Kim Jong-un’s influential sister calls South Korean minister ‘scum-like guy’

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un lambasted South Korea's defense chief for talk of "preemptive strike" capabilities and warned that the South may face a "serious threat" for such a "senseless" remark, according to Pyongyang's state media Sunday. In her rare press statement issued the previous day, Kim Yo-jong called South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook a "senseless and scum-like g...

WASHINGTON -- North Korea continued to advance its nuclear capabilities last year despite its border closure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that led to "historically low levels" of goods and people entering or leaving the country, a UN Security Council panel of experts said in its annual report, released Friday. The panel, however, said Pyongyang also continued to seek materials and techno...

North Korea no longer has COVID-19 vaccines allocated for its people under the COVAX Facility initiative, an international group co-leading the vaccine-sharing program confirmed Friday. The announcement came amid a protracted setback in shipment-related efforts apparently attributable to lack of cooperation from the country's reclusive regime. "COVAX has no concrete allocations for DPRK current...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took a commemorative photo in person with the participants of a workshop of the ruling party's propaganda officials and called for accelerated "revolution through a powerful ideological offensive," according to the country's state media Friday. Apparently, Kim paid keen attention to the workshop, which opened in Pyongyang on Monday and brought together officials i...

China’s top nuclear envoy meets ambassadors from UNSC’s permanent members in New York

North Korea reiterated calls for the ruling party's propaganda officials to help weed out anti-socialist and non-socialist practices, as it wrapped up a three-day workshop, according to state media Thursday. The workshop for officials in the information field of the ruling Workers' Party concluded the previous day with a study session on prioritizing ideological work as the "very core of the Par...

N. Korea could ‘rapidly restore access’ to yet unused tunnel for seventh nuclear test

A London-based nonprofit organization has launched a comprehensive database of human rights violations and atrocities involving the North Korean penal system, its website showed Tuesday. "A vast system of penal facilities extends across North Korea," Korea Future said. "The construction of these facilities -- capable of detaining hundreds of thousands of people suspected or accused of crimes -- ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called on the ruling party's propaganda officials to wage a battle in rooting out "evil spirits" of anti-socialism and bring fundamental change in their ideological work, state media reported Tuesday. In a letter sent to officials serving in the information field of the ruling Workers' Party (WPK) who were present at a workshop in Pyongyang the previous day, Kim s...

S.Korea, US detect signs of N.Korea restoring Punggye-ri nuclear testing site

North Korea has kicked off a photo exhibition commemorating a decade of its leader Kim Jong-un's rule, state media reported Monday, working up a festive mood ahead of major political anniversaries next month. An opening ceremony for the exhibition marking 10 years since Kim took the helm of the nation opened in Pyongyang the previous day, according to the North's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun. K...

US seeks to tighten UN sanctions regime, while China, Russia push for proposal to ease sanctions

North Korea seems to be working on making a "shortcut" to a tunnel at its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, apparently aimed at making speedy preparations for a seventh underground nuclear experiment, according to government sources in South Korea on Sunday. If carried out, it would be the secretive nation's first known nuclear test in 4 1/2 years. South Korea's military and intelligence authori...

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Sunday criticized South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's policy stance on the Kim Jong-un regime as a move to revive "confrontational" approaches by former conservative administrations in Seoul. The Tongil Voice claimed that Yoon is poised to follow the policy lines of two former presidents, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, who took tougher approaches th...