#north-korea

#north-korea

In 1986, when Norwegian delegate Ellen Wille stood on stage at Fifa's annual congress in Mexico and demanded the creation of a World Cup for women, it sparked support from one of the room's unlikeliest allies. Delegates from North Korea, so the story goes, were inspired by Wille's speech and returned to Pyongyang with a plan: to use women's football as a tool to reassert their collapsing power on the world stage.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has unveiled dozens of nuclear-capable rocket launchers ahead of a key congress of the governing Workers' Party, according to state media. Kim hailed the 600mm-calibre rocket launchers as wonderful and attractive during the ceremony on Wednesday, adding that new military and construction goals will be set during the upcoming congress. list of 4 itemsend of list Fifty such launchers were presented by North Korean munitions workers, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday.

It's been over a year since Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk, but the fate of the two men still hangs in the balance as activists accuse the South Korean government of dragging its feet. The two have asked to relocate to South Korea. In the North, they could face punishment for letting themselves be taken alive. "I won't survive [going back]. Everyone else blew themselves up. I failed," one of the soldiers told South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo.

SEOUL, South Korea North Korea said Monday it completed a new housing district in Pyongyang for families of North Korean soldiers killed while fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, the latest effort by leader Kim Jong Un to honor the war dead. State media photos showed Kim Jong Un walking through the new street called Saeppyol Street and visiting the homes of some of the families with his increasingly prominent daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, as he pledged to repay the "young martyrs" who "sacrificed all to their motherland."

Kim said he had pushed to finish the project even one day earlier in the hope it might bring some small comfort to the troops' families. In recent months, North Korea has intensified propaganda glorifying troops deployed to fight in Russia's war against Ukraine, including the unveiling of a new memorial complex in Pyongyang adorned with sculptures of troops. Analysts see it as an effort to bolster internal unity and curb potential public discontent.

Little is known about Kim's daughter, Ju Ae, who made her first public appearance in 2022 but appears set to be her father's successor. South Korea's spy agency believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing to designate his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, as his successor, increasing the agency's earlier assessment of the teenager being the most likely successor.

North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia are still causing problems for Ukrainian forces more than a year after they were first deployed in support of Moscow's war. The North Korean soldiers who were deployed to Russia's Kursk region to thwart a Ukrainian incursion were initially tasked with brutal infantry assaults that resulted in high casualties. Their role has since shifted to drone reconnaissance and artillery operations.

Hundreds of US military service members, civilians and their families have filed a lawsuit for unspecified damages against British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the world's largest tobacco companies, and a subsidiary, claiming the company spent years illicitly helping North Korea fund terrorism weapons that were used against Americans. BAT formed a joint venture in 2001 with a North Korean company to manufacture cigarettes in the country.

The North Korean military tracked the drone "moving northwards" over South Korea's Ganghwa county, one of the closest territories to the North, Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited a spokesman for the Korean People's Army as saying. The drone was shot down inside the North Korean airspace near the city of Kaesong after flying for 8 kilometers, the spokesperson added.

North Korea said it conducted a long-range strategic cruise missile launch drill over the West Sea on Sunday as it continues to showcase its weapons capabilities amid regional tensions. Leader Kim Jong Un observed the drill, which was carried out to test the counterattack readiness and combat capabilities of long-range missile units, train missile operators in maneuvering and fire-mission procedures,

The 2025 Refocus International Photographer of the Year Awards reaffirmed the platform's status as a leading showcase for contemporary photography, highlighting work that transcends borders and cultures. This year's winners delivered not just images but deeply human stories, ranging from raw street moments to bold conceptual pieces. Canadian photographer Luke Gram earned the top honor for his series "Humanity Within the Architecture of Control," a subtle yet powerful exploration of everyday life inside North Korea that reveals how individuality persists within rigid systems.

North Korea released new photos Thursday, claiming to show its first nuclear-powered submarine. According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Jong Un visited a shipyard to review the construction of what the North describes as an 8,700-ton-class nuclear-propelled submarine. Kim has called the vessel a crucial step in the modernization and nuclear armament of North Korea's navy. Photos released by KCNA show Kim joined by other officials and his daughter, who many observers believe will succeed her fatherImage: Yonhap/YONHAPNEWS AGENCY/picture alliance

Even Amazon isn't immune to North Korean scammers who try to score remote jobs at tech companies so they can funnel their wages to Kim Jong Un's coffers. The cloud giant has stopped more than 1,800 suspected scammers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, aka North Korea) from joining its workforce since April 2024, Amazon Chief Security Officer Steve Schmidt said Thursday.

Wrapping up the three-day meeting, Kim reserved praise for the North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine alongside Russia, of whom at least 600 have been killed and thousands more injured in the war, according to South Korean estimates. Over the past year, various soldiers of our military have participated in overseas military operations to demonstrate the reputation of our military, KCNA said, quoting Kim. The military deployment in support of Russia demonstrated to the world the prestige of our army and state as the ever-victorious army and genuine protector of international justice, Kim added.

During a U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 3 December, new evidence was presented suggesting that Ukrainian children abducted by Russia have been transferred to North Korea, where they are reportedly held in military-style camps. The information, brought forward by Ukrainian journalist and media adviser Ostap Yarysh, marks one of the starkest escalations yet in Russia's forced displacement campaign, a campaign already recognised internationally as a war crime and the subject of International Criminal Court indictments against Vladimir Putin and Russia's Commissioner for Children, Maria Lvova-Belova.