North

SEOUL, May 13 (UPI) — United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Wednesday called for an “all hands on deck” response to North Korea’s human rights crisis, saying efforts to address peace and security on the Korean Peninsula “need to be anchored in human rights.”

“The situation in the DPRK is a human rights crisis and it is high time the international community treats it as such,” Turk said at a press conference in Seoul, using the official acronym for North Korea.

“My office has continued to document patterns of ongoing gross human rights violations, some of which may amount to crimes against humanity,” he said.

Turk is on a three-day trip to South Korea, where he is meeting with civil society groups, North Korean escapees and senior government officials. It is the first visit by a U.N. human rights chief since 2015.

A 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry report found North Korea’s abuses to be “without parallel in the contemporary world” and recommended referring the country’s leadership to the International Criminal Court.

A follow-up assessment released last year by the U.N. human rights office said conditions in North Korea “have not improved over the past decade and, in many instances, have degraded,” citing worsening food shortages, forced labor and severe restrictions on movement and expression.

“It is clear that there needs to be accountability in all its forms, including non-judicial forms, for the grave violations that have plagued the DPRK for decades,” Turk said.

“It is equally clear that we need all hands on deck to craft fresh solutions for the way forward,” he added. “Peace and security on the Korean peninsula need to be anchored in human rights.”

Turk’s trip comes as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung pursues improved ties with Pyongyang through confidence-building measures such as restricting activist groups from sending anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

Lee’s administration has also taken a cautious approach to North Korean rights concerns, including dissolving a Unification Ministry office focused on the issue and suspending publication of an annual rights report. Advocacy groups have criticized the moves as a “troubling shift away from support for the victims of North Korean government repression.”

Turk pushed back against the notion that dialogue with Pyongyang requires softening criticism of its rights record.

“There is no paradox in engaging while addressing human rights issues,” he said. “Engagement cannot come at the expense of human rights. That was obviously a very important part of my dialogue with the authorities here.”

In March, South Korea joined 49 other countries in co-sponsoring a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution condemning North Korea’s abuses, despite speculation Seoul might withhold support.

Turk also addressed the case of two North Korean prisoners of war captured by Ukrainian forces in January 2025 after being deployed to support Russia’s war effort.

The soldiers have expressed a desire to go to South Korea rather than return to the North, where rights groups say they could face severe punishment.

Turk said international human rights law was “very clear” on the issue.

“The obligation not to send them back to areas where they could end up being harmed” applies in their case, he said.

Turk said his office continues to seek opportunities for dialogue with North Korean officials and called next week’s visit by a North Korean women’s soccer team to South Korea “encouraging.”

“Urgent steps are needed to find ways to exchange letters, resume family contacts and reunions, and release information clarifying the whereabouts and fate of disappeared and abducted people,” he said.

On Thursday, Turk is scheduled to travel to Gwangju to deliver a keynote address at the World Human Rights Cities Forum.

A rider has died after an accident in Superbike qualifying for the North West 200 international road race on Thursday.

The incident happened at Station Corner and a red flag brought the session to a close.

The rider has not been named due to the wishes of his family.

“The session was immediately red flagged and emergency services attended the scene but unfortunately the rider succumbed to his injuries,” said North West 200 organisers in a statement.

“The family have given their approval for the event to continue but have requested that the rider not be named at this time.

“Coleraine and District Motor Club, the organisers of the races, offer our sincere condolences to the family and team.”

Superbike qualifying was the first session of the day and the remaining sessions in the afternoon did not take place.

The qualifying sessions have been moved to Thursday night to replace the planned opening three races, and it has not yet been confirmed by race organisers if Saturday’s schedule will contain any additional races on top of the planned six.

The fatality is the first at the North West 200 since Malachi Mitchell-Thomas was killed in a Supertwins race in 2016, and the 20th rider to lose their life in the 97-year history of the event.

The event is an international road race that takes place on 8.97 miles of closed public roads.

SEOUL, May 7 (UPI) — North Korea is not bound by the global treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, its U.N. envoy said Thursday, calling efforts to force Pyongyang to comply with the pact a “wanton violation” of international law.

Kim Song, North Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks in a statement carried by the state-run Korea Central News Agency during an ongoing review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The United States and other countries at the conference are “groundlessly taking issue with the present status and exercise of sovereign rights of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a nuclear weapons state outside the treaty,” Kim wrote, using North Korea’s official name.

“The position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state does not change in accordance with rhetorical assertion or unilateral desire of outsiders,” he said. “Clarifying once again, the DPRK is not bound by the NPT in any case.”

North Korea formally withdrew from the NPT in 2003 and in 2022 passed a law declaring itself a nuclear state. Leader Kim Jong Un later called the country’s nuclear status “irreversible,” and Pyongyang amended its constitution to codify the expansion of its nuclear forces.

Pyongyang has repeated the assertion frequently, including during a rare address to the U.N. General Assembly in September, when a senior diplomat vowed the North would “never give up” its nuclear weapons.

In a 2025 report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that North Korea possesses about 50 nuclear warheads and has enough fissile material for about 40 more. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in January that North Korea was producing enough weapons-grade material to build between 10 and 20 nuclear weapons annually.

The envoy’s statement comes ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China next week, where speculation has persisted that the trip could provide an opportunity to revive leader-to-leader diplomacy with Kim Jong Un.

Trump held a pair of high-profile summits with Kim during his first term in office and has suggested on several occasions that he would meet with the North Korean leader again.

Kim appeared to leave the door open to renewed diplomacy with Washington in remarks last year, saying he retained “fond memories” of Trump but warning that denuclearization was off the table.

On Monday, a White House official told Yonhap News Agency that a Trump-Kim meeting was “not currently on the schedule.”

Pyongyang says its status as nuclear-armed state ‘will not change based on external rhetorical claims’.

North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations has declared that Pyongyang will not be bound by any treaty on atomic weapons and that no external pressure will change its status as a nuclear-armed state.

Ambassador Kim Song’s statement – carried by state media on Thursday – came as the United States and other countries criticised North Korea’s nuclear programme at the ongoing UN conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Pyongyang withdrew from the NPT in 2003 and has since conducted six nuclear tests, promoting multiple UN Security Council sanctions.

The country is believed to hold dozens of nuclear warheads.

“At the 11th NPT Review Conference currently under way at UN headquarters, the United States and certain countries following its lead are groundlessly calling into question the current status and exercise of sovereign rights,” Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“The status of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a nuclear-armed state will not change based on external rhetorical claims or unilateral desires,” he added.

“To make it clear once again, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will not be bound by the Non-Proliferation Treaty under any circumstances whatsoever.”

He continued that the country’s status as a nuclear-armed state has been “enshrined in the constitution, transparently declaring the principles of nuclear weapons use”.

North Korea has long insisted that it will not give up its nuclear arsenal, describing its path as “irreversible” and pledging to strengthen its capabilities.

It has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.

The nine nuclear-armed states – Russia, the US, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported.

The US and Russia hold nearly 90 percent of nuclear weapons globally and have carried out major programmes to modernise them in recent years, according to SIPRI.

The nuclear issue has been at the heart of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, with US President Donald Trump saying that Tehran – a signatory to the NPT – can never have a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies seeking an atomic weapon and has long demanded Washington acknowledge its right to enrich uranium.

May 6 (Asia Today) — Honda and Nissan are overhauling their electric vehicle strategies in North America as policy changes and weaker demand reshape the market, Japanese media reported Wednesday.

Honda has indefinitely postponed construction of a major EV production hub in Ontario, Canada, while Nissan has scrapped plans for U.S. EV production and will focus instead on expanding its hybrid lineup, according to Nikkei.

Honda announced the Ontario project in April 2024. The plan called for vehicle and battery plants with annual production capacity of 240,000 units and a total investment of 15 billion Canadian dollars, or about $11 billion.

The project had already secured land and government support, but Honda delayed the launch by two years in 2025 after EV market growth fell short of expectations. Nikkei said the plan could eventually be canceled depending on the direction of North American policy.

The shift comes as the Trump administration’s rollback of EV tax credits has increased consumer costs, while relaxed environmental rules have reduced pressure on automakers to expand EV production.

U.S. EV sales fell 36% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, while hybrid vehicles rose from 11% to a record 19% of the market.

Japanese automakers are expected to prioritize hybrids to protect profitability in North America as a near-term EV recovery appears unlikely.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260506010000998

SEOUL, May 6 (UPI) — North Korea has revised its constitution to remove all references to reunification with South Korea, a document shared by Seoul’s Unification Ministry showed Wednesday, formalizing leader Kim Jong Un’s push to redefine inter-Korean ties as relations between two separate states.

The document, which was shared at a news conference by the ministry, removes language calling for the “peaceful reunification” of the Korean Peninsula that had been part of the North’s constitution since a 1992 revision.

The new version codifies a policy shift Kim first laid out in 2024, when he abandoned Pyongyang’s long-standing goal of reunification and defined South Korea as an adversary.

At a March meeting of North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature, where the revision is believed to have been adopted, Kim called for recognizing South Korea as the “most hostile state.”

However, the revised constitution did not define South Korea as a “primary foe” or “hostile state,” despite Kim’s increasingly confrontational rhetoric toward Seoul, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The new constitution also introduces language defining North Korea’s territory as bordering China and Russia to the north and South Korea to the south.

It does not specifically address maritime boundary lines, including the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea known as the Northern Limit Line. The NLL, which was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command after the Korean War, has long been a source of tension between the two Koreas.

The waters around the boundary, which Pyongyang does not recognize, have been the site of multiple naval clashes since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, including the 2010 including the North’s 2010 torpedo attack on a South Korean warship that left 46 dead.

In January 2024, Kim called the line “illegal” and warned that even the slightest violation of the North’s territory would be considered a “war provocation.”

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to ease inter-Korean tensions since taking office in June, calling for the resumption of dialogue and making conciliatory gestures such as dismantling border propaganda loudspeakers.

Pyongyang has largely ignored those overtures while continuing to expand its military posture. In April, North Korea conducted several weapons tests, including tactical ballistic missiles with cluster bomb warheads and electronic warfare systems.

The revision also elevates Kim’s position as “head of state,” further consolidating his authority over state affairs and the country’s nuclear forces.

“Curly” Williams returned to his old high school campus last week for the first time in 76 years, but did so under his given name — the same name emblazoned on North Hollywood High’s newest attraction: the John Williams Performing Arts Center.

Williams, 94, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony last Wednesday, which commenced with the composer’s rousing “Raiders March” played by the school’s marching band and accompanied by its blue-clad cheerleaders.

“I think you played that better than we could have,” Williams said, speaking from a wheelchair under the sign of his namesake venue in front of other accomplished alumni and friends, including producer Kathleen Kennedy. “That’s a hard piece.”

The ambitious construction project, initiated in 2015 and designed by CO Architects occupies 35,000 square feet and seats 800. Michael Stebbins, project manager for the BroadStage in Santa Monica, served as project manager. The center is equipped with state-of-the-art amenities to host student performances and school assemblies, but also to train the next generation of theater technicians. Besides an enormous stage, blue velvet curtains, a mixing console and safe catwalks, the building also features new classrooms and rehearsal spaces.

Students, faculty and guests stand for the national anthem before a concert inside the new John Williams Performing Arts Center, named for one of North Hollywood High’s most famous alumni.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A 75-foot hand-painted mural in the lobby, still in the works by artist Ian Robertson-Salt, is inspired by Williams’ formidable filmography, which serves “as a daily reminder to every student who walks these halls that greatness can begin right here,” remarked Andrés Chait, acting superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District.

Due to health complications, Williams has made few public appearances in the last two years. He last conducted a concert in February 2024 — and he has also consistently turned down requests to name buildings after him, including at his beloved Tanglewood in Massachusetts, although the Hollywood Bowl did recently name its stage for Williams. It’s a testament to his affection for his time at North Hollywood High, and his regard for the next generation of students, that he not only blessed this dedication but showed up and spoke to a gathered crowd of hundreds.

“I’m sort of silly happy to be here,” he said, calling the dedication “a singular honor in my life.”

Other showbiz alumni on hand included “Beauty and the Beast” producer Don Hahn (class of ’73), “Independence Day” writer-producer Dean Devlin (’80), and Rob Friedman (’81), CEO of Ascendant Entertainment. Partly due to its proximity to the entertainment industry, North Hollywood High has produced a host of famous artists over the decades, including the late Michael Tilson Thomas, who attended in the early 1960s.

John Williams smiles while applauding a performance by the North Hollywood High School band at the dedication ceremony of the John Williams Performing Arts Center on campus.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“At some point you have to stop calling that a coincidence,” said Kennedy, a longtime collaborator of Williams who gave brief remarks before handing him the microphone. “Something happened here, and something can happen again.”

Williams moved to North Hollywood with his family in 1947, having grown up in Queens. He transferred to North Hollywood High as a 15-year-old sophomore, and joined the band and orchestra as a jazz-loving trombonist. His classmates included Susan Sontag (“I remember her teaching a class in civics, when the teacher would sit down and listen to her,” he told me in 2023) and many future actors, including Barbara Ruick, who played Carrie Pipperidge in “Carousel.” But his best friends were all music-inclined guys whose dads, like his, were famous musicians.

A poster board featured yearbook photos of John Williams, left, performing with the North Hollywood High School Band, class of 1950, in the lobby of the new John Williams Performing Arts Center on the North Hollywood High School campus.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Williams embraced the nickname “Curly,” given to him by a fellow student in response to his curly red hair, and quickly created his own jazz band with classmates. Ruick sang with them at school events and dances, and they became the house band at a new teens-only venue in Van Nuys called the Dri-Nite Club. Broadcast on local radio, they caught the attention of Time magazine, which ran a story on “Curly’s” band in October 1949.

A newspaper story about John Williams’ high school band from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s archives.

(Los Angeles Unified School District)

Williams has said he fondly remembers his civics and French classes at North Hollywood High, but his time and passion were almost exclusively devoted to music. He rigorously practiced the piano at home, studying with a local concert pianist and MGM arranger named Robert Van Eps; on Wednesday nights he played in jam sessions with his father (Johnny Sr., a drummer) and the Columbia Pictures orchestra. He bopped around clubs in L.A. listening to jazz greats like Oscar Peterson (whose style influenced Williams’ recent piano concerto), and started making a name of his own as a wunderkind performer and arranger.

Long before he scored “Star Wars” or “Harry Potter,” Williams did his earliest arranging and orchestrating for theater productions at North Hollywood High. The impact of his time at North Hollywood High cannot be overstated.

John Williams featured with members of the class of 1950 in the North Hollywood High School Yearbook.

(Los Angeles Unified School District)

During his remarks about the performing arts center on Wednesday, Williams said he felt particularly overwhelmed because the school was “formative in my thinking and my professional work … This is a great, magical place, North Hollywood.”

Williams eventually married Ruick, his high school sweetheart and mother of his three children. Ruick was instrumental in making many of Williams’ earliest career connections. She died from a brain aneurysm in 1974, at the age of 41, just one year before Williams’ career catapulted with “Jaws.” The couple’s youngest son, Joseph, lead singer of Toto, stood proudly behind Williams during the theater’s dedication.

The John Williams Performing Arts Center (JWPAC) is the crescendo of a $319.5 million modernization project at North Hollywood High, which also includes modern classrooms and athletic facilities. It’s a reflection of the diverse public school’s commitment to the arts; students here can play in the orchestra, marching band or modern band, and study drama or modern dance.

“As I think about what else I might say to all of you younger people, students here,” Williams said at his homecoming Wednesday, “two words about this beautiful building: simply use it. Make sure you all use the place.”

Tim Greiving is the author of “John Williams: A Composer’s Life.”

Naegohyang FC will play the South’s Suwon FC on May 20 in the semifinal of the Women’s Asian Champions League.

A North Korean women’s football club will become the first sports team from the country to play in South Korea since 2018 when they visit this month, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification has confirmed.

The neighbours remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and sporting and cultural exchanges between them are very rare.

Naegohyang Women’s FC will play the South’s Suwon FC Women on May 20 in the semifinals of the Asian Champions League.

The visiting delegation will include 27 players and 12 club staff, the ministry said on Monday. South Korea’s football association told the AFP news agency that the team would arrive on May 17.

They will fly into Incheon airport on an Air China flight from Beijing, a Unification Ministry official said.

The winner of the match at Suwon Sports Complex, south of the capital Seoul, will play the final of Asia’s top women’s club competition against either Australia’s Melbourne City or Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza on May 23.

“The losing team in the semifinal will return home on Thursday, May 21, with no third-place playoff scheduled,” the ministry statement added.

The match will be the first time a North Korean sports team has played in the South since shooting, youth football and table tennis delegations travelled there in 2018.

The last time Pyongyang sent a women’s football team to the South was in 2014, when the North Korean national team took part in the Asian Games in Incheon.

Founded in 2012 and based in the North Korean capital, much of Naegohyang’s squad is “made up of national team-level players”, the ministry said.

North Korea’s national team is one of the dominant forces in Asian women’s football, winning multiple international titles in recent years, especially at the youth level.

The most recent one came in November last year, when they defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the final of the U-17 Women’s World Cup.

The whale calf’s repeated stranding off the coast of Germany sparked widespread concern and extensive media coverage.

A humpback whale calf that earned huge media attention and the nickname Timmy after being repeatedly stranded in shallow waters near Germany has been released into the North Sea by rescue team.

The operation to save the sea mammal, launched as its health deteriorated, transported Timmy in a water-filled barge and released him off Denmark on Saturday.

Karin Walter-Mommert, one of the private financiers of the operation, said the whale appeared to be swimming freely and in the right direction upon his release, the APF news agency reports.

He “should now swim up the Norwegian coast toward the Arctic”, she said.

Timmy was first spotted near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 3. He repeatedly got stuck in shallow waters, despite efforts to encourage him back to the deeper sea.

Far from his natural habitat of the Atlantic Ocean, the whale became distressed, and the public became invested in his plight as his health deteriorated and experts worried that he would not survive.

Several efforts to rescue him, including using inflatable cushions and a pontoon, were unsuccessful, leading German officials to suggest he was doomed.

A private initiative to save the animal was then approved by Germany’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, but that sparked debate as to whether it would be best to let him die in peace or push him to return home, an ordeal that could have proved too much for him.

Timmy developed a skin condition as a result of the Baltic Sea’s low salt content, and would barely move for days at a time, his breathing irregular.

The International Whaling Commission said in April that with each stranding causing additional harm, “the chances of survival [had become] negligible”.

However, the use of the special barge finally saw Timmy returned to his natural habitat.

It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, far from the Atlantic Ocean. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.

A GPS transmitter was reportedly attached to the whale before his release, suggesting there could be more updates to come, with the case having been furiously followed by online media in particular.

May 1 (Asia Today) — North Korea has transferred missile technology to Iran over more than 40 years, evolving from early Scud missile supplies to capabilities approaching intercontinental ballistic missiles, while also helping build factories, underground facilities and naval systems, according to U.S. experts.

Bruce Bechtol made the assessment at the annual International Council on Korean Studies conference titled “Challenges of the U.S.-South Korea Alliance 2026,” co-hosted in Washington by the Hudson Institute and the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

Bechtol, co-author of the book Rogue Allies: Iran and North Korea’s Strategic Partnership, said Iran began acquiring Scud missiles in the early 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War. Initially supplied in limited numbers by Libya, Iran later established contact with North Korea and imported roughly 100 Scud missiles, which it used to strike Iraqi cities during what became known as the “War of the Cities.”

He said Iran subsequently ordered an additional 200 to 250 Scud-C missiles and, with North Korean assistance, produced and upgraded them domestically. This led to the development of Iran’s current short-range ballistic missile, the Qiam, which has an estimated range of about 800 kilometers.

Bechtol added that Iran attended North Korea’s Nodong missile test in 1993, along with a Pakistani delegation, and later signed a contract to acquire about 150 Nodong missiles. North Korean engineers helped build production facilities near Isfahan, where Iran manufactured the missiles under the name Shahab-3.

He said North Korean specialists further modified these systems, leading to the development of the Emad missile, with a range of about 1,750 kilometers, and the Ghadr missile, with a range of about 1,900 kilometers. Both systems have been used repeatedly and are capable of reaching targets across Israel.

Bechtol also said North Korea sold 19 Musudan missiles – based on the Soviet-era submarine-launched ballistic missile R-27 – to Iran after obtaining the technology from Russian scientists following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He noted that Iran modified the missile for land-based launch, which introduced structural instability and limited its success rate to about 50%.

Based on the Musudan platform, Iran developed the Khorramshahr missile, which can carry a warhead approximately four times heavier than the original design and has an estimated range of 2,000 kilometers. The Israeli military has estimated its penetration rate at about 8%.

Bechtol cited media reports that North Korea transferred 80-ton-class rocket boosters – equivalent to first-stage propulsion systems for intercontinental ballistic missiles – to Iran even during negotiations over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He noted that the United States imposed sanctions on both countries in 2016 and 2019 in response.

He said a 2021 report by a United Nations panel of experts also detailed such transfers and assessed that technologies similar to those used in North Korea’s Hwasong-12 and Hwasong-15 missiles had been shared with Iran.

Bechtol further claimed that ballistic missiles fired by Iran toward the U.S.-U.K. base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in March – from a distance of about 4,000 kilometers – were based on North Korean technology.

Beyond missiles, North Korea has supported Iran and its allied groups by providing military hardware and infrastructure. Bechtol said Pyongyang sold 14 Yono-class submarines – the same type used in the 2010 sinking of South Korea’s Cheonan warship – and helped build production facilities for them. North Korea also supplied 46 fast infiltration boats and assisted in constructing related manufacturing sites.

He said North Korean engineers were involved in building underground nuclear-related facilities in Natanz and Isfahan, which he described as difficult to destroy without the use of U.S. B-2 bombers.

Bechtol also pointed to evidence that North Korean weapons were used by Hamas during its October 2023 attack on Israel, including 122 mm rockets, anti-tank weapons, Type 73 machine guns and Type 58 rifles marked in Korean.

Separately, an Israeli research center reported that North Korean arms exporter Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation helped build two tunnels in Lebanon for Hezbollah, measuring about 25 miles (40 kilometers) and 45 miles (72 kilometers), at a cost of about $13 million.

Bechtol said North Korea has also generated significant revenue through military cooperation. Citing research from the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, he estimated that Pyongyang earned about $20 billion over roughly 15 months from transactions with Russia since late 2023 – close to its annual gross domestic product of about $26 billion.

Andrew Scobell said cooperation among China, Russia, Iran and North Korea – sometimes referred to as “CRINK” – is not a formal multilateral alliance but rather a collection of bilateral relationships.

Scobell added that North Korea appears to have exercised restraint in supplying weapons to Iran following U.S. and Israeli strikes earlier this year, citing intelligence assessments reported by international media.

Former U.N. sanctions panel expert William Newcomb said North Korea’s proliferation activities have contributed significantly to instability in the Middle East and called for a comprehensive assessment of their global economic impact, suggesting the cost could exceed $1 trillion.

Scobell also noted that North Korea’s strategic value to Russia could decline significantly if the war in Ukraine ends, indicating that the current level of cooperation is closely tied to ongoing conflict dynamics.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260501010000016

SHE’S been branded arrogant, entitled and irritating by people who’ve watched her growing up on The Kardashians.

And as I braced myself to listen to North West’s debut EP N0rth4evr, I was expecting to absolutely hate it. But in all honesty, I love it.

The six-track record proves that the 12-year-old daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian does actually have talent.

She mixes heavy-metal guitar riffs with rage-rap and a flavour of the Japanese culture she loves so much.

Critics will argue that having two of the most famous people on the planet as parents would mean she couldn’t produce something that’s utterly rubbish.

But I’d argue North has a flair of originality and authenticity on all the tracks.

SKIMS-CREDIBLE

Kim K’s sex confessions from Bond fantasy to getting frisky in the cinema

HOTTING UP

Kim K & Lewis Hamilton beach pics are hard launch of VERY different relationship

She samples Mumford & Sons’ 2009 track Little Lion Man on punchy and pacy Th!s t!me, and the final 28 seconds of W0ah crunching has an electric guitar solo.

For a child who has grown up knowing only fame and privilege, North carries the expectations on her shoulders in her lyrics.

No doubt she’s had a big helping hand, working with American rock siblings Meg and Dia Frampton, but it opens your eyes to what life might really be like as a kid everyone thinks they know.

On How I Feel, North sings: “In the back of the Lamb’, it get lonely, they be all up in my comments like they know me.

“If they approach me no phones please, lot of eyes on me that I don’t need.”

While on Th!s t!me, she raps: “They hear the name, they don’t hear what I’m sayin’.

“They want the fame, but you know I ain’t playin’.”

North4evr links to Kanye’s 2018 track Violent Crimes, where he rapped about protecting daughter North from danger.

On it, she sings: “So much people ’round me, but I know they all fake, so much goin’ in my head that I can’t say.

“Know my minds in a place that is not safe.”

She balances the pitfalls with plenty of not-so- humble brags though, and on D!e boasts about her influence on fashion and culture.

The track, which contains some influences of Post Malone, has her rapping: “How am I younger than you, but I’m who you look up to?

“Once they on trend, I’m already off it.

“I’m a rock star, you could tell by my closet. Once they on trend, I’m already off it.”

The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, clearly.

But North West, she’s definitely on to something.

Beyonce rocks

BEYONCE’s next era is just around the corner – and she’s dropped yet another hint that her new rock-inspired album is waiting.

The singer removed all the country- inspired Cowboy Carter merchandise from her website last night as she prepares to start promoting the record.

Bey also dropped another big clue about the direction she is heading by posting a video on her website of Destiny‘s Child hanging out with Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks on the set of their Bootylicious video from 2001.

As I told you last week, Beyonce is planning to reveal all about her new record around the Met Gala in New York on Monday.

The album, believed to be called Betty Black, is the third in a trilogy of records following on from 2022’s Renaissance and Cowboy Carter in 2024.

We first revealed in July that Beyonce was working on a rock-themed album.

She hinted the record could be called Betty Black in a reclaiming of the African-American work song Black Betty which was remade in 1977 by rock group Ram Jam.

ZAYN MALIK has cancelled shows in Glasgow and Birmingham after telling fans he was ill.

He has also rescheduled the Manchester AO Arena gig to May 24.

His concert at London’s O2 Arena is still planned to take place on May 23.

Zayn said he was recovering and wanted to come back “stronger”.

Roses taxman tussle

THE STONE ROSES have been locked in a secret 13-year battle with the taxman involving their failed touring company.

HMRC has been fighting the indie rockers – who made £26million from two huge reunion tours – over an unpaid £127,000 corporation tax bill from BMSW Ltd.

Over the years, the figure has risen to £158,000. The touring firm collapsed and went into liquidation.

Documents filed at Companies House reveal the Roses tried to close down BMSW Ltd in July 2013 after the end of the first tour, with £10million being distributed to the band after paying a £3.1million tax bill.

But there was a change in HMRC policy, which meant liquidators asked the group – late bassist Gary Mounfield, singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan Wren – for £32,000 each.

That was received badly by the lads, below, who felt “extremely aggrieved” after signing an indemnity protecting them from such a liability.

It meant the firm moved from a member’s voluntary liquidation into a creditor’s voluntary liquidation in 2022 . . .  and the battle is still going on.

Graham: Traitors turn-off

GRAHAM NORTON has ruled himself out of Celebrity Traitors – because he fancies the gossip, not the graft.

The chat show host said he would happily take a seat at the famous round table, where contestants accuse each other of back-stabbing.

Graham revealed: “I would say yes to the round table. That looks fabulous.”

But the thought of lugging barrels, climbing hills and wading through muddy missions was clearly a step too far.

He added: “I don’t want to carry s**t up a hill. So for that reason, I’m out.”
Fair play.

Betrayal is glamorous, cardio is not.

Ash African wounds all heeled

ASHLEY ROBERTS has a spring back in her step, after fearing she’d get a whack during the mad I’m A Celebrity live final.

The Pussycat Dolls singer headed home in shades and killer heels after hosting the Heart Breakfast Show in London.

Following her stint in the All Stars version of I’m A Celeb, Ash is getting ready to start rehearsals for the upcoming PCD tour.

She will hit the road with Nicole Scherzinger and Kimberly Wyatt next month, kicking off the North America tour in California.

The group will head back to the UK in September, playing nine shows.

Clues to Tay Story film tune

TAYLOR SWIFT could be heading to infinity . . .  and beyond.

The singer appears to have got a track on Toy Story 5, if you follow the trail of clues that have been dropped.

Her website was running a countdown set against the franchise’s famous cloud wallpaper, while the film’s initials just so happen to match her own.

If that wasn’t enough, she was snapped this week dressed head to toe in the classic Toy Story colours of blue, yellow and red. Subtle, Tay.

The timing is just as telling. The movie is due out on June 19, exactly 20 years after she released her first single.

It would also make sense given her close ties with Disney, after striking a deal to stream her Eras Tour film.

Fans will hear the track for the first time today.

False teeth for Harry Potter

DANIEL RADCLIFFE has revealed there was more wizardry behind the scenes of Harry Potter than fans ever clocked – as the young stars had fake teeth.

Movie bosses hired a specialist dentist for him, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint after realising their baby gnashers would start falling out.

Daniel, who was 11 when he was cast, said: “We had a prosthetic dentist who would basically knock up a fake tooth in a day and put it in.

“We could keep filming without missing anything.”

He added: “There’s various points in the first two movies where me, Rupert and Emma all have little fake teeth.”

Cameras could keep rolling without any awkward gaps appearing in the smiles.

Forget spells and potions, the real hero of Hogwarts was clearly the tooth fairy.

April 30 (Asia Today) — U.S. Rep. Young Kim on Tuesday pledged to work for the swift reauthorization of the North Korea Human Rights Act, which has lapsed for more than six years, vowing to serve as a “voice” for North Korean defectors.

Kim made the remarks while chairing a roundtable at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington attended by 11 North Korean defectors as part of North Korea Freedom Week.

“I will do my best to ensure the North Korea Human Rights Act is reauthorized as soon as possible in this Congress,” Kim said.

Kim stresses urgency of reauthorization, shifts from English to Korean

Kim opened the meeting in English, noting that she has been involved in North Korea human rights issues for more than 30 years, including 21 years as a congressional staffer and later as an elected lawmaker.

After listening to defectors’ testimony, she switched to Korean without an interpreter, appearing to emphasize her commitment more directly.

“The most important thing from what you said is that we must work together to reauthorize the North Korea Human Rights Act,” she said in Korean.

She highlighted that a key component of the legislation is funding for broadcasting into North Korea.

“Broadcast resources are essential,” Kim said, noting that transmissions into North Korea have weakened, including those from outlets such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.

“I will be your voice and speak with my colleagues to ensure the act is reauthorized,” she said.

Susan Scholte, head of the North Korea Freedom Coalition and the Defense Forum Foundation, said Sen. Tim Kaine is preparing to introduce a Senate version of the bill corresponding to the House legislation.

Kim says human rights conditions worsening despite greater information access

Kim said North Korea’s human rights situation has not improved over decades and has in some respects worsened.

“Even after decades, nothing has changed,” she said. “If anything has changed, it is that North Korean people now know more about the outside world than ever before, while crackdowns on external media have reached unprecedented levels.”

She argued that any meaningful change in North Korea must come from within, driven by the spread of information.

“If regime change happens, it must come from inside,” Kim said. “It should begin with people like those here who share information through broadcasting.”

Defectors recount hardships, escapes and role of outside information

Defectors at the roundtable shared personal accounts of life in North Korea and their paths to escape.

One defector said he came to understand the reality of the regime after listening to foreign radio broadcasts, which ultimately influenced his decision to flee.

Another described being detained in Russia after drifting into its waters while fishing and later seeking help from human rights groups after exposure to South Korean media via USB devices.

Others recounted losing family members to starvation, enduring forced labor and being trafficked into China before eventually reaching South Korea.

One defector said she had been forcibly repatriated to North Korea eight times and was separated from her young child, whose fate remains unknown.

Survey shows role of broadcasts, concerns over China surveillance

Kim Ji-young, head of Free North Korea Radio, presented survey results of 75 defectors who arrived in South Korea after 2022.

She said 66% reported accessing foreign broadcasts at least once a week, which inspired aspirations for freedom and motivated their escape.

All respondents said North Korea’s so-called “three major repressive laws” reflect fears of regime instability and efforts to maintain authoritarian control.

Kim also raised concerns about defectors in China, including cases in which children born to North Korean women and Chinese fathers are left stateless, as well as reports that Chinese authorities use artificial intelligence-based facial recognition to track and repatriate defectors.

One participant said she has avoided traveling to China due to fears of abduction or poisoning, adding that South Korean authorities have advised her against visiting.

U.S. lawmaker calls for stronger joint efforts

Rep. James Moylan said the United States and South Korea should strengthen cooperation to bring about meaningful change in North Korea without another decades-long delay.

In an interview with Voice of America, Moylan said radio broadcasting is an effective tool for change, adding that increased access to information, combined with support from advocacy groups and the United States, can help drive transformation.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260430010009822

North Korea has opened a memorial museum in Pyongyang for its soldiers killed while fighting alongside Russian forces in the war in Ukraine, in the clearest sign yet of how central the conflict has become to the growing alliance.

The inaugural ceremony at the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations was held on Sunday. It also marked the first anniversary of what the two countries describe as the end of an operation to “liberate” Russia’s Kursk border region from a Ukrainian incursion, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.

KCNA said North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un attended the event along with senior Russian officials, including State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and Defence Minister Andrei Belousov.

South Korea’s intelligence agency has estimated that North Korea deployed about 15,000 soldiers to fight for Russia in the Kursk region, and that about 2,000 of them were killed. Moscow and Pyongyang have not disclosed any figures.

During the ceremony, Kim sprinkled earth over the remains of one soldier and laid flowers for others whose bodies had been placed in a mortuary, according to KCNA. Kim and the Russian officials then signed a guestbook at the newly opened museum.

In his speech, Kim said the fallen North Korean troops would remain “a symbol of the Korean people’s heroism” and would support “a victorious march by the Korean and Russian people”.

He accused the United States and its allies of pursuing a “hegemonic plot and military adventurism” on the Russia-Ukraine front, praising Russian and North Korean forces for thwarting those efforts.

Meeting Belousov separately, Kim pledged full support for Russia’s policy of defending its sovereignty and security interests, KCNA said.

Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Belousov as saying that Moscow is ready to sign a military cooperation plan with Pyongyang covering 2027-31.

In a letter read by Volodin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new museum would be “a clear symbol of the friendship and solidarity” between the two countries and pledged to further strengthen their “comprehensive strategic partnership”.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kim has tilted his foreign policy decisively towards Moscow, supplying troops and conventional weapons in exchange, analysts say, for economic support and possibly sensitive technologies.

Officials in South Korea, the US and allied countries fear Russia could transfer advanced know-how to Pyongyang that would boost its nuclear and missile programmes.

Military experts say North Korean troops initially suffered heavy losses in Kursk due to their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain, making them vulnerable to Ukrainian drone and artillery fire.

But Ukrainian military and intelligence officials have assessed that the North Koreans later gained crucial battlefield experience and became central to Russia’s efforts to overwhelm Ukrainian forces by deploying large numbers of soldiers in the region.

SEOUL, April 27 (UPI) — North Korea held an inauguration ceremony for a memorial museum honoring troops dispatched to fight for Russia in Ukraine, state media reported Monday, with leader Kim Jong Un pledging continued support for Moscow in its “sacred war.”

The ceremony took place Sunday at the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations in Pyongyang, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

The event marked the first anniversary of what Pyongyang called the “liberation of Kursk,” referring to Russia’s battlefield gains in the war. North Korea declared Russia’s recapture of the region on April 26 last year.

North Korea has deepened military ties with Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Pyongyang has shipped thousands of containers of munitions and deployed about 15,000 troops to assist Russian forces in the Kursk region, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has said, estimating that roughly 2,000 of those troops had been killed.

In a speech at the ceremony, Kim highlighted the “strategic significance” of the operations in Kursk and described the North Korean soldiers’ actions as “without parallel in history.”

“No matter how the rules of war change or when and where a crisis arises, we must always be strengthened as a sincere, dedicated and powerful bulwark that deals with it with united strength,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Several Russian officials attended the inauguration, including State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.

Volodin read a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing gratitude for North Korean troops and praising the “militant friendship” between the two countries.

“The Korean soldiers, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Russian comrades-in-arms, displayed their extraordinary bravery and genuine devotion and glorified themselves with immortal honor,” the letter said.

After the speeches, officials cut a ribbon to formally open the complex, while white balloons were released into the sky in tribute to the fallen.

In a burial rite for repatriated remains, Kim covered a coffin with dirt as guards of honor fired a rifle salute and participants observed a moment of silence, KCNA said.

Kim also held separate meetings with Belousov and Volodin ahead of the inauguration, KCNA reported.

In talks with Kim, Belousov said the two sides had agreed to expand military cooperation on a “sustainable long-term basis,” with plans to sign a cooperation roadmap covering 2027 to 2031, according to a statement posted on the Russian Defense Ministry’s Telegram channel.

Kim reaffirmed that North Korea would “fully support” Russia’s war in Ukraine, KCNA said, describing it as a “sacred war” to defend sovereignty.

In exchange for its military assistance, Pyongyang is believed to be receiving much-needed financial support and advanced military technology. A March report by South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy estimated that North Korea may have earned up to $14.4 billion from its involvement in the war through arms sales, labor exports and related assistance.

April 24 (Asia Today) — Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans oppose allowing access to North Korean websites, while most experts support the idea, the Presidential Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification said Friday.

According to the council’s first-quarter public opinion survey on unification, 63.6% of respondents said they did not agree with a proposal to allow access to North Korean websites to help the public better understand North Korean society.

In contrast, 71.3% of 149 experts on unification and North Korea issues said they supported the proposal, showing a sharp gap between the general public and specialists.

The survey also found that 59.2% of respondents supported President Lee Jae-myung’s proposal, presented in a March 1 Independence Movement Day speech, to ease tensions between the two Koreas and work with relevant countries to transform the armistice system into a peace regime.

A separate 61.6% said they supported continuing the government’s policy of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.

On the need for reunification, 65.9% said it was necessary, down 2.1 percentage points from the previous quarterly survey. Respondents cited eliminating the threat of war, at 29.2%, and economic development, at 26.3%, as the top reasons for reunification.

Views were mixed on North Korea’s “two hostile states” doctrine.

Among respondents, 27.7% said they do not recognize the North Korean regime but recognize inter-state relations with the North. Another 24.9% said they recognize both the North Korean regime and inter-state relations.

A separate 24% said they recognize neither the North Korean regime nor inter-state relations, while 16.7% said they recognize the regime but do not recognize inter-state relations.

The survey was conducted by Korea Research from March 27-29 on 1,200 adults nationwide. It had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260424010007858

April 20 (UPI) — Two people were killed Monday in a shooting near a North Carolina middle school where two children agreed to meet for a fight, police said.

Law enforcement officials were alerted to a fight at Leinbach Park on Robinhood Road near Jefferson Middle School in Winston-Salem, N.C., at 9:52 a.m. EST. As officers were on the way to the scene, the call was upgraded to a shooting.

The Winston-Salem Police Department posted on Facebook that “two young individuals” met at Leinbach Park for a “planned fight.” When those individuals arrived, “the situation escalated significantly, leading to multiple people exchanging gunfire.”

The police department didn’t say how many people were injured in the shooting, but used a hashtag for “mass shooting” in its post on X.

“Several individuals — both victims and suspects — have been identified and located,” the Winston-Salem Police Department posted on social media. “Due to the number of people involved, efforts are ongoing to account for everyone. At this time, some of those involved in the incident are juveniles.”

Police advised that nearby schools were operating on a normal schedule, but community members were urged to avoid the area to allow emergency responders to operate safely at the scene. The park and two nearby roads were closed as officers processed the scene.

“This is an isolated incident and remains under active investigation,” the police department said.

A NEW airport has opened on the world’s largest island giving travellers direct access to an area dubbed the “Riviera of the North”.

The new hub is expected to boost tourism in one of the Arctic’s most remote regions.

Visitors can now travel by air to Qaqortoq in Greenland to visit an area famous for kayaking and whale-watching.

Anne Nivika Grødem, director of Visit Greenland, said: “South Greenland offers a rare combination of powerful nature and a living culture shaped over generations.

“Improved access allows us to welcome visitors with greater intention – encouraging travel with curiosity [and offering] more meaningful experiences for our guests.”

Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen travelled on the new airport’s first flight.

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While more than 30,000 passengers disembark from cruise ships at Qaqortoq every year, less than 2,000 tourists on average stay overnight each year.

Before the opening of the airport, travellers looking to visit Qaqortoq would have to travel two days on a ferry or arrive by helicopter.

The town is 300 miles from the capital, Nuuk.

Air Greenland is to operate two daily 75-minute direct flights between Nuuk and Qaqortoq year-round.

This is expected to rise 17 weekly services in summer, while Icelandair plans to run four weekly summer flights to and from Keflavík, starting from June 2.

In recent years, Greenland has been working to boost visitor numbers.

Earlier this year US President Donald Trump’s threats to invade Greenland resulted in a 46% increase in foreign guests – most of them Americans.

April 19 (Asia Today) — North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles on Saturday, just 11 days after its previous test, in what analysts describe as an effort to expand and demonstrate its nuclear delivery capabilities.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired around 6:10 a.m. from the Sinpo area on the country’s east coast and flew about 140 kilometers over the East Sea.

The launch site, near a key submarine facility, has raised the possibility that the weapons could be linked to submarine-launched ballistic missile development, though officials said further analysis is needed.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it is assessing the missiles’ specifications and whether they were launched from land or underwater.

Sinpo is home to North Korea’s main submarine shipyard, where vessels such as the “Kim Gun-ok Hero” submarine have previously been unveiled.

Recent satellite imagery cited by the North Korea-focused outlet 38 North indicated that another submarine had been moved to dry dock, suggesting possible preparations for additional testing.

Yang Wook, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the relatively short flight distance raises questions about whether a full submarine-based launch was conducted.

“Given the 140-kilometer range, it is unclear whether this was a full SLBM test, but the location suggests it could be part of efforts to verify repeated launch capability,” he said.

If confirmed as an underwater launch, the test would mark North Korea’s latest step in diversifying its nuclear delivery systems, following demonstrations involving land-based missiles and sea-based platforms in recent weeks.

Under its latest defense development plan, North Korea has been expanding a range of strategic capabilities, including short-range ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, cruise missiles and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile engines.

Analysts say the timing may also reflect broader geopolitical considerations. With the United States focused on conflict in the Middle East, North Korea could be seeking to exploit a perceived security gap while reinforcing its deterrence posture.

Some experts also suggest the launch may be intended to strengthen Pyongyang’s bargaining position ahead of potential diplomatic engagement tied to an expected visit by President Donald Trump to China next month.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260420010005867

April 19 (UPI) — South Korea’s Defense Ministry said North Korea test launched multiple, short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, Sunday morning.

“Detailed specifications are currently under close analysis by South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities,” officials in Seoul said in a statement, according to ABC News.

“Our military is closely monitoring North Korea’s military activities under a firm combined defense posture and maintains an overwhelming capability and readiness to respond to any provocation.”

The Japan Times said the Defense Ministry of Japan also confirmed the activity.

“North Korea’s series of actions, including the repeated launches of ballistic missiles and other weapons, threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community,” the ministry said in a statement.

Newsweek said Pyongyang has increased its ballistic missile testing and nuclear weapons development since the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran began nearly two months ago.

Sunday’s missile launches appear to have come from Sinpho, a coastal city in North Korea where submarines capable of launching such weapons are built.

Multiple ballistic missiles fired from eastern Sinpo area in seventh such test this year.

North Korea has launched multiple ballistic missiles towards the sea off its eastern coast, according to South Korea and Japan.

The incident on Sunday marked North Korea’s seventh ⁠ballistic missile launch this year and its fourth in April.

The missiles were fired near the city of Sinpo on North Korea’s east coast at about 6:10am on Sunday (21:10 GMT, Saturday), South Korea’s military said in a statement. It added that South Korea had bolstered its surveillance posture and was closely exchanging information with the United States and Japan.

Japan’s ⁠government posted on social media that the ballistic missiles were believed to have fallen near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. No incursion into Japan’s exclusive economic zone was confirmed.

South Korea’s presidential office said it has held an emergency security meeting, according to media reports.

Such tests violate United Nations Security Council resolutions against North Korea’s missile programme. The diplomatically isolated country rejects the UN ban and says it infringes on its sovereign right to self-defence.

The launches come as China and the US prepare for a summit in mid-May, ⁠in which Chinese President ⁠Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, are expected to discuss North Korea.

North Korea has made “very serious” advances in its ability to turn out nuclear weapons, with the probable addition of a new uranium enrichment facility, ‌International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.

Late last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country’s status as a nuclear-armed ‌state ‌was irreversible and that expanding a “self-defensive nuclear deterrent” was essential to national security.

SEOUL, April 16 (UPI) — Two U.S. nationals were sentenced to federal prison for helping North Korean operatives obtain remote IT jobs with American companies in a scheme that generated millions of dollars for Pyongyang’s weapons programs, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

New Jersey residents Kejia “Tony” Wang, 42, and Zhenxing “Danny” Wang, 39, operated so-called “laptop farms” that made it appear as though overseas workers were based in the United States, allowing North Korean IT personnel to secure jobs using stolen American identities.

The scheme used identities from at least 80 individuals and generated more than $5 million in revenue for the North Korean government, the department said in a press release.

Kejia Wang was sentenced to nine years in prison by U.S. Senior District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton in federal court in Boston, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges including wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft.

Zhenxing Wang was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison by the same court, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. He was also ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution.

The two were additionally ordered to forfeit $600,000 in proceeds tied to the operation.

“This case exposes a sophisticated scheme that exploited stolen American identities and U.S. companies to generate millions of dollars for a hostile foreign regime,” U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley said. “By operating so-called ‘laptop farms,’ these defendants enabled overseas actors to infiltrate U.S. businesses, access sensitive data and undermine our economic and national security.”

Prosecutors said the scheme ran from about 2021 through October 2024, with the defendants and their co-conspirators using stolen identities to obtain remote jobs at more than 100 U.S. companies, including several Fortune 500 firms and a defense contractor.

Companies incurred at least $3 million in losses from legal fees, network remediation and other damages, the Justice Department said.

The operation also exposed sensitive data, including export-controlled information governed by International Traffic in Arms Regulations, after an overseas co-conspirator accessed systems belonging to a California-based defense contractor, according to court documents.

Kejia Wang acted as the U.S.-based manager for the operation, overseeing multiple facilitators who hosted hundreds of company-issued laptops at their residences. He also traveled to China in 2023 to meet overseas co-conspirators, including a North Korean national, according to court filings.

Zhenxing Wang was among the facilitators who hosted company laptops and enabled remote access by connecting them to specialized hardware devices.

The two were charged in June 2025 alongside eight foreign nationals who remain at large and are wanted by the FBI.

In a related move, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on the eight co-conspirators, as well as one suspected North Korean IT worker, leading to the disruption of the scheme’s financial networks.

The case comes as North Korea, under heavy international sanctions, has increasingly turned to cybercrime and illicit IT work to generate revenue for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

An October report by the 11-country Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team described North Korea’s cyber operations as “a full-spectrum national program operating at a sophistication approaching the cyber programs of China and Russia.”

The report said nearly all of the country’s cyber activity, illicit IT work and financial operations are carried out under the direction of entities sanctioned by the United Nations over Pyongyang’s weapons programs.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in November that North Korea had stolen more than $3 billion over the previous three years through cyberattacks on financial institutions and cryptocurrency platforms.

A 2022 Treasury advisory estimated that North Korean IT workers generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually, with some individuals earning more than $300,000 a year.

The Justice Department has stepped up enforcement as part of an inter-agency effort in recent years, announcing multiple related prosecutions, including the sentencing of three Americans in March and a Ukrainian national in February.