These sanctions may make it harder for these North Koreans to do business, but it seems North Korea can just get new people to replace them if the sanctions make it to hard to do business for them:

The United States said Wednesday that it is designating six North Korean individuals related to North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs.

The Department of Treasury said it is designating five North Korean individuals — one based in Russia and four in China — for illegally procuring materials for the North’s WMD and ballistic missile programs.

The Department of State also designated an additional North Korean individual based in Russia for a similar reason.

“Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) individuals responsible for procuring goods for the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile-related programs,” the treasury department said in a press release, referring to North Korea by its official name.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if this Pfizer anti-viral pills will become a subject of conspiracy theories like their vaccine?:

The first batch of Pfizer Inc.’s antiviral COVID-19 treatment pills arrived in South Korea on Thursday as the country is working to stem the spread of coronavirus infections, health officials said. 

The U.S. pharmaceutical giant’s oral pills for 21,000 people landed at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, at around 2 p.m. and were delivered to a logistics center in Ochang, 120 kilometers south of the capital, at 5:25 p.m., according to the authorities. 

The Paxlovid pills will begin being administered to patients with compromised immune systems and those aged over 65 on Friday. 

“They will be delivered to designated pharmacies and treatment centers across the country by tomorrow, or the day after,” Lim Sook-young, a senior official at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It wasn’t that long ago when in South Korea people were using human waste as fertilizer as well. North Korea is still just stuck decades in the past due to their isolationism:

North Korea is asking its citizens to use their own poop to make manure as the country faces widespread food shortages, reports say.

The country has long sourced its agricultural manure from China, but that trade, along with a number of other goods, ceased after North Korea closed its borders at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, North Korea has declared securing enough manure the first “struggle” of 2022, Daily NK reported.

State-run media has also been encouraging people to make “homemade” manure, The Daily Beast reported. A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK that residents had started “producing fertilizer from human waste” after authorities launched a 10-day drive to increase production.

Citizens were told to produce a quota of 150 kilograms of manure, with people working in state factories told to provide 500 kilograms between January 4 and January 14, Daily NK reported.

The Insider

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on North Korea’s recent missile test:

 North Korea said Wednesday it has successfully conducted the “final” test-firing of a new hypersonic missile a day earlier as its leader Kim Jong-un called for the strengthening of the country’s “strategic military muscle both in quality and quantity” during an on-site inspection. 

“The superior maneuverability of the hypersonic glide vehicle was more strikingly verified through the final test-fire,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. “The test-fire was aimed at the final verification of overall technical specifications of the developed hypersonic weapon system.” 

The hypersonic glide vehicle demonstrated “glide jump flight,” “corkscrew maneuvering” and hit “the set target in waters 1,000 km off,” it added with regard to Tuesday’s launch. It marked the third known test-firing of what the secretive North claims to be a hypersonic missile, with the second one conducted last week.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the U.S. and ROK military are both still conducting analysis to determine if North Korea’s claims are true.

Here is the latest controversy with the cancel culture crowd, it is now controversial to be anti-communism:

There are signs of a boycott movement against Starbucks Korea sparked by Shinsegae Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin’s recent anti-communist remarks on social media. Shinsegae is the parent company of E-mart, which owns 67.5 percent of Starbucks Korea.

On Monday, some netizens started spreading images on various online communities calling for a boycott. 

On Jan. 6, Vice Chairman Chung had uploaded on Instagram an image of an article from Korean daily Chosun Ilbo that had a picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping and was criticizing the Korean government’s silence toward a high-level Chinese official who had referred to Korea as a “minor country.” Chung tagged the image with the hashtag, “destroycommunism” (“myeolgong” in Korean), and it set off controversy. Later that day, the vice chairman replaced the image with a photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The vice chairman has uploaded anti-communist posts on social media five times in recent months.

The incident spread to the political circle and the spokeperson for ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung subsequently tweeted that he will not drink Starbucks coffee anymore. Supporters of the DPK showed their intention to join the boycott of Shinsegae. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but maybe I missed something here; what is controversial about being anti-communist? Is it now inappropriate to be against regime’s with horrible human rights records?

I don’t even think Yoon’s proposed stipend to new parents that would last for one year would do much to help the country’s low birth rate, due to the overall cost of raising kids in South Korea:

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol pledged Tuesday to offer parents a 1 million-won (US$837) monthly allowance for one year after the birth of their child to help tackle the country’s low birth rate.

Yoon of the People Power Party made the promise during a New Year’s press conference, saying the program should “free people from the economic burden of having children” at relatively little cost to the government, as only 260,000 babies are born a year.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.