North Korea

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Diplomats Take 34 Hours— and a Push—to Leave N. Korea

Amid restrictions, final leg required hand-pushed rail trolley

(Newser) - A group of Russian diplomats and their families had to travel more than 34 hours just to get out of North Korea, a journey that ended on a hand-pushed cart. Most methods of international travel, including plane and train, have been blocked in North Korea due to the coronavirus pandemic....

North Korean Defector Used Tunnel Unknown to South

Alarms were ignored as man swam ashore, wandered for 6 hours

(Newser) - The North Korean man found in South Korea last week appeared eight times on surveillance cameras without anyone noticing, according to a report from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. Alarms sounded twice after the man came ashore around 1:05am on Feb. 16, but the soldier in charge...

North Korea Offers $10K Bounties on Workers Who Escaped

There are reportedly many living in Russia

(Newser) - North Korea is offering rewards of up to $10,000 for information leading to the capture of North Korean construction workers who escaped in Russia, sources tell Radio Free Asia . UN sanctions put a stop to the issuance of new working visas for North Koreans, and required those already working...

She Was Only 13 When North Korean Agents Took Her

They didn't realize Megumi Yokota was just a kid in 1977 abduction from a beach in Japan

(Newser) - The BBC recounts a harrowing chapter in relations between North Korea and Japan, a stretch from 1977 through the early 1980s when North Korean agents abducted Japanese citizens to help train their spies. North Korea has since admitted to this and apologized, though critics say the North has not acknowledged...

Feds Say Massive North Korea Hack Was Revenge for Movie

Country's agents are 'world's leading bank robbers,' prosecutors say

(Newser) - North Korean operatives are the "world's leading bank robbers," federal prosecutors said Wednesday, announcing charges against three computer programmers in the regime's "General Reconnaissance Bureau." Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il, and Park Jin Hyok are accused of taking part in cyberattacks that stole and...

Latest South Korean Embarrassment: Guy in Flippers

Possible North Korean defector reportedly swam across border, crawled through beach drain pipe

(Newser) - Soldiers came upon a North Korean man wearing a wetsuit and flippers walking down a road in South Korea on Tuesday. It was "the second embarrassing breach for the South Korean military's border security in recent months" after a North Korean defector traversed the Demilitarized Zone, reaching a...

Kim Jong Un May No Longer Be 'Chairman'

State media now referring to North Korean leader as 'president'

(Newser) - Kim Jong Un's wife has appeared in public for the first time in more than a year. Ri Sol Ju, who has a habit of disappearing from the public eye and last appeared in public for the Lunar New Year holiday in January 2020, accompanied her husband to a...

South Korea Has New Accusation Against North Korea

It says its neighbor tried to hack Pfizer; no word on whether the attack was successful

(Newser) - The North Korean regime tried to hack US drugmaker Pfizer in an effort to steal information on the company's coronavirus vaccine, according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service. Lawmakers were briefed on the findings during a closed-door session of the National Assembly's intelligence committee on Tuesday, per...

UN Report: North Korea, Iran Have Teamed Up

Iran denies cooperative missile development

(Newser) - North Korea is funneling millions of dollars stolen by hackers into nuclear weapons, according to a new and confidential UN report, which also points the finger at Iran. The document accuses Kim Jong Un's regime of coordinating "operations against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses" to pay...

North Korea Rolls Out 'World's Most Powerful Weapon'

New missiles were on display at military parade

(Newser) - North Korea displayed new submarine-launched ballistic missiles under development and other military hardware in a parade that underlined leader Kim Jong Un’s defiant calls to expand the country's nuclear weapons program. State media said Kim took center stage in Thursday night’s parade celebrating a major ruling party...

Kim Jong Un's Sister Gets in the Smack-Talk Game

Calls South Korea 'a truly weird group' as North Korea's political meeting ends

(Newser) - North Korea's rare party congress meeting ended Tuesday , but not before leader Kim Jong Un's sister had some things to say about South Korea. Kim Yo Jong, who was apparently demoted during the meeting, spoke out after Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that signs of...

Promotion for Kim Jong Un, With Possible Dis for Sis

N. Korean leader is now general secretary of ruling party, while Kim Yo Jong gets demoted—but why?

(Newser) - Kim Jong Un can now count himself among the same ranks as his late father and grandfather after receiving a coveted promotion from chairman to general secretary of North Korea's Workers' Party on Sunday. The nation's state media describes Kim's new role as "the brain of...

Kim Jong Un Slams N. Korea's 'Biggest Enemy'

Spoiler alert: That would be the United States

(Newser) - President-elect Biden is on the brink of moving into the White House, but as far as Kim Jong Un is concerned, that doesn't change how he views the United States. In fact, per North Korean state media, Kim says the US remains his nation's "biggest enemy" and...

Spy Agency: Kim Jong Un Is Worried About Biden

North Korean leader stressed the need to drastically improve foreign relations

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stressed the need to drastically improve his nation’s ties with the outside world as he addressed a major political conference for the third day. State media said Kim also reviewed relations with rival South Korea but didn’t explain what steps he said...

Kim Jong Un Admits a Failure
Kim Jong Un
Admits a Failure
Jan 6, 2021 12:01 AM CST

Kim Jong Un Admits a Failure

Says his economic plan has almost completely failed at rare meeting

(Newser) - At a rare political meeting Tuesday in North Korea, Kim Jong Un admitted his economic policies have almost entirely failed, the AP reports. On the first day of a congress for the ruling Workers' Party, the first in five years, the leader said his five-year economic development plan did not...

Kim Jong Un Sends a Rare Letter to His People

'I will work hard to bring earlier the new era,' Kim Jong Un wrote

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un thanked the public for their trust and support "in the difficult times" and wished them happiness and good health in his first New Year’s Day card sent to his people. Kim usually gives a televised speech on Jan. 1, but he is...

After 9 Years, Kim Jong Un Is Feeling the Squeeze

Party meeting comes as nation is being battered by pandemic, sanctions

(Newser) - Coronavirus restrictions that have significantly limited his public appearances. Warning signals for an economy battered by pandemic-related border closings, natural disasters, and international sanctions. The impending departure of a US president who said he “fell in love” with him. As North Korean leader Kim Jong Un grapples with the...

Experts: Report on Kim a Sign That Virus Is Roiling N. Korea

Analyst says leader, other North Korean elites have received COVID-19 vaccine from China

(Newser) - His country's attempts to hack pharmaceutical companies apparently failed , but Kim Jong Un got a coronavirus vaccine anyway. That's according to US analyst Harry Kazianis, who reports that the North Korean leader, his family members, and several senior government officials were vaccinated "within the last two to...

Spy Agency: Kim Is Taking 'Irrational' COVID Measures

South Korean lawmakers were told Kim has banned fishing, ordered executions

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea, and locked down Pyongyang as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Friday. Kim's government also ordered diplomats overseas...

Defector Crossed DMZ Undetected Thanks to Loose Screw

Sensors were supposed to alert South Korean guards

(Newser) - The latest defection from North Korea is a worry for South Koreans—and not because they fear an onslaught of gymnasts leaping over the border. The defector, who showed up on the South Korean side of the heavily fortified DMZ earlier this month, managed to get past a border equipped...

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