Russian authorities have issued a missing persons alert for the family of a North Korean diplomat, in what local and international media reports said could be an attempted defection.
A childhood friend that has visited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un several times over the years told Radio Free Asia that he has never met Kim’s son, casting doubt on previous intelligence reports about the leader’s family life.
‘Judas’ has become a scornful nickname for informers in North Korea.For example, when a girl confided in her friend during the COVID-19 pandemic that she planned to escape North Korea once the border with China reopened, she was brought before authorities and punished.
North Korea banned the use of foreign currency this month and has begun confiscating yuan and dollars from citizens by stopping them on the street for random searches, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.
The holiday spirit in North Korea is at a low ebb as higher prices for meat, rice and other foods make celebrating the Lunar New Year a costly affair, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.
North Koreans are no longer allowed to bring their cellphones into propaganda lectures, which are a regular, mandatory part of life there, sources in the country say.
The shrill attacks against South Korea and the United States that have made international headlines for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister are viewed inside the country as evidence of her arrogance and inexperience, government officials told RFA
North Korea is forcibly mobilizing married women living near the border with China to toil away making cement blocks for the construction of a wall, sources in the country told RFA
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un blamed senior ruling party officials for their failures in stopping the spread of COVID-19, days after local sources told RFA that authorities had closed all schools nationwide until the end of the year, despite claims that the country remains completely virus-free
North Koreans are growing anxious as food prices have begun to fluctuate wildly amid uncertainty over the reopening of the border with China and the resumption of trade with Pyongyang’s largest trading partner