North Korea

The Associated Press reports: North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak after holding for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world. The outbreak forced leader Kim Jong Un to wear a mask in …

The BBC reports: North Korea says it has successfully tested a new weapon, which it says will significantly enhance its tactical nuclear capabilities. Photos show the country’s leader Kim Jong-un smiling and clapping as he watches the new missile’s launch. Experts believe this is a sign that North Korea is planning to test a compact nuclear weapon soon – in …

The Hill reports: Former Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday that the Trump administration “stood up to Kim Jong Un” and blamed the Biden administration for North Korea’s latest missile test. “The fact that for the first time in more than four years, Kim Jong Un fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that went into space and landed in the …

Axios reports: North Korea tested a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday for the first time since 2017, raising new alarms about its ability to strike the United States, according to South Korean and Japanese officials. The banned long-range missile, which Japan says flew to an altitude of 3,728 miles and covered a distance of 596 miles, threatens to destabilize …

The Intercept reports: Brinc, a rising star among the many companies jockeying to sell drones to police, has a compelling founding mythology: In the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, its young founder decided to aid law enforcement agencies through the use of nonviolent robots. A company promotional video obtained by The Intercept, however, reveals a different vision: …

Radio Free Asia reports: North Korea has sentenced to death a man who smuggled and sold copies of the Netflix series “Squid Game” after authorities caught seven high school students watching the Korean-language global hit show, sources in the country told RFA. The smuggler is said to have brought a copy of Squid Game into North Korea back from China …

The New York Times reports: North Korea launched two ballistic missiles off its east coast on Wednesday, the country’s first ballistic missile test in six months and a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from conducting such tests. Hours after the missiles were launched, South Korea announced that its president, Moon Jae-in, had just …

Reuters reports: Everyone in North Korea is heartbroken over leader Kim Jong Un’s apparent weight loss, said an unidentified resident of Pyongyang quoted on the country’s tightly controlled state media, after watching recent video footage of Kim. The rare public comment on Kim’s health come after foreign analysts noted in early June that the autocratic leader, who is believed to …

The Guardian reports: North Korea’s sports ministry said on Tuesday that it will not participate in the Tokyo Olympics this year to protect its athletes amid the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was made at a meeting of North Korea’s Olympic committee, including its sports minister Kim Il guk, on 25 March the ministry said on its website, called Joson Sports. …

The Associated Press reports: In North Korea’s first comments directed at the Biden administration, Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister [photo] on Tuesday warned the United States to “refrain from causing a stink” if it wants to “sleep in peace” for the next four years. Kim Yo Jong’s statement was issued as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary …

The BBC reports: Trump’s second summit with Kim Jong-un, in Hanoi, Vietnam, did not go to plan. As negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear programme broke down, Trump left abruptly, saying to the press: “Sometimes you just have to walk.” But before he departed, the then US president did make one astonishing offer to Kim. Matthew Pottinger, the top Asia expert …

NPR reports: North Korea is taking increasingly harsh measures to stop the coronavirus from entering the country, including executing an official in August who violated anti-virus rules, South Korean intelligence officials told lawmakers on Friday. In a closed-door briefing to a parliamentary intelligence committee on Friday, the officials told lawmakers that the executed North Korean had brought goods through customs …

Mediaite reports: Bob Woodward sat down with 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley to discuss his new book, Rage, and shared conversations he had with President Donald Trump about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, as well as reading some of the “love letters” that were exchanged between the two world leaders. Woodward told Pelley that Trump repeatedly said to him that …

CNN reports: First it was fear, now it’s rage. Following up on his 2018 best-selling book “Fear,” legendary investigative journalist Bob Woodward’s new book on President Donald Trump — titled “Rage” — will have stunning details about the President’s behavior and decision making, according to sources familiar with the book. According to multiple sources familiar with the book, Woodward conducted …

The Daily Beast reports: In the summer of 2018, the president spent an immoderate amount of time fixating on delivering a Donald Trump-signed CD featuring Elton John’s 1972 hit “Rocket Man” to Kim Jong Un. But he wasn’t only trying to please the North Korean dictator with a disc that included a track with a song title of the nickname …

The BBC reports: US President Donald Trump has said he is “glad” that Kim Jong-un has re-emerged and appears to be healthy. “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!” Mr Trump tweeted, after the North Korean leader reportedly attended the opening of a fertiliser plant. It was Mr Kim’s first public appearance in almost three …

Reuters reports: North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said on Saturday leader Kim Jong Un attended the completion of a fertilizer plant in a region north of the capital, Pyongyang, in the first report of his public activity since April 11. Reuters could not independently verify the KCNA report. There has been speculation about his health after he missed the …

The New York Daily News reports: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is in a “vegetative state” after he underwent heart surgery earlier this month, a Japanese magazine says. The weekly Shukan Gendai reported Friday that a Chinese medic sent to North Korea as part of a team to treat Kim believed a delay in a simple procedure left the …

Mediaite reports: Last night there was a CNN report saying the U.S. is monitoring intelligence that Kim Jong Un is in “grave danger” after surgery. President Donald Trump was asked at Tuesday’s coronavirus press briefing by Fox News’ Bret Baier, “What can you tell us about the status of Kim Jong Un?” “Well, these are reports that came out, and …

Reuters reports: South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ill after media outlets said he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was in “grave danger” CNN cited a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter as saying Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in grave danger after …