PYONGYANG, August 25, 2025 — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un awarded top state honors to Korean People’s Army troops involved in undisclosed overseas military operations, state media reported on Sunday. At a ceremony in Pyongyang, Kim presented medals, including the “Hero of the DPRK” title, to soldiers and posthumously honored those killed, while meeting their...
Introduction North Korea’s stability under Kim Jong-Un has long been portrayed by Pyongyang as unshakeable. Yet beneath the rigid control and militant pageantry, cracks have emerged within the ruling apparatus. Recent intelligence leaks and defectors’ reports suggest that Kim’s grip on power is far more tenuous than publicly acknowledged, rooted in paranoia, bloody purges,...
North Korea, long shrouded in mystery and menace, made a series of clandestine military sales, rapidly eroding its ability to sustain a military campaign against South Korea, according to multi-source analysis. A once self-reliant military power with a million-strong standing army and elite shock troops, the Hermit Kingdom is liquidating its war-fighting capacity in exchange...
In recent years, a growing number of Chinese state-linked industrial and energy corporations have quietly been leasing production capacity—ammunition, COTS production, and logistical facilities—to countries under sanctions, including Russia and North Korea. These deals, often shrouded in bureaucratic opacity, illustrate how Beijing’s reach extends far beyond public diplomacy, embedding strategic economic partnerships that sidestep Western...