TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea continues to maintain a covert biological weapons program in violation of international treaties, according to a newly released U.S. government report. Biological weapons use pathogens such as bacteria or viruses to sicken or kill. Their invisible nature and devastating potential make them one of the most insidious forms of weaponry. “The United States assesses that the DPRK has a dedicated, national-level offensive [biological weapons] program,” the State Department said in its 2025 report on global compliance with arms control and disarmament agreements. The Democratic People’s…
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North Korean troops may enter Ukraine soon, Kyiv warns
TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korean forces deployed in Russia’s Kursk region may soon be sent into annexed regions of Ukraine that remain fiercely contested by Russian and Ukrainian forces, a senior Ukrainian official said. As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia, according to Ukraine and the United States, to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of Russia’s Kursk region in an August counter offensive. Neither North Korea nor Russia have acknowledged their presence. “Russia plans to use the DPRK soldiers for war on the territory of Ukraine,”…
Choe Ryong Hae’s power network threatens Kim Jong Un’s grip in North Korea: report
TAIPEI, Taiwan – A growing unofficial power network led by North Korea’s parliamentary chief Choe Ryong Hae is reshaping the country’s political hierarchy, potentially becoming a destabilizing force within leader Kim Jong Un’s regime, according to a new South Korean analysis. Choe, one of North Korea’s most influential officials, is a close ally of the Kim family. He gained major influence after becoming director of the Organisation and Guidance Department, or OGD, in 2017, effectively acting as the regime’s second-in-command with a wide-reaching informal power network. Since then, Choe’s inner…
North Korean hospitals are posting price lists
Some North Korean hospitals are posting prices for treatment and medicine in a break from past practice that suggests authorities are abandoning the goal of providing free health care, sources in the country have told Radio Free Asia. The communist country’s Public Health Act stipulates that the state provides complete and comprehensive free care. While the reality has long been different, with patients paying for medicines and other expenses out of pocket, now prices are being openly displayed, according to two sources in two different provinces. “Recently, hospitals in the…
Japan to extend trade sanctions against North Korea for 2 years
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Japan said it will extend its ban on trade with North Korea for two more years as part of sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program and the unresolved abductions of Japanese nationals. Under the current sanctions, Japan bans port entry by North Korea-registered vessels and ships that have made port in the country, as well as trade. The sanctions were due to expire on Sunday. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, cited Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile development programs and the unresolved issue of its decades-old abduction…
North Korea sends officials to Iran amid suspected military cooperation
A North Korean delegation led by the cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, the North’s state-run media reported on Wednesday, amid suspicion Tehran used North Korean weapons technology for its attack on Israel. The minister for external economic relations, Yun Jong Ho, left Pyongyang on Tuesday by air leading a ministry delegation to Iran, the Korean Central News Agency said, without providing further details. Yun, who previously worked on ties with Syria, has been active in North Korea’s increasing exchanges with Russia, this month leading a delegation on…
Students, residents pressed into North Korean construction projects
North Korean authorities are addressing a labor shortage by conscripting ordinary residents and students as young as 12 to work on state-mandated construction projects, sources inside North Korea told Radio Free Asia. In the northern province of Ryanggang, officials In Kimhyongjik county have required students to work on factory construction sites as part of leader Kim Jong Un’s plan to accelerate industrial development under the so-called “20×10 Local Development Policy” that was announced in December. The policy calls for 20 North Korean counties to construct modern factories every year over…
Smuggling of used cars into North Korea rises amid post-COVID demand
A recent surge in demand for used cars in North Korea has triggered an increase in car smuggling from China, with dozens of vehicles crossing a shallow section of the Yalu River every day, several sources told Radio Free Asia. The used vehicles include a variety of cars that are often dismantled once they reach North Korea so that their parts can be used for the repair and maintenance of other vehicles, the sources said. Trucks are also among the recent imports, raising the possibility that they’re needed on development…
North Korea files short-range ballistic missiles toward east coast: South
North Korea fired several rounds of short-range ballistic missiles toward its east coast on Monday, according to South Korea’s military, three days after Pyongyang launched a strategic cruise missile to test a large warhead. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected what appeared to be several short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang region at 3:01 p.m “The North Korean missiles flew about 300 kilometers [186 miles] and splashed into the sea,” the JCS said in a text message to reporters, without providing further details. Denouncing the…
UN OKs shipment of vaccine storage equipment to North Korea
The U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea approved a request from UNICEF for a sanctions exemption so that vaccine storage equipment could be transported into North Korea, U.N. documents showed. UNICEF sent a letter to the committee on March 11 saying the cold chain equipment, which includes refrigeration units used to store vaccines, was critical to the successful distribution of vaccines to women and children in North Korea. The U.N. has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in an effort to defund the country’s nuclear program.…