I guess this reaction to the bombing of Iran from North Korea is to be expected, but the term “gangster-like conduct” is quite interesting coming from a regime known as the Sopranos State:

North Korea on Sunday strongly condemned military strikes against Iran by the United States and Israel, calling them “gangster-like conduct.”

The U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on Saturday (U.S. time) in a large-scale military operation that the Iranian state media said killed its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, amid a stalemate in indirect nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran. 

In a statement carried by the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang said Israel’s attack on Iran was conducted with the active support and backing of the U.S., and that Washington’s subsequent military actions constituted a “thoroughly unlawful act of aggression” and a “gross violation of sovereignty.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Noted professor of Korean affairs, Andrei Lankov was arrested in Latvia recently. I have read many of Lankov’s books and articles over the years on North Korea. He is very well informed and provides interesting insights on North Korea. However, it appears his Russian citizenship has some how caused him to get arrested in Latvia:

A Russian professor specializing in Korean studies and teaching at a South Korean university, Andrey Lankov, has been detained by police in Latvia, where he was giving a lecture on North Korea, Russian media has reported.

Professor Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul was detained in Latvia and was added to the Latvian authorities’ “blacklist,” Russian news outlet RBC reported Wednesday (Russian time), citing an interview with the professor.

“Andrey Nikolaevich is safe and awaiting the arrival of his lawyer. The Australian consul has been notified of the situation,” RBC quoted the lecture organizers as saying. The professor is reported to hold both Russian and Australian citizenship.

Citing a local Latvian report, the news outlet also said the professor was taken away by Latvian police officers during a lecture in Riga. The lecture, titled “North Korea: What the Leaders Want and Fear,” was supposed to focus on North Korea, it said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

My guess is that the Lee administration will probably not have the ROK military do combined field training with the U.S. this year in an effort to appease North Korea. I guess we will see what happens:

The militaries of South Korea and the United States said Wednesday they will stage their annual joint springtime exercise next month to strengthen their combined defense posture, but they have yet to agree on details of related field training in a rare move.

The Freedom Shield (FS) exercise is scheduled to take place from March 9-19, involving the field training exercise dubbed “Warrior Shield,” according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

The allies’ militaries said the upcoming drills will help further strengthen the alliance’s readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations.

“This exercise will also serve as an opportunity to support ongoing preparations for a condition-based wartime operational transition, consistent with alliance agreement,” they said in a joint statement.

South Korea is seeking to achieve the “conditions-based” handover of wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. within President Lee Jae Myung’s five-year term that ends in 2030.

A JCS official explained some 18,000 troops are expected to take part in this year’s FS exercise, a level on par with around 19,000 personnel last year.

But in a rare move, the allies announced the FS exercise plan without reaching an agreement over the scope of field training exercises that will be simultaneously carried out, only saying that they are still in consultation over Warrior Shield.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It makes me wonder how many other members of the National Assembly were taking bribes like she allegedly did?:

Kang Sun-woo, a former ruling party lawmaker and currently independent, speaks ahead of a parliamentary vote on a motion for her arrest during a plenary session at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Feb. 24, 2026. (Yonhap)

The National Assembly on Tuesday approved a motion to arrest Rep. Kang Sun-woo over bribery allegations related to a nomination by the ruling Democratic Party (DP).

Kang, now an independent lawmaker who formerly belonged to the DP, is accused of receiving 100 million won (US$68,300) in exchange for supporting the nomination of former Seoul city councilor Kim Kyung as a DP candidate ahead of the 2022 local elections. Kang was ousted from the party after the allegations surfaced last month.

The arrest motion passed in a 164-87 vote with three abstentions and nine invalid ballots during a parliamentary plenary session.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I am actually surprised the Russian Embassy actually responded to such criticism in this way, I would have guessed they would have kept the banner up and conducted their event:

The Russian Embassy in Seoul on Tuesday removed a controversial banner on its outer wall of the embassy complex amid speculation the message might allude to Russia’s war with Ukraine, while canceling an external event commemorating its military. 

The removal came after the embassy recently caused controversy by hanging a banner on the exterior wall of its building that read “victory will be ours” in Russian. The phrase, though used during World War II, drew criticism for being reminiscent of the war with Ukraine.

The embassy had also planned to hold an event commemorating Defender of the Fatherland Day near its building in central Seoul on the day, but is said to have canceled the plan at the last minute and converted it into an internal event.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.