Daily NK

4 weeks ago | dailynk.com | Lee Sang Yong |Hwang Hyun-uk

North Korea’s cyber capabilities have evolved dramatically in recent years, progressing beyond simple hacking to encompass public opinion manipulation, military technology theft, and cryptocurrency mining. The country increasingly deploys IT workers in sophisticated “asymmetric operations” that face few geographic or temporal constraints and are difficult to trace. The regime recently established the “227 Research Center” under the Reconnaissance General Bureau of the Korean People’s Army.

4 weeks ago | dailynk.com | Lee Sang Yong |Lee Sang-yong

North Korea began selecting workers and technicians in early March for reconstruction projects in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including the Donbas region. These labor assignments, already agreed upon with Russia, appear designed to earn foreign currency while strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. A source in North Korea told Daily NK recently that the country is reviewing plans to send groups of 1,000–2,000 workers for Ukrainian reconstruction projects.

1 month ago | dailynk.com | Lee Sang Yong |Lee Sang-yong

As the Trump administration pushes to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, North Korean officials are developing plans to maintain a military alliance with Russia even after the conflict concludes. A North Korean source told Daily NK recently that Pyongyang’s position is that its military strategy isn’t influenced by specific events. This stance suggests that North Korea fundamentally intends to continue developing its military alliance with Russia.

2 months ago | dailynk.com | Lee Sang Yong |Hwang Hyun-uk

“Work harder, pay more, keep less” – this is the grinding reality for North Korean workers in Chinese factories, where a complex web of state quotas and mandatory contributions strips away their wages despite Pyongyang’s hollow promises of worker protection. In frigid seafood processing plants along China’s northeastern coast, women laborers watch their monthly earnings evaporate into an ever-growing list of state demands, leaving them barely enough to survive.

2 months ago | dailynk.com | Mun Dong Hui

North Korea has launched a smartphone app called “Health 3.0” that allows users to order and receive home delivery of medication and health products, Daily NK has learned. The app, which Daily NK recently obtained, advertises “free delivery services for medical items” to both mobile subscribers and non-subscribers, promising to “smoothly satisfy the people’s demands for pharmaceuticals.”Notably, the app functions even without network connectivity.