World Baseball Softball Confederation president visits N. Korea: KCNAThe president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation is visiting North Korea, the country's state media said Sunday, without providing details. A WBSC delegation headed by Riccardo Fraccari arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday and was greeted at the airport by Park Chon-jong, vice minister of physical culture and sports, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a brief dispatch. Baseball and softball are not known to be popular sports in North Korea. During a visit to South Korea in 2014, Fraccari expressed his openness to visiting North Korea to promote baseball.Jul 20, 2025By Yonhap
APEC summit in S. Korea fuels speculation for possible Kim-Trump meetingSpeculation is mounting over the possibility of a high-stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in South Korea this autumn, rekindling memories of their earlier diplomatic encounters that once captivated global attention. Trump is expected to attend the APEC summit scheduled for Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 in the southeastern city of Gyeongju. While no formal plans for a meeting with Kim have been announced, analysts say shifting geopolitical dynamics and the leaders’ history of personal diplomacy have opened a narrow but significant window for talks. Speculation intensified following the United States’ late June airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which heightened Pyongyang’s concerns about its own strategic vulnerabilities. Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that while a summit remains possible, it would take place “under a different context,” with Kim likeJul 20, 2025By Kim Hyun-bin
Russian airline begins ticket sales for new Pyongyang-Moscow air route: reportRussian airline Nordwind has begun selling tickets for flights on the newly authorized direct route between the capitals of North Korea and Russia, according to a Russian news report. The Russian budget carrier is scheduled to operate its first flight from Moscow to Pyongyang on July 27, with ticket prices starting at 44,600 rubles ($566.50), the Russian news agency Tass reported Friday. The new air route follows Russian aviation authorities' recent approval of Nordwind's request last month to operate direct flights between Pyongyang and Moscow twice a week. Tass said the flight will take about eight hours and will be operated by a Boeing 777-200ER, with the first return flight to Moscow expected July 29. Currently, North Korea and Russia have direct flights only between Pyongyang and Vladivostok.Jul 19, 2025By Yonhap
US stresses commitment to combating maritime NK sanctions evasion activitiesThe United States reaffirmed Friday its commitment to addressing maritime activities that counter sanctions against North Korea, as it co-hosted a maritime security conference in Cote d'Ivoire this week. The State Department reiterated the commitment after it, the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa and Cote d'Ivoire's Ministry of Transport co-hosted the Global Maritime Security and Sanctions Enforcement Conference in Abidjan, Wednesday and Thursday. The conference brought together global maritime industry leaders from 25 countries to strengthen due diligence practices, and enhance enforcement of sanctions to prevent North Korea, Iran and other countries from exploiting commercial maritime supply chains to advance proliferation activities, according to the department. "The DPRK circumvents U.S. and U.N. sanctions through the export of coal and iron ore to generate revenue to support the development of its WMD and ballistic missile programs," the department said in a media note on the conference. DPRK and WMD are short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's RJul 19, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea temporarily suspends foreign tourist entry to Kalma beach resortNorth Korea has abruptly suspended the entry of foreign tourists to its newly opened Kalma beach resort area on the east coast, a North Korean website showed Friday, without providing a clear reason. "The Kalma coastal tourist zone in Wonsan is temporarily not receiving foreign tourists," DPR Korea Tour, a tourism promotion website operated by the North's National Tourism Administration, said in a notice dated Wednesday. The website shared the information while introducing the July 1 launch of the beach resort site, but it did not provide any reasons for the restriction on foreign tourists. North Korea had initially promoted the resort as open to both domestic and foreign tourists. Russia's Tass news agency earlier reported a group of Russian tourists had planned to visit the tourist zone in early July. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui both met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Kalma beach resort area during his visit to North Korea last week. The abrupt suspension of foreign tourist entry may be related to the high cost of trips to the reJul 18, 2025By Yonhap
Nearly 80 % of US citizens concerned about NK nukes to varying degrees: US pollNearly 80 percent of Americans are concerned about North Korea's nuclear threat to varying degrees, a U.S. survey showed Thursday, as President Donald Trump has expressed openness to resuming diplomacy with Pyongyang in what could be a peace effort. Conducted by the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago, a social research institute, the poll found that 49 percent of the respondents are "extremely" or "very" concerned about the threat from North Korea's nuclear program, while 29 percent are "moderately" concerned, with 21 percent "not very" or "not at all" concerned. It also found that 54 percent of those questioned are "extremely" or "very" concerned about China's influence around the world, while 29 percent are "moderately" concerned about it, with 16 percent "not very" or "not at all" concerned. Regarding the threat from Iran's nuclear program, 50 percent of the respondents said they are "extremely" or "very" concerned, while 30 percent said they are "moderately" concerned, with 19 percent "not very" or "not at all" concerned. On the foreign threat stemming from illegaJul 18, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea unveils wreckage of 'enemy plane' ahead of 72nd armistice anniversaryNorth Korea on Thursday unveiled the wreckage of what appears to be a U.S. fighter jet that engaged in the 1950-53 Korean War, ahead of the country's 72nd anniversary of the armistice of the conflict. The Rodong Sinmun, the North's most widely read newspaper, reported that the "wreckage of an enemy place" is drawing the attention of visitors after it was newly put on display at the captured weapons hall of the Victory Museum of the Fatherland Liberation War in Pyongyang. Images and descriptions published by the newspaper suggest the wreckage is that of a U.S. fighter jet that fought in the Korean War. The Rodong Sinmun said it was retrieved from the Yellow Sea last year, and the images show uniformed students observing the badly damaged wreckage on display. The newspaper described the wreckage as an "enemy plane that was shot down by the wild firepower of the people's armed forces after circling our sacred airspace since being deployed in the Korean War in July 1950." The news outlet also issued a warning to "the descendants of U.S. invasionists," urging them not to forget the lesson of tJul 17, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea unveils Pyongyang-Beijing rail schedules amid report of service resumptionNorth Korea has unveiled a timetable for passenger rail services linking its capital of Pyongyang to China's Beijing amid a news report on the resumption of the route, a state-run North Korean website promoting tourism showed Wednesday. The website of DPR Korea Tour displayed the timetable for international rail service, showing trains departing Pyongyang at 10:25 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and arriving in Beijing via the Chinese border city of Dandong. Trains from Beijing depart at 5:27 p.m. on the same days for arrival in Pyongyang via Dandong, it showed. The timetable also includes schedules for rail services between Pyongyang and the Russian capital, Moscow, which resumed in mid-June following a nearly five-year suspension due to COVID-19. The train service to Beijing via Dandong, however, has remained suspended since January 2020 due to the pandemic. NHK, a Japanese broadcasting network, reported last week that North Korea and China have agreed to resume passenger rail service between their capitals. The website also carried a separate timetable for internatiJul 16, 2025By Yonhap
Russian delegation of emergency ministry visits Pyongyang: reportA delegation from Russia's emergency ministry arrived in Pyongyang for talks on potential cooperation in the fields of science and technology, according to a Russian media report. The delegation, led by the Russian ministry's deputy head Roman Kurynin, arrived in the North Korean capital at the invitation of North Korea's state emergency disaster committee, according to a Tass report on Tuesday. The Russian ministry also noted that the delegation will visit disaster prevention and response sites in North Korea during the trip and hold discussions on cooperation in science and technology, as well as in training firefighting and rescue experts. Tass quoted Kurynin as saying, "We are happy that our Korean colleagues are interested in joint work in science and technologies ... The Russian Emergencies Ministry has accumulated serious expertise and we are ready to share it." The two state agencies of Russia and North Korea signed a memorandum of understanding on addressing natural disasters last year, which will remain in effect through 2026, Tass said. The trip is the latest in a series of excJul 16, 2025By Yonhap
Direct flights linking Pyongyang, Moscow to begin service this month: reportNorth Korea and Russia are set to launch a direct flight route between their capitals, Pyongyang and Moscow, later this month, a Russian news agency has reported. Nordwind Airlines, a Russian budget passenger carrier, will begin direct flights linking the two cities on July 27, Tass reported, citing Russia's transport ministry. It will mark the first time that the North Korean and Russian capitals are linked by direct air service, the news agency said. The new air route follows Russian aviation authorities' recent approval of Nordwind's request last month to operate direct flights between Pyongyang and Moscow twice a week. Tass said the flight time is about eight hours. Currently, North Korea and Russia have direct flights only between Pyongyang and Vladivostok. As the two countries emerged as key partners for bilateral exchanges and cooperation following the signing of a mutual defense treaty in June last year, they have stepped up collaboration in various fields, including transportation. Last month, the countries resumed direct rail service between Pyongyang and Moscow, as well as betweeJul 15, 2025By Yonhap
