Category: North Korea

Another major organization is advocating for the myth that North Korea should denuclearize:

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday denounced regional calls for denuclearization, reaffirming that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal would be “updated steadily.”

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong criticized a joint statement released Saturday after the annual foreign ministers’ meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Manila, which reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea.

The ARF statement called for international efforts toward “the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.”

“Resolute and clear is the DPRK’s stand that nuclear deterrence is the ultimate shield for national sovereignty and the supreme guarantee for defending sovereignty,” Kim said in the statement. DPRK is short for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Whatever others may say, the position and significance of existence of the DPRK as a responsible nuclear weapons state to keep the balance of strength and ensure the geopolitical security in and over the Korean Peninsula are final and irreversible,” she said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I have yet to hear one good argument on how and why North Korea should denuclearize? At this point it is just not going to happen. In my opinion the best that can be done is to negotiate with Pyongyang on limitations on numbers of nuclear weapons, anti-proliferation efforts, and stopping their ICBM program.

It will be interesting see if anything appearance wise changes with North Korea’s long time border building at Panmunjom:

North Korea has installed screens around its building inside the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom to block it from public view, apparently for ongoing renovation work, military sources said Monday.

The screens covering the Panmungak facility, located on the northern side of the Joint Security Area (JSA), were erected in April in what appeared to be part of renovation efforts, military sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is going to put further strain on Ukraine to sustain their own manpower requirements in this war:

Russia is preparing to bring in an additional 30,000 North Korean troops to its war against Ukraine, with Pyongyang also planning to send more missile launchers to Moscow to support the war effort, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy made the remarks in an X posting summarizing his nightly video address, saying that Moscow has been preparing since last month to deploy the troops to a border region in the southwest. 

“Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea. Since June, preparations have been under way in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive them,” Zelenskyy said in the posting.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If you are an American who has been dreaming of planning a holiday to North Korea, you will have to wait at least another year:

The United States will extend its ban on its citizens’ travel to North Korea for another year, a State Department notice showed Tuesday, citing “serious” risks associated with travel to the reclusive state.

The department posted the notice on the Federal Register on Monday, announcing the decision on the extension, which will make the restriction valid from Sept. 1 this year to Aug. 31 next year, as the current measure is set to expire on Aug. 31.

Under the measure, all U.S. passports are to be declared invalid for travel to, in or through the North unless specially validated for such travel.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The money the Kim regime has made selling tungsten has made up 1/3 of its exports to China this year:

North Korea earned a windfall from soaring tungsten prices, largely thanks to China’s tighter export controls on the mineral in the first half of this year, but the gains were too small to offset a sharp slide in its currency and rising inflation, a report showed.

Between January and May, North Korea’s exports to China rose to $287 million, up 68 percent on-year from about $171 million. Tungsten ore accounted for $88 million, or nearly one-third of the total, according to a report released last week by the US-based monitoring website 38 North.

According to the report, North Korea’s tungsten exports by value showed an almost tenfold jump year-on-year. The mineral also overtook wigs and false hair to become the country’s largest export to China.

The increase, however, was driven mostly by higher prices rather than greater shipments.

Tungsten export volume rose only about 15 percent, while the average unit value surged from around $8 to nearly $70 per kilogram. The report estimated that higher prices accounted for about 98 percent of the increase in export earnings.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I hope the Kim regime keeps pouring their limited resources into a prestige project that will be immediately sunk during any contingency:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen tests of strategic cruise missiles and other weapons from a new 5,000-ton naval destroyer, ordering the warship to be commissioned into the Navy within two months, state media reported Sunday.

Kim observed tests of cruise missiles, naval artillery, automatic guns and electronic warfare means from the destroyer Kang Kon on Friday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In June last year, North Korea launched the destroyer Kang Kon, about one month after it had tipped over during its initial launch attempt.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is likely being done not for deterrence reasons, but as leverage during any future negotiations:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country was “equipping the Navy with nuclear weapons,” state media reported Wednesday, as he also unveiled plans to build 10,000-ton warships.

The remarks came at the commissioning of the Choe Hyon — one of two 5,000-ton class warships the nuclear-armed state launched last year — in the port city of Nampo on Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

None of this should be a surprise to anyone:

This footage from the Korean Central Television aired on June 15, 2026, shows advertising boards for South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. shown during the state-run North Korean outlet’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

North Korea’s state media excluded games involving South Korea, the United States and Japan from its apparently unauthorized coverage of the ongoing FIFA World Cup matches.

The North’s state-run Korean Central Television aired four- to six-minute broadcasts on the results of the World Cup group-stage matches at the end of its daily evening newscasts from Monday through Thursday but excluded the results of games involving the three countries.

The North, however, aired footage that showed pitch-side advertising boards for South Korean and U.S. companies, such as Hyundai Motor Co., The Coca-Cola Company and McDonald’s.

In the past, the North often blurred images related to South Korea and the U.S. in broadcasts of major sports events, such as advertising boards of companies from the two countries and the South Korean national flag.

The North Korean broadcaster included major scenes from the World Cup matches in its coverage, raising suspicions the North aired them without authorization.

North Korean state media outlets are not among the media rights licensees authorized by FIFA to broadcast the World Cup games.

The North appears to have been excluded from the broadcasting rights for the ongoing World Cup after it aired matches from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand without authorization.

The outlet has ceased broadcasting scenes from the ongoing World Cup since Friday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

At this point all these global politicians must understand that North Korea is never going to denuclearize, but they just have to keep up the facade to deter others like Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons:

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday denounced international calls for denuclearization, describing the country’s nuclear weapons as its “core interests” and denuclearization as a “line of no retreat that can never be crossed,” Pyongyang’s state media reported.

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong criticized the United States and its allies for making what she called “anachronistic” demands for North Korea’s denuclearization.

Kim’s remarks came in response to a joint statement issued by leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations at their summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Wednesday, which reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea in line with U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.