Pyongyang issues 50,000 word report hitting back at international criticism of its human rights record, accusing the west of ‘false and reactionary’ agenda to interfere with state sovereignty. #457356303 / gettyimages.com By Maeve Shearlaw, The Guardian. North Korea has published a 50,000-word report hitting back at international criticism of restrictions on freedoms in the country and…

 

When the isolated country hosted dozens of reporters, athletes and minor celebrities at its International Pro-Wrestling Contest in Pyongyang at the weekend, opinions on the experience were mixed to say the least. We took a look at the coverage. #453894502 / gettyimages.com By Maeve Shearlaw, The Guardian Pyongyang is recovering from its International Pro-Wrestling Contest…

 

Last week I wrote about the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations on U.S. carriers or aircraft using North Korean airspace. They prohibit flight in most of the skies controlled by Pyongyang but allow it — with caution — in a portion east of 132 degrees East latitude. The ban is in place because of North…

 

The shooting down of MH17 over Ukraine has raised awareness of a series of restrictions the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has placed on aircraft operating around the world, including over North Korea. North Korean airspace extends well beyond the land borders of the country to include a large portion of the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and,…

 

The United States and several other nations have written to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) over North Korea’s failure to notify it of missile launches. Over the past couple of weeks, short and medium-range missile have been fired by North Korea into the sea to the east of the country on a handful of occasions. Each launch took place without a standard…

 

Singaporean photographer Aram Pan, who previously provided several stunning panorama shots and a GoPro video of Pyongyang, has posted his latest two photographs and they’re big. The images are wide-angle panorama shots with lots of detail. The first appears to have been taken from the top of the Tower of the Juche Idea, looking west towards…

 

When the U.K.’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office released details of its North Korean program spending recently, some eyes were immediately drawn to the £287.33 the government paid for rights to show the BBC’s Sherlock at the Pyongyang Film Festival in 2012. Never mind that it had been reported at the time, it got all the attention.…

 

North Korea has taken its outrage over a new Hollywood movie to the United Nations. Ja Song Nam, the country’s ambassador to the U.N., sent a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on June 27 with a copy of a Korean Central News Agency article that expressed displeasure at “The Interview,” a movie by…

 

With Japan and North Korea starting to talk again about the abductee issue, there’s a possibility that Japan could lift some of the travel restrictions it currently places on travel between the two countries. That could include a resumption of sailings by the Mangyongbong-92, a passenger and cargo ferry that used to travel between Niigata and Wonsan.…

 

A visit to North Korea by the executive director of the UN World Food Programme this week has provided a glimpse inside a handful of state-run establishments that care for babies and new mothers. The pictures, shot by the WFP on May 20, showed several stops on the visit by Ertharin Cousin, which lasted from May…