N. Korea says 50,000-unit housing project in Pyongyang reaches final stageNorth Korea's high-profile party project to build 50,000 new housing units in Pyongyang has entered its final stage, state media reported Monday, as the country is set to hold a general party meeting this month. "The fifth-stage construction of 10,000 housing units in the Hwasong district is being carried out in its finalizing stage," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing interior work currently under way on the structures. The construction is the final leg of the five-year project to build a combined 50,000 housing units in Pyongyang, laid out by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in January 2021. With the proclaimed aim of resolving housing issues for Pyongyang residents, the first batch of 10,000 units was built in the capital's Songsin and Songhwa districts in 2022 under the project, following by 40,000 units constructed in four stages in the northeastern Hwasong district, including the 10,000 now being completed. The KCNA's emphasis on the project's near completion comes as North Korea accelerates efforts to accoDec 8, 2025By Yonhap
S. Korea rules out scaling back joint drills with US to spur inter-Korean tiesSouth Korea will not reduce joint military drills with the United States as a means of encouraging talks with the North, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said Sunday, despite the government’s efforts to restart dialogue and advance a wider coexistence agenda. Wi’s comments came during a press briefing at the presidential office, which reviewed the Lee Jae Myung administration’s first six months and outlined its diplomatic record and approach to Pyongyang. His remarks drew added attention amid a growing public debate over whether adjusting the drills could help bring North Korea back to the table. “We have achieved much in the external diplomatic environment, but not as much in inter-Korean relations,” Wi said, describing the administration’s renewed efforts to reestablish communication with Pyongyang. “There are many options we can consider for restarting inter-Korean dialogue, but joint exercises with the United States are not among the options we are directly weighing." Wi emphasized that South Korea intends to act as a “pacemaker” in diplomatic efforts, keepingDec 7, 2025By Anna J. Park
Is China changing tack and accepting North Korea as nuclear-armed state?China's omission of the term "denuclearization of the Korean peninsula" from a new policy paper suggests its "tacit acceptance" of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, as Beijing gives priority to its strategic rivalry with Washington, according to analysts. Late last month, China released a white paper on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, outlining its national defence and nuclear policies. The document was an update of a 2005 white paper and contained a notable shift — within the paper's overall "non-proliferation" clause, it did not refer to China's traditional support for the peninsula's denuclearization. "With regard to the Korean peninsula issue, China adopts an impartial stance and adheres to the right approach of always working for the peace, stability and prosperity of the peninsula and the resolution of the Korean peninsula issue through political means," it said. "China calls on relevant parties to desist from an approach based on aggressive deterrence and coercion, restart dialogue and negotiations, and play a constructive role in resolving the Korean peninsDec 7, 2025By SCMP
At least 2 Ukrainian children abducted by Russians forcibly sent to N. Korean camp: reportAt least two Ukrainian children were found to have been abducted by Russian troops in Ukraine and forcibly transferred to a camp in North Korea, a Ukrainian online newspaper reported, citing a legal expert. Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at Ukraine's Regional Center for Human Rights, made the assertion while testifying at a U.S. congressional subcommittee, according to a report by the Kyiv Independent newspaper Wednesday (local time). "12-year-old Misha from the occupied Donetsk region and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol were sent to Songdowon camp in North Korea, 9,000 kilometers from home," Rashevska was quoted as saying. At the camp, the children were taught to destroy "Japanese militarists" and met Korean veterans who killed and wounded nine American soldiers during the attack of the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo in 1968, according to her. It is unclear which camp she was referring to, though it is believed to be Songdowon International Children's Camp, built in 1960 in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan. At least 19,546 Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken from their homDec 5, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea's Kim inspects regional factories ahead of official openingNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited several regional factories ahead of their official opening, stressing the construction of such facilities is a "gigantic revolution" designed to improve people's livelihoods, state media reported Friday. Kim inspected regional-industrial factories in several counties of South Phyongan Province, including the Sinyang and Pukchang counties, on Wednesday, as their official openings are nearing, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In January last year, Kim 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 people in regional areas. While inspecting factories producing foodstuff, garments and daily necessities in the province, the North's leader said regional factories have been built in 40 cities and counties in less than two years since the project began and called the development "eye-opening regional changes." "The rural construction and regional-industry construction are a gigantic revolution intended to fundamDec 5, 2025By Yonhap
S. Korea not mulling linking N. Korean POWs' repatriation to issue of S. Korean detainees in NKThe unification ministry said Thursday it is seeking to repatriate elderly "unconverted long-term" North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) but not considering linking the issue with efforts to win the release of six South Koreans detained in the North. Citing Seoul's national security adviser, NK News, a U.S. news outlet centered on North Korea, reported that South Korea is willing to discuss the repatriation of unconverted, long-term North Korean POWs in an effort to bring home South Korean nationals detained in the North. The report came after during a press conference with foreign media Wednesday, President Lee Jae Myung said he had never heard of South Korean detainees in North Korea and lacks information on individual cases, when asked about the government's plan to secure their release. The unification ministry dismissed the report Thursday, saying that the government is not currently considering measures to swap such North Korean POWs with South Koreans detained in the North. "From the humanitarian grounds, the government will seek to repatriate unconverted long-term North Korean POWDec 4, 2025By Yonhap
UNC says armistice 'binding framework' for DMZ access after minister remarks on entry denialThe U.N. Command (UNC) stressed Thursday the armistice agreement remains a "binding framework" governing access to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), following Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's revelation that a presidential official was recently denied entry to the area separating the two Koreas. Speaking in a legislative public hearing on Wednesday, Chung, Korea's point man on inter-Korean affairs, said a senior presidential security official was recently rejected access to a war remains excavation site at White Horse Ridge in the DMZ. Mentioning a similar case in 2019, in which a former unification minister was denied access to the civilian village of Daeseongdong inside the DMZ, Chung said the government recognizes such issues as problems that can "no longer be overlooked." "The armistice agreement remains a binding framework governing both civilian and military access to armistice-administered areas, including the Demilitarized Zone," the U.S.-led UNC said in a statement underscoring the role of the agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The UNC did not elaborate on the recenDec 4, 2025By Yonhap
Unification ministry says revised law will likely end anti-N. Korea leaflet launchesA recent revision to the Aviation Safety Act will help end activists' launches of propaganda leaflets across the border into North Korea, in line with the government's efforts to ease military tensions with the North, the unification ministry said Wednesday. The ministry's response came a day after the National Assembly, led by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, passed a revision to the Aviation Safety Act that prohibits the flight of any self-floating objects in restricted areas. The revision effectively makes it illegal for activists to send large helium-filled balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the inter-Korean border into North Korea. Previously, self-floating objects carrying materials weighing less than 2 kilograms were exempt from such restrictions. "With the revision of the Aviation Safety Act, the distribution of anti-North leaflets that has hindered inter-Korean relations and threatened safety and peace in border regions is likely to be stopped," the ministry said in a release. President Lee Jae Myung's administration has taken preemptive measures, including suDec 3, 2025By Yonhap
'Bull of peace' laid to rest on border hill after drifting from N. Korea in 1996 floodA bull that drifted south from North Korea during a major flood in 1996 and became a symbol of inter-Korean peace has been laid to rest on a border hill overlooking its homeland nearly 20 years after its death. The animal's remains were moved to an exhibition hall in Aegibong Peace Ecopark on Aegibong hill, just 1.4 kilometers from North Korea's border county of Kaepung, on Saturday, according to the Gimpo Cultural Foundation. "(We) had long pushed for the relocation of the remains to Aegibong so that the bull of peace could see its homeland," Kang Kyung-ku, a former mayor of the western border city of Gimpo, said. "We were able to do so after space finally opened up." South Korean authorities first discovered the animal on the uninhabited island of Yudo in Gimpo in July 1996 after it drifted from the North and survived a deadly flood that swept through central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Due to the island's location inside neutral waters between the Koreas, South Korean Marines were deployed to rescue it in January the next year after authorization by the U.N. Command overseeing theDec 3, 2025By Yonhap
Gov't 2026 budget for inter-Korean cooperative projects restored to over $681.4 mil.The unification ministry's 2026 budget to fund cooperative projects with North Korea has topped 1 trillion won ($681.4 million), marking the first time in three years that it has surpassed the level, officials said Wednesday. The previous day, the National Assembly passed next year's budget of 727.9 trillion won, including 1.24 trillion won allocated to the unification ministry, up 20.9 percent from this year's budget. Of the ministry budget, 1.002 trillion won is earmarked for the inter-Korean cooperation fund, marking the first time in three years that the fund has recovered the 1 trillion-won level as the government seeks to revive long-dormant inter-Korean exchanges and economic projects. Next year's budget also includes a project to build a "center for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula" in Seoul, aimed at promoting public awareness of inter-Korean exchanges and peace with North Korea. A total of 12.3 billion won has been allotted for the project next year, with a combined 39.6 billion won to be invested through 2030. Under next year's ministry budget, 480 million won willDec 3, 2025By Yonhap
