Hungry North Korean soldiers are selling some of their military equipment to buy food, prompting officials to conduct inspections that have caught some soldiers without all their issued gear, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.
Though the country’s military is often said to be under-supplied, military-grade items tend to be of better quality than products civilians can obtain, so are viewed as desirable.
Weapons are used often during training, but personal gear like tents, lunch boxes, canteens and waterproof rice containers are not used as often, so some soldiers figure they won’t be missed.
RFA has reported in the past that soldiers often go hungry, and some of them even steal from residents get food.
The inspections began earlier this month, and will now happen on a regular basis, a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
“The authorities recently determined that some young soldiers are selling their military-issued gear or giving it to people they know because they are hungry and need money,” he said. “In fact, quite a few soldiers during this inspection were caught without their gear that they were supposed to have.”
Two items — canteens and waterproof rice bags — are particularly sought after, he said.
Those who were caught without all their issued gear were going to be severely punished, he said.
“They will be questioned about how they disposed of their military gear,” he said. “Measures will likely be taken such as having them bring back their gear or paying for the missing items.”
Not fed enough
A unit in the northwestern province of North Pyongan conducted the surprise inspection by instructing the soldiers to assemble for a combat exercise in an open field, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“I heard this from a soldier who frequently visits my house,” he said. “The items that were mainly raised during the inspection were military rice containers and personal tents. There was also unit that was missing several shovels.”
He said that the rice container is something that everyone needs, and that the tents can be used to cover holes in the roofs of homes and other buildings.
In North Korea, able-bodied men are required to serve 10 years in the 1.2 million-strong military after high school, from around age 18, while able-bodied women must serve seven years.
“Some newly enlisted soldiers are so hungry that they will secretly sell their military-issued supplies,” he said. “It will be difficult to completely eradicate this phenomenon unless chronic problems such as hunger are resolved.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Ahn Chang Gyu for RFA Korean.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China neither denied nor acknowledged reports that a North Korean cargo ship suspected of carrying coal collided with a Chinese ship and sank in the Yellow Sea last month, but said it handled foreign and maritime affairs in accordance with the law.
A North Korean ship suspected of smuggling sank in the Yellow Sea in late February after an accident with a Chinese vessel in waters near a Chinese port, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Thursday, citing unidentified sources.
When asked about the reports, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China was always committed to handling foreign and maritime issues in accordance with laws and regulations.
“We handle maritime accidents and search and rescue efforts in accordance with humanitarian principles, professional ethics, and international practices,” she said without acknowledging any incident involving a North Korean ship.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said they were closely monitoring the situation, without elaborating. North Korea has not commented.
Up to 20 North Korean crew members were believed to have died in the accident despite rescue operations by Chinese authorities, South Korea said. The Chinese ship reportedly sustained minor damage.
The North Korean vessel, fully loaded with coal, had reportedly turned off its automatic identification system, which transmits location and speed data , in an attempt to evade U.N. Security Council sanctions.
UNSC Resolution 2371, adopted in 2017, imposed a blanket ban on overseas sales of North Korean coal, iron ore, other mineral resources and seafood.
In March 2017, a North Korean cargo ship collided with a Chinese vessel and sank near China’s Lianyungang port. All of those on board were saved, and China’s transport ministry confirmed the accident at that time.
Along with illegal coal exports, China is suspected of underreporting the amount of oil it ships to North Korea.
China exported a total of 280,928 barrels of refined oil to the country from January to November last year, surpassing the total supply of 256,861 barrels in 2023, according to the U.N. Security Council.
That was much lower than the annual import cap of 500,000 barrels set by the U.N. Security Council, but reports suggest that the actual volume of oil flowing into the North is significantly higher, as the U.N. figure only reflects the amount officially reported to it.
Relations between North Korea and China have shown signs of improvement recently, with reports showing the return of Chinese tourists and journalists to the North after it partly opened its border to foreigners following strict controls during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, speculation emerged that ties between North Korea and China had cooled after Pyongyang moved closer to Moscow in recent years, but China’s foreign ministry dismissed in October any such suggestion.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
South Korea’s Uiseong County has won its bid to build a cultivated meat research centre, supported by $10M in government funding as part of the country’s food tech drive.
With regulatory support for cultivated meat ramping up in South Korea, the country’s first centre dedicated to cell-cultured foods is opening in Uiseong-gun, a city in the Gyeongsangbuk-do province.
The 2,660 sq m Food Tech Research Support Center is slated to open in 2027, and backed by public investment to the tune of ₩14.5B ($9.9M). The centre will pour in ₩5.25B ($3.6M), with the rest of the funds deployed by the local North Gyeongsang and Uiseong-gun governments.
Based in Uiseong-gun’s Bio Valley General Industrial Complex, the project was announced after the county was selected in the cell-cultured food field in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’s (MAFRA) competition for the construction of food tech R&D centres.
It will help companies develop their processes, scale up production, and apply for regulatory approval, and is the latest move positioning South Korea as one of Asia’s future food leaders.
“The new facility is one of several set up by the MAFRA designed to ramp up development of food technology,” explains Mirte Gosker, managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC.
“Understanding that future food development is big business, Uiseong County submitted a successful bid to MAFRA to host this new facility as a means of boosting its local economy,” she tells Green Queen.
Lee Chul-woo, governor of the North Gyeongsang province, called cellular agriculture “an innovative solution for the sustainable future food industry”. “The establishment of a core infrastructure at the Food Tech Research Support Center will serve as an opportunity for Gyeongbuk to leap to the center of the Korean food tech industry,” he noted.
Almost a dozen companies interested in new centre
Courtesy: SeaWith
The Food Tech Research Support Center plans to build a cellular agriculture system that can produce up to 100kg of cultivated meat per year, and support 60 new jobs. It will be run by the Gyeongbuk Technopark.
The facility will integrate research, development and commercial support, providing mass cultivation equipment and prototype production facilities, safety evaluation and licensing assistance, and infrastructure for the full-cycle industrialisation of cultivated food products.
According to Korean publication Gyeongbuk Ilbo, 11 companies have expressed their intention to move into the centre, including SeaWith, Micro Digital, and LMK. Meanwhile, Yeungnam University and the Animal Cell Proof-of-Sale Support Center are partner institutions.
“Other collaborations are under discussion with research institutions like the K-Bio CMO Center,” says Gosker, while potential partnerships with large corporations and initiatives like the World FoodTech Council are on the cards aswell.
These collaborations are also aimed at promoting the AI-based discovery of materials derived from natural products, food processing and robotics tech, and the quality control of cell-cultured production, according to Gyeongbuk Ilbo.
The new centre is “located next door to the existing Cell Culture Industry Support Center, which opened in 2023″, notes Gosker. “Both are within the special regulatory zone that South Korea established to accelerate domestic alternative protein innovation.” This $7M project harbours 10 cultivated meat firms that are exempt from restrictions on using biopsies and same-day slaughtered tissues in support of mass production of high-quality novel proteins.
South Korea ramps up support for novel proteins
Courtesy: GFI APAC
The new facility is part of the province’s plans to develop the local economy by becoming a food tech leader. It has established a production facility for culture media, which will support downstream industries, including cell-culture materials and equipment manufacturing.
Further, the local government plans to launch consumer awareness initiatives aimed at normalising and popularising cultivated meat. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has established a framework for regulatory approval of these proteins, and polling shows that 90% of Koreans are willing to try cultivated meat, and two in five are in favour of it being sold at supermarkets and restaurants.
Outside Gyeongsangbuk-do, similar food tech support centres have been established in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do (for alternative foods) and Naju, Jeollanam-do (for food upcycling).
Last year, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced an investment of ₩29B ($21M) in research funding for plant-based and cultivated seafood technologies. Industry giant Pulmuone and Singapore’s Umami Bioworks have both made moves to manufacture cultivated fish products in South Korea recently.
And in November, leading food tech organisations signed a deal to advance market research and knowledge exchanges, increase policy coordination for novel food regulation, facilitate training, and increase awareness about alternative protein innovation.
“As part of its mission to improve food system stability and efficiency, MAFRA has been stepping up its strategic investments into emerging food technologies like cultivated meat,” says Gosker.
“These investments will further enhance what is already one of the world’s most advanced tech ecosystems, which includes 10 biotechnology innovation and manufacturing clusters, around 40 companies working across the alt protein value chain, and major multinational corporations like Samsung Biologics. Add to that the world’s highest number of scientific researchers per capita and South Korea is well-positioned to be a global powerhouse for cellular agriculture.”
Cultivated meat regulatory approval imminent in South Korea
Courtesy: CellMEAT
GFI identified South Korea as one of the places to watch for regulatory progress in this field in 2025. “Our experts believe it’s a safe assumption that this will happen in 2025, possibly in the first half of the year,” reveals Gosker.
“Korean cultivated meat startup CellMEAT submitted its application for regulatory approval in early 2024 and the review process is expected to take around 270 working days (roughly one year),” she says. “If all goes well, the first product approval could theoretically come any day now.”
This, she adds, would “trigger a cascade of additional applications”, similar to what regulators have experienced in Singapore and the US (which just cleared its third cultivated meat product for sale).
Seoul-based startup Simple Planet previously indicated to Green Queen that it aims to obtain the regulatory greenlight for its cultivated meat this year as well.
“No individual country can reimagine the global protein supply – but a network of Asian R&D hubs working collaboratively to accelerate future-food development and manufacturing very well could,” says Gosker. “Korea is a central player in turning that dream into reality, alongside other established foodtech leaders like Japan, China, and Singapore, and rising economies like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.”
She continues: “If this regional coalition works together to supercharge scientific research, leverage each country’s supply-chain strengths, and rapidly increase regulatory knowledge-sharing, the combined impact will be far greater than the sum of its parts.”
This would be the first road bridge between these two allies, allowing trucks and buses to transfer goods and people. There is already a rail bridge between the two countries, which recently have been strengthening ties.
South Korean firm SI Analytics announced that it captured the photos on March 3, and they showed that preparatory work had begun for an 830-meter (900-yard) section of road, including the bridge over the frozen river in the northeastern part of North Korea.
Experts said that when completed, the bridge will likely boost trade and tourism in North Korea, and possibly increase Moscow’s influence in the region.
On the Russian side of the border, the satellite images show that preliminary work for the bridge reaches less than 300 meters (330 yards) from the land.
A yellow structure, believed to be a pillar that would hold up the bridge, can be seen on the frozen surface of the river. Additionally, construction materials can be seen in a staging area on the Russian side.
Work proceeds on a new Tumen River bridge linking North Korea and Russia, March 3, 2025.(PleiadesNEO imagery with analysis by SI Analytics)
“The groundwork will be completed before the river thaws, with the actual bridge pillars being installed in the spring,” SI Analytics said.
Meanwhile, on the North Korean side, construction is underway on the road that would connect to the bridge. It appears that the ground has been compacted, but the road has yet to be paved. Heavy equipment like bulldozers, trucks and smaller cars can be seen at the construction site.
Moscow selected contracting firm TonnelYuzhStroy LLC, to oversee design and construction of the bridge, with a deadline for completion set at Dec. 31, 2026, media outlet Interfax.ru reported.
“Although the Russian government has allocated a two-year construction period, it seems that the rush to complete the groundwork even in the bitter cold is intended to show ‘tangible results’ in accordance with the demands of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” SI Analytics said.
North Korea observers said that the construction of the bridge would be a boon for overland shipping between North Korea and Russia, as only one other bridge connecting the two countries exists, and it is only for trains.
The new bridge will contribute to North Korea’s economic growth, Joung Eunlee, a research fellow at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, told RFA Korean.
“Land routes can actively transport much more logistics and people than railways,” she said. “If a bridge is built between North Korea and Russia, then the volume of goods transported will be much larger than railways, the transport time will be faster, and the volume of trade will likely increase.”
Quid pro quo?
The bridge is likely being built in return for North Korean military support of Russia in its war with Ukraine, said Bruce Bennett of the U.S.-based RAND Corporation.
“Creating a new bridge would be a direct way for Russia to increase trade with North Korea,” he said. “I believe there is no doubt that this is, at least, a partial payoff to North Korea.”
The new bridge is likely to lead to increased economic, social and military exchanges, and could weaken the effectiveness of sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear ambitions, SI analytics said. Additionally it could reorganize the balance of power in the region, increasing Russian influence at the expense of Chinese.
“China’s response will likely to be a key variable going forward,” SI Analytics said.
But the overall effect of the new bridge could also be relatively mild, Kim Young-hee, from the Institute for North Korean Studies, at Dongguk University in South Korea, told RFA.
“It would have an economic effect, but North Korea would require a lot of travel by train or car to enable trade with Russia,” she said. “Geographically, China is better. Russia is far away, so transportation costs are higher than to trade with China.”
She said that trading with China was more cost effective, so Pyongyang would likely still trade primarily with Beijing.
Translated by Claire S Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Cheon Soram for RFA Korean.
In the predawn hours of April 3, 1948, rebels assembled on the slopes of Mount Hallasan, a volcano that is located at the center of Jeju Island. On that highest peak in South Korea, the rebels lit fires that were meant to signal the start of armed resistance against both the occupation of South Korea by the United States and in support of the reunification of Korea, which had been divided in half since the end of the World War II. This uprising was preceded by previous incidents in which police fatally fired on protesters.
In a letter sent to residents of the island, the rebels wrote:
Fellow citizens! Respectable parents and siblings! Today, on this day of April 3, your sons, daughters, and little brothers and sisters rose up in arms for the reunification and independence of our homeland, and for the complete liberation of the people. We must risk our lives for the opposition to the betrayal of the country and the unilateral election and government. We rose up in arms against the brutal slaughter done by American cannibals that force you into hardship and unhappiness. To vent your deep-rooted rancor we rouse up in arms. You should defend us who fight for the victory of our country and should rise up along with us, responding to the call of the country and its people.
Over the course of the next day, these rebels would launch attacks on police outposts and on other locations thought to contribute to repression on the island.
This was the beginning of the Jeju Uprising. Following failed negotiations with police, additional troops would be sent to the island to crush the rebellion. During the next several months, periodic fighting would continue between rebels on the island and Korean forces. Following an incident where members of the South Korean military sent to the island mutinied and killed many of their commanders, dictator Syngman Rhee declared martial law. As part of the military’s efforts to end the rebellion, horrific incidents including the destruction of entire villages, mass rape, and the massacre of thousands of civilians occurred. Reports of the number of dead vary significantly from a low of 15,000 to a high of 65,000. The vast majority of civilian deaths were the responsibility of South Korean security forces. Tens of thousands fled from Jeju to Japan to escape the violence. Three hundred villages and tens of thousands of houses were destroyed.
If you were a dedicated reader of The New York Times—the paper which declares on its front page that it publishes “All the News That’s Fit to Print”—during the Jeju Uprising you would know very little about the horrors that transpired on Jeju Island in 1948 and 1949. Using the Times search database, I only identified eight articles that discussed Jeju (then rendered as Cheju) for the entirety of 1948 and 1949. All of these articles were fairly short reports, appearing in the newspaper’s back pages. Many of them focused on the activities of the rebels:
Communists on Cheju Attack Villages—Demand Police Surrender, No Election
Constabulary Chief on Cheju Shot While Sleeping
Snipers Fire at U.S. Plane At Airport in South Korea
As well as alleged involvement by the Soviet Union:
Soviet Submarines Said To Help Reds in Korea
In the last article identified about Jeju, on April 1949, the Times devoted less than 50 words to publishing a United Press report about “1,193 Koreans Slain on Cheju” and the thousands more left homeless. The report makes no mention of responsibility for those dead, despite the fact that the vast majority of civilians were killed by the South Korean military. The number reported as being killed is an underestimate, at least by a factor of ten.
On the same day that last report about Jeju was published by the Times, a story appeared in the Times about the Berlin Airlift, an operation led by the United States and United Kingdom to supply West Berlin (an exclave of the United States-allied West Germany) with supplies after it had been blockaded by the Soviet-allied East Germany, which surrounded it. The period of the blockade and the airlift that followed almost perfectly matched with the period of the Jeju Uprising. During this period, there were over a hundred articles describing the blockade and the airlift that followed, many featured on the front page of the Times.
There are numerous reasons why the Berlin Airlift likely received more attention than the uprising and massacre on Jeju Island. Berlin is located in the center of Europe, while Jeju is a relatively remote island in East Asia. However, a year after the Jeju Uprising when the Chinese Communists captured Hainan, another remote island in East Asia, from the Chinese Nationalists, the Times published dozens of articles about the operation, suggesting that remoteness does not make significant reporting impossible.
Berlin was also seen as the frontline of the Cold War, while in the years before the Korean War, the Korean Peninsula was often treated as a periphery issue. However, during the period of the Jeju Uprising, the Times published hundreds of stories about Korea, many of which focused on infiltration of communists from the north into the south. Furthermore, the United States was already heavily invested in Korea, having occupied the southern half of the peninsula since the end of
World War II. At the time of the uprising, there were thousands of US troops in Korea. Indeed, a report from the South Korean government published decades after the uprising found that the United States shared responsibility for the military operations on Jeju Island.
The role that disregard for non-Europeans might play in the dearth of coverage should also be considered. Jeju Islanders, unlike Berliners, were East Asians and, therefore, potentially less sympathetic in the minds of some readers of the Times. To compare Jeju Island to another contemporaneous issue in Europe, the final operation of the Greek Civil War, which occurred a few months after the conclusion of the Jeju Uprising, received more coverage in one month than the Jeju Uprising received in a whole year. The fact that the Greek Civil War involved Europeans may have been a factor in this higher level of coverage.
There is another possible cause for the general lack of coverage of the Jeju Uprising: geopolitics. Berliners were a sympathetic population who were being oppressed by the new official enemy of the United States—the Soviet Union. In contrast, the people of Jeju Island were the victims of a regime that had been put into place and supported by the United States with the goal of preventing the spread of Soviet-aligned communism.
Stated another way, the people of Berlin were worthy victims and the people of Jeju Island were unworthy victims.
This formulation of Worthy and Unworthy victims was first developed by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in their seminal book Manufacturing Consent. As they wrote:
Our prediction is that the victims of enemy states will be found “worthy” and will be subject to more intense and indignant coverage than those victimized by the United States or its clients, who are implicitly “unworthy.” Put another way, the media will be more likely to portray the victims of actions of official-state enemies in unfavorable terms, while portraying the victims of allies in more favorable terms.
In the book Herman and Chomsky go on to show how crimes committed in client states of the Soviet Union received far more attention than crimes in client states of the United States. For example, the murder of Catholic Polish priest Jerzy Popieluszko “not only received far more coverage than Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered in the U.S. client-state El Salvador in 1980; he was given more coverage than the aggregate of one hundred religious victims killed in U.S. client states, although eight of those victims were U.S. citizens.” Herman and Chomsky’s book has been influential in how the US media and Western media are viewed more broadly, with writers like Robert McChesney, John Nicholas, and Alan MacLeod expanding on the work.
This formulation of “Worthy and Unworthy victims” is part of Herman and Chomsky’s larger Propaganda Model, which postulates that “the media serve, and propagandize on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them. The representatives of these interests have important agendas and principles that they want to advance, and they are well positioned to shape and constrain media policy. This is normally not accomplished by crude intervention, but by the selection of right-thinking personnel and by the editors’ and working journalists’ internalization of priorities and definitions of newsworthiness that conform to the institution’s policy.”
Herman and Chomsky’s argument is compelling and provocative because it argues that despite the fact that media in the United States is not state-run and press freedom is generally protected in the country, the media still serves a similar purpose as it did in the Soviet Union and other countries where media is
predominately state-run and where journalists do not have the same press freedom protections.
To explain their Propaganda Model, Herman and Chomsky proposed that there are five filters that tend to restrict media coverage in Western countries, particularly the United States. These filters are:
Ownership: Media companies are mostly large corporations with the fundamental imperative to make a profit. These companies are disincentivized from covering topics that may threaten their profit.
Advertising: In a similar way, almost all media companies are dependent on advertising for their revenue. Therefore, media companies are also disincentivized from covering topics that may lose them advertisers.
Sourcing: Media outlets frequently use official, government sources for their information. These sources will tend to reflect the biases of the government.
Flak: Individuals who provide dissenting viewpoints will often face concerted campaigns to discredit them. These campaigns will make journalists less likely to decide to cover stories that may result in such flak, including those that may portray allies of the United States in a negative light.
Anti-Communism/Fear: Reporting will often play into the fears of official enemies (Communists during the Cold War, Islamic Terrorism during the War on Terror, etc.). Playing into these fears will often mean that official state enemies will receive more coverage.
Together, these filters create a situation where even in a country, like the United States, with relatively few state controls on the media, reporting will tend to reflect the official standpoint of the government.
This tendency for reporting to reflect the standard positions of the government is seen most powerfully in foreign affairs.
Unlike domestic issues, where there is at least some daylight between the two major parties, with respect to foreign policy there is much less difference in foreign affairs. While the language used and the particular issues emphasized will often be different, the fundamental positions of both Democrats and Republicans do not tend to differ substantially. For example, if you compare each party’s platforms 5,6 before the 2016 election (in 2020 the Republicans did not adopt a new platform, not allowing for a direct comparison) with respect to Venezuela, Iran, Israel, China, and Russia, you generally see only minor differences. This book will try to make the argument that this same general uniformity in political perspectives about foreign affairs is reflected in media coverage in the United States.
North Korea publicly executed three men — shooting each one with 90 rounds from a machine gun — for attempting to flee to democratic South Korea, a witness and a resident who heard about the execution told Radio Free Asia.
Authorities then burned their corpses in front of horrified residents of the town, who were forced to watch, the sources said.
The three men, all in their 30s, had been caught in January when trying to escape to the South by boat.
Lost in fog on the sea, they thought they had crossed the border when they saw what they assumed was a South Korean fishing vessel. They called out for help, but it turned out to be a North Korean patrol boat that caught them in the act, and they were promptly arrested, the two sources told RFA Korean.
A North Korean navy ship, top right, patrols near fishing boats at South Korea-controlled Yeonpyeong island, May 31, 2009.(Byun Yeong Wook/AFP)
By publicly executing the men — and telling villagers they would face a similar fate — authorities sought to scare anyone who might be thinking about fleeing themselves, the sources said.
The incident reflects harsher punishment for escapees. In past years they would have been sent to reeducation camp for a maximum of 15 years. But now they will be killed by firing squad, with residents in the area forced to watch, the sources said.
The three men — two brothers surnamed Kim and their friend surnamed Ri — were from South Hwanghae province, which borders South Korea on the peninsula’s west coast.
A resident from the northwestern province of North Pyongan, who witnessed the execution while on a trip to South Hwanghae, described it in detail to RFA Korean, saying that it occurred in the the village of Songjong-ri in February, and the three men were tied to stakes.
“We witnessed the young men being dragged out with black cloths over their eyes and gagged, being shot dozens of times and their bodies being torn to pieces,” he said.
“Usually those who are to be executed are tied to the stake in three places: the neck, the torso, and the legs,” he said. “But this time, they were so weakened by severe torture that they had to be bound in six sections because they could not support their own bodies.”
He said authorities yelled, “Traitors to the nation must be punished!” as the executioners emptied the entirety of their 90 round-magazines into each man.
The execution was corroborated by another North Pyongan resident who heard about it from his friend from South Hwanghae –a witness himself — who had visited the northern province on business. He was told village authorities ordered everyone in nearby factories, farms and schools to attend.
“It was an attempt to instill fear in the residents that this is what happens when you try to escape,” the second source said. “Most of the residents gathered without knowing what was happening, and they were made to witness such a horrific sight.”
The first source said the authorities made of point of treating the dead men’s bodies with disrespect.
“They said, ‘There is no place to bury the bodies of defectors in in this land!’ and they burned their scattered remains,” the resident said.
Many children and young students in attendance were screaming in terror, and some residents collapsed and fainted, he said.
Botched escape
Since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, more than 34,000 people have escaped North Korea and resettled in the South.
The most common route involves escaping first to China then avoiding captured and forcibly repatriated by Chinese authorities as they try to reach Southeast Asia. Once there, they can arrange with the help of a South Korean embassy to arrange a flight to Seoul.
Crossing directly into the South is rare. But the Kim brothers and their friend Ri had hoped to defy the odds.
According to the residents, prior to the execution the authorities announced that the trio had been planning their escape for months. They pooled their money to buy a small boat and set sail on the night of Jan. 6, hoping to cross the maritime border in waters west of the peninsula.
“Unfortunately they found themselves in a difficult situation where they could not see an inch in front of them because of the fog in the middle of the sea,” the second source said. “However, they blindly headed south, navigating with a compass.
As they continued southward, another vessel appeared within sight.
“They thought it was a South Korean fishing boat and shouted, ‘We are people who have escaped to South Korea! Please spare us!’”
But it was a North Korean patrol boat, and the three men were immediately arrested, he said.
“Now if anyone’s caught trying to go to South Korea, they will be executed in public without exception.”
Translated by Eugene Whong and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Kim Jieun for RFA Korean.
North Korea is developing a secret launch base for long-range missiles on the outskirts of the capital Pyongyang, disguised as a golf course, said a U.S. research team.
The revelation about North Korea’s suspected missile facility comes amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, where on Monday, North Korea tested ballistic missiles as the U.S. military began a major exercise with ally South Korea.
The Open Source Team at the Middlebury Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, analyzing satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs and Airbus, said that the base had facilities capable of storing and launching the North’s latest intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs.
The site is near the Winter Palace, or Ryokpo residence, of the Kim political dynasty that was demolished last April, likely to clear land for military use.
As well as a storage and checkout facility suitable for ICBMs, there is a wide new road connecting the facility with a launchpad that was made to look like a golf course. A checkout facility is where the missiles are given a final examination before deployment.
The suspected missile complex as of Nov. 6, 2024. The launch site has been covered to look like a putting green.(Planet Labs /the Open Source Team at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Middlebury Institute)
Using near-infrared to analyze the surface at different stages of construction, the research team discovered that the newly built roads and circular launchpads were first fortified with concrete then covered with soil and grass making them look like putting greens.
The work likely began in the middle of last year, with concrete being poured over the ground to accommodate heavy vehicles in June and July. Soil was dumped on top in August. By November the site looked like a golf course.
Facility fit for ICBMs
The James Martin Center’s Open Source Team discovered the complex that it said was likely to be a missile storage and checkout facility.
Its most notable feature is a high-bay building that is 36 meters tall, used for inspecting missiles in an upright position.
The Hwasong-19 solid-fuel ICBM, which North Korea tested last October, is about 30 meters long. The Hwasong-18 is a little shorter at 25 meters.
What is believed to be a new missile checkout and storage facility with a high-bay building and an annex suitable for storing ICBM launch vehicles.(Airbus/the Open Source Team at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Middlebury Institute)
“While this facility could be used for shorter range systems like the Hwasong-11/KN-23/KN-24 series of missiles, the height of the high-bay building suggests it is also built to allow longer-range systems to operate from it,” said Sam Lair, a member of the research team.
“You would not need a 36 meters high building for just short-range systems.”
Next to the building there’s a bermed storage annex, covered in earth to help disguise it, the dimensions of which are about 30 meters by 18 meters, that could fit four ICBM-class launchers.
The researcher told Radio Free Asia that the discovery of the site was “a bit surprising.”
Ryokpo, in southern Pyongyang, has a population of more than 80,000.
“I am not sure why they picked a location so close to the capital as most of the long-range missile bases in the DPRK are far in the north, closer to the border with China,” Lair said. He referred to North Korea by its official name the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“I am sure they are aware that people like us are looking for sites like this,” Lair said. “That may be why they chose to camouflage the launch sites.”
There’s no indication that the new site has been used.
Tensions are high between North Korea and the South, and its ally the U.S.
On Monday, North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles into the Yellow Sea in response to the U.S.-South Korea annual Freedom Shield drills that began hours earlier.
Pyongyang’s foreign ministry called the drills an ‘’aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal” and warned against a ‘’physical conflict” on the Korean peninsula.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the missiles were launched from North Korea’s northwestern Hwanghae province.
This month, when a U.S. aircraft carrier visited the South Korean port of Busan, leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, said Pyongyang would consider increasing its nuclear deterrent in the face of increased U.S. “provocations.”
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea test launched several ballistic missiles off its west coast on Monday as the U.S. and its ally, South Korea, began a major military exercise, said the South’s military.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS, said the missile firings, North Korea’s fifth this year, were detected from the North’s Hwanghae province but gave no further details such as how far they flew.
“Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance while maintaining full readiness in close coordination with the U.S,” said the JCS.
The launch came a few hours after the U.S. and South Korea launched an annual joining military exercise, called Freedom Shield, which North Korea denounced as a “dangerous provocative act.”
As part of this year’s exercise, the allies will stage 16 large-scale on-field drills, up from 10 last year, to strengthen their combined defense posture against North Korean threats and other challenges, including the regime’s growing military cooperation with Russia.
North Korea’s foreign ministry said the allies were “persistently staging the large-scale joint military exercises” despite North Korea’s repeated warnings, adding the “random exercise of strength will result in aggravated security crisis.”
“This is a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot, to the extreme point,” the ministry said in a statement said, as reported by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA
North Korea invariably responds with outrage to joint U.S. South Korean military exercises, condemning them as rehearsals for war, despite the allies’ insistence that they are purely defensive.
The North warned the allies would pay a “horrible price” for their joint exercise, a day after the drills were announced.
This year’s drills will not include any live-fire exercises after two South Korean jets last week accidentally dropped bombs on a South Korean civilian area, injuring 29 people.
Separately, North Korea’s state-run broadcaster reported on Saturday on the accidental bombing, saying it caused a “great uproar” in the South.
“An accident occurred in which puppet air force fighter jets, frenzied over invasion war exercises against our republic, dropped bombs on a civilian village and its surroundings in broad daylight, causing a great uproar in puppet South Korea,” said Korean Central Television.
Two KF-16 fighter jets “abnormally” dropped eight MK-82 bombs outside a training range in the South Korean city of Pocheon, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Seoul, during live-fire drills on Thursday. Fifteen of those injured were civilians.
On Monday, the top South Korean Air Force commander issued a public apology calling it an accident that “should never have happened.”
“The Air Force, which should protect the lives and property of the people, inflicted harm to the people,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Young-su said in a press briefing. “It was an accident that should never have happened, and one that should not recur.”
In an interim probe, the Air Force reaffirmed pilot error as the cause of the bombing, saying the pilot of the first aircraft missed at least three opportunities to prevent the accident after wrongly entering the target coordinates. The South Korean and U.S. militaries have halted all live fire exercises in South Korea until the investigation has finished and safety measures drawn up
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Journalists from China’s state-run media outlets, CCTV and the People’s Daily, have returned to North Korea five years after their withdrawal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said South Korea’s unification ministry.
North Korea has selectively opened its doors to foreign media, allowing a limited number of outlets to establish bureaus in its capital, Pyongyang.
Chinese, Russian, Japanese and a few Western agencies, such as AP and AFP, have been granted access under strict government oversight. During the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign journalists were asked to leave North Korea as part of its strict border control measures.
Chinese journalists entered North Korea on Feb. 27, said the South’s Ministry of Unification, which oversees inter-Korean relations, adding that journalists from AP and AFP had not returned to North Korea yet.
It is not clear whether Russian journalists had also returned to the North.
Separately, the Japan-based pro-Pyongyang newspaper Choson Sinbo also announced that its North Korean bureau had reopened.
“Our Pyongyang bureau has resumed operations after five years, ending the unfortunate period of temporary suspension caused by an unexpected malignant epidemic,” the paper announced on Friday.
The news comes as North Korea sends mixed signals about reopening its borders to foreigners.
Last week, North Korea closed its only gateway for foreign tourists. Weeks earlier it allowed visitors back in, which had suggested it was opening up for the first time since a COVID-19 ban on arrivals in 2020.
Some South Korean media outlets speculated that the decision to stop tourists coming in was driven by concerns over the uncontrolled spread of information.
Before last month, only Russians had been allowed into North Korea for limited group tours since September 2023.
The establishment of foreign media bureaus and the residency status of journalists are overseen by the North’s Korean Central News Agency and the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee.
These two agencies submit residency approval applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after obtaining approval from the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Foreign media operating in North Korea often face criticism from the outside world over their lack of independent reporting due to the severe restrictions imposed by the regime.
Journalists are constantly monitored, their movements are heavily controlled, and they are often assigned government minders, limiting their ability to report freely.
Critics argue that foreign media bureaus in Pyongyang risk amplifying state propaganda rather than providing objective news, as they are pressured to align with the regime’s narratives.
South Korean public broadcaster, KBS, for example, expressed in 2021 interest in establishing a bureau in Pyongyang to enhance inter-Korean media cooperation and provide direct coverage from the North.
However, such initiatives faced public criticism in South Korea due to concerns about journalistic independence and potential compromises in reporting.
At that time, the then-opposition People’s Power Party also raised a concern that the operation of a bureau in Pyongyang might be used as a channel to funnel foreign funds to the North Korean government, accusing the government of “giving away” South Korean taxpayers money.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
North Korea’s state media on Saturday provided a rare glimpse of the country’s first nuclear-powered guided missile submarine that is expected to serve as a “powerful nuclear deterrent” in the future.
The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, released a set of images taken during a recent inspection tour by leader, Kim Jong Un, to North Korea’s key shipyards, including one where the first nuclear submarine is being built.
In two photos, the leader and his entourage were seen next to the large body of a ship, believed to have been taken at a submarine facility in the port city of Sinpo on the east coast.
KCNA quoted Kim saying that “the development of the naval force into an elite and nuclear-armed force constitutes an important content in the strategy for the development of the national defense.”
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear submarine during a visit to a shipyard, in this photo released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on March 8, 2025.(KCNA/via Reuters)
Pyongyang has a fleet of around 70 aging submarines, most of them are classified as “midget” for their small size.
In September 2023 it launched the first so-called “tactical nuclear attack submarine,” a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea acquired from China in the 1970s.
Despite the name, it is not nuclear-powered but fitted with diesel-electric propulsion, relatively noisy and slow, hence vulnerable to modern anti-submarine warfare. The “nuclear” component refers to the possibility of nuclear missile armament yet analysts have raised doubt about its capabilities.
The KCNA report didn’t say when the construction of the new submarine would be completed.
North Korea’s largest warships
Kim Jong Un also visited some other shipyards where North Korea’s largest warships are being constructed.
“Only when there is a powerful naval force that no one can provoke, is it possible to defend the security of the country,” he said.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un visits a shipyard, in this photo released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on March 8, 2025.(KCNA/via Reuters)
Pyongyang is believed to be building two new warships with displacement of 3,000 to 5,000 tons at Nampo shipyard on the west coast and Chongjin on the east coast.
Several of KCNA’s photos show the North Korean leader inspecting the upper structure of a ship, likely at the Nampo shipyard, with details of the deck being blurred.
North Korea has a substantial surface fleet in numbers but it is predominantly composed of smaller patrol and coastal vessels of limited capability.
The two ships under-construction are expected to be fitted with a vertical launch system for missiles, a first for a North Korean surface vessel. A report by the British think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that such a ship could be carrying ballistic or surface-to-air missiles yet their capabilities remain to be seen.
The North Korean shipyards’ ability to replicate the performance of the world’s latest combat systems and other associated capabilities is deemed by the report as being “limited.”
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
North Korean troops train at a base designed to emulate the layout of Seoul and other major South Korean cities, a South Korean lawmaker said, citing testimony from North Korean prisoners of war in Ukraine.
If the testimony is true, it is an indication that North Korea has not given up on the possibility of invading the South, a South Korean ministry official said.
The POW’s testimony was revealed during an interview — broadcast on South Korean radio and simultaneously livestreamed on YouTube — with National Assemblyman Yu Yong-weon about his recent visit to Ukraine, where he met with two North Korean POWs.
North Korea has sent an estimated 12,000 soldiers to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine, although neither Moscow or Pyongyang has publicly confirmed this.
During the interview, Yu said that one POW identified as Ri told him that the base was located in Koksan county, North Hwanghae province, just over 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the DMZ that divides North from South.
A North Korean soldier, right, identified as Ri, captured in Kursk and now at an unidentified detention center in Ukraine. Part of the image has been blurred by South Korean lawmaker Yu Yong-weon, left, who interviewed the soldier.(Yu Yong-weon)
“When you go to this training site, it is a Ministry of Defense training ground,” said Ri, according to an audio clip from their conversation played during the program. “The training ground has geographic shapes and buildings resembling those of Seoul’s Jongno-gu (a downtown district), Busan, Daegu, Jeonju, and Jeju island. … It’s in Koksan.”
Radio Free Asia looked at satellite photos of the Koksan area in North Korea’s North Hwanghae province for evidence of what Ri described.
In a photo taken by Google Earth on Nov. 25, 2022, the Koksan Training Base, located next to a mountain and surrounded by fields, has a headquarters, a barracks and what appears to be many buildings that private satellite imagery analyst Jacob Bogle told RFA Korean closely resembled Ri’s description.
Urban warfare training center(Paul Nelson/RFA)
Based on the satellite images, The entire base is approximately 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) long and 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) wide, with the model buildings spread over approximately 40 hectares (100 acres)
“The base complex is split up into 4 sections of MOUT across the area,” Bogle said, using the abbreviation for “military operations on urbanized terrain.”
“Most are simple, there may be around 5 structures that are two floors, but the vast majority are single-story structures, but some are as long as 36 meters (40 yards),” he said.
Satellite photo of North Korea’s Koksan Training Base, Nov. 25, 2022.(Google Earth image with analysis by Jacob Bogle)
Bogle said that about half of these buildings are likely unfinished, roofless structures, that are likely models for training purposes rather than actual buildings
Further analysis of historical satellite imagery reveals that a full-scale urban warfare training facility was established in earnest at Koksan Training Base in 2020.
Previously, there were only a few structures with only some outer walls, but since 2020, at least 72 mock buildings have been newly constructed.
In addition to the buildings, there are 33 model tanks, and 8 model fighter jets situated within the training ground, which appear to have remained in their current location for over 20 years.
“One key sign that the fighter jets and tanks aren’t real is that they never move,” said Bogle. “The fighter jets, for example, have been in the exact same position since 2003. These mockups are used to familiarize recruits with the overall appearance of DPRK and enemy equipment in basic training drills, and some are used as target practice.”
DPRK is the abbreviation of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Looking forward in time, Google Earth photos from Aug. 14 and Sept. 28, 2024 show two rows of new structures, and evidence that dirt in the vacant lots has been disturbed.
“That can indicate ongoing drills on the site,” said Bogle. Referring to the new buildings he said that the low-res imagery made it difficult to determine what they were exactly, but their size and positioning suggest they are target structures.
Korean People’s Army special operations force train at a five-story building at a base, Sept. 11, 2014.(KCNA)
The Koksan Training Base is also believed to have been visited by the country’s leader Kim Jong Un in Sept. 2024, when state media reported that he gave onsite guidance to soldiers at a training ground.
NK news, a U.S. media outlet specializing in North Korea, analyzed a documentary video broadcast on the state-run Korean Central Television in January about the visit, and reported it likely took place in Koksan.
On Friday, during a press briefing by the South Korean Ministry of Unification, a reporter asked spokesperson Goo Byung-sam about Ri’s testimony and the satellite imagery in the Korean version of this report, which was published on Thursday.
The spokesperson said it was a military matter and that it would be inappropriate for the Ministry of Unification to comment.
“That said, if this report is true, it would be yet another piece of evidence that North Korea has not abandoned its ambitions of invading the South,” Goo said.
Translated by Claire S. Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jamin Anderson for RFA Korean.
North Korea “appears close to completing its first airborne early warning aircraft,” a significant upgrade for its air force, said U.S.-based research website 38 North, citing commercial satellite imagery.
Airborne early warning, or AEW, aircraft use radars to detect incoming missiles, as well as other aircraft and warships at long ranges. They are also used for aerial reconnaissance over the ground and the sea.
38 North, a research platform at the Stimson Center think tank, analyzed an image taken at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport by Airbus’s Pléiades Neo satellite on March 3, 2025.
The image shows a Russian-made Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft parked alongside a maintenance hangar “with a large radome mounted on top of the fuselage.” A radome is the cover for radar antennae, like on the AEW aircraft.
“The radome has a distinctive triangle design on top, similar to what is seen on some Chinese AEW aircraft, but not used on U.S. or Russian aircraft,” 38 North said, adding that this could indicate support or influence from China.
This photo taken on Feb. 14, 2017 shows a Tupolev Tu-204 aircraft undergoing maintenance at Sunan Pyongyang International Airport.(Ed Jones/AFP)
According to the website, the North Korean flag carrier Air Koryo has three such IL-76 transport airplanes and the military began working on this one in November 2023 to convert it to an AEW.
North Korea’s secretive official channels have not said anything about this project.
Big leap or baby step for North Korea?
Pyongyang until now didn’t have any early warning aircraft and some analysts think the new development is a “big step for the North Korean air force.”
“North Korea’s air force is comprised mainly of obsolete Russian fighters such as MIG-17s and MIG-21s so having a modern AEW aircraft is definitely good for their air operations,” said Jyh-Shyang Sheu, a military analyst at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei.
Sheu told Radio Free Asia that in his opinion the project was supported by Russia rather than China.
“The Il-76 is a good platform for this purpose as the Russian AEW plane Beriev A-50 is also based on Il-76,” Sheu said.
The new AEW aircraft reflects North Korea’s efforts to modernize its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, according to Alexander Lord, lead Europe-Eurasia analyst at Sibylline, a U.K.-based geopolitical risk consultancy.
“This could indicate Pyongyang is seeking to enhance its technological cooperation with both China and Russia, and it will allow North Korean forces to more closely monitor U.S. and South Korean military movements,” Lord said.
As Pyongyang and Moscow strengthen their military cooperation, Russia has reportedly been deploying North Korean ballistic missiles in the war in Ukraine, giving the North an opportunity to test its weapons in real-life combat.
“It does appear to be an airborne early warning type radar on top of the airplane, along the lines of the U.S./NATO E-3 Sentry or the Chinese KJ-2000, which is also based on the IL-76 platform,” another analyst, Thomas Shugart, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank, told RFA.
“Given that there’s only one, as well as the importance of systems integration to make these sort of aircraft work, I’d say this is still very much baby steps on North Korea’s part,” Shugart said.
“I won’t lose any sleep over it,” he added.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
With Trump’s recent tongue-lashing of Zelensky at their meeting in Washington DC, social media is now flooded with anguished cries about Ukraine’s sovereignty and how the U.S. must stand up to Russia’s empire-building invasion. The “consensus” claims Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty cannot be tolerated and must be punished.
Respect for sovereignty? Are these well-intentioned but completely misguided folks incapable of remembering the not so distant past?
Did America respect Korea’s sovereignty when it canceled free and open elections there in 1950, instigating an unnecessary, brutal war? Over 2 million Koreans were killed.
Did America respect Vietnam’s sovereignty when it decided Vietnam could not have a Communist government there and slaughtered 3 million people? Vietnam is communist now. I’ve lived there. It does just fine.
Did America respect Serbia’s sovereignty when it bombed Belgrade for 79 days and finally carved out Kosovo so it could build what was for years the largest NATO base in Eastern Europe?
Did America respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty when it refused to work with the Taliban when they offered to hand over Osama bin Laden, but chose instead to invade and launch a 22-year war? We killed tens of thousands of Afghanis, lost the war. The Taliban is still in power.
Did America respect Iraq’s sovereignty when it lied about weapons of mass destruction and invaded, killing, and displacing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens?
Did America respect Libya’s sovereignty when it and its NATO puppets destroyed the richest country in Africa and killed its revered leader, Muammar Gaddafi? Libya is a broken country now with a dysfunctional economy and open slave markets.
Did America respect Syria’s sovereignty when it funded terrorists to topple the government of Assad and eventually built bases in the country to choke off the food supply of the Syrian people and “steal their oil”?
Did America itself respect Ukraine’s sovereignty when it engineered the Maidan coup in 2014, toppled the democratically elected president, and installed a US puppet regime in power?
I could go on. But I’ll mention one last one, keeping in mind the Russiagate hoax where Russia was falsely accused of meddling in US elections …
TAIPEI, Taiwan – A North Korean soldier captured in Russia has once again expressed his determination to defect to South Korea, painting a vision of a life where he can finally have “family, a home, and basic rights.”
The soldier, identified as Ri, was among an estimated 12,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia’s Kursk region to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of the area in August. Neither Russia nor North Korea has acknowledged their presence.
“I really want to go to South Korea,” said Ri, during an interview released by South Korean lawmaker Yoo Yong-won, who recently visited Ukraine.
“If I go to Korea, will I be able to live the way I want, according to the rights I hope for? Having a home and a family,” Ri asked Yoo.
“I’m from North Korea and also a prisoner. Would that make it too difficult for me to have a family?”
Yoo said that Ri had sustained a gunshot wound to the jaw so severe that it impaired his ability to speak clearly. He added that Ri asked whether he could undergo another operation on his jaw upon arriving in the South.
Another North Korean soldier, identified as Baek who was captured alongside Ri, told Yoo that he was still deciding whether he wanted to defect to the South.
“Just in case I cannot return home … I feel like I can decide soon … I will keep thinking about it,” said Baek.
A North Korean soldier (L), identified as Baek, captured in Kursk and now at an identified detention center in Ukraine. Part of the image has been blurred by South Korean lawmaker Yoo Yong-won (R) who interviewed the soldier.(Yoo Yong-won)
When asked whether North Korean soldiers would choose to commit suicide if about to be captured by Ukrainian forces, Baek said he witnessed it many times and thought about doing it to himself when he was wounded and collapsed.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in December that the U.S. had reports of North Korean soldiers taking their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces, likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they were captured.
“There’s no official training in the military instructing us to do so, but soldiers believe that being captured by the enemy is a betrayal of the homeland, so they make that decision on their own,” Baek explained.
Yoo said captured North Korean soldiers should not be forced to return to their homeland.
“I urge our diplomatic authorities to do everything in their power to prevent the tragic forced repatriation of North Korean soldiers captured as prisoners of war in Ukraine,” said Yoo.
“Sending them back to North Korea would essentially be a death sentence. They are constitutionally recognized as citizens of South Korea so that must be protected.”
South Korea’s foreign ministry reaffirmed on Wednesday that it would accept Ri and Baek if they chose to defect to the South.
“We will provide the necessary protection and support in accordance with the fundamental principle and relevant laws that ensure the acceptance of all individuals requesting to go to South Korea,” said a ministry spokesperson, adding that it would work with the Ukrainian authorities.
Yoo’s interview with North Korean soldiers came amid reports that the North was preparing to send more troops to Russia despite increasing casualties.
South Korea’s main spy agency confirmed last week that North Korea had deployed more troops to Russia amid casualties, with media reports estimating the number at more than 1,000.
Ukraine said earlier that about 4,000 North Korean troops in Russia had been killed or wounded, with its leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimating that an additional 20,000 to 25,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to Russia.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned on Tuesday of a “stepped-up action” against the U.S. as one of its aircraft carriers arrived in South Korea, saying the “hostile” U.S. policy justified the bolstering of the North’s nuclear forces.
The USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class U.S. aircraft carrier, arrived at the southeastern city of Busan on Sunday, South Korea’s navy said, reaffirming the U.S. commitment to extended deterrence against North Korean threats.
The North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the arrival of the U.S. aircraft was an expression of Washington’s “most hostile and confrontational will.”
“The action-accompanied hostile policy toward the DPRK pursued by the U.S. at present is offering sufficient justification for the DPRK to indefinitely bolster up its nuclear war deterrent,” said Kim, as cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, KCNA.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is North Korea’s official name.
“The DPRK is also planning to carefully examine the option for increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level,” said Kim, adding that her country would be “naturally compelled to renew its records in the exercise of strategic deterrence” if the U.S. continued with its record-breaking shows of force.
South Korea denounced Kim’s remarks, saying she was attempting to justify North Korean military provocations.
“North Korea’s criticism of the deployment of a U.S. strategic asset to implement the U.S. extended deterrence pledge and combined South Korea-U.S. exercise ahead of the Freedom Shield exercise is merely sophistry to justify its nuclear and missile development and build excuse for provocations,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to annual military drills between the South and the U.S.
The North’s nuclear development could “never be accepted,” and the only way for it to survive was to “let go of its obsessions” with nuclear weapons, the ministry said.
“Should the North conduct provocation, using Seoul and Washington’s just and defensive military activities as pretext, it will be met with overwhelming retaliation,” added the South Korean ministry.
The nuclear-powered vessel of Carrier Strike Group 1 entered the naval base in Busan in the first visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier to South Korea since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
The USS Carl Vinson, a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, arrives at a South Korean naval base during its port visit in the southeastern port city of Busan on March 2, 2025.(Yonhap/AFP)
It was also accompanied by the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton and Aegis-equipped destroyer USS Sterett, according to the South’s navy.
The visit is part of efforts to implement an “ironclad” U.S. extended deterrence pledge, which Washington recently reaffirmed, and display the robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture against persistent North Korean threats, the South Korean navy said.
The allies would bolster their interoperability and hold friendly activities during the visit, it added.
The Carl Vinson last visited South Korea in November 2023, just hours before North Korea successfully placed its first military spy satellite into orbit after two failed attempts.
IAEA assessment
Kim Yo Jong’s remarks came a day after the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, said there were signs that North Korea was operating uranium enrichment plants in two locations.
“There are indications that the uranium enrichment plants at Kangson and Yongbyon continue to operate, and there are indications that the light water reactor (LWR) at Yongbyon continues to operate,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi during the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Monday.
“Additions to the support infrastructure have been observed adjacent to the LWR,” said Grossi, adding that North Korea’s further development of its nuclear program was a “clear” breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The IAEA has also observed that the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon complex resumed in mid-October last year, following a shutdown of about 60 days, according to Grossi.
“This shutdown is assessed to be of sufficient length to refuel the reactor and start its seventh operational cycle,” he said.
“Strong indicators of preparations for a new reprocessing campaign, including the operation of the steam plant serving the Radiochemical Laboratory, have been observed.”
The laboratory is known as a key reprocessing facility to yield plutonium. To build a nuclear bomb, about 6 kilograms of plutonium is known to be required.
“The undeclared enrichment facilities at both Kangson and Yongbyon, combined with General Secretary Kim’s call for ‘overfulfilling the plan for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials,’ are of serious concern,” he added.
“The agency continues to maintain its enhanced readiness to play its essential role in verifying the DPRK’s nuclear program.”
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
Ankit Panda, an expert on North Korea’s nuclear program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was interviewed by Radio Free Asia regarding Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions and how its capabilities might be improved through North Korea’s support of Russia in its war with Ukraine.
Panda, a Stanton senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at Carnegie, also said that North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, very likely can be used to attack an American city, and that Pyongyang might have as many as 300 warheads within the next 10 years.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
RFA: If North Korea were to launch an ICBM at the U.S. right now, do you think the U.S. would be vulnerable?
Ankit Panda: That’s a good question. First of all, would North Korea launch an ICBM? Probably not — it would be essentially suicidal. There’s no reason for North Korea to attack the United States unprovoked.
But the technical question that you asked, “Can North Korea essentially detonate a nuclear warhead over an American city?” — the answer to that question in my view is very probably yes, and that’s a carefully chosen phrase, “very probably yes.”
The North Koreans, the reliability that they have is probably a lot lower than what the United States has, but it’s probably sufficient for the purposes that Kim Jong Un seeks which is to deter the United States.
The only question that Kim has to ask himself is, “In a serious crisis or a war between the United States and North Korea, would an American president be worried that if the war got out of control, American cities could be vulnerable to nuclear attack?” And I think the answer there is absolutely.
RFA: But can’t the United States intercept North Korean ICBMs with its missile defense system?
Panda: The U.S. has a very limited homeland missile defense capability. We have a total of 44 interceptors that are capable of destroying incoming ICBMs. These interceptors are actually deployed in Alaska. There’s 40 of them in Alaska and four of them in California at Vandenberg Air Force Base. These are designed to deal with North Korean ICBM threats.
But it gets a little complicated here because it’s not that there’s 44 interceptors, which means the U.S. can defend against 44 North Korean ICBMs. Probably the U.S. would look to use 3 to 4 interceptors against one incoming ICBM reentry vehicle. And so then if you’re in North Korea, you have a solution to this problem, right? You build more ICBMs. And so that is where the North Koreans have gone.
I would argue that that is a chance that would be very difficult for an American president to take — this idea that the North Koreans could launch ICBMs and our interceptors might not actually work.
North Korean missile range(AFP)
RFA: How important are ICBMs to Kim Jong Un’s overall deterrence strategy? What about other types of weapons systems we’ve been hearing about, like hypersonic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and fighter jets?
Panda: So my assessment would be that, yes, he definitely needs ICBM warheads because that is the cornerstone of their deterrence strategy. The United States homeland needs to be held at risk for North Korea’s deterrence to have the effects that that Kim Jong UN seeks.
But simultaneously, I do think the new series of short range ballistic missiles, the Hwasong-11s in particular, the Hwasong-11A, (which is) what the US calls the KN-23 … That is now, I think, a system that the North Koreans are emphasizing quite a bit. They’ve been using it in against Ukraine in the course of their support for Russia. And so they’re receiving quite a bit of information about that system’s performance. And it’s also quite a bit of a challenging system for missile defense systems to deal with.
So I do think that that will be one of the chosen platforms for for Kim to place nuclear warheads on.
RFA: And those would be intended for targets in South Korea and Japan, within the same region, correct?
Panda:That’s right. U.S. bases, missile defense systems, ports, airfields, airfields with stealth fighters in South Korea, South Korean missile launch bases. All of those would be targets for those kinds of weapons.
RFA: Let’s talk more about the KN-23 and how it was used on the battlefield against Ukraine. Can we say what impact it might have on the Korean peninsula based on it’s performance in support of Russia?
Panda: So the use of the KN-23 against Ukraine marks the first ever use of North Korean ballistic missiles in war, so that that in itself is quite important because you can you can do all the testing you want in peacetime. You can do exercises on your own territory, but there’s something quite different to the experience of operating a missile on a real battlefield.
And the Russians, you know, we think the Russians were operating these missiles with the help of North Korean technical advisers, who were also collecting data on how these missiles are performing, feeding that back to the Academy of Defense Science and the Missile General Bureau in North Korea to improve these capabilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean Workers’ Party General Secretary Kim Jong-un after signing the ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement’ at the Kumsusan State Guest House in Pyongyang in June 2024.(Yonhap News)
So we know from Ukrainian intelligence that there has been change in the KN-23s. … They used to be very inaccurate when they were first used. And it turns out there was a report in December 2024 that the precision has improved significantly, and that is a very, very important milestone for the North Koreans because — especially if they do want to deploy tactical nuclear weapons — precision of the missile system matters quite a bit because the yield of the weapon is a lot lower, the yield being the explosive power.
And so if you’re trying to leverage those types of tactical nuclear weapons for maximal military utility–let’s say you want to hit an airfield in South Korea that has F-35s that you can’t deal with once they take off, so you have to destroy them before they take off. You really need to make sure that the the yield of the weapon and the precision of the missile match essentially in terms of the mission that you’re trying to accomplish.
And so I really think that we shouldn’t underrate the ways in which North Korea’s missile transfers to Russia are very directly augmenting Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions and strategy.
RFA: When we talk about North Korean involvement in Ukraine, experts and officials say that North Korea is getting from Russia food or other kinds of support, but regarding missile technology, what does Pyongyang need that Moscow can give?
Panda: The area where I think the Russians can really help them is with guidance computers, cruise missile maneuvering, cruise missile control and potentially even countermeasures, other types of ways in which to just improve the reliability of North Korea’s manufacturing standards for missile systems.
So all of that, I think will will happen is probably happening in some form space launch technologies, too. I think the Russians will be very, very eager to to help the North Koreans out. That has been the most public facing component of technical cooperation.
RFA: As North Korea and Russia grow closer, is there a possibility that Russia will recognize North Korea as an official nuclear state?
Panda: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has pretty explicitly said that Russia no longer views North Korea as a nonproliferation concern. Essentially, you know, since the early 1990s, the major powers China, Russia, the United States and Japan, South Korea, the European Union, the whole world has seen North Korea as a nonproliferation problem.
They’re the only country to have signed the Nonproliferation Treaty, left that treaty and built nuclear weapons. So it matters how you deal with North Korea for that reason. But it also matters in a big way that the North Koreans are really presenting unacceptable nuclear risks, in my opinion, to the United States and its allies, and so that demands a focus on risk reduction.
President Donald Trump and North Korean General Secretary Kim Jong Un meet in Singapore on June 12, 2018.(Yonhap News)
And so this this fact that Trump has called North Korea a nuclear power, I know that got quite a bit of a reaction in South Korea.
I’ve made the argument that, first of all, it’s it’s sort of overrated. North Korea has very publicly said in the past that they actually don’t care about the status question of whether or not they’re acknowledged, and they will never be a nuclear weapons state under the NPT, right, which is the only legitimate form of nuclear possession that really exists in the international system.
So I don’t think Trump is seeking to legitimize North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons. He’s simply saying something that even South Korea openly acknowledges, right?
RFA: How do you see North Korea’s nuclear development playing out over the next 10 years?
Panda: I think about this quite a bit because I do think it’s it’s probably the likely outcome that Kim will continue to modernize and size up his nuclear forces.
The North Korean objective with its nuclear modernization is to get to a point where what those of us in the nuclear strategy field call “the condition of mutual vulnerability” manifests between the United States and North Korea.
That means that Kim Jong Un has to feel confident. And this is very subjective, right? I’ve never met Kim Jong Un. I don’t know what’s in his mind, but Kim has to feel confident that no matter the crisis, no matter the war, the conventional war, that the United States and South Korea will not be able to destroy all of his nuclear weapons.
And that in turn, the president of the United States and the president of Republic of Korea will understand that they can’t destroy all of Kim’s nuclear weapons, which means that deterrence is stable….
So what does that mean for how many warheads they’ll build? I don’t know, probably a few hundred. I think by the mid 2030s we might be looking at a North Korea with 300-plus nuclear warheads.
RFA: How many warheads would you estimate that North Korea has right now?
Panda: So one of the challenges is that, since 2009, foreign inspectors have not been to North Korea. And so all of the evidence we have about fissile material production is really in the open source and from certain assessments the U.S. intelligence community has made.
Without people going into the country over time, the uncertainties, the error bars essentially grow wider and wider. I say that because my estimate would be that the North Koreans have somewhere between 50 to 100 nuclear warheads today. That’s a very broad range, right. And over time, that that range will continue to grow.
It’s quite possible that 10 years from now the North Koreans are the fourth largest nuclear force on Earth, after the U.S., Russia and China — depending on the choices that France, India, Pakistan and the U.K. make.
But none of those countries really seems to be heading towards a huge build-up in that way, whereas the North Koreans do have quite a few reasons to build up.
Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jaewoo Park for RFA Korean.
A French travel blogger who was among the first group of Western tourists to visit North Korea in five years told Radio Free Asia that his tour guides knew that the country’s soldiers were fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine — something the government has kept largely a secret from the public.
Pierre-emile Biot, 30, said the Jan. 20-25 trip showcased North Korea’s culture, its close ties with Russia and its “surprisingly really good” locally-produced beer.
The visitors were only allowed to stay within the Rason Special Economic Zone in the country’s far northeastern corner, near the border with China and Russia.
Foreign tourism to North Korea had completely shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It reopened last year, but only to visitors from Russia.
Biot had always wanted to visit the reclusive state and thought it was only a matter of time until it would open up further.
Last month, there were rumblings that the country would accept tourists from anywhere except South Korea and the United States on guided tours. Biot, who had been monitoring several travel agencies, was able to book a four-night five-day trip departing from China.
‘Quite welcoming’
To enter North Korea, Biot and his tour group of about a dozen, including other Europeans, traveled overland from Yanji in China’s Jilin province.
He said the entry process getting into North Korea was easy, although authorities conducted sanitary inspections due to concerns about COVID-19.
“It was quite welcoming, a lot more than I expected, and it went actually pretty smoothly,” Biot told RFA Korean from Hong Kong in a video call after the conclusion of his trip.
“It think they are still a bit scare of COVID,” he said. “They didn’t check like vaccines or anything, but they did check our temperature. They had us pay for a disinfection of our bags also.”
The tour was tightly controlled by two guides and two guides-in-training. None of the visitors had any freedom to roam around on their own, even outside their hotel at night.
Pierre-Emile Biot stands with North Koreans, Feb. 20, 2025, in Rason, North Korea.(Courtesy of Pierre-Emile Biot)
One of the younger guides, a 20-year-old woman, told him she had never interacted with a foreigner before.
The itinerary included an elementary school, a deer farm, a brewery and a some cultural experiences, such as a Taekwon-Do performance and a kimchi-making event.
But there was a lot of uncertainty about the itinerary from day to day, Biot said. Each night, the guides would tell the visitors where they might go the next day, but the actual destination wasn’t announced until the following morning.
“He would give us ideas in the evenings, but he wouldn’t confirm anything before the morning when we were going,” Biot said.
All sites were within Rason, a special zone where North Korea has experimented with some aspects of capitalism, such as an electronic banking system and access to the internet — although neither one worked very well, Biot said.
Inside the hotel, the wi-fi signal was weak, so the only reliable areas were those near the Chinese or Russian borders. But Biot was able to post updates about his trip on his social media accounts.
The tourists were issued debit cards upon their arrival, but very few businesses agreed to be paid that way, Biot said.
“Basically you can buy a credit card that works but with no name on it. I just bought the card for the full 25 RMB ($3.43),” he said using the abbreviation for renminbi the Mandarin word for China’s currency, the yuan.
He said the shops accepted yuan, but most wanted cash.
“Apparently, I’m able to pay for the taxi with the card … but we never took the taxi because we were with the group anyway,” said Biot.
Ties with Moscow emphasized
North Korea’s long and friendly relationship with Russia also was underscored during the tour, he said.
For years, Moscow provided aid to prop up the North Korean economy until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, which sent the North Korean economy crashing down.
The tour visited the Russia-Korea Friendship Pavilion on the border between the two countries. It was built in 1986, to commemorate a visit by then-leader Kim Il Sung to the Soviet Union.
Pierre-Emile Biot stands beside a photo, Feb. 20, 2025, from the Summit between North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the Russia-Korea Friendship Pavilion in Rason, North Korea.(Courtesy of Pierre-Emile Biot)
Biot said that the tour guides tended to avoid questions about politics, but some did say that they knew that North Korean troops were sent to support Russia in its war with Ukraine.
Since November, about 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia — although neither Moscow or Pyongyang have publicly confirmed this, and North Korean state media also has kept mum.
“Apparently yes, they know about it, but they don’t know to what extent,” he said. “So they know about the relations with Russia getting better and better.”
Good beer, ‘Great Leader’
When asked about the food the tour group was served, Biot praised the domestically produced beer.
“Actually the beer was surprisingly really good,” said Biot. “Well, at every single meal we would have, we had no table water, but we had table beer like local beer too. I think all of us had at least like five beers per day.”
Another part of the trip included a visit to statues of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s predecessors, his grandfather Kim Il Sung and his father Kim Jong Il.
The tourists were told to buy flowers to lay in front of the statues in a show of respect.
“We all had to bow, which was really important because we were the first tourist group” to visit in some time, Biot said.
Throughout the trip, Biot could sense the immense respect that the North Korean people had for their leaders, he said.
The guides often used the expression, “Our great leader made the decision …” and they spoke often about Kim Jong Un’s achievements.
Translated by Leejin J. Chung and Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Park Jaewoo for RFA Korean.
North Korea launched “strategic” cruise missiles off its west coast this week, state media said on Friday, in a test supervised by leader Kim Jong Un, who called on the military to be prepared for war.
It fired two cruise missiles on Wednesday, both flying just over 1,500 kilometers (1,000 miles) in two hours and twelve minutes, the North’s Rodong Sinmun reported.
North Korea’s description of the missiles as “strategic” implies they have the ability to carry nuclear warheads, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The launch was “to inform adversaries, who are severely threatening the security environment of the DPRK and escalating confrontational tensions, about the retaliatory capabilities of the Korean People’s Army in any space and the readiness of its various nuclear operational means,” Rodong Sinmun said.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is the North’s official name.
“What is guaranteed by powerful striking ability is the most perfect deterrence and defense capacity,” Kim said, adding that the nuclear and armed forces had a responsibility to defend the country with a “reliable nuclear shield by getting more thorough battle readiness of nuclear force and full preparedness for their use.”
A missile flies during what state media KCNA says is a test-launch of a strategic cruise missile over the sea off the west coast of the Korean peninsula, Feb. 26, 2025, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 27, 2025.(KCNA/Reuters)
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was keeping a close eye on North Korea with its U.S. ally.
“Our military is closely monitoring various North Korean activities under the firm South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture so that North Korea does not misjudge the current security situation,” the South Korean military said in a statement to media..
It is just over a month since North Korea last launched cruise missiles, coming shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump for his second term as U.S. president.
Trump has hinted that he wants to resume direct talks with Kim Jong Un, although three meetings with the North Korean leader during his first term failed to get any commitment on ending North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sanctions relief.
On Friday, marines from the U.S. and South Korea began a 10-day reconnaissance exercise, Yonhap said, citing the South’s Marine Corps. Next month, the two militaries take part in the Freedom Shield joint exercise, which is likely to further antagonize North Korea.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – South Korea’s main spy agency said North Korea had deployed more troops to Russia, with media reports estimating the number at more than 1,000.
As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of the Kursk region in August, according to Ukraine and the United States, although neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has acknowledged their presence.
“North Korea appears to have deployed some additional troops to support the Russian military. The exact scale is still being assessed,” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, or NIS, said on Thursday.
The NIS added that it believed North Korean troops were redeployed to the Kursk front in the first week of February.
The spy agency said in January that North Korean troops in Kursk had not shown any sign of participating in combat since January, citing the large number of casualties as a possible reason.
“After scaling back about a month, North Korean troops were redeployed to the Kursk front in the first week of February,” said the NIS, without elaborating.
The NIS’s confirmation came a few hours after South Korean media outlets reported, citing unidentified military sources, that the North sent more than 1,000 additional troops to Russia between January and February.
The sources said, however, it was unclear whether the additional forces were sent to Kursk.
Ukraine said earlier that about 4,000 North Korean troops in Russia had been killed or wounded, with its leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimating that an additional 20,000 to 25,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to Russia.
Separately, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in January that the North was accelerating preparations to send more troops to Russia amid an increasing number of casualties.
A Washington-based think tank reported in January that North Korean troops supporting Russia could be wiped out within three months if their high casualty rates persisted.
The Institute for the Study of War estimated that North Koreans had suffered about 92 casualties a day since early December 2024, with up to half of their forces in Russia’s Kursk wounded or killed.
President of the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Seth Jones, also said that casualty rates among North Korean troops have been significant, possibly reaching 50%.
A Ukrainian newspaper reported that a contingent of North Korean soldiers was trapped in Nikolske, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, and were running out of supplies and unable to break free. Their mass surrender looked increasingly likely, Euromaidan Press reported.
Donetsk in the east of Ukraine has been one of the most heavily contested regions in the Russia-Ukraine war.
While North Korea’s initial deployments were primarily to Russia’s Kursk region, there has been evidence suggesting they are also in Donetsk. Ukrainian officials have reported casualties among North Korean soldiers in Donetsk.
Euromaidan Press citing Ukrainian military sources, reported on Wednesday that the North Koreans trapped in Nikolske were struggling with exhaustion and a lack of coordination with Russians. It did not say how many North Koreans were trapped.
Ukrainian forces had blocked escape attempts, further tightening their hold on the encirclement, the news outlet added. Drone footage showed weakened soldiers struggling to move, indicating a large-scale surrender of North Korean troops is increasingly likely, it reported.
To rescue the stranded North Korean troops, Russian forces launched a two-pronged assault but faced overwhelming resistance. Logistical challenges and language barriers hindered their effectiveness, said the report, adding that this indicates Russia’s diminishing reserves.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Britain has imposed sanctions on senior North Korean officials linked to their country’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine as part of what the United Kingdom said was its largest sanctions package against Russian individuals and institutions since the early days of the war.
As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of Russia’s Kursk region in August, according to Ukraine and the United States, although neither North Korea nor Russia has acknowledged their presence.
The British foreign office announced sanctions against five North Korean defense officials on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
They included Kim Yong Bok, No Kwang Chol, Ri Song Jin, Ri Chang Ho and Sin Kum Chol, as well as 102 other individuals and entities.
Kim Yong Bok, the deputy chief of staff of the Korean People’s Army, reportedly arrived in Russia in October to oversee North Korean troops there helping Russia.
Kim’s profile has risen over the past year. His position as deputy chief of the army was confirmed when he was reported in state media as a member of leader Kim Jong Un’s entourage on a visit to an operational training base in western North Korea in March.
No Kwang Chol is known to have played a major role in strengthening military ties with Moscow since resuming his position as defense minister in October, including holding talks with his Russian counterpart, Andrei Belousov, in November.
Ri Song Jin, the North’s top missile engineer, has risen in prominence in recent years as an official at both the National Aerospace Technology Administration and the General Missile Bureau, often appearing alongside Kim Jong Un at military sites.
Ri Chang Ho holds a high-ranking position in North Korea’s hierarchy as the head of the U.S.-sanctioned Reconnaissance General Bureau, its top military intelligence agency, while Sin Kum Chol serves as director of the Operations Bureau of the Korean People’s Army General Staff.
Ri Chang Ho and Sin Kum Cho were also included in the sanctions list announced by the European Union on Monday, alongside more than 80 individuals and entities, over supporting Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.
The U.K. added it was also sanctioning producers and suppliers of machine tools, electronics and dual-use goods including microprocessors used in weapons systems. These were based in a range of third countries including Central Asian states, Turkey, Thailand, India and China.
There was no immediate response from Russia or North Korea to the British sanctions but a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said they harmed the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, adding that they had “no basis in international law.”
“China firmly opposes this and has made solemn representations to the U.K. side,” the embassy said in a statement on its website.
Britain’s Commonwealth allies, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, joined in imposing sanctions on Russia and people and entities promoting military cooperation between it and North Korea.
Australia announced on Tuesday that financial sanctions and travel bans were imposed on 70 people, while financial sanctions were imposed on 79 companies, adding that the individuals supported Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories.
New Zealand also announced sanctions on 52 entities and individuals linked to Russia’s military-industrial complex, energy sector, North Korea’s support for Russia’s war, and the forced deportation or re-education of Ukrainian children.
Three North Korean officials – Kim Yong Bok, Ri Chang Ho and Sin Kum Chol – were included in the sanctions list by both Australia and New Zealand.
Separately, Canada announced sanctions on Friday against 76 individuals and entities and 109 ships linked to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Although Canada did not target North Korean officials, it did include multiple companies allegedly involved in North Korea-Russia cooperation.
These include the shipping services Toplivo Bunkering Company, Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company, Global Ports Managing Company, Azia Shipping Holding and Ibex Shipping.
North Korea and Russia have been deepening their military and economic ties in recent months, with Pyongyang reportedly supplying Moscow with large quantities of munitions and other military aid for its war in Ukraine.
In return, Russia has provided technological assistance and expanded cooperation in various sectors, fueling concerns over potential arms transfers and security threats.
High-level meetings between officials from both countries, including defense ministers, have signaled a growing strategic partnership.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – A North Korean soldier captured in Russia’s Kursk region has reportedly expressed his desire to defect to South Korea, which has said it would accept him.
Legally, South Korea recognizes all North Koreans as citizens under its constitution. This means that any North Korean, including a prisoner of war, or POW, is entitled to South Korean nationality upon arrival.
However, the process is not as straightforward as simply crossing the border.
What would be the process?
Since the North Korean prisoner is in Ukraine, his transfer to South Korea would require diplomatic negotiations between Ukraine and South Korea. If Ukraine agrees to facilitate his departure, he could be transferred either through a third country or directly to South Korea. The South Korean government may also work with international organizations to ensure a smooth and legally compliant transfer.
Once in South Korea, the man, like all other North Koreans coming to the South, would undergo a vetting process by South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service.
He would first be taken to a secure facility, where intelligence officials would assess his background, potential security threats, and any valuable information he might have. This process can take several weeks or even months. If he is deemed to have no ill intent, he would be transferred to Hanawon, a resettlement center for North Korean defectors, where he would undergo training to adapt to South Korean society.
After this period, he would be integrated into South Korean society with government support, including financial assistance and job training.
An undated photo on Jan. 11, 2025 from the Telegram account of V_Zelenskiy_official shows an alleged soldier presented as North Korean detained by Ukrainian authorities at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, following his capture by the Ukrainian army. Part of the photo has been blurred by RFA.(V_Zelenskiy_official/Telegram/AFP)
Have there been similar cases?
There have been instances of captured North Korean soldiers defecting to South Korea, though such cases have been rare in recent years.
Historically, North Koreans captured during the Korean War had the choice to stay in South Korea, return to the North, or relocate to a third country. Many chose to remain in South Korea, while some resettled in other places such as Taiwan and the United States.
Beyond POWs, several high-profile North Koreans have defected to South Korea, including senior military officers, diplomats, and even a member of Kim Jong Un’s family.
Notable figures include Hwang Jang Yop in 1997, the highest-ranking North Korean official to defect, who was the architect of the North’s Juche ideology of self-reliance, and Thae Yong Ho in 2016, a former North Korean diplomat in the U.K. who defected to South Korea, later becoming a National Assembly member.
Kim Kuk Song, a senior North Korean intelligence officer who defected to the South in 2021, provided valuable insights into Pyongyang’s covert operations.
What happens if he arrives in South Korea?
While the South Korean government provides defectors with various forms of support for settlement, including financial aid, housing and job training, many struggle to adapt due to cultural differences, social discrimination, and economic hardship.
According to media reports, defectors often face difficulties finding stable employment and integrating into South Korean society, as they usually lack the necessary skills and networks to compete in the job market.
People lining up at a job fair for North Korean defectors in Seoul on Dec. 1, 2023.(Anthony Wallace/AFP)
Additionally, mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, are common due to the harsh conditions they endured in North Korea and during their escape.
Discrimination against North Korean defectors remains a significant issue in South Korea as well. Many South Koreans view defectors with skepticism, sometimes perceiving them as outsiders or even possible spies.
This prejudice makes it difficult for defectors to form social connections, find good jobs or be fully accepted in mainstream South Korean life.
Some defectors report being openly stigmatized in workplaces, schools, and even within their communities. The South Korean government has made efforts to address this discrimination through awareness campaigns and policy initiatives, but challenges persist.
How could South Korea use the POW for propaganda?
The prisoner’s background as a soldier sent to Russia makes him a unique case, and his defection could provide South Korea with intelligence on North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia, making him a valuable propaganda tool.
Historically, South Korea has leveraged high-profile defectors for propaganda purposes. When Hwang Jang Yop defected, he was frequently used to criticize the North Korean regime.
Likewise, Thae Yong Ho has been a vocal critic of Kim Jong Un’s leadership and has appeared on South Korean media and in political settings.
A portrait of deceased North Korean defector Hwang Jang Yop is hung on balloons as former North Korean defectors and anti-North Korean activists prepare to release them towards the North, near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, north of Seoul, Oct. 10, 2011.(Jo Yong-hak/Reuters)
The North Korean prisoner could be used to highlight North Korea’s human rights abuses, poor conditions within its military and any questions over the loyalty of its soldiers.
His testimony could be used in media campaigns, diplomatic discussions, and international forums to highlight North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Psychological warfare tactics, such as loudspeaker broadcasts at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas or targeted online messaging, could spread his story.
He could also be encouraged to join human rights organizations, raising awareness of Pyongyang’s policies.
North Korea and Russia have not officially acknowledged that North Korean soldiers have been sent to fight in Ukraine. If North Korea refuses to recognize this, it may simply dismiss the defector’s case as South Korean propaganda. Pyongyang could claim that Seoul is spreading false information to undermine it, a tactic it has used in the past when high-profile defectors have revealed sensitive information.
If North Korea chooses to respond, it could label the POW a criminal or traitor, claiming he was abducted or coerced into defecting by South Korea. This has been North Korea’s standard approach to high-profile defectors.
For example, North Korea accused Thae Yong Ho of embezzlement and child molestation – charges widely believed to be fabricated. Similarly, Shin Dong Hyuk, a well-known defector who exposed North Korea’s brutal prison camps, was accused of being a liar and traitor, in an attempt to discredit him.
If the defecting prisoner had sensitive military information, North Korea might take drastic measures, such as increasing border security to prevent future defections or punishing the defector’s relatives who remain in the North. In extreme cases, North Korea has even carried out assassination attempts against high-profile defectors abroad, as was the case with Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of Kim Jong Un, killed by exposure to a nerve agent in Malaysia in 2017.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
North Korean authorities are confiscating winter coats lined with dog fur — considered a luxury item — from civilians and giving them to under-supplied soldiers, residents told Radio Free Asia.
The reasons for this campaign that began last month seem to be two-fold: To provide warm gear for army personnel in North Korea’s frigid winters, and to keep civilians from looking like they are wearing winter military uniforms.
“Social security agents have been stopping men wearing dog fur coats on the streets and confiscating them on the spot,” a resident in South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for personal safety.
“This is the first time they’ve done something like this,” he said. “They say it is because civilians cannot wear military uniforms.”
In fact, aside from their warmth, the coats’ similarity to military uniforms is one reason why they are popular with civilians, he said.
But few North Koreans can afford them. Only the wealthy can buy the specially-made coats. High quality dog fur-lined coats can cost up to 1 million won (US$50), more than the annual salary at most government-assigned jobs, the resident said.
“They are the best winter clothing because the entire inner layer is lined with dog skin and fur,” he said. “They are expensive and can only be purchased from a specialty clothing maker.”
Supply chain collapse
North Korea’s nearly 1-million strong military has been chronically under-supplied for decades.
Ever since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which provided aid to the country, North Korea’s economy has suffered, and the military has struggled to equip its own personnel.
A North Korean soldier wears a dog fur coat along the Yalu River in 2014.(KBS News)
In principle, North Korean soldiers should receive summer uniforms once a year and winter uniforms every two years, but supplies are erratic.
Things are so dire that last year the military began requiring soldiers to return their uniforms when they are discharged, so that they could be given to other soldiers.
With the military lacking adequate clothes and soldiers shivering in the cold, it’s a bad look for wealthy civilians to be out and about in their toasty dog fur-lined coats, the resident said.
“Only one in 50 men wear these dog fur-lined coats in the city of Unsan,” he said. “I’ve seen it worn by merchants who drive from place to place selling goods, and by the husbands of wealthy women.”
With men required to work for a pittance at government-assigned jobs, most families are really supported by the women, who run small businesses. Women who become successful and wealthy, or who were already born into wealth, can afford to splurge on an expensive coat for their husbands.
Not for the average soldier
In the northwestern province of North Pyongan, the dog fur-lined coats are now a rarity, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity.
Civilians “used to show off by wearing their dog-fur coats, but the authorities started confiscating them,” he said. “These kinds of coats are not supplied to the average soldier, but to officers and soldiers stationed at guard posts close to the border with South Korea.”
He said the authorities ask the civilians how they can wear such a luxury when there are soldiers guarding the front line that shiver in tattered second-hand uniforms.
“The soldiers have to participate in winter training,” he said, which means they have to “lie on their bellies on frozen ground, so these dog fur coats are essential to them.”
He said the agents confiscating the coats tell their owners that their clothing will go military units on the front.
“Some of these men protest against this, but they hold their tongues because they don’t want to be punished for speaking out.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Son Hyemin for RFA Korean.
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – North Korea is expected to send a large number of healthcare workers to Russia for training, a South Korean government-backed think tank said, as it tries to address a lack of in-house capabilities to achieve a goal of modernizing rural health services.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged in early February to make the modernization of regional health services a “top priority,” highlighting the “wide gap” between urban and rural areas.
He also said building public health facilities and multifunctional bases for cultural life was an urgent task that would accelerate “the simultaneous and balanced development of all fields and regions,” unveiling a plan to build 20 hospitals across cities and counties each year, from 2026.
But Jeong Eun-mi, a researcher at the Korean Institute for National Unification, believes the North will have no choice but to rely on Russia as it lacks the capability to achieve those aims on its own.
“Given the fact that the Pyongyang General Hospital, which began construction in March 2020, has still not opened, and that this year’s healthcare budget has only increased by 5.6% compared to last year, it is difficult for North Korea to achieve this on its own, making external help inevitable,” said Jeong.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un takes part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Kangdong County Hospital and General Service Center in Kangdong County, North Korea, February 6, 2025, in this photo released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.(KCNA/Reuters)
North Korea has a long-standing practice of concentrating resources and prioritizing development in Pyongyang, as it serves as the showcase city for the regime. Major infrastructure projects, healthcare facilities, and economic investments are typically funneled into the capital to maintain its image of stability and progress.
Given this centralized allocation of resources, if even the capital struggles to complete a flagship project like the Pyongyang General Hospital, it is virtually impossible for rural areas to receive similar investments.
“Kim Jong Un, in his speech, strongly urged medical professionals to improve not only their medical skills and qualifications in line with the advancements of modern medicine but also their foreign language proficiency,” said Jeong.
“It is expected that a significant number of North Korean medical personnel will be dispatched to Russia in the near future,” she added, citing a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty Russia and North Korea signed in June last year.
The neighbors signed the treaty during a visit to Pyongyang by President Vladimir Putin. The treaty covers various areas of cooperation, including healthcare, medical education and science.
As part of the agreement, Russia pledged to assist North Korea in constructing a new hospital, aiming to enhance its healthcare infrastructure.
“Most North Korean healthcare workers lack experience in operating modern medical facilities and have limited academic qualifications and medical skills,” Jeong explained.
A Russian soldier who was treated recently at a medical facility in North Korea told media that he did not receive the sort of medical treatment he was expecting.
“It wasn’t what I expected, but I thought I should try it out,” the soldier, who identified himself as Aleksei, told the Guardian newspaper, without elaborating.
Aleksei was one of the hundreds of Russian soldiers covertly sent to North Korea for medical rehabilitation and rest.
Russia’s ambassador to North Korea said in early February that “hundreds of Russian soldiers” who fought in Ukraine were “undergoing rehabilitation in North Korean sanatorium and medical facilities.”
About 4,000 of the up to 12,000 North Korean troops dispatched to Russia’s Kursk region late last year to help it in its war against Ukraine have been killed or wounded, according to Ukraine. Neither North Korea nor Russia has acknowledged their presence.
Aleksei added he shared a facility in Wonsan, where one of North Korea’s main tourist beach resorts is located, with about two dozen other Russian soldiers.
He spent days playing table tennis and cards with fellow servicemen, while enjoying access to a pool and a sauna.
Aleksei and the other soldiers were forbidden from going outside in the evenings or making contact with residents of the area, and alcohol was also hard to come by, he told the British newspaper.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea is building a second large naval combatant at Chongjin Shipyard, which is possibly its largest warship, new satellite imagery shows, with experts saying it suggests North Korea is strengthening its conventional naval capabilities in collaboration with Russia.
The Chongjin Shipyard, North Korea’s largest shipyard, has historically produced large cargo ships, ferries, and naval patrol boats, including semi-submersible vessels for infiltration into South Korea. However, no major shipbuilding activity has been observed in its outdoor yards in more than a decade.
Assembly of block sections began in May 2024, with the vessel’s lower hull measuring approximately 117 meters (384 feet) in length and 16 meters (52 feet) in beam, said analysts at South Korea’s SI Analytics nK Insight, who also suggested that additional blocks could extend the vessel further.
One of the most notable observations was the implementation of an unusual security measure – a rigid, grid-like metal camouflage covering the ship under construction, the group said.
Initially spotted near the vessel in December, the covering was nearing completion. Unlike traditional canvas tarps, the metallic structure appeared designed to obscure construction activities and potentially disrupt radar sensor detection.
“This kind of metal camouflage suggests an intentional effort to shield the vessel’s construction from surveillance,” an analyst at nK Insight said. “It aligns with North Korea’s broader strategy of enhancing secrecy around military advancements.”
Satellite images also revealed that despite heavy snowfall in early February, the shipyard’s outdoor construction area remained conspicuously clear, indicating the high priority placed on the project.
The construction of this vessel follows North Korea’s recent strengthening of military cooperation with Russia, and the analyst said that continued collaboration with Russia was essential for integrating command and control systems on warships, a process that may require significant time.
“The construction of a second large warship suggests an unprecedented expansion of North Korea’s naval capabilities,” the analyst added. “If these vessels are indeed combatants, they will pose a considerable challenge to the military balance on the Korean Peninsula and the combined naval forces of South Korea and the United States.”
While the possibility remains that this vessel could be a large civilian ship, such as a cargo carrier, the combination of security measures, its dimensions, and the pace of construction strongly suggest it is a military combatant, according to nK Insight.
Additionally, the installation of an anti-pollution fence in the surrounding waters further indicates an active and prioritized construction process.
North Korea’s biggest vessel to date is a 1,500-ton frigate fitted with a ship-to-ship missile.
First large warship built in Nampo
In December, the South Korean military reported that North Korea had begun building a 4,000-ton frigate equipped with a vertical launching system. At the time, it was believed to be the largest warship ever built by North Korea.
“North Korea is building a 4,000-ton frigate at Nampo,” the South Korean military said, referring to the North’s western port city. “From the size of the vessel, it is assessed to be capable of carrying a [ship-to-ground] missile.”
The South’s military, however, noted that it may take several years for Pyongyang to complete the construction of the vessel and more than 10 years for the ship to be deployed for operations.
Yu Yong-weon, a South Korean military journalist-turned-lawmaker, said the frigate was yet to be equipped with a combat system, but it raised concerns that it may emerge as a new threat due to its ship-to-surface missile launching capabilities.
South Korean’s confirmation came a day after the North’s state media released photos of leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the shipyard where the new warship was under construction while reporting on a year-end party plenary meeting.
During the visit to the shipyard, Kim was quoted as saying that strengthening the naval force is the “most important matter in firmly defending the maritime sovereignty of the country and stepping up the war preparedness at present.”
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
Read the two Korean-language stories that were combined for this report.
The “Shining Star” wasn’t quite as lustrous this year in North Korea, as celebrations for the birthday of supreme leader Kim Jong Un’s late father and predecessor came and went without much fanfare, residents told Radio Free Asia.
In years past, the “Day of the Shining Star ”– Feb. 16, the birthday of Kim Jong Il — was called the “nation’s greatest holiday,” celebrated with crowded public events like gymnastics exhibitions, military parades and fireworks displays.
Plus families received extra food rations and supplies as “gifts” to commemorate the late Dear Leader’s life.
But this year there were no gifts, and the streets were empty, residents said. Experts, meanwhile, said the lack of celebratory atmosphere was an indication that Kim Jong Un is trying to downplay the significance of his father to boost his own reputation.
The empty streets were a shocking sight, a resident from the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
“This year on February 16th, Kim Jong Il’s birthday, the streets were so quiet that I could hardly see the shadow of a person,” she said.
Regarding the absence of “gifts” from the government, she said that normally there’s a special supply order coming from the Central Committee of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, but no such order was made this year.
‘Depressing social climate’
People were still expected to visit and offer condolences to statues of Kim Jong Il and his father and predecessor, national founder Kim Il Sung, a government official from the same province told RFA.
“After residents visited the statues, they went home, and the streets became empty,” he said. “The reason Kim Jong Il’s birthday, the nation’s biggest holiday, became so empty was not only due to the absence of holiday supplies, but also due to the depressing social climate.”
He said the people were anxious due to increased censorship and government crackdowns.
“About 20 residents here in Ryanggang province were arrested by the Ministry of State Security for possessing illegal cell phones,” he said, adding that hundreds more were fined 300,000 won (US$13) — an enormous sum for North Koreans — for using electricity illegally.
Due to power shortages, almost everywhere in North Korea is subject to rolling blackouts, but people can sometimes tap into power lines meant for factories or other state-owned facilities that receive power around the clock.
“The people are worried that they may be arrested under some kind of pretext,” the official said.
Celestial holidays for deceased leaders
The Day of the Shining Star, along with Kim Il Sung’s birth anniversary on April 15, known as the Day of the Sun, are, according to the government, the two most important holidays in North Korea.
They take precedence even over the Lunar New Year holiday, known in Korean as Sollal, and the autumn harvest holiday, known as Chusok.
The latter two holidays had been the most important throughout the Korean peninsula for centuries, but the celestial holidays for the former leaders have been pushed to reinforce the cult of personality surrounding the three-generation Kim Dynasty that has ruled the country for nearly eight decades.
The lack of celebration for the Day of the Shining Star is jarring, considering that at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities still made the people attend public events to celebrate.
It’s quite a departure from the early days of Kim Jong Un’s reign.
He took over when Kim Jong Il died in 2011, and authorities at that time sought to solidify his legitimacy by emphasizing ties to the previous leaders, said Oh Kyung-seop, a research fellow at the Seoul-based Institute for Unification Studies.
“But after (his) power base was established, they have been moving in the direction of putting (him) at the forefront,” Oh told RFA Korean.
He also said that the de-emphasis on the previous generations of the Kim Dynasty these days can be interpreted as an expression of confidence that the current leader’s power base is solid.
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, meanwhile, noted on New Year’s Day that Kim skipped the customary visit to the mausoleum where his father and grandfather are buried. He had been visiting the mausoleum five times per year, including on the celestial holidays, but this pattern began to change in 2022.
Travel applications denied
The government also denied holiday travel applications, even for important family events, a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
The restricted travel areas include areas near the border with China and Russia, the border with South Korea, the capital Pyongyang, and areas near munitions factories.
It was not immediately clear why these areas were restricted, but the resident said that the border areas might have been off limits for travel to prevent people from escaping so close to such an important holiday.
“The residents living near the border areas are allowed to travel to other areas of the country, so I don’t understand why they are trusted, but people who live in other areas aren’t trusted to travel near the border areas,” he said. “It seems like they want to prevent serious incident, like crossing the river (to escape to China) during the month of Kim Jong Il’s birthday.
Residents told RFA that they knew of specific cases where travel to important family events was denied.
“In early February, my younger brother tried to go to the funeral for his wife’s uncle who lived in the border area, but he was unable to go,” the North Hamgyong resident said. “Even though all processes and documents were completed, he did not receive the travel certificate.”
He said the procedure is far more difficult now. In the past it was only necessary to present the certificate of death, but now authorities are more thorough.
According to the North Hamgyong resident, in this case, the officer in charge of the application called the police station in the area of the deceased’s residence to confirm his death, and only upon receiving approval did he sign the application.
Although the application was signed and approved by this officer, the travel application was ultimately denied by the Ministry of Social Security in Pyongyang. RFA was unable to determine exactly why.
A resident of nearby South Hamgyong told RFA that he was unable to visit his aunt on her 70th birthday. She lives in Taehongdan, Ryanggang Province, which borders China
“I went through all the procedures, I prepared and submitted all of the documents, but I gave up on travelling after hearing that entry to the border area would not be approved on the occasion of Kim Jong Il’s birthday,” he said.
The South Hamgyong resident said that his family rarely sees his aunt, his mother’s only sibling, and it’s usually when she is able to come to South Hamgyong, not the other way around.
But now she is in poor health due to her advanced age, he said.
“We thought that this might be the last time we could see her,” he said. “I tried to go this time to celebrate her birthday, but I could not. We said hello over the phone.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Ahn Chang Gyu and Moon Sung Whui for RFA Korean.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea said Tuesday it will stick to its policy of bolstering its nuclear forces, days after the United States, Japan and South Korea reaffirmed their goal of the complete denuclearization of the North.
The top diplomats of the U.S. and its two Asian allies on Saturday also decried “systematic, widespread and gross” violations of human rights in the reclusive state.
The North’s foreign ministry dismissed denuclearization as an “unrealistic and failed concept,” condemning U.S. policies as “shortsighted,” as reported by its state-run Korea Central News Agency on Tuesday.
North Korea will “consistently adhere to the new line of bolstering up the nuclear force” and “thoroughly deter the U.S. and its vassal forces from threats and blackmail” by making use of all political and military tools at its disposal, the ministry added.
It also warned that any provocation would be met with decisive countermeasures, framing its nuclear program as essential for peace, sovereignty and self-defense.
US ‘openness for dialogue’
South Korea’s foreign ministry said last week’s trilateral talks between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul sent a “strong” warning against North Korean provocations and stressed their commitment to reinforcing the global sanctions regime against it.
The ministry added the U.S. reaffirmed its “ironclad” security commitments to South Korea and Japan, “backed by America’s unmatched military strength, including its nuclear capabilities.”
But the U.S. Department of State said in a statement following a separate meeting between Rubio and Cho that the U.S. remained “open” to a dialogue with the North – an element omitted from the South Korean statement.
“Secretary Rubio reaffirmed America’s commitment to the complete denuclearization of the DPRK while expressing the Trump administration’s openness to dialogue,” the department said, without elaborating.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is the official name of North Korea.
The South has not commented on the U.S. statement.
The inconsistency raised concern in Japan where its leader said there should be no divergence among the three allies on North Korea.
“Maintaining the regime is North Korea’s core national interest, and we must seriously consider how to separate this from the issue of its nuclear possession,” said Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday during a parliamentary session in response to a question about the U.S. stance on North Korea and its implication for cooperation between the U.S., Japan and South Korea.
“We must ensure continued cooperation and communication among Japan, the U.S., and South Korea on achieving complete denuclearization while addressing North Korea’s demands for security guarantees,” Ishiba noted.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
