Will Pyongyang respond to Seoul’s urgent call for dam discharge warning?All eyes are on whether North Korea will respond to South Korea’s annual request for advance notice before releasing water from a dam near the inter-Korean border during the summer monsoon season. The Ministry of Unification issued the appeal Friday — an annual request Pyongyang has routinely ignored since 2013. This year’s developments could provide an early indication of North Korea’s readiness to reengage, as the Lee Jae Myung administration signals a new emphasis on dialogue after years of stalemate. "The Lee Jae Myung administration recognizes that protecting the lives and safety of our people is the state’s most fundamental responsibility. Advance notification from North Korea about dam water discharges is directly related to the safety of South Korean residents living near the border," the unification ministry's deputy spokesperson Chang Yoon-jeong said during a televised briefing. Noting that joint responses to natural disasters are humanitarian in nature, Chang urged the North to cooperate during the upcoming monsoon season and to provide advance notice before dischargJun 27, 2025By Lee Hyo-jin
6 Americans nabbed for trying to send plastic bottles with rice, dollar bills to N. KoreaPolice on Friday apprehended six American citizens who attempted to release plastic bottles containing rice, one dollar bills and the Bible into the sea near a restricted border area in an effort to send them to North Korea, officials said. The U.S. nationals in their 20s to 50s allegedly attempted to release some 1,300 plastic bottles containing the goods from the restricted area on Ganghwa Island, about 50 kilometers west of Seoul, in early morning hours. They were taken into custody after a coastal military unit guarding the area reported them to the police and face charges of violating the management of disasters and safety framework act. The area in question has been restricted to the public after being designated as a danger zone in November. An administrative order banning launches of anti-Pyongyang leaflets is in effect in the area. A police official said they plan to question the U.S. nationals through an interpreter. North Korean defector groups in South Korea have released such bottles into waters near the border in what they have described as efforts to send humanitarian assisJun 27, 2025By Yonhap
NK to open biggest tour site next week, though largely blocks foreignersNorth Korea next week will open a signature coastal tourist site that it says will usher in a new era in its tourism industry, though there is no word on when the country will fully reopen to foreign visitors. The Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone has hotels and other accommodations for nearly 20,000 guests who can swim in the sea, engage in sports and recreation activities and eat at restaurants and cafeterias on site, state media said. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toured the site and cut the inaugural tape at a lavish ceremony Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday. Kim said its construction would be recorded as “one of the greatest successes this year” and called the site “the proud first step” toward realizing the government’s policy of developing tourism, according to KCNA. The Wonsan-Kalma beach resort is North Korea's biggest tourist site. KCNA said North Korea will begin service for domestic tourists next Tuesday. It didn't say when North Korea will start receiving foreign tourists, but Russian officials said later Thursday that theJun 26, 2025By AP
N. Korea likely to deploy additional troops to Russia in July or August: spy agencyNorth Korea is likely to send additional troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine in July or August, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Thursday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the assessment in a closed-door briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee, as Russia's media reported that Pyongyang will send 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 sappers to Russia's Kursk region, in another possible sign of their deepening military alignment. Rep. Park Sun-won of the ruling Democratic Party and Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the main opposition People Power Party, who were briefed by the NIS, told reporters that North Korea appeared to have already begun a recruitment process for the additional deployment to Russia. After Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un early last week, Russian media reported that Pyongyang plans to send thousands of military construction workers to Russia's Kursk front line. The NIS also noted that North Korea has supported Russia by providing over 10 million aJun 26, 2025By Yonhap
North Korea may send more troops to Russia in July or August for Ukraine war, Seoul saysNorth Korea may deploy additional troops to Russia to fight in the war against Ukraine in July or August and Pyongyang is continuing supplying arms to Russia, South Korea's lawmakers said on Thursday, citing a briefing by the intelligence agency.Jun 26, 2025By Reuters
NK leader's wife makes 1st public appearance in 1.5 years, with Gucci handbagNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, was seen in photos Thursday accompanying him to a recent completion ceremony for the eastern coastal Kalma beach resort, marking her first public appearance in about 1 1/2 years. Photos published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) showed Ri standing or sitting next to Kim and their daughter, known as Ju-ae, during Tuesday's ceremony, wearing a white shirt, baggy black slacks and carrying what appears to be a Gucci handbag. Since her last media appearance at a New Year's arts performance on Jan. 1, 2024, Ri had remained absent from North Korean state media, with Ju-ae having since taken her place next to Kim during key public events. Since Kim took power in late 2011, Ri had frequently been seen in North Korean media accompanying him to various events, a notable contrast to the wives of the two previous North Korean leaders, who mostly remained behind the scenes. Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, suggested that Ri may have limited her public appearances to shift the spotlight to Ju-ae, a likJun 26, 2025By Yonhap
Pyongyang-Moscow direct train route reopens after 5-year COVID-19 suspensionA passenger train that departed Pyongyang has arrived in Moscow, marking the reopening of the direct rail route between the capitals of North Korea and Russia after a five-year suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Russian news agency has reported. The train left Pyongyang on June 17, taking eight days to arrive at Moscow's Yaroslavsky Station on Wednesday -- the first train to travel the Pyongyang-Moscow rail route since rail service was suspended due to the pandemic, Tass reported. The train route between the two capitals had been suspended since February 2020. Ahead of its reopening, North Korea and Russia resumed rail service across the Tumen River in December last year, linking North Korea's Tumen River Station in the northeastern border city of Rason with Russia's Khasan Station. Tass quoted a North Korean railway representative, who arrived in the train, as saying that "there are no passengers in this carriage yet, only the conductors arrived." "The conductors are thrilled. They've worked in this role before and are glad to resume service on this route," he noted. The representJun 26, 2025By Yonhap
N. Korea completes Kalma beach resort, set for opening next monthNorth Korea has completed the construction of a large-scale beach resort in the eastern coastal region of Kalma, with leader Kim Jong-un touting it as one of the country's greatest feats this year, state media reported Thursday. The completion ceremony for the new Kalma coastal tourist area was held "with splendor" the previous day with Kim in attendance, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The KCNA described the new site as housing hotels and hostels capable of accommodating nearly 20,000 guests, both domestic and foreign. The resort is equipped with facilities for sea swimming, sports and recreation, as well as commercial and public catering services. The facilities are "fully equipped with all conditions and cultural life bases for providing the beauty of the scenic spot ... in all seasons, excitingly picturing a 4-km-long stretch of beach," the news outlet said. Kim cut the ribbon during the ceremony and toured the resort area, including an outdoor pool and hotels, noting that what the country has thrown energy into for a long time has become a "brilliant reality." The KCNA saJun 26, 2025By Yonhap
Defectors testify to executions by firing squad of N. Koreans for watching S. Korean TV dramasWatching or distributing South Korean TV dramas or K-pop songs is being punished by execution by firing squad in North Korea, with one young man shot to death in public on such charges, North Korean defectors testified Wednesday. The testimonies were given during public sessions hosted by the U.N. Human Rights Office in Seoul to shed light on the human rights situation in North Korea over the past decade. Kim Il-hyuk was among several North Korean defectors who spoke at the sessions, having fled the North and arrived in South Korea in recent years. "One 22-year-old man, whom I had known, was executed by firing squad in public for the crime of distributing three South Korean dramas and 70 K-pop songs," Kim said during a session. "Such public executions by firing squad took place about twice every three months, with up to 12 people shot to death in a single session. Half of them were those condemned for (violating) the law prohibiting reactionary ideologies and culture," Kim noted. Kim, a former resident of Kangryong in South Hwanghae Province, defected to South Korea in May 2023 by crossinJun 25, 2025By Yonhap
Unification ministry greenlights NGO outreach to North KoreaThe Ministry of Unification recently approved a series of requests from civic groups to establish contact with North Korea, signaling the Lee Jae Myung administration’s push to revive dialogue with Pyongyang. According to the ministry Wednesday, three such approvals have been granted since June 19, with the most recent occurring the previous day. "Following consultations with relevant government agencies, we have approved civilian requests to contact North Korean residents about humanitarian aid, as well as religious, social and cultural exchange purposes," a ministry official said. The official added that the decision was aimed at restoring communication channels between the two Koreas at the civilian level and fostering a peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula. On Tuesday, the ministry approved a request from the Foundation for Inter-Korea Cooperation, a private nonprofit organization, to engage North Korean residents through online cultural exchanges. The foundation is currently led by Im Jong-seok, who served as presidential chief of staff under former President Moon Jae-in, wJun 25, 2025By Lee Hyo-jin
