Category: North Korea

It would be foolish of the North Koreans to not test the effectiveness of their weapon systems in Ukraine so this should not be a surprise to anyone:

North Korea is using its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to test weapons it could deploy against the South in a future conflict, Ukraine’s ambassador to Seoul said in a news report Sunday. Ukraine and South Korea share a common adversary, Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko said in written remarks published by Yonhap News. South Korea “should not forget that Pyongyang also uses Ukrainian soil as a testing ground for its weaponry, which could be used in future possible standoff,” Ponomarenko said. Seoul “has no reason to hesitate in the development of full-scale military-technical cooperation” with Kyiv, he said. “It’s a matter of interest for both Kyiv and Seoul,” he added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Trump is signaling at some point there will be a reach out to the Kim regime. However, with the administration tied down trying to negotiate a peace between Ukraine and Russia, the North Korea issue will likely remain on the back burner:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed his desire to reestablish the relationship that he had with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his first term, boasting that he “got along great” with the reclusive leader and still has a “great” relationship with him.

During a press availability, Trump made the remarks, describing the North Korean leader as a “nuclear power” with “a lot of nuclear weapons,” as his administration is pursuing the goal of the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea.

“Well, I would,” Trump said, responding to a reporter’s question of whether he has a plan to reestablish the relationship he had under his first presidential mandate.

“I had a great relationship with Kim Jong-un (of) North Korea. If I wasn’t elected, if Hillary got in, you would have had a nuclear war with North Korea,” he added, as he sat next to North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House for talks.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I think Trump is exagerating that there would have been a nuclear war if Hillary was elected. She more than likely would have continued the Obama era policy of strategic patience which was basically doing nothing with North Korea.

I give Trump credit for doing something different in regards to North Korea during his first term though it didn’t work. His outreach did reduce tensions for two years, but still did not slow down North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and advanced missile systems to deliver them.

My assessment is that this disclosure of a nuclear powered submarine is more for PR purposes than any actual near term military benefits. This technology is very difficult to master and they are likely many years from having a working prototype. However, like with their nuclear program if nothing is done to reign their program in over a 10-15 year period, they will likely eventually have a working nuclear powered submarine:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, third from right, smiles during his visit to a shipyard to inspect nuclear submarine construction in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, Saturday. Yonhap

North Korea has publicly unveiled the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, a weapons system that could pose a serious security threat to South Korea and allies if successfully developed, due to its ability to operate submerged for months.

On Saturday, Pyongyang’s state-run media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), released photos of leader Kim Jong-un inspecting shipyards focused on constructing warships, including “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine.”

“Kim stressed the need to make overwhelmingly powerful warships to contain hostile forces’ habitual gunboat diplomacy,” the KCNA reported without disclosing the exact location of the shipyards.

It was the first time that North Korea disclosed the ship’s appearance.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This was very predictable that North Korea would fire missiles in response to the start of the US-ROK combined exercise:

 North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Monday, South Korea’s military said, as Seoul and Washington launched their annual military drills, marking the North’s first known ballistic missile test since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from an area near the western county of Hwangju in North Hwanghae Province at around 1:50 p.m., noting that it may have involved close-range ballistic missiles (CRBMs).

CRBMs refer to ballistic missiles that have a relatively short range of less than 300 kilometers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Whatever family this North Korean Soldier has are definitely in labor camps now with him providing intelligence information to the ROK:

A North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine said that the North has military training camps that feature mockups of facilities and buildings in Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island, according to a South Korean lawmaker who recently met the soldier on Thursday. 

Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the ruling People Power Party made the remarks in an interview with SBS radio, as he released an audio clip of the North Korean soldier, identified only by his surname Ri. Ri is one of two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces in January during combat against Kyiv in Russia’s Kursk region.

“When you go to the place where we train, called the Armed Forces Training Ground, it is filled with buildings modeled after the terrain of Seoul’s Jongno District, as well as Busan, Daegu, Jeonju, and Jeju Island,” Ri said in the audio recording. 

The training site, apparently aimed at simulating raids on South Korea, is located in Koksan County in North Hwanghae Province in North Korea, Ri said. 

Although it has been known that North Korea has built training sites resembling the former presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae for military exercises in the past, Yu said, “The existence of such a facility specifically in Koksan was largely unknown.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this really shouldn’t be surprising that North Korea would have these mock ups. I think the only thing surprising is a mock up of Jeju island. That would be logistically very challenging for the North Koreans to pull off any kind of operation there, but obviously they are training for it.

With North Korea re-opened to Western tourists, applications are now being accepted for the Pyongyang Marathon on 6 April 2025, as per @KoryoTours.

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) March 3, 2025

Since when has North Korea ever cared about UN resolutions?:

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said Monday there are signs of North Korea continuing to operate uranium enrichment plants in two different locations, as he stressed further development of its nuclear program is a “clear” breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi made the remarks in reference to the plants in Kangson near Pyongyang, and Yongbyon, north of the capital, as he delivered an introductory statement during the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria.

The assessment came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was reported in January to have toured a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute — a sign that Pyongyang is doubling down on its nuclear program though Seoul and Washington are pursuing the “complete” denuclearization of North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korea is continuing to double down on their support to Russia’s war against Ukraine:

North Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, although the number of recently deployed troops is being assessed, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday.

“Following about a monthlong lull, North Korean troops were placed back in the frontline region of Kursk starting in the first week of February,” the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a note to the press. 

“It appears that there has been a deployment of additional troops, but their size is still being examined,” the NIS said.

The assessment follows a news report that between 1,000 and 3,000 North Korean troops were newly transported to Kursk via Russian cargo ships and military airplanes between January and February in the second round of such troop deployment.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Honestly I don’t have too much sympathy for people who lose money in bitcoin. The risks of fraud and theft are so well known no one should be surprised if they find themselves getting ripped off by a bitcoin scheme:

A company which fell victim to what’s thought to be the world’s biggest ever theft is seeking to recover some of its losses by crowdsourcing online bounty hunters.

Last week, hackers believed to be from North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group stole $1.46bn (£1.1bn) of cryptocurrency from ByBit, a crypto trading platform.

The criminals are trying to rapidly cash out the hoard through a complex online money laundering process.

ByBit is now offering cash rewards to anyone who spots and prevents them from cashing out.

“Join us on war against Lazarus” the company’s CEO Ben Zhou posted online with a link to a new website offering a bounty to anyone who can help.

Cryptocurrencies are stored in public wallets anyone can look up so it’s possible to follow the money as the criminals split it into smaller chunks and send it through various channels to obscure its origins.

The new website has a live leader board showing companies and individuals who have successfully located some of the coins.

The bounty scheme gives 5% of the sum identified to individuals who successfully persuade a company that has control of the funds to freeze the money. 

It’s also awarding 5% to the companies that take action.

BBC

You can read more at the link.