Kim Ki-nam was known as ‘the North Korean Goebbels’ in the South due to his role as head of propaganda department Kim Ki-nam, the propaganda chief who served all three generations of North Korean leaders and cemented their political legitimacy, has died, official media have said. Kim Ki-nam died on Tuesday aged 94 from multiple organ failure, official KCNA news agency reported ..read more

South Dakota governor says she met North Korean dictator in same book in which she describes killing her dog The South Dakota governor, Republican vice-presidential hopeful and self-confessed dog-killer Kristi Noem’s bizarre claim in a new book to have met the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has been dismissed by experts as “dubious” and not “conceivable”. The Dakota Scout first reported Noem’s claim, which is in her forthcoming book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward ..read more

Report to United Nations security council says remnants of Hwasong-11 violate arms export embargo on Russian ally The debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on 2 January was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, UN sanctions monitors told a security council committee in a report seen by Reuters. In the 32-page report, the UN sanctions monitors concluded that “debris recovered from a missile that landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 2 January 2024 derives from a DPRK Hwasong-11 series missile” and is in violation of the arms embargo on North Korea ..read more

A song aired on North Korean state television shows jubilant citizens hailing Kim Jong-un as their 'friendly father', with people of different ages and backgrounds singing Kim's praises. The song was released after the leader inaugurated a new residential development ..read more

Kim Jong-un’s selected few are ‘100% satisfied’ but find a country steeped in hopelessness under sanctions Gliding down pristine, untouched mountain runs, Olga Shpalok said she was “getting 100% satisfaction”. After a full day of skiing, the Russian designer from Vladivostok wound down with a visit to her hotel’s well-equipped spa and sauna ..read more

Roger Newman Turner says North Korea has the right idea blurring jeans, and calls skinny ones an abomination. John Bailey thinks they probably forgot who made them When it comes to Alan Titchmarsh’s jeans, I’m with North Korea (Alan Titchmarsh’s jeans blurred by North Korean TV censors, 26 March). It’s not so much the US imperialism that they may or may not symbolise, but the abomination of skinny jeans, one of the most impractical and idiotic of men’s fashions. (To say nothing of the torn jeans that Titchmarsh appears to be wearing in your photo of him with Charlie Dimmock in the print editio ..read more

Ukraine’s foreign minister calls veto ‘guilty plea’ amid claims Pyongyang is aiding Moscow’s war against Kyiv Russia has blocked the renewal of a UN panel monitoring sanctions against North Korea, weeks after the body said it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang. The move was met with a flurry of criticism, including by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who took to social media to call the veto “a guilty plea” amid allegations that Pyongyang is aiding Moscow in its war against Kyiv ..read more

His calm demeanour and wholesome vocation have apparently endeared him to one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. But there is something about Alan Titchmarsh that North Korea’s censors can’t quite forgive – his jeans. The green-fingered broadcaster and author of raunchy novels has been a fixture on state television since 2022, albeit with the addition of a blurred effect from the waist down. By wearing jeans to potter about in Britain’s gardens in his BBC TV series Garden Secrets, Titchmarsh, 74, fell foul of a North Korean ban on the garments, which the regime has forbidden since ..read more

Footage of green-fingered BBC presenter obscured from waist down to hide ‘symbol of US imperialism’ His calm demeanour and wholesome vocation have apparently endeared him to one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. But there is something about Alan Titchmarsh that North Korea’s censors can’t quite forgive – his jeans. The green-fingered broadcaster and author of raunchy novels has been a fixture on state television since 2022, albeit with the addition of a blurred effect from the waist down ..read more

Last-minute decision on Tuesday’s match leaves football bodies searching for alternative venue North Korea has abruptly cancelled its 2026 World Cup qualifying match with Japan next week, leaving organisers frantically searching for an alternative venue. North Korea reportedly decided it would no longer host the match, which had been scheduled for next Tuesday at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang, a day before the teams met in Tokyo on Thursday in the first of their two Asian qualifying Group B qualifiers ..read more