Pyongyang

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N. Korea Freaks After McCain Calls Kim Jong Un 'Crazy Fat Kid'

'What, did they want me to call him a crazy skinny kid?'

(Newser) - John McCain recently went on MSNBC and called Kim Jong Un a "crazy fat kid," and North Korea is taking it pretty well. Just kidding—the country's Foreign Ministry put out a statement calling McCain's words a "grave provocation little short of declaration of war....

In Pyongyang, Xmas Trees Are Up All Year

But it's hardly the most festive place on Earth

(Newser) - If Santa Claus stops in North Korea this year, he'll find some trees and lights and might even hear a Christmas song or two. But he won't encounter even a hint of what Christmas actually means—not under a regime that sees foreign religion as a very real...

North Korea Still Expanding Its Labor Camps: Reports

Satellite images show 'abuse on an industrial scale'

(Newser) - A 2014 UN report accusing Kim Jong Un of crimes against humanity through forced labor camps apparently did nothing to deter him. In fact, North Korea has increased and expanded its camps in the years since, according to satellite images included in a Committee for Human Rights in North Korea...

North Korea Is Back Producing Plutonium

Yongbyon reactor could yield 13 pounds per year

(Newser) - North Korea is showing no signs of abandoning its quest for nuclear weapons. A State Department official tells Reuters the country has restarted a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon to get plutonium. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday there were "indications" that was...

American 'Confesses' to Plot to Oust Kim Jong Un

Kim Tong Chol asks for forgiveness in Pyongyang

(Newser) - An American detained in North Korea said he spied against the country and asked for forgiveness on Friday, nine days after a US tourist was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion. Kim Tong Chol told a press conference in Pyongyang that he had collaborated with...

Top N. Korea Negotiator Dies in 'Car Accident'

Analysts say death looks suspicious

(Newser) - Traffic accidents aren't a common cause of death in North Korea—unless you happen to be chief of the United Front Department tasked with improving relations with the South. According to state media in Pyongyang, Kim Yang Gon, the 73-year-old department chief, died in a traffic accident early Tuesday,...

Pyongyang Airport's Internet Lounge Is Missing Something

Two somethings, if you count keyboards

(Newser) - Pyongyang's shiny new airport building has all the features international travelers have come to expect, though some lose their luster upon closer examination. Case in point: Its Internet room appears to be missing the Internet. On two recent trips through the airport by the AP, the room's three...

This Band Will Make History in North Korea

Slovenia's Laibach will be first foreign group to perform in Pyongyang

(Newser) - North Korea is opening its borders to the first foreign band to put on a show, and Slovenian pop group Laibach isn't exactly a predictable choice. The band, known for wearing military uniforms on stage, has a "bad boy reputation," director Morten Traavik, who's arranged several...

Report: N. Korea Defense Chief Executed by Anti-Aircraft Gun

Spy agency says he fell asleep at military event, disagreed with Kim

(Newser) - Public execution by anti-aircraft gun was the price of perceived disloyalty for North Korea's defense chief, according to South Korea's spy agency. Lawmakers in Seoul say they were told yesterday that military chief Hyon Yong Chol was killed for falling asleep during a military event and for disagreeing...

Pyongyang Bans Foreigners From Marathon

Country worried runners might bring Ebola

(Newser) - Tightening the screws even further on travel to their already isolated country, North Korean authorities have barred foreigners from one of the year's most popular tourist events—the annual Pyongyang marathon —because of ongoing concerns over the spread of the Ebola virus, travel agencies say. While no cases...

How the US Could Respond to North Korea

Confrontation may be what Pyongyang wants

(Newser) - With the US now apparently sure that North Korea was behind the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures that forced the studio to cancel the release of The Interview , pretty much everybody involved is in uncharted territory and it's far from clear what the next step from the US will...

N. Korea Is Fabulous on Human Rights, Says N. Korea

Rambling report says country has 'world's most advantageous human-rights system'

(Newser) - North Korea's war of words has taken quite the turn. After being accused by the UN earlier this year of "unspeakable atrocities" against its people, the country blasted the US as the "world's worst human rights abuser." But it has now stepped back from name-calling...

3 Americans Held in N. Korea: Situation Is Urgent

Kenneth Bae, 2 others get 5 minutes each to talk about conditions

(Newser) - The foreign media was caught off guard today after North Korea allowed reporters to speak to three Americans detained there, reports the AP . Kenneth Bae, Matthew Todd Miller, and Jeffrey Edward Fowle were each given five minutes for a TV interview with CNN , which aired their statements about their conditions...

N. Korea Picks on Kerry's ... Jaw

So nanny nanny boo boo, dumb Americans and your military drills

(Newser) - North Korea is upset with America for staging an "invasion rehearsal" (read: military drills) with South Korea, so naturally it gracefully and diplomatically ... No. It diplomatically did nothing. Instead, Pyongyang opted for playground antics, blasting Secretary of State John Kerry as a "wolf donning the mask of sheep"...

North Korea Plans to Put 2 American Tourists on Trial

No trial date announced for Matthew Miller, Jeffrey Fowle

(Newser) - Two of the three Americans currently being detained in North Korea are facing prosecution. Matthew Miller , 24, and Jeffrey Fowle , 56, will be indicted; a trial could result in long jail sentences for both. The third US citizen detained in the country, 45-year-old Kenneth Bae , is currently serving a 15-year...

N. Korea Proclaims Creation of Fungus Sports Drink

Mmm, liquified mushrooms

(Newser) - Gatorade better watch its back: North Korea's scientists have invented a "very effective" sports drink that they claim can both enhance physical ability and speed recovery, the Korean Central News Agency reports. The miracle ingredient? "Mushroom fungus." While the report doesn't say much beyond that...

In Murky Building Collapse, N. Korea's Kim 'Up All Night'

Pyongyang issues apology after accident; unknown number dead

(Newser) - North Korean officials offered a rare public apology for the collapse of an apartment building under construction in Pyongyang, which a South Korean official said was believed to have caused considerable casualties that could mean hundreds might have died. The word of the collapse in the secretive nation's capital...

China Has Detailed Plans in Case of N. Korea Collapse

Contingency plans leaked to Japanese media

(Newser) - China apparently doesn't have a whole lot of faith in Kim Jong Un's leadership abilities: Beijing has documented contingency plans in the event of a North Korean regime collapse, and they were recently leaked to Japanese media, the Telegraph reports. Among the plans:
  • Detain important North Korean military
...

What It's Like to Run a Marathon —in North Korea

City welcomes foreign amateurs for first time; Will Philipps tells his story

(Newser) - This year marked the first time the Pyongyang Marathon has been open to foreign amateur runners, and at Slate , Will Philipps has the firsthand story. For Philipps, the race offered "a unique way to experience a unique place, and hopefully connect with some of the people who live there,...

North, South Korea Exchange Fire

Shells fired across maritime boundary

(Newser) - North and South Korea fired some 800 artillery shells into each other's waters today, in a flare-up of animosity that began with a ... fax. Yonhap reports that the North sent a fax to South Korea's Second Fleet headquarters at 8am local time alerting the nation of its intention...

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