- was likely intended to quell probable dissent in North Korea over the regime’s deployment of troops to support Russia in Ukraine. Kim Jong-un issued the order and delivered his speech on Nov. 15, the final day of the two-day 4th Conference of Battalion Comman

The unification ministry said Monday it is reviewing measures to reclaim loans granted to North Korea for building inter-Korean roads and train tracks after the North blew them up in October. The unification ministry unveiled the tentative measures as part of its policy plan for the second half of President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration, which is now at the midpoint of his five-year term. On Oct. 15, North Korea demolished parts of the roads and train tracks connected to South Korea -- the

North Korea again sent balloons carrying trash toward South Korea on Monday, the military here said, resuming its balloon campaign after about a three-week hiatus. North Korea floated some 40 balloons in the early hours, with approximately half of them falling in the Seoul metropolitan area and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The fallen objects were leaflets critical of South Korea and included no hazardous items, it added. Since late May, North Korea has sent more

North Korea's jamming of GPS signals across the border with South Korea continued Sunday for the 10th consecutive day, the military said. GPS jamming was detected in the northern part of Gangwon Province early Sunday morning, according to the military. The latest jamming attacks began near the northwestern islands before they began spreading to the northern parts of Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces last Thursday. The military has said the jamming has involved weaker signals than in May and Ju

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Sunday that South Korea will have to pay a "dear price" for sending propaganda leaflets across the border the previous day. Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the central committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said "various kinds of political agitation leaflets and dirty things" were dropped by the South near the border and further inland. "We strongly denounce the shameful and dirty act