N. Korea likely stole over $2 bil. in cryptocurrency last year: US officialWASHINGTON — North Korea likely stole over US$2 billion in cryptocurrency last year, a U.S. official said Monday, amid growing concerns that its revenue from virtual asset heists continues to bankroll its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Jonathan Fritz, principal deputy assistant secretary at the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, delivered a presentation during a U.N. meeting on a Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) report detailing the North's sanctions violation and evasion through cyber and information technology (IT) worker activities. The MSMT was established after a U.N. expert panel, tasked with monitoring sanctions enforcement, was disbanded in April 2024 due to Russia's veto of a resolution to extend its mandate. It consists of 11 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada. Fritz's document based on the MSMT report showed that from January last year through September, Pyongyang had stolen more than $1.6 billion in crypto thefts, with the total amount during the entire 2025 likely to exceed $2 biJan 13, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea denounces multilateral monitoring of UN sanctionsNorth Korea on Monday slammed multilateral monitoring activities on U.N. sanctions against the North, describing such activities as "illegal" without any connection to the United Nations. North Korea's permanent mission to the U.N. made the argument in a press statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on a U.S. plan to hold a briefing at the U.N. headquarters about a report of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT). MSMT was set up in 2024, led by South Korea and the United States, as a multilateral mechanism to monitor and report violations of U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea. The U.S. Department of State was to hold a briefing Monday (U.S. time) on an MSMT report issued in October last year, which found North Korea stole about $2.84 billion worth of virtual assets between early 2024 and September 2025. "What should be questioned and openly discussed in the U.N. as the most important pending issue is the hideous criminal act of the U.S.," the statement claimed, calling the MSMT an "illegal ghost organization that has no connection with the U.N. inJan 12, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea unlikely to respond to request for joint probe into drone incidentNorth Korea is unlikely to respond to calls from South Korea for a joint investigation into an alleged drone incursion, analysts said, dimming hopes in Seoul that the incident could help break a deadlock in inter-Korean relations. Pyongyang has accused South Korea of sending drones into its territory on two occasions — once in September last year and again on Jan. 4 — claims Seoul's military immediately denied. South Korean officials said they will continue efforts to de-escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. On Monday, South Korea's police and military launched a joint task force of about 30 members to investigate the incident. The move came two days after President Lee Jae Myung ordered a swift probe, warning that any drone flights carried out by civilians pose a serious threat to national security. Later in the day, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said he was considering proposing a joint investigation with North Korea. "I am considering proposing a joint inter-Korean investigation through the United Nations Command," Ahn said during a National Assembly session, adding that at tJan 12, 2026By Lee Hyo-jin
N. Korea drums up renewable energy use amid sanctions-caused electricity shortageNorth Korea is drumming up the utilization of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources, local media showed Monday, as the country faces a chronic shortage of fuel and electricity amid continuing international sanctions. The North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper ran an article introducing a pickled seafood processing factory in Unryul County, South Hwanghae Province, as a model case of utilizing natural energy sources. The newspaper said the region had solar and wind power plants constructed at the instruction of leader Kim Jong-un, who visited the area in 2015, with the solar power facility housing about 11,000 solar panels. The Rodong Sinmun touted that the facilities, which combine solar and wind power stations, overcome days with insufficient sunlight by switching to wind power generation to produce electricity. The paper also reported that the regional power stations generate enough electricity to power factories and supply surplus electricity to the homes of factory employees, as well as to the national power grid. "Since the factory began operations, we have not known such a thing aJan 12, 2026By Yonhap
Residents question surveillance gaps at alleged drone launch siteHado-ri in Ganghwa County, Incheon, which North Korea claims was the launch site for a drone infiltration, remained quiet on Sunday. One resident shook his head at the allegation. “If the North’s claim is true, it’s truly absurd,” the resident said. He questioned how a drone targeting the North could cross the border undetected in such a heavily guarded area. “I’m anxious because our village was mentioned as if it were a target,” the resident added. “I wonder if surveillance by the South Korean and U.S. militaries is working properly.” Hado-ri is a border village located just 4 to 5 kilometers from Gogeun-ri, the nearest North Korean village in Kaesong. Residents here endured anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts day and night until November 2024, just before former President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Dec. 3. Banners announcing budget allocations for noise-damage support were hung throughout the village. Residents were puzzled that the military seemed unaware of the drone until North Korea made the announcement. “There are Marine Corps and U.S. military uniJan 12, 2026By Hankookilbo
Seoul reaffirms continued efforts to ease tensions with Pyongyang amid drone incursion claimThe government will continue efforts to ease tensions and build trust with North Korea despite Pyongyang's recent claim accusing Seoul of carrying out drone incursions into the country, the unification ministry said Monday. Unification ministry spokesperson Yoon Min-ho made the remarks after President Lee Jae Myung ordered last week the creation of a joint military-police investigation team to look into the alleged drone incursions. On Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, demanded that Seoul provide a detailed explanation, a day after the North Korean military claimed that the South violated the North's sovereignty by sending drones carrying surveillance equipment in September and on Jan. 4. "It's important to continue efforts to alleviate tensions and build trust between the South and the North through prompt truth-finding by the investigation team," the spokesperson said in a press briefing. Yoon also reaffirmed Seoul's stance that it has no intention of provoking or irritating North Korea. The South Korean military has denied sending the drones oJan 12, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea slams Japan's push to revise 3 key national security documentsNorth Korea on Sunday slammed Japan for its push to revise three key national security-related documents aimed at stepping up its defense capabilities, warning the move would only lead to complete self-destruction. The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the criticism in an article, focusing on Japan's ongoing push to draw up three new documents by the end of the year — the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the Defense Buildup Program. In a New Year's press conference earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a review would be conducted with the aim of revising the three key national security documents to safeguard the country's independence and peace, as well as the lives of its people. The KCNA lambasted the move as a "clear demonstration of a craze for neo-militarism," under which Japan denies its past wrongdoings and seeks to rebuild its imperial past through rearmament. "What Japan would gain through neo-militarism is only complete self-destruction," the KCNA said. "As history demonstrates, the destination of militarisJan 11, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korean leader's sister calls for explanation from S. Korea over drone incursionsThe influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for Seoul to provide a detailed explanation about recent drone incursions, claiming that the drones from South Korea clearly violated the North's airspace. Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, made the remarks as South Korea's defense ministry denied Pyongyang's claim about the drone incursions from the South's military, raising the possibility that private entities may have been involved in the alleged drone operations. "Fortunately, the ROK's military expressed an official stand that it was not done by itself and that it has no intention to provoke or irritate us," Kim said in a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency. ROK is short for the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea. "But a detail explanation should be made about the actual case of a drone that crossed the southern border of our republic from the ROK," Kim said. Kim also expressed her personal appreciation that South Korea's defense ministry "took a wise choice" by aJan 11, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea accuses S. Korea of drone incursions, warns Seoul will 'pay high price'North Korea claimed Saturday that South Korea infringed on its sovereignty with drone incursions in September last year and earlier this week, saying that Seoul should be ready to "pay a high price" for what it called a provocation. But South Korea's defense ministry rejected Pyongyang's claim, saying the South's military did not operate drones on the dates asserted by the North. A spokesperson of the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army issued a statement denouncing South Korea as "the most hostile" enemy, insisting that Seoul has continued to stage provocative acts, contradicting its overtures for dialogue with Pyongyang, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "The Republic of Korea (ROK) should be ready to pay a high price for having committed another provocation of infringing on the sovereignty of the DPRK with a drone," the spokesperson said, referring to South Korea by its official name. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. On Jan. 4, North Korea's military captured and tracked an air target moving northwaJan 10, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea's Kim congratulates Lao president on reelection as party chiefNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has congratulated Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith on his recent reelection as chief of the ruling party, state media reported Friday. Kim delivered the greeting in a message the previous day after the Lao president was reelected as general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's central committee at a party congress that concluded the same day, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Kim called his reelection an expression of the Lao ruling party members' and the Lao people's "high trust and expectation" toward Sisoulith. Kim also pledged to expand cooperation with Laos, recalling his summit talks with Sisoulith in Pyongyang last year. "I express confidence that the friendly, cooperative relations between our parties and countries, which have a long history and tradition, will further strengthen and advance across all sectors in the spirit of our agreement during our meeting in October last year in Pyongyang," Kim was quoted as saying. The KCNA said Sisoulith also sent a reply last month to Kim's earlier message congratulating him on the 5Jan 9, 2026By Yonhap
