North Korea says US has 'sinister intention' in rejoining UNESCO The UNESCO logo is seen during the 39th session of the General Conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Nov. 4, 2017. AP-YonhapNorth Korea criticized on Tuesday the U.S. plan to rejoin the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO as a "sinister" move to use an international organization for the purpose of "realizing the strategy for hegemony.”The Paris-based U.N. agency announced this month the United States intended to rejoin in July, calling it an "act of confidence in UNESCO and in multilateralism.”The move is expected to be approved by a majority of its 193 member states. The decision is in part aimed at counteringnChina's growing sway at the agency where it is one of the largest donors, the Wall Street Journal reported this month."Clear is the sinister intention of the U.S. hastening the reentry into the organization ... The U.S. has an inglorious background of having withdrawn not only from UNESCO but also from WHO, the UN Human Rights Council and other international organizations," a statement released by North Korea's permanent mission to UNESCO said.U.S. President Joe Jun 27, 2023
Wagner mutiny may have killed North Korea's dream project Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, welcomes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for talks in Vladivostok, Russia, in this, April 25, 2019 photo. The Wagner Group's recent rebellion may have killed North Korea's dream project in Russia, an expert said Monday. AP-YonhapExpert says Pyongyang's hopes of taking advantage of Moscow ties now look dimBy Jung Min-hoWhen Russia's military forces took control of Luhansk and Donetsk, two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, North Korea seized an opportunity, becoming only the second state after Syria to recognize their independence in a move to back Moscow.Then followed the news that the North was offering 100,000 soldiers to help stabilize the regions and that it was supplying munitions to the Kremlin through the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.All this suggests that North Korea was keen to take advantage of the war. First, by selling Russia weapons during the conflict and then by taking part in its reconstruction. That plan may now have been seriously ― perhaps fatally ― disrupJun 26, 2023By Jung Min-ho
North Korea plagued by worst famine, wary of impact North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second from left, checks crops in a rice paddy in North Hwanghae Province after the September 2020 floods. Korea Times fileViolent crimes committed by soldiers against civilians increase amid deaths due to worsening starvation, says defectorBy Kang Hyun-kyungDozens of North Korean soldiers were embroiled recently in a violent dispute with health authorities in the reclusive state, according to a defector.Citing a source, Lee Ae-ran, an expert in North Korean cuisine, who became the first defector to earn a doctoral degree in the South, said that the deadly clash occurred as the soldiers took collective action against North Korean authorities, which is a rare occurrence in the totalitarian state.According to Lee, the soldiers arrived in Pyongyang early to prepare for a military parade scheduled for July 27 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement that halted fighting in the Korean War. “Some of them had the flu and were separated from other soldiers for social distancing purposes. After they recovered, the soldiers were ordeJun 26, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung
Defector group sends propaganda leaflets to N. Korea on Korean War anniversary A North Korean defectors' group said Monday it has sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets and medicine by balloons to the North, as they marked the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.A placard condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attached to one of the balloons the anti-Pyongyang group sent to North Korea is seen in this June 26 photo provided by Fighters for a Free North Korea. YonhapPark Sang-hak, head of the Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), told Yonhap News Agency that the organization sent 20 balloons carrying some 200,000 leaflets, 10,000 face masks, Tylenol pills and booklets from Gimpo, west of Seoul, at 10 p.m. on Sunday.Sunday marked the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War that broke out on June 25, 1950, when tank-led North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The United States and 20 other allied countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.N. flag.According to Park, the giant balloons carried placards denouncing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that read "My grandfather (Kim Il-sung) attacked the South 73 years ago, when should I?" referring to tJun 26, 2023
Mass rallies in N. Korea against US held on Korean War anniversary A mass rally by workers, youth and students against "U.S. imperialism" in Pyongyang on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War, June 25, is seen in this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News AgencMore than 120,000 people participated in mass rallies in the North Korean capital Pyongyang to denounce what they claim is a "war provocation of aggression" by the United States on the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, the North's state media said Monday.The Sunday rallies were attended by workers and youth, as well as secretaries of the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Ri Il-hwan and Pak Thae-song, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when tank-led North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The United States and 20 other allied countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.N. flag.The KCNA said participants blamed the U.S. for the war and noted that there would have been "no such deep-rooted enmity as June 25 and the land of the mJun 26, 2023
N. Korea warns Korean Peninsula close to 'brink of nuclear war' North Korea fires a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang, in this Nov. 19, 2022 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency. YonhapNorth Korea's foreign ministry on Monday accused Seoul and Washington of pushing tensions to "the brink of a nuclear war" akin to the 1950-53 Korean War, saying it will continue to bolster its self-defensive capabilities.In a research report released by the foreign ministry's Institute for American Studies, North Korea likened the current military tensions in the region to the night before the outbreak of the Korean War as it slammed the United States and South Korea for their "delusional anti-communist military confrontation" and "rhetorical threats.""Such bellicose moves of the U.S. have pushed the military tensions on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia already plunged into an extremely unstable situation closer to the brink of a nuclear war," the ministry said in the English-language report released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).The North argued that the U.S. is "resorting to thJun 26, 2023
North Korea voices 'strong' support for Russia over Wagner's armed rebellion North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il / YonhapNorth Korea's vice foreign minister voiced his "strong" support for any decision by the Russian leadership over the recent armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group, according to the North's state media Sunday.Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il made the remarks during his meeting with Russian Ambassador to the North Alexander Matsegora earlier in the day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).Im "expressed firm belief that the recent armed rebellion in Russia would be successfully put down in conformity with the aspiration and will of the Russian people, saying the DPRK will strongly support any option and decision by the Russian leadership," the KCNA said, using the acronym of the North's full name.Im also expressed his confidence that Russia's army and people will overcome their ordeals and "heroically" emerge victorious in the war with Ukraine, it added.Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Wagner Group, launched an armed revolt against the Russian military leadership Friday, ordering his troops to march on Moscow. BuJun 25, 2023
N. Korea claims expansion of BRICS could speed up end to US dollar's supremacy This photo, provided by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency, shows a plenary meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea taking place, with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, June 19. YonhapNorth Korea's state media claimed Sunday that an expansion of the so-called emerging BRICS nations could challenge and eventually speed up an end of the domination of the U.S. dollar. In an article carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Jong Il-hyon, an international affairs analyst of North Korea, criticized the U.S. for using the dollar and its military might as means for "hegemonism."BRICS ― Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa ― held a meeting of its foreign ministers in South Africa earlier this month."The unprecedented international moves to limit the use of dollar and the tendency of many countries to join BRICS are accelerating the end of dollar as a key currency and the end of the U.S. hegemonism pursuant to it," the analyst said. "Today, the U.S. has resorted to every means and method to maintain the supremacy of dollar asJun 25, 2023
N. Korea slams Blinken's remarks on China role, warns of 'overwhelming' response to US provocation The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy submarine, arrives in the port of Busan, Oct. 13, 2017. AFP-YonhapNorth Korea warned Saturday of a "more overwhelming and offensive" countermeasures against any enhanced U.S. military action, criticizing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent visit to China.Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the Department of U.S. Affairs at Pyongyang's foreign ministry, issued the warning as Washington has recently made efforts to bolster its "extended deterrence" commitment to defending South Korea with all of its military capabilities."We seriously warn that the scale and scope of the DPRK's counteraction measures will be extended more overwhelmingly and offensively in case the escalation of the U.S. military action and provocation in the Korean peninsula and the region is spotted," Kwon said in an English-language statement released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."Unless the U.S. stops the act of violating our sovereignty and threatJun 24, 2023
N. Korea's food prices rise, suggesting supply shortages: 38 North Rice fields in North Korea near the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex are seen in this file photo, taken May 30, from an observation post in Paju, 37 kilometers north of Seoul. YonhapFood prices in North Korea have risen to higher than pre-pandemic levels, suggesting supply shortages, according to a U.S. website monitoring the country.The report by 38 North released Friday (local time) added to recent concerns of food shortages in the reclusive country, which has faced economic hardship from sanctions and self-imposed COVID-19 border restrictions."The overall picture suggests that market prices, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting border closure by the North Korean government, have moved to a consistently higher level, which indicates that the country's overall food supply is lower," the report read.It found that prices for rice and corn in the country began to increase in October 2020 after it closed its borders in January that year to prevent the spread of COVID-19, citing price data gathered by Rimjingang, an online news outlet with sources inside NoJun 24, 2023
