Free Republic

North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts. The country’s ballistic missile testing, military parades, and policy statements suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defenses.North Korea has tested a nuclear explosive device six times since 2006. Each test produced underground blasts progressively higher in magnitude and estimated yield. North Korea conducted its most recent test on September 3, 2017. A North Korean press release stated it had tested a hydrogen bomb (or two-stage thermonuclear warhead) that...

President Donald Trump has an action-packed trip to Asia slated to begin Sunday, starting in Japan before heading to South Korea and China, then Vietnam and the Philippines. Ahead of this international tour, two U.S. strategic B-1B bombers conducted drills over South Korea. North Korea was quick to condemn that action. News of the drills was first reported by North Korean state news agency KCNA on Friday, which said the exercises involving South Korean and Japanese fighter jets were a “surprise nuclear strike drill”. “The reality clearly shows that the gangster-like U.S. imperialists are the very one who is aggravating...

It's understood that 100 people were trapped in underground tunnels, and a further collapse occurred during the rescue operation, suggesting that a total of 200 people may have been killed At least 200 people have been killed at Kim Jong-un's nuclear test site in North Korea after a tunnel collapsed. A news agency quoted a North Korean official as saying that a collapse occurred during the construction of an underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast of North Korea on October 10. According to the report, 100 people were trapped in underground tunnels, and a further...

A launch ceremony for a new North Korean naval destroyer went horribly wrong in front of 'supreme' leader Kim Jong Un, according to state media. Kim watched on in horror as the 5,000-ton ship was severely damaged after failing to launch properly. He declared the mishap a 'criminal act caused by absolute carelessness' that 'could not be tolerated'. -snip- In a statement KCNA said: 'Due to immature command and operational negligence, the parallel movement of the bogies could not be guaranteed, resulting in the launching sled in the stern detaching first and causing the ship to capsize. 'The ship's balance...

Join us as we travel to Pyongyang, North Korea and explore one of the most secretive and isolated countries on Earth 🇰🇵

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a ceremony for the launch of a “new multipurpose destroyer,” state media KCNA reported on Saturday. The 5,000-tonne warship was equipped with the “most powerful weapons” and built “within 400-odd days perfectly with our own strength and technology,” the report said, quoting Jo Chun Ryong, a secretary in the ruling Workers’ Party.

Christina Marie Chapman, a 48-year-old woman from Litchfield Park, Arizona, has pleaded guilty in federal court for her role in a scheme that funneled millions of dollars to North Korea. Over the course of three years, Chapman and her co-conspirators helped overseas IT workers pretend to be U.S. citizens so they could illegally secure remote IT jobs in the United States. The scheme involved more than 300 American companies, including some of the nation’s largest corporations. The fraudulent operation, which ran from October 2020 to October 2023, generated over $17 million in revenue. According to prosecutors, Chapman and her team...

Wars are often chaotic, but the introduction of foreign troops can add another layer of confusion. In the Kursk region of Russia, that confusion appears to have turned deadly. According to Ukraine’s defense intelligence (GUR) and Hotnews, North Korean soldiers accidentally killed eight Chechen fighters from the Akhmat battalion. The incident, GUR claims, was caused by a language barrier between the North Korean troops and their Russian allies. The Chechens, loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov, were reportedly mistaken for enemy forces. The North Koreans fired on their vehicles, leading to the deaths. This is part of a larger development. Ukraine says...

"Wen obtained firearms, ammunition, and export-controlled technology with the intention of shipping them to North Korea — a violation of federal law and United States sanctions against that nation," the agency says An illegal immigrant from China was arrested for allegedly shipping "firearms, ammunition and other military items" to North Korea from California, according to a Justice Department indictment released on Tuesday. Shenghua Wen, 41, of Ontario, California, was arrested on Tuesday after hiding the weapons "inside shipping containers bound from Long Beach," the agency said. Wen, who was a Chinese national illegally residing in the United States, was expected...

A top Russian general, along with 500 North Korean soldiers, have allegedly been killed by British Storm Shadow missiles in a devastating attack. The strike launched by Ukraine on November 20 wiped out Lt-Gen Valery Solodchuk and also resulted with 18 Putin officers reported lost, with a further 18 wounded, it has been claimed. Earlier reports suggested that a Kim Jong-un general had also been left injured in the attack as he commanded troops backing Vladimir Putin's Ukraine invasion. The strike carried out by Ukraine was the first time UK Storm Shadow missiles had been used blast targets deep inside...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Tuesday, its neighbors said, as it continued its weapons demonstrations hours before the U.S. presidential election. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said at least seven North Korean missiles flew as far as 400 kilometers (250 miles) with a maximum altitude of 100 kilometers (60 miles). He said they landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan

Transcript linked below video Li'l Kim blew up roads and railway between Nork and Sork. Sork fired back. Trump has commented.

North Korea floated hundreds of balloons across the border with South Korea on Thursday, Seoul's military said, continuing its latest campaign for the second day in a row. "Our military confirmed that North Korea had launched more than 420 garbage balloons from last night to early this morning," Lt. Col. Lee Chang-hyun, spokesman for Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a press briefing. "Since around 9 a.m. [Thursday], balloons have been launched again, so I emphasized to the public that they should be careful of falling loads, and if they see a fallen balloon, do not come into contact...

North Korea experts say her 'extremely obese' 40-year-old father may keel over at any moment – leaving daughter at the helm of this bizarre 26 million-strong nation and, perhaps, setting off a fierce succession fight with her notoriously ruthless, 'psychopath' aunt. 'If he does not improve his current health condition, there is a strong possibility that he may develop cardiovascular disease, of which there is a family history.' Jong Un's father, Kim Jong il, died in 2011 and it is believed that he suffered a massive heart attack. Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, said...

Multiple senior members of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration and the head of his People Power Party (PPP) tendered their resignations on Thursday after vote counts confirmed that the left-wing Democratic Party decisively took over the National Assembly in Wednesday’s midterm election. The Democrats overcame a chaotic campaign season in which leader Lee Jae-myung survived a would-be assassin stabbing him in the neck. The day he was released from the hospital, three members of his party defected, protesting that Lee was running an authoritarian and corrupt “regime” within the party. Lee was in court on Tuesday for a hearing addressing...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher urged students not to go to elite colleges because doing so “just makes you stupid” and that these elite schools are “a North Korean re-education camp” that are racist towards Asian applicants that don’t teach history and “if ignorance is a disease, Harvard Yard is the Wuhan wet market.”

SEOUL, South Korea — Travis King, the U.S. Army private who intentionally ran across the border into North Korea this summer, is back in U.S. custody, an American official said Wednesday, shortly after the isolated East Asian country said it would expel the soldier. “U.S. officials have secured the return of Private Travis King from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement. He went on to thank the U.S. military personnel who worked to "bring Private King home," as well as the governments of Sweden and China. King, 23, bolted across...

During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “Amanpour,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel stated that he’s not sure China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran have formed an alliance, but rather “an agreement among players that are isolated in the world.” Host Christiane Amanpour asked, [relevant exchange begins around 6:05] “China is involved, too. China has a certainly friendly relationship with Russia. Does this grouping, this alliance pose a threat to the United States and its Western allies? China, North Korea, Russia, and whoever else, Iran.”

I have traveled, stayed, and worked in Japan quite a bit, and think I understand that land and its people about as well as a gaijin can. It’s a beautiful country, with (mostly) friendly people, wonderful food, a great culture based on respect and consideration, and even some pretty good beers and whiskeys. I wouldn’t want to live there permanently; I’m too indelibly a red state – and RedState – American for that. But I’m very fond of the Land of the Rising Sun, and so keep abreast of events that affect Japan. To that end, it was interesting to...

On 23 February, Israel joined 140 other UN member states voting in favor of a nonbinding resolution that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces.“For the past year, Israel has stood alongside the people of Ukraine in solidarity both on the ground and here in the UN,” Tel Aviv’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan said following the vote. The resolution, drafted by Ukraine in consultation with its western allies, passed 141-7, with 32 abstentions. Belarus, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea, and Mali were the only member states to vote against the resolution.Israel’s condemnation of Russia’s...