United Front Department renamed as bureau 10, shifts focus to psychological warfare, Unification Minister confirms

North Korea is selling fireworks that look like its intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to its state broadcaster Korean Central Television. In a news report broadcast late Sunday, the KCTV said more than 90,000 fireworks in 20 different types were being sold at a shop in Pyongyang. One of the workers at the shop said in the interview with the state broadcaster that the latest range of fireworks that they carry included ones that were modeled after Hwasong, the name of the ICBM series

North Korea threatened Monday to take powerful deterrent action against what it claims is the US nuclear threat, denouncing Washington for its recent subcritical nuclear test. The US carried out a subcritical nuclear test in Nevada last week, the third of its kind under President Joe Biden. The US said it was designed to collect "essential data" about its nuclear warheads. An unnamed spokesman at the North's foreign ministry said North Korea cannot but reconsider the measures necessary

A North Korean delegation from the country's border city of Rason has returned home after a weeklong visit to Russia's Far East, state media reported Sunday. The Korean Central News Agency said the delegation led by the chief of the Rason Municipal People's Committee arrived back home on Saturday. The delegation had left for the trip on May 12. The one-sentence dispatch did not provide further details, but the delegation is believed to have discussed resuming passenger train servi

North Korea denounced the United States on Saturday over its recent redesignation as a country not cooperating fully with US counterterrorism efforts, insisting that no area in which the two countries can cooperate exists. Kwon Jong-gun, director-general of the department of US affairs at the North's foreign ministry, issued the criticism after the United States kept the North on its list of countries not fully cooperating with its counterterrorism efforts earlier this week. "The DPRK

North Korea has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a "new autonomous navigation system," state media said Saturday, with leader Kim Jong-un vowing to boost the country's nuclear force. Kim oversaw the Friday test-launch into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on a mission to evaluate the "accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said. The launch was the latest in a st

WASHINGTON -- South Korean and US officials have stressed the need to address an "inextricable" link between North Korea's human rights and security issues, claiming Pyongyang's repressive political climate has led it to divert its scarce resources to its weapons programs without public pushback. The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, a US-based nongovernmental institute, issued a report Friday to further substantiate the claim as it sheds light on how the reclusive r

  North Korea said Saturday it has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a new "autonomous" navigation system in a bid to advance its weapons capabilities. The North's leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the weapons test on Friday, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The report did not reveal further details such as how many missiles were fired. "The accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system were verified through the test fire," the rep

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had voiced frustration over global skepticism on his will for denuclearization, stressing he had no intention to use nuclear weapons, a memoir written by former President Moon Jae-in showed Friday. The details of exchanges between Moon and Kim during their first summit held in April 2018 were shared in the book, of which the title translates into "From the Periphery to the Center." It recounts significant diplomatic events, such as Moon's summit mee

North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Friday, the South Korean military said, a day after South Korea and the United States staged combined aerial drills involving advanced stealth jets. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected what are presumed to be short-range missiles fired off the eastern coastal city of Wonsan at 3:10 p.m. toward the East Sea. "The North Korean missiles flew about 300 kilometers and landed in the East Sea," the JCS said

North Korea on Friday denounced a plan by South Korea and the United States to stage their joint annual military drills in August, warning that they could face a "catastrophic aftermath" if they carry out the exercise. The Ulchi Freedom Shield by Seoul and Washington is a "nuclear attack exercise" against Pyongyang that will involve state-of-the-art military equipment, including nuclear strategic assets, according to the Korean Central News Agency. In December 2023, South Kor

Former President Donald Trump may like to "solve" North Korea's nuclear quandary if reelected, a former US official during Trump's presidency said Thursday, noting how to address the issue is "unpredictable." Allison Hooker, former senior director for Asia at the National Security Council, made the remarks, underscoring that leader-level diplomacy with North Korea is the "right " approach given that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the "top decision

The unification ministry on Thursday unveiled an artwork inspired by three forget-me-nots at a garden show in an effort to raise public awareness of South Koreans detained in North Korea. Earlier this year, the government created an image of three blue forget-me-nots as a symbol of South Korean abductees, detainees and prisoners of the 1950-53 Korean War in hope of their safe repatriation from the repressive regime. The artwork by artist Nanan Kang, comprising a glass greenhouse filled with the

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his "beloved daughter" Ju-ae attended a ceremony marking a newly built street at the north gateway of Pyongyang, the North's state media reported Wednesday. It was the first time in about two months that Ju-ae made a public appearance since she visited a military unit on March 15. Kim and his daughter attended the ceremony on Tuesday, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency. The KCNA described the street as "clear proof of

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a new tactical missile weapons system and called for an "epochal change" in war preparations by attaining arms production plans, state media said Wednesday. Kim oversaw the "tactical missile weapons system to be newly equipped by the combined missile units of the Korean People's Army in charge of an important firing assignment" on Tuesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency. It did not provide further details on the