Latest news with #North Korea
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
North Korea bans foreigners from seaside resort weeks after opening
Lavrov hailed the seaside development as a "good tourist attraction", and said he hoped it would become popular among Russians, AFP reported. The two countries are set to launch direct flights between Moscow and Pyongyang by the end of the month. A Russian tour guide previously told NK News that they had planned several more trips to the resort in the coming months. Wonsan, a city along North Korea's east coast, is home to some of the country's missile facilities and a large maritime complex. It's also where Kim spent much of his youth, among holiday villas belonging to the country's elites. The new seaside resort has lined 4km (2.5 miles) of its beachfront with hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and a water park. It has a capacity of some 20,000 people, according to state media. However, since the resort began construction in 2018, human rights groups have protested the alleged mistreatment of its workers. They point to reports of people being forced to work long hours to finish the massive project, under harsh conditions and inadequate compensation. Russian ambassadors attended the resort's completion ceremony on 24 June, along with Kim and his family. Last year, North Korea allowed Russian tourists to visit North Korea after a years-long suspension of tourism during the pandemic. In February, North Korea also started to receive tourists from the West, including Australia, France, Germany and the UK. It abruptly halted tourism weeks later, however, without saying why.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korea bans foreigners from seaside resort weeks after opening
North Korea has announced that its newly opened seaside resort will not be receiving foreign tourists. The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, opened on 1 July, has been touted as a key part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's ambitions to boost tourism. In the lead-up to its opening, the resort was promoted as an attraction for both locals and foreigners. But as of this week, a notice on North Korea's tourism website says that foreigners are "temporarily" not allowed to visit. Last week, the first Russian tourists reportedly arrived at the resort in Wonsan - around the same time that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Kim in the city. Lavrov hailed the seaside development as a "good tourist attraction", and said he hoped it would become popular among Russians, AFP reported. The two countries are set to launch direct flights between Moscow and Pyongyang by the end of the month. A Russian tour guide previously told NK News that they had planned several more trips to the resort in the coming months. Wonsan, a city along North Korea's east coast, is home to some of the country's missile facilities and a large maritime complex. It's also where Kim spent much of his youth, among holiday villas belonging to the country's elites. The new seaside resort has lined 4km (2.5 miles) of its beachfront with hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and a water park. It has a capacity of some 20,000 people, according to state media. However, since the resort began construction in 2018, human rights groups have protested the alleged mistreatment of its workers. They point to reports of people being forced to work long hours to finish the massive project, under harsh conditions and inadequate compensation. Russian ambassadors attended the resort's completion ceremony on 24 June, along with Kim and his family. Last year, North Korea allowed Russian tourists to visit North Korea after a years-long suspension of tourism during the pandemic. In February, North Korea also started to receive tourists from the West, including Australia, France, Germany and the UK. It abruptly halted tourism weeks later, however, without saying why. North Korea's Benidorm-style resort welcomes first Russian tourists North Korea to open beach resort as Kim bets on tourism
ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Lessons from South Korea's security dilemma
South Korea is a test case in how to maintain democracy against sustained pressure from dictatorship. The innovative and entrepreneurial country lives in the shadow of China and Russia, and its capital Seoul lies only 50km from the North Korean border. It hasn't been easy, but the difficulties South Korea faces and the way it deals with them could prove invaluable for other regional neighbours in responding to future economic and military aggression. Journalist Matt Smith has this special report… Guests Dr Troy Lee Brown — Research Fellow, Defense and Security Institute, University of Western Australia Professor Bec Strating — Director, La Trobe Asia and Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University Dr Mike Bosack — Special Advisor for Government Relations, Yokosuka Council for Asia-Pacific Studies Dongkeun Lee — Policy Fellow, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network Dr Duyeon Kim — Adjunct Senior Fellow, Indo-Pacific Security Program, Centre for New American Security
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Rishi Sunak: A 21st-Century Democratic Alliance
The next decade will be one of the most dangerous yet most transformational periods the world has ever seen. Democratic market states must seize this moment and shape it. If they don't, it will be the axis of authoritarian states—China, Russia, Iran and North Korea—that takes advantage of this opportunity. The international order that has existed since the end of the Cold War is gone and won't return. Electorates have rejected it, and its limits have become all too apparent. Technology is transforming the world. Old-fashioned great-power competition is returning. In China the U.S. faces a credible economic, technological and military rival for the first time in 40 years. Economic, security and technology cooperation must go hand in hand in this environment. Neither standard free-trade agreements nor 19th-century-style military alliances are sufficient to the moment. We need to create a partnership that spans all of these areas, and I am delighted to be working with my colleagues at the Hoover Institution on this issue. The U.S. must realize that no country on its own can face down the axis of authoritarian states. But together, democratic market economies can outcompete any rival coalition and deliver peace and prosperity for their people. We can't expect to benefit from our friends' protection if we don't contribute ourselves. Europeans must be willing to make greater sacrifices for our own security. So the keystone of this new partnership must be for everyone to increase defense spending.
Japan Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Ukraine denies North Korea planning to send 30,000 more troops to Russia
Kyiv's military intelligence agency has denied a report that North Korea plans to send up to 30,000 additional troops to Russia in the coming months to aid in Moscow's war in Ukraine. The denial of a CNN report earlier this month citing Ukrainian intelligence and Western security sources came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Pyongyang is ready to "unconditionally support" Moscow's every effort to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday. Lavrov, who wrapped up a three-day visit to North Korea the same day, expressed Moscow's intention to 'further intensify the strategic and tactical cooperation' between the two sides 'in the international arena,' according to KCNA. Pyongyang has provided troops and weapons for Russia's war in Ukraine, and has pledged continued military support as Moscow looks to solidify gains made in recent months — a move that highlights the speed at which bilateral ties have deepened since the nations signed a mutual defense treaty just over a year ago. But the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Directorate of Intelligence told The Japan Times in an emailed statement over the weekend that it 'has no information regarding plans to increase the contingent of the Korean People's Army on the territory of the Russian Federation to 30,000 military personnel in the coming months.' Such a move would almost triple the total number of North Korean soldiers directly supporting Moscow after an estimated 14,000 were sent last year to repel Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region. It would also mark an intensification of the more than 3-year-old conflict that is now stretching across Europe and Asia. Instead, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency confirmed that it believed Pyongyang is preparing to send military engineering units totaling 6,000 military personnel — 1,000 sappers and 5,000 engineering and construction troops — to clear mines and carry out reconstruction work in the Kursk region over the next two months. 'The transfer of these units is planned to be carried out in batches of 1,500 to 3,000 personnel in two or three stages during July and August of this year,' the agency said, revealing details of the deployment for the first time. Also planned is the deployment to Russia of 50 to 100 units of North Korean equipment, including M2010, or Cheonma-D, main battle tanks and BTR-80 armored personnel carriers. This image taken from Korean Central Television on June 29 shows a screen displaying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touching flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers killed fighting Ukrainian forces, during an event attended by Kim and Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova in Pyongyang. | KCTV / VIA AFP-JIJI A deal on the dispatch of those troops was announced by Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in mid-June following talks with Kim in Pyongyang, a meeting Shoigu said was meant to carry out "special instructions" from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The latest developments come as Pyongyang on Sunday slammed a joint aerial exercise recently conducted by the United States, Japan and South Korea that featured several fighter aircraft and at least one U.S. B-52 heavy bomber, marking the aircraft's first deployment to the Korean Peninsula this year. In a separate KCNA report, Pyongyang expressed 'serious concern' over what it views as persistent 'provocative and threatening military actions' by the three countries, and issued a warning of 'grave consequences' should they continue to 'deliberately ignore' North Korea's security concerns. Held Friday over international waters south of Jeju Island to 'strengthen deterrence and response capabilities,' the exercises coincided with a trilateral Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting held in Seoul earlier in the day. 'This year the U.S. is continuously posing a danger to the security environment of our state while renewing the records in the number of deploying strategic strike means on the Korean peninsula and drastically increasing the frequency and scale of joint military drills with its satellite countries,' Pyongyang said, adding that the trilateral military cooperation between Washington, Tokyo and Seoul 'is getting more offensive.'
