North Korea Financial News

By Cynthia Kim, Josh Smith and Jack Kim

2024 with a fireworks display in Auckland on Monday. The fireworks illuminated the cloudy night sky and were accompanied by a laser light and animation show. Here's how some other places and people around the world were bidding farewell to 2023 and welcoming the New Year.

Kim Jong Un wrapped the year with fresh threats of a nuclear attack on Seoul and orders for a military arsenal build-up to prepare for a war that can «break out at any time» on the peninsula, state media reported Sunday. Kim lambasted the United States during a lengthy speech at the end of five days of year-end party meetings that set his country's military, political, and economic policy decisions for 2024. The meeting announced plans for further military development in the coming year, including launching three more spy satellites, building unmanned drones and developing electronic warfare capabilities, as well as strengthening nuclear and missile forces, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Pyongyang this year successfully launched a reconnaissance satellite, enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution, and test-fired the most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in its arsenal. At the meeting that ended Saturday, Kim accused the United States of posing «various types of military threat» and ordered his armed forces to maintain «overwhelming war response capability», according to KCNA. It is a «fait accompli that a war can break out at any time on the Korean peninsula due to reckless moves by the enemies to invade us», Kim said. In an effort to deter Pyongyang, Washington earlier this month deployed a nuclear-powered submarine in the South Korean port city of Busan, and flew its long-range bombers in drills with Seoul and Tokyo. The North has previously described the deployment of Washington's strategic weapons — such as B-52 bombers — in joint drills on the Korean peninsula as the «intentional nuclear war provocative moves». «We must respond quickly to a

Korean automaker is anticipated to take the lead by announcing the price launch of the 2024 Sonet facelift among its popular models. Deliveries for this SUV are expected to commence in mid-January, with the pricing details likely to be disclosed by the second week of the month. Bookings for the new Sonet began earlier this month, requiring a deposit of ₹25,000.

South Korea’s top court has ordered a third Japanese company to compensate some of its former wartime Korean employees for forced labor

South Korea's defense minister said, amid suspicions that the North may use it as a new source of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. Concerns about North Korea's nuclear program deepened recently as the UN atomic agency and foreign experts said they've detected signs indicating that North Korea had begun operating its light-water reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said last week that his agency had observed increased levels of activity at and near the reactor and since mid-October, a strong water outflow from its cooling system.

Major bug bounty and security services platform Immunefi published a report detailing the loss of funds due to hacks and fraud in the Web3 ecosystem this year – and what might await in the next.

Bitcoin SV (BSV), a cryptocurrency fork of Bitcoin, has experienced a notable surge of 65% within the past 24 hours, with Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange, emerging as the focal point for trading activity.

A South Korean court has released a media mogul and business executive on bail as a probe into market manipulation and insider trading at the crypto exchange Bithumb continues.

China has launched its first automated digital yuan wallet-opening machine for overseas passport holders.

By Hyonhee Shin

BEIJING (Reuters) — Giant Christmas trees adorned with lights, tinsel and gift boxes greet shoppers at glittering malls in big Chinese cities like Shanghai and Chongqing, but in many parts of China, extending season's greetings is out of the question.

war isn't just looming over Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine. Nope, they're spreading like wildfire, hitting everywhere from Afghanistan to Yemen, Africa to Southeast Asia.

all-new Creta was spotted testing in Shimla. This generates buzz among the SUV enthusiasts and reveals some of the alleged spotted Creta facelift. Reportedly, the new Hyundai Creta was spotted wrapped in black camouflage.

Japan on Friday finalised its record 7.7 trillion yen ($54.25 billion) defence budget for fiscal 2024, the second consecutive year in which the country increased defence spending by about a trillion yen from the previous year. The approved budget keeps Japan on track to boost military spending by 43 trillion yen over five years as it seeks to bolster defences in a complex security environment with an increasingly assertive China and unpredictable North Korea. The 2024 budget for the year starting April represents an increase of about 17% from the previous year's spending of 6.6 trillion yen. It includes over 200 billion yen to strengthen cyber capability as well as funding to start building ballistic missile defence warships with Aegis combat systems, the defence ministry said, estimating the cost per vessel at about 400 billion yen. A collapse in the yen has complicated Japan's defence build-up, sources previously told Reuters, forcing the government to initially reduce its defence procurement plan as the currency has lost 10% of its value against the U.S.

Beaming at every turn, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un toured the jewels of Russia’s military industries in September. A guest of President Vladimir Putin, he gawked at the plant making Su-35 jet fighters, inspected a Russian Navy frigate and examined the Kinzhal missiles at the Vostochny spaceport. Soon thereafter, trainloads of North Korean artillery shells started rolling to Russian troops in Ukraine—by American calculations, as many as one million munitions, or roughly three times what European nations had been able to supply in a whole year.

South Korea’s top court has ordered two Japanese companies to financially compensate more of their wartime Korean workers for forced labor

Gyeongseong Creature, an original South Korean series, is set to hit screens in two parts. Part 1, which has 7 episodes, is scheduled for release on December 22, 2023, with Part 2 with 3 episodes following on January 5, 2024. Both the parts will be available on the streaming platform at 12:00 a.m. PT/3:00 a.m. ET.

The frenzied adoration of South Korean retail traders for everything EV battery-related has sparked a meteoric rally of one cathode producer, making it the world’s best-performing stock this year. 

Could there be a fresh twist in Ford’s tryst with India? A buzz has risen after reports surfaced of the US-based carmaker’s decision to cancel the planned sale of its Chennai facility to the JSW group that was in an advanced stage of talks. One may be inclined to think this is on account of negotiations breaking down.

industry by storm. Handsets with on-device GenAI capabilities are set to cross 100-million shipments in 2024 and reach 552 million units by 2027, accounting for 40% of the global market, a report by Counterpoint Research has said. “The share of GenAI smartphones in the overall smartphone market will be in single digits through next year.