North Korea has strongly criticized former President Donald Trump‘s newly announced missile defense system, calling it a threatening move that could be used for offensive purposes rather than defense. 1333m

According to The Washington Post, the ambitious project, dubbed the “Golden Dome,” was revealed by Trump last week as a multibillion-dollar space-based missile defense system that would utilize satellites and weapons to intercept attacks on the United States.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies called the plan “a typical product of ‘America first,’ the height of self-righteousness, arrogance, high-handed and arbitrary practice,” describing it as “very dangerous” and a threat to security under the guise of a defense system.

Cost estimates reach up to $542 billion for space-based system 2i4f63

The Congressional Budget Office has projected that deploying and operating just the space-based interceptors could cost between $161 billion and $542 billion over the next two decades, while Trump estimates the total system cost at $175 billion. 

Trump announced that the system could be operational within three years, before the end of his second term if elected. The system is designed to intercept missiles launched from anywhere in the world, including space, with funding included in the budget bill currently under Senate consideration.

North Korea, which has been rapidly expanding its weapons arsenal under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, views the Golden Dome as part of a broader U.S. strategy for “unipolar domination” through space-based military infrastructure. The country has been developing missiles capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads to overwhelm existing missile defense systems.

The criticism comes amid increasing military cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea. The U.S. has established Space Force units in both Asian nations and launched a t information system in 2023 for tracking North Korean missile launches. North Korea has consistently opposed these initiatives, viewing them as a threat to regional security and claiming the defense system primarily serves to generate profits for U.S. military contractors.

Some unfortunate North Korean naval officer is about to have a really bad week. Yesterday was supposed to be a golden day for Kim Jong-un, who was all set to preside over a gala ceremony to welcome a shiny new 5,000-tonne destroyer to North Korea’s naval fleet.

Kim and top military officials gathered in the eastern port city of Chongjin yesterday to celebrate the launch of the new ship, doubtless beaming with pride at the accomplishments of his nation’s sailors and engineers.

Then it all went horribly wrong. As the destroyer was launched, it suddenly appeared off balance and tipped over, suffering massive damage to its hull. It soon emerged that the bottom of the warship had been accidentally crushed, leaving it helplessly bobbing on its side in the water.

A North Korean warship launch went wrong in front of Kim Jong Un, leaving the dictator furious, reports The Guardian. The 5,000-ton destroyer tipped during its launch in Chongjin, damaging the hull. Kim called it a “disgrace” and ordered repairs before the next party meeting.… pic.twitter.com/d0cbkXElsG

— NOELREPORTS (@NOELreports) May 22, 2025

As you might expect, Kim was absolutely furious. State-run news channel KCNA reported that he made a “stern assessment”, describing it as a “serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility … and could not be tolerated.” He ordered that the warship must be repaired by next month and that whoever was responsible for this debacle had “brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse”.

In what will make grim reading for whoever’s going to be found responsible, Kim blamed “inexperienced command and operational carelessness” for the accident and vowed that any officials involved would be “dealt with at the plenary meeting of the party central committee”.

Consequences inbound! 4z5n23

So, what does “dealt with” mean in North Korea? Well, last year, there was extensive flooding and landslides that claimed around a thousand lives in the country. Kim promptly ordered the execution of 30 officials for their failure in disaster preparedness, accusing them of corruption and dereliction of duty.

A defector also claimed that if Kim really doesn’t like you, he’ll lash you onto the end of an anti-aircraft gun and open fire: “They were lashed to the end of anti-aircraft guns. Their bodies were blown to bits, totally destroyed, blood and bits flying everywhere. And then after that military tanks moved in and they ran over the bits on the ground where the remains lay.”

All of which means that the sorry individual who’s going to get the blame for this probably won’t be around much longer.

Remote work might be the way of the future but according to the U.S. Department of Justice, that remote IT person at your company could be a North Korean national, and the money you pay him or her might go straight back to their home country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

According to the DOJ, two North Korean nationals, two U.S. Nationals, and one man from Mexico were indicted on Jan. 23 on charges they ran a multiyear “laptop farm” in the United States, through which North Korea‘s Jin Sung-Il and Pak Jin-Song obtained remote IT work with at least 64 U.S. companies, generating nearly $900,000 in revenue for the DPRK while evading sanctions. Erick Ntekereze Prince and Emanuel Ashtor, both from the U.S., and Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes, from Mexico, were also indicted for their role in facilitating the scam.

American laptops, DPRK workers n2g24

According to the DOJ, the five men indicted scammed American companies between 2018 and 2024. The companies provided the laptops, thinking they’d hired American workers, but in fact, the laptops resided in so-called “laptop farms,” in this case, in North Carolina. The DPRK knowingly sends workers to other countries, most often Russia or China, who then get hired as freelance IT workers and remotely access those laptops. A Chinese bank then launders the money they’re paid, directly funding the DPR and the Kim Jong Un regime, including the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction programs.

The DOJ says fraudulent DPRK IT employees have earned up to $300,000 a year, and various “laptop farm” schemes have generated hundreds of millions for North Korea. The hiring companies all provided fake email addresses, social media s, online job site s, and more. The IT workers in this case used stolen or assumed U.S. identities to secure the work.

“The indictments announced today should highlight to all American companies the risk posed by the North Korean government,” the FBI’s Cyber Division’s Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran said, referring to the most recent case, adding, “As always, the FBI is available to assist victims of the DPRK. Please reach out to your local FBI field office should you have any questions or concerns.”

Post-COVID, the problem got worse 45g43

According to John Hultquist, head of threat intelligence at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, the shift to remote work around the world and gig economy jobs in general have left U.S. companies particularly vulnerable to such scams. FBI special agent Jay Greenberg told the AP if your company has hired a remote IT professional, then at some point, it has “more than likely” hired a North Korean national working under an assumed identity.

“At a minimum, the FBI recommends that employers take additional proactive steps with remote IT workers to make it harder for bad actors to hide their identities,” Greenberg said. Cybersecurity expert Hultquist added, “I think the post-COVID world has created a lot more opportunity for them because freelancing and remote hiring are a far more natural part of the business than they were in the past.”

Born on Jan. 8, either in 1982, 1983, or 1984 (bizarrely, nobody truly knows), in Pyongyang, North Korea, Kim Jong-un is a 41, 42, or 43-year-old politician and dictator.

The third son of Kim Jong Il (the second Supreme Leader of North Korea) and one of the many grandchildren of Kim Il Sung (the founder and first Supreme Leader of the country), he has been the third Supreme Leader of North Korea since December 2011 (following his father’s death) and general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. His many additional titles include Marshal and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the State of Affairs Commission, and overall commander-in-chief.

The man referred to in North Korean media as “Dear Leader” is famously private — to the point that his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who was born in 2012 or 2013, wasn’t seen in public until 2022. Still, he’s been front and center of many controversial news stories because of his obsession with missiles and the alleged crimes committed by his nation, believed to include torture, abductions, imprisonment in specially-built camps, and more, reportedly through his instruction and under his leadership. He’s also sent poop-filled balloons across the border to South Korea. Yes, really.

However, Kim’s most ruthless act is systematically executing of former high-ranking North Korean figure Jang Song-taek’s family, as he perceives them to be a threat to his power. It’s alleged that he plans to eradicate all traces of Jang’s family and anyone with a history of ing them.

Despite the occasional insulting back and forth between the misfit pair (Trump called Kim “Little Rocket Man” in 2017, per Politico), Kim has enjoyed something of a “bromance” with United States president-elect Donald Trump (they’re both horrible after all). Per The Guardian, they wrote each other letters during Trump’s first presidency, with the orange one saying, “He wrote me beautiful letters and we fell in love,” and, per CNN, Trump recently claimed North Korea’s leader had missed him while he’d been away.

Trump has a net worth of around $8 billion, according to Celebrity Net Worth, but how does that compare to his North Korean pen pal?

What is Kim Jong-un’s net worth? 2s5n1f

Celebrity Net Worth shows Kim Jong-un’s net worth is $5 billion, making him $1 billion wealthier than his father. However, given how egotistical he is, we bet the fact Trump has a higher net worth than him grates on him tremendously.

Propaganda around Supreme Leaders is rife in North Korea. Per CBS, Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong Il, is said to have had a divine birth, learned to walk at the age of three weeks, learned to talk by the age of eight weeks, wrote 1,500 books and six operas in his three years at university, shot an unprecedented (and frankly impossible) 38-under par round on North Korea’s only golf course the first time he picked up a golf club (including 11 holes-in-one), and has no need to defecate. With all that in mind, it is bordering on miraculous that Kim Jong-un hasn’t convinced the planet he’s the wealthiest man on it.

North Korea, led by the chubby demigod-pretend with a bad haircut, has once again managed to grab headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Whether it’s threatening global stability with nuclear tests or broadcasting state TV specials that showcase Kim’s apparent supernatural ability to control the weather, North Korea never fails to astonish the world with its flair for the theatrical. However, this latest incident marks a new low for the attention-craving kingdom.

Through air raids, it has begun sending balloons filled with actual feces across the border into South Korea. Yes, you read that right – flying poop. South Korean authorities have warned residents to steer clear of these stinky missiles, lest they find themselves covered in the stench of Dear Leader’s displeasure.

Beyond the unmistakable poop payloads, the balloons are reportedly filled with used batteries, dismembered shoe parts, bottles, wastepaper, and more. The aerial litter has affected eight out of nine provinces, with the government warning South Korean citizens to avoid with the debris due to health hazards.

But why resort to such a disgusting tactic? 676g55

It turns out this fecal fiasco is actually retaliation for a stunt pulled by South Korean activists earlier this month. These balloons were filled with something far more dangerous to the North Korean dictator’s delicate sensibilities: leaflets criticizing his regime and pen drives loaded with the ultimate weapon of mass rebellion– K-pop. Kim Jong-un’s regime has famously gone to extreme lengths to insulate its population from foreign influences, particularly from the South.  

Technically, the two Koreas are still at war, and the balloon battles are just one of the many strange ways this conflict continues to play out. In 2016, DPRK sent over balloons carrying cigarette butts and other trash, apparently in retaliation for South Korea’s decision to blast K-pop songs across the border via loudspeaker. In 2020, reports surfaced that North Korea introduced a sweeping new law against what it calls “reactionary thought.” Under this law, anyone caught with South Korean entertainment could face severe penalties, including lengthy prison or even the death penalty.

Indeed, Kim is so insecure that he can’t handle the idea of his citizens getting a glimpse of the outside world. But sooner or later, the truth will come out, and when it does, all the poop-flinging in the world won’t be enough to save Kim. The people of North Korea deserve better than a leader who would rather engage in petty fights than provide them with basic freedoms and opportunities.

The world was a very different place after World War II. The Allies, including Europe and the United States, were forced to carve out territory between the communist states of China and the massive U.S.S.R. This action meant that Korea would be cut in half along the 38th parallel, with Russians occupying the North and the United States in the South. Eventually the North invaded the South, and the Korean War began. But what was its conclusion?

The Korean War is also known as “the forgotten war,” because it never really got much attention in the States. In fact, most people knew about it because of the hit TV show M*A*S*H, a show set in a field hospital at the time. The war lasted from 1950 to 1953, and despite its relatively short run, it was incredibly vicious and more than 3 million people died, the majority of which were civilians, including thousands of women and children.

By 1950, the two new states were officially known as North Korea and South Korea. The North was led by communist dictator Kim II Sung, and the South was led by Syngman Rhee, a dictator as well, although an anti-Communist one, which the Americans begrudgingly ed. This was also the period of the Cold War, when the United States and the U.S.S.R held a kind of shadow war that avoided an all-out conflict that would surely lead to World War III.

There were border skirmishes pretty regularly, and almost 10,000 soldiers were killed on each side before the war even began. Still, no one expected the North to actually invade the South. The conflict was viewed as an existential one to the United States; if it sat by and did nothing, the line of thinking was that Russia would systematically gobble up country after country and turn the whole world Communist.

President Harry Truman saw the battle as a global fight between good and evil. When North Korea pushed its way into Seoul, the capital of the South, in June of 1950, America decided to get militarily involved. The plan was to simply oust the North, but it was not an easy battle by any measure, as the North Korean army was surprisingly well-trained and very disciplined, and the Southern armies were pretty much the opposite.

To make matters more difficult, 1950 marked one of the hottest summers ever in the area, and American soldiers were ravaged by diseases because they often drank the water from rice paddies, which were contaminated with human feces. At the end of the summer, Truman and his appointed commander in charge of the war, General Douglas MacArthur, decided to switch tactics. This was now an offensive war with a plan to liberate the North from Communist rule.

The Americans were successful, at first. They pushed the North back beyond the 38th parallel, but when they headed North, China got involved. By October 1950, Chinese leader Mao Zedong sent Chinese troops to North Korea and told the United states to keep away from the Chinese border or else there would be a full-scale war. A large war probably meant atomic weapons and the death of countless millions, so Truman backed off while MacArthur tried to convince everyone that war with China was a good idea. After MacArthur leaked a letter to the press saying there is “no substitute for victory,” Truman fired him for insubordination.

By July of 1951, Truman was involved with peace talks as the fighting along the parallel continued. The two sides agreed to a ceasefire but couldn’t agree on what to do with the prisoners of war, so the negotiations stalled and the war reached a stalemate. Then Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected.

 “We could not stand forever on a static front and continue to accept casualties without any visible results,” President-elect Eisenhower said on Dec of 1952. “Small attacks on small hills would not end this war.” Still, the war dragged on.

Eventually, after negotiating for more than two years, an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953 – effectively ending the war. Under the of the agreement, POWs could either leave or stay where they were, and a new boundary was created that gave South Korea more than 1,500 square miles. It also created the fabled 2-mile demilitarized zone, which continues to exist today.

On the face of things, China entering the Korean War in 1950 was a strange move from the Communist nation.

Mao Zedong had just overseen a brutal and blood-drenched civil war in China, and many of his soldiers had been away from home for years. A large number of the fighters were also in the middle of being demobilized, making it even stranger that they would then be asked to head back to the battlefield. Plus, action in Korea meant taking on the might of the U.S., who just a few years previously had levelled Nagisaki and Hiroshima with nuclear weapons, and were without a doubt the richest country on Earth with the most advanced military.

However, there were plenty of great reasons as to why Mao wouldn’t have wanted North Korea to fall, hence China’s for the small Communist nation. If you want a quick history lesson on why China entered the Korean War, then read ahead!

The geopolitical realities of China’s border 3g6o1z

China is a massive, diverse country, which means a very long border that needs to be secured. While much of the country is surrounded by mountains and other inhospitable terrain, there are many locations that improvements in technology have turned from difficult places to mount an invasion from into much easier places to launch an attack from.

This is one of the reasons the Chinese are so intent on keeping Tibet as their own: Tibet is vital to stop India (and other countries) from potentially breaching Chinese safety, and claiming even more land. And, the southern border with Korea is pretty much entirely defined by the Yalu and Tumen Rivers, which while quite large and occasionally raging are still not the same problem for a modern army as they were for ones on horseback. So, with U.S. troops pushing so close to that all-important border, securing it was of the utmost interest.

If South Koreans (which, for China, also meant American armed forces, as the nation was backed by the U.S.) had their border that close, China would have had to be on high alert at all times, as in the minds of Mao and other prominent Communists, the Americans wanted nothing more to invade China. So, having a friendly buffer state like North Korea was considered a priority. This is still true today, and as a result China is by far the biggest importer of North Korean goods and services, some of which includes what is effectively slave labor.

Maintaining a sphere of influence 124v4j

In the current context of global relations, China is a dominant world power. They are also heavily involved in the region around them, partly thanks to their military might, but also because of the money they spend on investment projects in nearby nations. But back in 1950, they were just beginning to find their footing, even with their huge population and the large amount of natural resources in the country that can be found and exploited.

This hadn’t always been true, but Chinese power had definitely waned in the years since the British had arrived. As a result, many nearby countries were aligned with the U.S. and other capitalist states, including what was then known as French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, and much of Southeast Asia today), and Japan was effectively a U.S. puppet state at that point, too. Plus, despite both being Communist nations, Mao and China weren’t particularly friendly with Stalin and the USSR. So, in many ways, they were very alone.

The intervention in Korea from China was somewhat caused by these circumstances, as well as a desire to avoid the U.S policy of “rollback” (the notion that the Americans should stop the spread of Communism and encourage newly communist states to go back to being capitalist).

A show of strength 5f5z24

Having just won the Chinese Civil War, Mao and his Communist Party were keen to show that they were the legitimate rulers of China, and couldn’t be messed with. At the time, many global powers considered the ROC (who were operating out of Taiwan) to be the real leaders of China, making it even more vital to Mao that he could prove his country wouldn’t be taken lightly and could defend itself.

Political intrigue with the USSR 3a1z2v

While relations between China and the USSR weren’t as frosty back then as they later became, there wasn’t really that much love lost between the two large Communist countries. However, they both had a shared interest in seeing North Korea remain under the ideology, and possibly even take the South too.

While Stalin was said to have been adamant that his troops wouldn’t engage the Americans directly on land, that left some room for his maneuvering. Mao pushed for as much as possible, recognizing that China was in desperate need of the help. The Chinese politician asked for assistance via supplying weapons and even a volunteer airforce to both go into Korea and protect the largest Chinese cities from air bombings.

Stalin and Moscow remained noncommittal, as they were worried about provoking America into a real war with China. Although in public Mao claimed he’d made no decision, secretly he had already decided to send his troops into the Korean peninsula. This pretend lack of action forced Stalin’s hand, ending with him sending a telegram to Mao that urged the Chinese leader to enter the war, regardless of consequences. Mao later did this, but ended up unsatisfied with the paltry help that Stalin ended up offering. So, despite both sides being hesitant about the war for themselves, China ended up fighting hard.

Communist ideology 1b384p

While it’s tempting to believe that China jumped into the Korean War thanks to some deep seated need to save Communism as an ideology, that notion gives far too much power to the idea of Communism as a whole. While China undoubtedly wanted a nation with similar politics on its doorstep, the most pressing reasons for entering the war were for its own safety, not some high-minded ideological stance.

Of course, Communism as it was practiced by the USSR and China was expansionist in its nature, but there is no chance that Mao would have sent his already battered and tired troops to yet another frontline just for the sake of an idea. It might have been the fuel for some of the decisions made, and on the frontline there were likely soldiers who were fighting for their ideological comrades, but all in all, the above reasons are more realistic when you’re trying to answer why China ed the Korean War.

Marjorie Taylor Greene just keeps one-upping herself.

It seems there’s no topic on the planet that’s off-limits to the human embodiment of menstrual cramps — even those she’s embarrassingly uninformed on. Like North Korea, which she recently brought up in an interview that quickly saw her blasted as “deranged,” and her claim classified the “DUMBEST statement from an elected official” the internet’s heard in awhile.

See, it seems Marj is under the impression that Trump, in all his unhinged glory, somehow used his broad shoulders and oversized suits to force Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, to step down. Something that absolutely has not happened, and never came close to happening.

In reality, former President Trump meandered over to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea back in 2019 for a photo op. The visit accomplished exactly nothing — other than the de-escalation of an online feud Trump started. Sure, Kim Jong Un prompted it with those missile tests, but the first shots fired online definitely came from our own former president.

Dubbing the North Korean leader “Little Rocket Man,” Trump continued to dig in his heels for months, before finally meeting with Kim Jong Un in first 2018, and then 2019. It is the 2019 meeting that Greene referenced in her latest embarrassing public statement, when she claimed Trump “gave shock and awe to the whole world” when he entered North Korea, “hand extended, shaking hands with Kim Jong Un, ending Little Rocket Man’s reign.”

Someone should really step up and give good ol’ Marj a quick lesson in global politics — or at least in how to read a newspaper — but honestly, who’s going to volunteer for that monumental task? Instead, we can sit pretty with the extremely accessible, widespread knowledge that Kim Jong Un is still the Supreme Leader of North Korea, just as he’s been since 2011.

Greene, meanwhile, will continue to spread misinformation like its COVID-19, without a care for actual fact-checking or accuracy. The internet will continue to blast her for the brainless dolt she is, and — even as she somehow hangs onto ers — I’ll enjoy the unique pleasure of reporting on the third dumbest politician in the United States.

In an unprecedented move, the media of North Korea was permitted to publish photos of Kim Jong Un’s daughter. What has heads spinning is what it means for the dictator, and who just might be stepping up to take his place when he takes leave of his office.

Kim has kept his life very private and learning details about it have taken investigative work on the level of Sherlock Holmes himself. In 2012, The Korea Herald broke the story that the “mysterious” woman flanking Kim at a ceremony had been identified as his wife, Ri Sol Ju. After that, it took the likes of Dennis Rodman to visit North Korea and sit on the beach with Kim for the world to learn that he has one daughter, Ju Ae, according to The Guardian. Experts are still wondering if she’s the daughter in the photos since the North Korean leader has three kids that were born in 2010, 2013, and 2017.

Leif-Eric Easley is a professor at Ewha University in Seoul who told AP, “It’s much too soon to infer anything about succession within the Kim regime. However, publicly including his wife and daughter in what Kim claims as a historically successful missile test associates the family business of ruling North Korea with the nation’s missile programs.”

While it’s largely speculated that Kim’s move might be to start the process of introducing his heir to the world, some think he might just be attempting to appear more of a family-oriented leader. Nothing says North Korea better than a missile flying overhead as the photographer shoots these special family moments.