Top Russian general confirms North Korean troop dispatch to Ukraine warRussia's top general has confirmed for the first time that North Korean troops have been fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine as he held talks with President Vladimir Putin. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, made the confirmation of the North Korean troop deployment in a videoconference with Putin on Saturday, noting the North Korean troops had played a crucial role in the liberation of the Kursk border region. "I want to point out the participation of servicemen from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the liberation of the Kursk Region's border areas, who, in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries, provided significant assistance in defeating the invading group of the Ukrainian armed forces," Gerasimov said in a transcript of the videoconference posted on the website of the Kremlin, referring to the North by its official name. "Soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army, carrying out combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen, displayed high professionalism, fApr 27, 2025By Yonhap
North Korea denounces Japan PM's offering to war shrineNorth Korea has criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for making a ritual offering to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, saying that it again demonstrated Japan's pursuit of militarization. The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the criticism in a commentary dated Saturday, after Ishiba sent an offering last week to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war dead, including 14 Class A criminals convicted by the Allied forces after World War II. A bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers also visited the shrine in person to pay their respects at that time. The KCNA denounced those actions by Japanese politicians as "the road t militarization," saying they would only precipitate the ruin of the whole Japan. The KCNA accused Japanese politicians of regularizing their annual offerings and visits to Yasukuni, denouncing the moves as an attempt to "invariably and deeply implant the poison of militarism in the whole area of the archipelago with the shrine as the origin." It also claimed that Japan is in the final stage of legal, institutional and military preparatioApr 27, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea unveils new destroyer, pledges to strengthen naval powerNorth Korea unveiled its new destroyer for the country's navy as part of its broader plan to enhance maritime power, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Saturday. On Friday, Pyongyang held a launching ceremony of its new 5,000-ton multipurpose destroyer at a shipyard in the North's western port city of Nampho, according to a report by the KCNA. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the ceremony with his daughter, known as Ju-ae, and examined the newly built warship, named the Choe Hyon after a deceased North Korean anti-Japanese revolutionary fighter. The ship, planned to be delivered to the North Korean Navy early next year, is armed with weapons systems that significantly enhance its air defense, anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-ballistic missile operations, the report said. It can also be equipped with supersonic strategic cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles for precise land attack operations. In a speech at the ceremony, Kim was quoted as saying the destroyer will build up the strength for "thoroughly defending" the maritime sovereignty of North Korea aApr 26, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea denounces US for deploying B-1B strategic bombers to JapanNorth Korea on Friday denounced the United States for deploying B-1B strategic bombers to Japan, arguing that such deployment would pose a threat to security in the region. The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published the criticism in an article, accusing Washington of stationing its bomber in Japan for a long-term period and escalating tensions in the region to a record high by using Japan and South Korea as outposts. On April 15, a U.S. bomber task force, comprising B-1B Lancer aircraft, airmen and support equipment from the U.S. Air Force's 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, arrived at Misawa Air Base, Japan, to reinforce regional stability in the Indo-Pacific, according to the Indo-Pacific Command. It marks the first time a U.S. Air Force bomber task force has been deployed to Japan. The U.S. has also deployed a B-1B bomber to South Korea three times so far this year, including during a South Korea-U.S. exercise in mid-April. The B-1B Lancer is one of the three strategic U.S. bombers, with the capacity to fly 12,000 kilometers non-stop at supersonic speeds and carrApr 25, 2025By Yonhap
Survivor’s guilt, dumb luck and the LA firesFive homes, so close to one another in Rustic Canyon. The one just up the hillside from me, the flames swallowed whole. Outside another, two doors down from mine, five-gallon spring water bottles in a wooden casing leaned against wooden siding. When the two homes between us — one a Prohibition-era speakeasy — blazed in livid rage, the spring-water bottles exploded. A firefighter said the fire saved the water-bottle house from the fire. As for me, I have a roof over my head because of (a) Berkeley firefighters (“Berkeley???”), (b) the director of the Charles Moore Foundation, who flew in from Austin, Texas, to protect a Moore-designed house in adjacent Santa Monica Canyon and, along with other fearless souls, hosed down (“What???”) smoldering late-breaking embers on the side of my house and (c) a flood of impossible-to-deserve luck. (The Moore house survived.) When the view from your kitchen window is first mangled metal and ashes, and then a scorched lot, you spend lots of time rethinking luck, why it found you and snubbed your neighbors, how luck and cataclysm work side byApr 24, 2025By Peter Mehlman
N. Korea says treaty with Russia guarantees peace, security in EurasiaNorth Korea on Thursday touted its mutual defense treaty with Russia as a "guarantee" safeguarding peace and security in Eurasia, marking the sixth anniversary of leader Kim Jong-un's first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Rodong Simun, a mainstream newspaper published by North Korea's Workers' Party, carried the message, a day before the country marks the sixth anniversary of Kim's first summit with Putin in the Russian border city of Vladivostok on April 25, 2019. The two countries have aligned closely since Kim and Putin signed a mutual defense treaty in Pyongyang in June last year, which led to North Korea's deployment of troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine. "The North Korea-Russia friendship, which has been further strengthened through the trials of complex history, has entered into a new heyday today under the special attention" of leader Kim Jong-un, the newspaper claimed. It described the first Kim-Putin summit as a "watershed" that elevated and enriched the friendship between the two neighbors. The newspaper also touted it as a "groundbreaking" event tApr 24, 2025By Yonhap
Rubio describes N. Korea as 'nuclear armed' countryU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described North Korea as a "nuclear-armed" country in an apparent recognition of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons capabilities, despite the Trump administration's stated commitment to the "complete denuclearization" of the North. Rubio used the expression in a podcast interview released Wednesday, as he pointed to a series of security challenges facing the United States, including those from China, Russia and Iran. "We live in a world with a nuclear-armed North Korea, with a nuclear-ambitious Iran," the secretary said in the podcast hosted by The Free Press, according to a transcript provided by the State Department. He made the remarks as he compared the current contours of security with what they used to be 20 years ago, when the U.S. was what he called a "unipolar power." President Donald Trump has called North Korea a "nuclear power," noting that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has "a lot of nuclear weapons." The "nuclear power" expression has raised concerns that it could be construed as official U.S. recognition of Pyongyang's possession of nuclearApr 24, 2025By Yonhap
US envoy post for N. Korea human rights left vacantThe State Department's special envoy post for North Korean human rights has been left vacant since January, its website showed Tuesday, as the department pushes for a reorganization plan that includes a reduction of human rights-related offices. Former Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues Julie Turner left the post in January, and currently serves as the acting deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, according to the department. Turner took the special envoy post in October 2023, filling a vacancy that had lasted more than six years. It remains uncertain whether President Donald Trump will appoint a new special envoy in charge of North Korean human rights. During her stint, Turner played an active role to highlight the "inextricable" connection between the North's rights abuses and its security threats on the grounds that the "repressive political climate" in the North allows its regime to divert a large share of public resources to weapons development programs. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled the department's reorgaApr 23, 2025By Yonhap
Closest aide to N. Korean leader absent from public view for 2 monthsJo Yong-won, a North Korean party secretary considered one of the closest aides to leader Kim Jong-un, has not appeared in public for nearly two months, prompting speculation about a possible change in his status. Jo, who also serves as director of the organization and guidance department of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, was last seen in North Korean media on Feb. 28 while attending groundbreaking ceremonies of regional industrial factories, and has not appeared in any media reports since. Having often been seen next to Kim, Jo has been widely considered one of his closest aides, and his prolonged absence from public view "requires special attention," an official at South Korea's unification ministry told reporters Tuesday on condition of anonymity. Additionally, Ri Il-hwan, another high-profile party secretary, has also remained out of the public eye since his last appearance on Jan. 2, when he was reported to have attended an official photo session with workers and national contributors. The names of both Jo and Ri were absent from the list of top North Korean officials reportedApr 22, 2025By Yonhap
China's envoy to N. Korea says 'blood-forged' bilateral friendship will reach new heightsChina's ambassador to North Korea has affirmed "the blood-forged" friendship between the two countries will be further developed to reach "new heights" during an event marking the recent birth anniversary of North Korea's founder, according to his embassy Tuesday. Ambassador Wang Yajun made the remarks on Friday while attending an art exhibition by veteran North Korean artists in Pyongyang, commemorating the 113th birth anniversary of late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung. Wang noted this year marks the 76th anniversary of the Chinese volunteer forces' entry into the 1950-53 Korean War, according to the website of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang. The ambassador also expressed confidence that the blood-forged bilateral traditional friendship will be carried forward and further developed, reaching new heights and contributing more to the maintenance of regional peace under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. At one particularly emotional moment, Choe Sok-kun, a 90-year-old senior North Korean painter present at the exhibition, joined Wang inApr 22, 2025By Yonhap
