SEOUL, June 21 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea appears to be using its ongoing battle against COVID-19 to tighten Kim Jong-un’s grip on power based on the ruling Workers’ Party, experts said Tuesday during a forum. “I think North Korea seems to be using the COVID outbreak to strengthen party control across the board,” Rachel [...]
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea spent over US$640 million in 2021 to further its nuclear ambition, a global nonproliferation organization said Tuesday. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) also said the North is estimated to have 20 assembled nuclear weapons in its annual report, titled, “Squandered: 2021 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending.” [...]
SEOUL, June 12 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday expressed full support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the country’s state media reported, despite international condemnation for his invasion of Ukraine. The Russian people have “achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Just a month since disclosing a coronavirus outbreak, North Korea claims new infections are markedly slowing down, but the outside world raises a question about the credibility of a puzzling number of “fever” cases announced on a daily basis. Others question how the country’s antivirus fight will affect the [...]
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) toward the East Sea on Sunday, a day after South Korea and the United States wrapped up their joint drills near the peninsula involving a U.S. aircraft carrier, according to the South’s military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the [...]
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea reported 73,780 more suspected COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the total number of fever cases to over 4 million. More than 73,780 people showed symptoms of a fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data [...]
SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea is in urgent need of food imports or assistance as many of its people continue to suffer from food shortages and malnutrition, with the gap estimated at 860,000 tons, data from the U.S. intelligence community showed Tuesday. The country’s food gap is equivalent to around two to [...]
SEOUL, May 24 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea’s state-controlled media carried reports Tuesday questioning the usefulness of COVID-19 vaccines, as the secretive nation has claimed progress in efforts to control the virus outbreak. The North’s latest stance may suggest a dimmer prospect of accepting the international community’s existing offers of vaccine aid, including Washington’s stated [...]
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) — More than seven out of 10 South Koreans are in favor of giving medical assistance to North Korea struggling with a massive COVID-19 outbreak, a poll showed Friday. In a nationwide poll of 1,000 people aged 18 or above conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday to Thursday, 72 percent [...]
SEOUL, May 15 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea on Sunday reported 15 additional deaths from an ongoing “epidemic” and 296,180 more people with fever symptoms nationwide, three days after it announced a COVID-19 outbreak. The new cases, which occurred between Friday evening and 6 p.m. Saturday, raised the total number of deaths to 42 and [...]