2 N. Korean POWs in Ukraine express desire to defect to S. Korea in letter: activistTwo North Korean soldiers who were captured in Ukraine while fighting for Russia have written a letter expressing their desire to defect to South Korea, an activist in Seoul said Friday. Jang Se-yul, head of a North Korean defectors' group in the South, said the two North Korean captives in their 20s wrote such a letter in October when they met a South Korean documentary producer at a prisoner-of-war camp near Kyiv. The letter was delivered to the group via the producer earlier this month. "We've made up our mind to go to South Korea, thinking of those in South Korea as our parents and brothers," the letter read. In the letter, the captives expressed their appreciation for those who said the current situation facing them is "not a tragedy but the beginning of a new life." "A new dream and aspiration have begun springing up on the back of support from people in the Republic of Korea," it said. The North Korean POWs were under the media spotlight when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote online in January that they had been captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's western Kursk regDec 24, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea's state media silent on birthday of leader Kim's grandmotherNorth Korea's state media made no mention of the birthday of the long-revered grandmother of leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday as the current leader seeks to reduce his reliance on his predecessors for authority. The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's most widely read newspaper, has yet to report on the late Kim Jong-suk's birthday, which falls on Dec. 24. As the first wife of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung and mother of former leader Kim Jong-il, the late father of Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-suk had long been the only deified woman among the Kim dynasty's "Paektu bloodline." She was also described as a "female hero" in the fight against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and one of the "three generals of Mount Paektu" that includes Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The Rodong Sinmun has published articles annually on her birthday to reflect on the late figure, describing her as the role model of the people. Last year, the newspaper carried an article touting the late Kim as the "great mother of revolution." But this year, the North's state media has no mention of Kim Jong-suk's bDec 24, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea ramps up opening of regional factories ahead of key party congressNorth Korea has been ramping up the opening of new regional factories, including one in the northeastern county of Kilju, where a nuclear test site is located, ahead of next year's key party congress, according to state media Wednesday. North Korea held a ceremony the previous day to inaugurate a light industry factory in Kilju, attended by senior party, military and government officials, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. Kilju County in North Hamgyong Province is home to the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where the North conducted all six of its nuclear tests, including the latest one in 2017. "Modern light industry factories have risen up in the nation's northern mountainous areas of Kilju here," Ri Il-hwan, a party secretary for propaganda, said in a speech at the ceremony, noting that a key project to build regional factories will further expand. In January last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un unveiled his signature regional development policy to build modern factories in 20 cities and counties each year over a 10-year period to improve the living conditions of peoDec 24, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea's new hotels inaugurated in Samjiyon near peninsula's highest mountainNorth Korea has inaugurated five newly built hotels in Samjiyon, a northern city near the country's highest mountain, Mount Paektu, as its leader Kim Jong-un expressed an "unshakable" will to develop the area into an attractive mountainous tourist zone, state media reported Tuesday. The North held ceremonies to officially open the new "modern" hotels in the Samjiyon Tourist Resort on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The North's leader has been pushing to turn Samjiyon into a major tourist designation as the country seeks to nurture tourism in an apparent bid to earn hard currency amid international sanctions. While looking around major facilities at the Ikkal and Milyong hotels Saturday, Kim expressed his satisfaction that "all elements are at a high level" in terms of practicality, diversity and artistic features, according to the KCNA. His daughter, Ju-ae, was seen accompanying him on a tour of the hotels, with the leader holding her hand, photos carried by state media showed. "He expressed his unshakable will to turn Samjiyon City better into anDec 23, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea-backed hackers launch newly detected cyberattack scheme using computer files: reportA North Korea-linked cyber hacking group appears to have launched a new cyberattack campaign, code-named "Artemis," that embeds malicious code inside computer files, a report showed Monday. The Genians Security Center (GSC), a South Korean cybersecurity institute, said in a report that it detected the operation believed to have been carried out by APT37, a Pyongyang-backed cyber hacking group. According to the report, the threat actors embedded malicious object linking and embedding (OLE) code inside Hangul Word Processor (HWP) documents. An attack chain is triggered when a user allows the opening of the document's content and clicks a hyperlink in the file. HWP is a document file format widely used as a standard in South Korea. The findings follow an October report by 38 North, a U.S.-based website monitoring North Korea, which said North Korean cyber operators have repeatedly exploited the HWP format to infiltrate government, military and key industrial networks in South Korea. "This attack demonstrates APT37's ongoing pattern of highly developed reconnaissance and infiltration activitiDec 22, 2025By Yonhap
Ministry dismisses report on proposing legal revision to recognize N. Korea as separate nationThe unification ministry on Monday dismissed a news report that it had proposed a constitutional revision to President Lee Jae Myung to recognize North Korea as a separate nation as part of efforts to resume engagement with Pyongyang. The reaction came after a local newspaper claimed that the ministry had proposed amending the Constitution to recognize North Korea as a separate, independent nation during a closed-door policy briefing to Lee last Friday. The Constitution currently defines the entire Korean Peninsula as the sovereign territory of South Korea, effectively not recognizing North Korea as an equal nation. Ministry spokesperson Yoon Min-ho dismissed the report as "groundless and false" during a press briefing Monday. "The ministry did not propose a constitutional revision during the policy briefing, nor has it ever reviewed such a move," Yoon said, expressing "regret" over what he called a "distorted report."Dec 22, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea ramps up cybertheft following $2.3 bil. crypto haul: reportNorth Korea has refined its cryptocurrency hacking operations, carrying out fewer but far more lucrative attacks on major targets and deploying increasingly sophisticated laundering techniques to evade detection, according to a report by the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. In a preview of its Crypto Crime 2026 report, Chainalysis revealed that North Korean hackers siphoned a record $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025. This 51 percent surge from the previous year highlights the regime’s intensifying reliance on digital theft to bypass global sanctions and fund state priorities. The windfall brings the total amount stolen by Pyongyang-linked actors to approximately $6.75 billion since records began, underscoring a deepening crisis for international cybersecurity. While the number of confirmed attacks declined sharply, the overall value of thefts increased, driven by a handful of extraordinarily large breaches, the analysis found. “The year’s data highlight a shift toward fewer but larger thefts — with the biggest three hacks alone accounting for a majority of all servicDec 21, 2025By Kim Hyun-bin
With daughter in tow, N. Korean leader attends factory openings for 2nd straight dayNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has attended ceremonies to open new factories for the second straight day, state media reported Sunday, highlighting his push for regional development as he appeared alongside his daughter. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim toured factories in the eastern coastal city of Sinpho on Friday, a day after he cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony for a plant in the western county of Jangyon. While the KCNA article did not mention her by name, Kim's daughter, Ju-ae, widely seen as his heir apparent, appeared in photographs released by the agency. It marked her first public appearance with her father since Monday, when they toured another set of factories together. According to the report, Kim noted that Sinpho now has "reliable potential and a strong driving force for its independent development" and reaffirmed the determination of the ruling Workers' Party to pursue more ambitious regional development goals. Kim also visited Sinpho's offshore farm, where he was briefed on aquaculture processing, the KCNA said. North Korea has been pursuing its regional devDec 21, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea calls for standing up to US-led 'Western coercion'North Korea on Saturday called for standing up to "Western coercion" led by the United States and its allies, accusing them of violating U.N. principles of respect for other countries' sovereignty and noninterference in their internal affairs. North Korea made the call in a statement released by the foreign ministry, urging partner countries to continue raising their voices against such actions should they want to build "an equal and multipolar" world. "Unilateral coercive measures that obliterate the rights to sovereignty, survival and development must be abolished," the ministry said in the statement posted on the website. The ministry also said that the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the U.N. — a new U.N. group of which North Korea is a member — had a meeting earlier this month to mark the U.N. International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures. The group was launched in 2021 by 18 countries, including China, Russia and Iran, to support what they say are the purposes of the U.N., but its members largely include some of the world's most repressive regimes. The groDec 21, 2025By Yonhap
USFK commander says DMZ should not become 'politicized,' amid bill to ease accessThe commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Friday that the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) should not be "politicized," voicing opposition to a bill in South Korea that seeks to grant the government control of non-military access to the buffer zone. The remarks by USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson, who also doubles as commander of the U.N. Command (UNC), followed a recent UNC statement in opposition to the pending bill. He said the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War should remain the barometer governing behavior. Under the armistice, the UNC currently has the authority to approve or deny access to the DMZ. "What we want to try to make sure that we do is, number one, we don't allow that area to become politicized ... we signed an agreement to say that we will maintain this buffer here," Brunson said in an episode of security-focused podcast series "War on the Rocks." Brunson noted that South Korea recently proposed military talks with North Korea to discuss how to clarify the Military Demarcation Line in the DMZ in a bid to prevent possible clashes near the inter-KoreDec 19, 2025By Yonhap
