Hopefully the Russians got a cheap price for these North Korean artillery rounds which are apparently not very reliable:
While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort, weapons produced in his country have apparently been turned against Russian forces.
The Financial Times reported Friday that Ukraine has been launching unpredictable, North Korean-made rockets at Russian troops. Ukrainian soldiers manning multiple-launch rocket systems near Bakhmut showed the weapons to the outlet.
A Ukrainian artillery commander told FT his troops don’t like using the weapons, which were made in the 1980s and ’90s, because they can often misfire or fail to explode. One soldier said, “They are very unreliable and do crazy things sometimes.”
Yahoo News
You can read more at the link.
Dictatorship 101 says to put large portraits of yourself everywhere and for Putin he even has the North Koreans putting up his picture now. This is a bit surprising because it makes North Korea look like a vassal state:
Kim Jong Un decorated his walls with huge portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a tour of a state office building, state media images show.
The portraits were visible as the North Korean leader gave a personal tour to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Shoigu was attending a banquet at the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party headquarters in Pyongyang, per the Daily Mail. It comes as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, which took place from 1950 to 1953.
In the bizarre images, Kim and Shoigu can be seen walking down a corridor while huge portraits of Putin and Kim loom over them from either side.
Business Insider
You can read more at the link.
Look who turned up in Pyongyang, the guy who just few weeks ago fled Moscow in fear of an overweight caterer turned mercenary boss:
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) shakes hands with North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam after arriving in Pyongyang on July 25, 2023, in this photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu held talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kang Sun-nam, in Pyongyang on Wednesday and expressed his determination to boost bilateral ties, Russian media reported.
Shoigu arrived in the North Korean capital Tuesday for a three-day visit to attend commemorative events to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1950-53 Korean War armistice.
“I am confident that today’s talks will help strengthen cooperation between our defense ministries,” TASS quoted Shoigu as saying.
The North is set to hold commemorative events for the landmark anniversary of the signing of the armistice on July 27, 1953, which is celebrated in the country as Victory Day.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Considering how corrupt the IOC is I doubt Kim Yuna will be upgraded to a gold medal:
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said Tuesday it will ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reinvestigate the results of the women’s figure skating final at the 2014 Sochi Olympics after gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova recently admitted failing an initial doping test that year.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Korean figure skater Kim Yuna took silver in the event after finishing second. If a review of Sotnikova’s 2014 tests were to go ahead and she was to test positive, the IOC could opt to eliminate her and elevate Kim to the gold medal spot.
The decision to appeal comes after Sotnikova told a Russian YouTube channel that she failed a drug test in 2014, but was cleared after providing a second sample. Clearing an athlete based solely on a second sample is considered highly irregular.
You can read more at the link, but the judges from the competition were suspected of being corrupt as well. If you haven’t already I recommend watching on Netflix the show Icarus that goes into detail how the Russians cheated during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
