Worldcrunch
MORE NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR BOMBAST North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered further nuclear tests to improve attack capabilities, national news agency KCNA reports today. Pyongyang has stepped up its threats and statements boasting about its nuclear capabilities since the U.S. and South Korea initiated joint military exercises on Monday. Today’s statement was made three […]
Switzerland-born globetrotter Olivier Racine does things because he can. He wanted to give the North Korean dictator two gifts from his country, a giant Toblerone chocolate bar and a piece of the Matterhorn mountain. This excerpt from his recently publish
N. KOREA’S NUKE THREAT North Korea has threatened to launch “indiscriminate” nuclear strikes against South Korea and the U.S. as the latter kicks off its annual military drill in the Korean Peninsula today. “If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to a sea of […]
-Analysis- BEIJING — China has always been clear about its “firm opposition” to North Korea“s development of a nuclear weapons program. But as the international community’s negotiation over the issue has stalled, Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear technology. It is a provocation that leaves China little room for diplomatic maneuver. China has carried out […]
KIM JONG-UN RAMPS UP NUCLEAR THREAT Raising his belligerent rhetoric again, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the national military to prepare its nuclear warheads “to be fired at any moment,” Pyongyang’s state-run news agency KCNA reported today. The comments were made as Kim supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers that were […]
U.S., CHINA AGREE ON N. KOREA RESOLUTION The United States and China agreed yesterday on a United Nations draft resolution containing “very tough measures” against North Korea over its nuclear “provocations,” AFP reports. Both countries have bristled at the hubris of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The draft resolution will now be presented to the […]
PYONGYANG — In the Beijing airport, as I was preparing to fly to North Korea, you could practically smell the communism. Traders were checking large, beat-up bags of household items. A family was buying a large appliance in the duty-free shop. The North Koreans were easily identifiable: They were required to wear buttons with portraits […]
Is capitalism coming to Kim Jong-un’s North Korea? According to South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo, North Koreans who got rich thanks to state-backed monopolies are being encouraged by the regime to open small banks across the capital in a bid to boost the free economy. Some of the money-lenders even have installed ATMs, though these […]
TEL AVIV — Israeli Defense Forces are turning their attention to a new front: the war raging in cyberspace. And in an attempt to coordinate what up to now have been disjointed, sometimes overlapping operations, the Israeli military’s chief of staff recently announced the creation of a special cyber unit. The unit will be similar […]
CHINA MARKETS CONTINUE DIVE The Chinese stock market continued to crumble today, with the Shanghai Composite index closing down 7.6% at 2,964.97 points. Japan also saw more sharp falls with Tokyo’s Nikkei index falling 4%, Reuters reports. TYPHOON GONI HITS JAPAN Photo: Yuan Jing/Xinhua/ZUMA Typhoon Goni has made landfall on Japan’s main island of Kyushu, […]
NORTH KOREAN ARMY COMBAT READY North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered full combat readiness for the army after declaring a “quasi-state of war” with South Korea following yesterday’s exchange of fire between the two countries, Yonhap reports. Meanwhile, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has issued orders for the military to retaliate to any provocation […]
IMF CUTS GROWTH PROSPECTSThe International Monetary Fund has sharply cut its global growth forecast of just six months ago, with almost every economy except the United States expected to grow at a slower pace than previously thought, Bloomberg reports. The Washington-based lender said an economic slowdown in China, recession in Russia, and poor prospects in […]
SEOUL — For a long time, China was the only ally of real consequence of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This is no longer the case, as Moscow and Pyongyang have been edging closer together over the past year. Russia’s multiplying contacts on the North Korean spectrum, where it has played a very discrete […]
A visit to North Korea reveals fears about the Internet’s pernicious influence on youth, but also a big push in computer science training. The market economy calls, but ‘social control’ is at risk.
Embargo? Ha! The North Korean leader relies on an entire black-market system dedicated to getting around UN sanctions so he can enjoy the best the West has to sell.
Reports say the North Korean leader has made his slicked-back, shaved-on-the-sides coiff mandatory for young men in his country. Here’s how international VIPs look with Kim Jong hair.
-OpEd- BERLIN — Among the rituals that North Korea’s young dictator Kim Jong-un has embraced is saber rattling. And in the run-up to annual military maneuvers between South Korea and the U.S., he was at it again. He threatened an “unimaginable holocaust” or “catastrophe” that would destroy inter-Korean relations if the traditional army operations went […]
Nostalgia, illness and the pain of missing loved ones pushes some to try to ‘re-defect’ back to North Korea. But Seoul won’t allow it, and the risk of punishment upon their return is huge.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014 DID IRAN STRIKE ISIS IN IRAQ? Iran denied claims made by Al Jazeera and confirmed by the Pentagon that Tehran’s warplanes had launched strikes against ISIS in eastern Iran. Reuters reports that the unnamed senior Iranian official also said that “any cooperation in such strikes with America is also out of […]
Tuesday, December 2, 2014 UKRAINE AND REBELS AGREE ON CEASEFIRE Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian rebels have “agreed in principle” on a “total ceasefire” in the eastern region of Luhansk, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced. According to the OSCE, heavy weapons will start being withdrawn from the region on Dec. 6. Such […]
PYONGYANG — Mounted on the façade of the new Haedanghwa complex is a giant screen broadcasting slick propaganda messages. Just across the way, the “people’s ice rink” glimmers with its wavy modernist roof. On the opposite bank of the Taedong River, a dozen of 50-story-high residential buildings completed last year have helped give this area […]
KHODORKOVSKY FREE Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was freed from prison this morning, after Thursday’s surprise announcement by Vladimir Putin that he would sign a decree pardoning him of his convictions for fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement, Ria Novosti reports. The international cause célèbre spent a total of 3,709 days in prison. ROOF COLLAPSE AT […]
KIM JONG-UN’S UNCLE EXECUTED North Korea’s official news agency KCNA announced that Kim Jong-un’s uncle and mentor, considered the second most powerful man in the country until his recent dismissal, was executed yesterday. Official media branded Jang Song-thaek a “despicable human scum” guilty of leading a “depraved life.” Read the full announcement here. CHEMICAL WEAPONS […]
Haven’t finalized your Halloween costume yet? Don’t worry! Worldcrunch has been browsing the news archives of recent months looking for good ideas, bad puns and other ways to abuse the powers of photoshop. Scary, right…??
After rejections by Austrian and French ski-lift companies, a Swiss competitor was set to supply Pyongyang the means to realize his Alpine fantasy. But then the state stepped in.
Royal baby madness has gripped both Britain and the world, with the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka Will and Kate. The healthy boy, third in line to the throne, was born late Monday afternoon, weighing in at 8 lbs., 6 oz. With photos of the little prince […]
KCNA (North Korea), AP Worldcrunch PYONYANG – U.S. citizen Pae Jun-ho who was recently sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea, has started life a “special prison,” state media said Wednesday. Pae, known in the U.S. as Kenneth Bae, has been detained in North Korea since last November. He was tried on […]
BBC NEWS (UK), UNITED STATES FORCES KOREA, YONHAP (South Korea), REUTERS Worldcrunch SEOUL – As tensions mount on the Korean peninsula, a U.S. helicopter crashed Tuesday near South Korea’s border with the North while conducting routine flight operations. All 21 people aboard the helicopter survived. The exact cause of the crash is not yet known, […]
BEIJING – On April 6, China’s new Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed the North Korean situation on the phone with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Wang made China’s stance quite clear: it will not allow “troublemaking” at its doorsteps. This is the toughest talk to date from the Chinese government, and its intention is clear: to […]
UKRAINE’S PM TO PUSH FOR MORE REGIONAL POWERUkraine’s Interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk pledged to grant regions with more powers, adding that the Parliament should adopt a law allowing local referendums, AP reports. This came as he travelled to the eastern city of Donetsk as an ultimatum for pro-Russian protesters to leave occupied government buildings […]
KCNA (North Korea), YONHAP (South Korea), BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS, AFP Worldcrunch North Korea has warned foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid being dragged into a “thermo-nuclear war” – the latest in a series of provocative declarations that led Japan to deploy Patriot missiles in Tokyo on Tuesday. Here’s a look back at the […]
YONHAP (South Korea), CNN, (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch SEOUL – South Korea has backtracked from an earlier statement that said there was evidence North Korea was preparing for its fourth nuclear test. South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Monday denied earlier suggestions by South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae that a nuclear arms test was imminent in […]
YONHAP (South Korea), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch PYONYANG – North Korea blocked South Korean workers from accessing a jointly operated industrial park on Wednesday. North Korea banned South Korean workers from crossing the border to work at the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, only allowing about 800 South Koreans who stayed overnight at the border town to […]
KNCA (North Korea), YONHAP (South Korea), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch SEOUL – North Korea announced plans on Tuesday to restart a nuclear reactor it had agreed to shut down more than five years ago. Authorities quoted by North Korea’s KCNA news agency said the country had plans to re-open and refurbish all its nuclear facilities, […]
KCNA (North Korea), THE KOREA TIMES (South Korea), AFP, REUTERS Worldcrunch North Korea announced on Tuesday that it had put its artillery and rocket units into “combat posture,” and threatened to attack South Korea and U.S. bases in Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. mainland. The Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army released a statement […]
KOREA TIMES, YONHAP, KOREA INFORMATION SECURITY AGENCY (South Korea), AP Worldcrunch SEOUL – Two banks and three major broadcasting stations in South Korea went into shutdown mode on Wednesday in what is a suspected hacking from North Korea. According to Korean news agency Yonhap, three broadcasters, three banks and two insurance firms reported to the […]
Why has Washington stayed so quiet about South Korean allegations of secret North Korean bank accounts?
UK-GERMANY THREATEN RUSSIA WITH MORE SANCTIONSBritish Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have reached common ground on the issue of the Crimean referendum, scheduled for next Sunday, by saying that Russia faced further consequences if it attempted to legitimize the vote, The Guardian reports. CALIFORNIA HIT BY EARTHQUAKEA magnitude 6.9 earthquake off […]
CNN (USA), REUTERS, AFP, UN PRESS OFFICE Worldcrunch NEW YORK – The United States and China have struck a tentative deal on a draft UN Security Council sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for the nuclear test it conducted last month. A deal, the details of which have not been revealed so far, was agreed […]
BEIJING – It has been several weeks since North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on February 12. The international community has condemned it, and the worry expressed is unprecedented. China, in a very unusual move, summoned the North Korean Ambassador to Beijing the same day. The UN Security Council immediately made a declaration condemning […]