Tag: North Korea

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 just don’t understand why people like President Lee continue to push this fairy tale that North Korea can be denuclearized. I have yet to hear one good argument on how this can be done:

South Korea seeks phased denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as it also seeks to normalize ties with North Korea, President Lee Jae Myung has said ahead of his state visit to Mongolia, which he called a “trusted partner” in such efforts.

In an interview with Mongolia’s state-run Montsame news agency released Thursday, the South Korean president highlighted Mongolia’s potential role in bridging the divided Koreas.

“I hope that Mongolia … will contribute even more to peace and stability, not only on the Korean Peninsula but across Northeast Asia as a whole.” the president said. “I believe that the power to create peace comes not from military force, but from mutual trust and dialogue.”

“Mongolia has maintained balanced relations not only with China and Russia, but with other key countries of the region … I believe this diplomatic capacity of Mongolia is more important now than at any time before,” he added.

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.

The June 2000 summit was bought and paid for by the Korean government via Hyundai in what became known as the Cash for Summit Scandal. At the time North Korea was desperate for cash and agreed to the summit. This is not the case now since the Kim regime is having their cash and resource needs met currently by the Russians and thus have no incentive to cut a deal with the South Koreans:

President Lee Jae Myung (L) attends a special Mass at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, celebrated by Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik (R) on June 14, 2026. (Yonhap)

President Lee Jae Myung said Sunday he believes the “ember of hope” for reviving dialogue and cooperation with North Korea still exists, reaffirming his commitment to making the utmost efforts to establish peace with Pyongyang. (……)

Lee referred to the inter-Korean joint statement adopted June 15, 2000, calling it a “historic turning point” that, he said, signaled the possibility of overcoming inter-Korean tensions and opening up dialogue and cooperation. 

The president noted the first inter-Korean joint statement had led to reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as humanitarian cooperation and other exchanges, opening the door to new hopes for building peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears the U.S. and Japan are remaining committed to achieving the fantasy of a denuclearized North Korea:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front R) inspects a newly launched nuclear material production facility at an unspecified location on June 3, 2026, in this image captured from the website of North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency the next day.

The United States and Japan reiterated their commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea and rejected Russia’s notion that Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear arms was a “closed” issue, as they held key defense talks in Tokyo this week, according to a joint statement.

The allies held the bilateral Extended Deterrence Dialogue at Japan’s foreign ministry on Monday and Tuesday as they seek to reinforce security cooperation in the face of China’s growing assertiveness and North Korea’s advancing nuclear and ballistic missile threats.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Xi pays tribute to fallen Chinese soldiers in Pyongyang

Chinese President Xi Jinping places a wreath at the Friendship Tower in Pyongyang on June 9, 2026, in this photo released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency the next day. Xi’s visit to the tower, which commemorates Chinese soldiers who died while fighting for the North in the 1950-53 Korean War, came one day after he held summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, agreeing to put the two nations’ friendly relations “on a more solid basis” and expand cooperation in politics, economy, culture and other fields. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

If Kim Jong-un wants to improve relations with Xi, strongly stating support for the One China Policy is a way to do it:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Monday deepening ties with China is his country’s top policy priority, as he held summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang, according to a report.

The Kim-Xi talks came hours after the Chinese leader arrived in Pyongyang for his first state visit in nearly seven years.

Developing friendship between the North and China is “the people’s choice and the calling of the times,” China’s Xinhua News Agency quoted Kim as saying during the talks with Xi.

Kim said Pyongyang viewed the development of mutual ties as the country’s “most important strategic priority.”

With the international community “going through unprecedented, grand change,” he reaffirmed Pyongyang’s support for Beijing’s “One China” principle and pledged to keep helping safeguard China’s core interests, according to the report.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.