Category: North Korea

For both Kim Jong-un and Putin, the North Korean troop deployment to fight against Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk province has to now be considered a success. The Ukrianians lost a valuable negotiating piece by losing the land they gained in Kursk provice. Additionally many inexpendable Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the Kursk operation fighting very expendable North Korean soldiers:

This image captured on Aug. 30, 2025, shows the music video of the song titled “Remember,” aired by the Korean Central Television, highlighting the contributions made by North Korean troops in the Russia-Ukraine war. (Yonhap)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un finalized his decision to deploy troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine on Aug. 28 last year, shortly after Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into Kursk, a video released by the North’s state media showed Sunday.

The Korean Central Television recently released the music video of a song titled “Remember,” featuring North Korean soldiers who fought in Russia’s front-line region of Kursk.

The video’s background images include a document on a plan to “liberate” Kursk, ratified by Kim, as well as a scene of the leader in a white summer Mao suit presiding over a meeting with key military officials, including Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the ruling party’s Central Military Commission, and Ri Chang-ho, vice chief of the General Staff.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The axis of authoritarianism is meeting in China this week to pretend that the CCP had anything to do with helping to win World War II:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is set to take an initial step onto the multilateral diplomatic stage in China this week, with his planned trip to attend a military parade in Beijing setting the stage for a possible three-way summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

It will be the first time for Kim, who assumed power in late 2011, to attend a multilateral diplomatic event. His grandfather and the North’s founder Kim Il-sung attended a military parade in Beijing in 1959.

The decision by Kim to attend China’s military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, alongside Putin and Xi, was announced days after both South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed their eagerness to resume diplomacy with North Korea in their high-stakes summit in Washington.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if the development of these new missiles was helped by the Russians?:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of two types of new antiair missiles, state media said Sunday, displaying his expanding military capabilities as the South Korean and U.S. militaries carry out joint drills.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the test Saturday proved the missiles effective in countering aerial threats such as drones and cruise missiles, and that Kim assigned unspecified “important” tasks to defense scientists ahead of a major political conference expected early next year. The report did not specify the missiles that were tested or where the event took place. It did not mention any remarks by Kim directed at Washington or Seoul.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is supposedly the first time open source imagery has located one of North Korea ICBM bases:

North Korea has an undeclared ballistic missile operating base near its border with China, which likely possesses intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the continental United States, a U.S. monitor confirmed Wednesday.

Beyond Parallel, a project of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, unveiled the Sinpung-dong Missile Operating Base in North Pyongan Province, about 25 kilometers from the border with China, as it released its analysis of satellite imagery taken July 11.

It marks the first open-source study confirming the base, according to the monitor.

“Preliminary analysis suggests that the base likely houses a brigade-sized unit equipped with a total of six to nine nuclear capable Hwasong-15 or -18 ICBMs, or an as yet unknown ICBM, and their transporter-erector-launchers (TEL) or mobile-erector-launchers (MEL),” it said in a report posted on its website.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This guy must have been pretty desperate to attempt a high risk defection like this. Hopefully he doesn’t have any family left in North Korea that will be punished for his defection:

A North Korean man defected to South Korea after he swam down the coast and evaded armed border guards with orders to shoot anyone fleeing Kim Jong Un’s regime.

The unidentified man was detected late on the evening of July 30, according to South Korean officials, who made the defection public on Thursday. He used tied-on plastic foam for buoyancy and swam down the Korean Peninsula’s west coast.

After a journey of around 10 hours, the man, who reportedly waved his hands and declared his intention to defect, was retrieved by South Korea’s military about 1.6 miles south of North Korean soil.

Defections to the South have become extremely rare in recent years after Kim ordered extra fortifications and boosted security along the border. That has left only dangerous routes and the risk of a death sentence if caught.

Wall Street Journal

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting read about how a down on her luck American woman became a laptop farmer for North Korea:

Soon, more laptops arrived. Zhonghua got back in touch and told her she’d receive $300 a month for each one she hosted. Her dream job had landed on her doorstep, or so it seemed.

Instead, it would prove to be the beginning of a long nightmare. Zhonghua’s company wasn’t a company at all, but a front for agents of the North Korean government, who were using the laptops to work remote IT jobs for oblivious US businesses. And the promise he’d recognized in her was not as a software engineer. It was as a “laptop farmer”—an American providing geographic cover for North Korean IT workers, making it appear they were Americans working on US soil. All told, the United Nations estimates the wages paid to these illicit telecommuters generate $250 million to $600 million for the regime each year, much of which is funneled directly into its rocket program.

Bloomberg

You can read more at the link.

It is interesting that Kim Yo-jong is coming out and saying that relations between the U.S. and North Korean leaders is “not bad”. It makes me think there is likely much communication going on behind the scenes:

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Tuesday personal ties between the leaders of the North and the United States are “not bad,” while ruling out talks on Pyongyang’s denuclearization.

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the ruling party’s Central Committee, made the remarks as U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his intent to reengage with the North’s leader.

“I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present U.S. president is not bad,” Kim said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“However, if the personal relations between the top leaders of the DPRK and the U.S. are to serve the purpose of denuclearization, it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party,” she said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

What is notable about this report is that Kim Jong-un did not launch any criticisms towards South Korea or the U.S. signaling that Kim may not have any current animosity towards ROK President Lee Jae-myung or U.S. President Donald Trump:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the Friendship Tower in Pyongyang on the anniversary of the signing of an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, pledging not to forget the contributions of fallen Chinese soldiers, state media reported Sunday. 

Kim also appeared to refrain from criticizing South Korea or the United States, as state media made no mention of him making such remarks during the ceremony.

Kim laid a wreath before the tower the previous day, saying that North Korea “would never forget the militant feats and merits of the fallen fighters of the Chinese People’s Volunteers,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, bringing the Korean War to a halt. Since 1996, North Korea has marked the date as Victory Day, claiming it won the Liberation War against U.S.-led aggression.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I once saw Mt. Kumgang through a telescope along the DMZ on South Korea’s east coast. It looked like a pretty amazing mountain. I hope to visit it one day when the Kim regime is no longer around:

North Korea’s Mount Kumgang, noted for its striking natural beauty, has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site on Sunday.

During the 47th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Paris, the decision was made to inscribe the mountain and the historical relics in and around it on the list of protected landmarks and sites of internationally recognized cultural, historic or scientific value.

For more than a thousand years, Mount Kumgang (Geumgang in South Korean romanization) has enchanted artists, lyrists and travelers alike with its breathtaking panorama of craggy granite peaks, tumbling waterfalls and mist-veiled gorges.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.