Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong-un will attend a military parade in Beijing, marking the first public appearance of the two leaders alongside President Xi Jinping in a show of collective defiance amidst Western pressure. No Western leaders will be amongst the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending the parade next week except for Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia, a European Union member state, according to the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday. Against the backdrop of China's growing military might during the "Victory Day" parade on September 3, the three leaders will project a...

Donald Trump’s first budget recommendations help pay for a bigger military with lower expenditures for other promised programs. His recommendations for infrastructure disappointed local officials across the nation, and his plan to revive Nevada’s Yucca Mountain also received limited funds. Trump’s plan calls for $1.5 trillion in infrastructure projects, with just $200 billion supplied by the federal government. It was widely assumed, including in conservative circles, that the program would force local governments to raise taxes. In the Unification Church publication Washington Times, economist Peter Morici wrote, President Trump’s infrastructure plan puts a heavy burden on the states and will...

The British government sought on Tuesday to limit the information it would disclose at a planned inquest into the death of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former officer in the K.G.B. who succumbed to radiation poisoning in London more than six years ago. The coroner hearing the case said that it may now be postponed. “Due to the complexity of the investigation which necessarily precedes the hearings,” the coroner, Sir Robert Owen, said, “it may not be possible to adhere” to the planned May 1 start date for the hearings. The inquest would be the first — and probably the only...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has paid an emotional tribute to soldiers killed while fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine, saying his ‘heart aches’ in a rare admission of military losses. Kim made the comments on Thursday at a ceremony in Pyongyang, where he met with commanders of a unit that had fought for Russia in the western Kursk region, according to North Korean state media KCNA. He praised them as “a heroic army,” with state media photos showing Kim pinning commendation badges on soldiers’ uniforms. Photos released by KCNA also showed Kim pinning badges on the...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has awarded medals to his returning and fallen troops, who fought for Russia in the war against Ukraine, as he held an emotional meeting with the families of soldiers killed on the battlefield, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “The combat activities of overseas operational forces … proved without regret the power of the heroic [North Korean] army,” and that the “liberation of Kursk” proved the “fighting spirit of the heroes”, KCNA reported on Friday, quoting Kim. “Our army is now doing what it ought to do and what needs to...

Shenghua Wen, 42, received around $2 million (€1.7 million) from North Korean officials to ship firearms and ammunition from California. A Chinese national in California has been sentenced to eight years in prison for shipping firearms and ammunition to North Korea. North Korean officials paid Shenghua Wen around $2 million (€1.7 million) to ship two containers of weapons and other items from Long Beach in California to North Korea via Hong Kong in 2023, according to the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. The 42-year-old pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic...

Paul Craig Roberts and the Certifiable Right By Ben Johnson FrontPageMagazine.com | March 17, 2006 Quick – what columnist alleged in an article Thursday that President “Bush intends to attack Iran and that he will use every means to bring war about?” That Bush has used “bribery and coercion” to block “every effort to bring the dispute to a peaceful end”? That “in order to gain a pretext for attacking Iran,” he and a “’black opts’ [sic.] group will orchestrate [an] attack” on U.S. soil? One would never expect to hear the author is “chairman of the Institute for Political...

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed on Tuesday that a trilateral meeting between the presidents of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine – Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelensky, respectively – might happen sometime in the future. Speaking at a press conference, Leavitt explained that the upcoming meeting in Alaska would be between Trump and Putin only as it was the president of Russia who invited his US counterpart to an in-person encounter through Washington's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. She underscored that Trump's goal is to "walk away with a better understanding" of how...

Russian President Vladimir Putin shared the information on his upcoming meeting with his United States counterpart Donald Trump in a telephone call with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, the Kremlin announced on Tuesday. According to the Kremlin's statement, Putin and Kim discussed the bilateral relations between their countries and their comprehensive agreements. Putin also thanked Kim for North Korea's help in what was described as the liberation of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian military. More to come...

At North Korea’s new beach resort, the white sand glistened against the crystal-clear waters. Ten minutes of Wi-Fi cost $1.70. Food arrived in abundance, albeit with the same three beverage choices: water, tea or beer. The weeklong trip cost roughly $2,000. The catch? All travelers had to be Russian. Welcome to North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma coastal complex, a megaresort built by the regime to portray the country as modern and affluent. It is opening to foreign vacationers for the first time, as part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s drive to attract more tourism to his cash-strapped country and...

Donald Trump, the US president, is preparing “shock and awe” sanctions on Russian exports, a senior Republican has said. Senator Jim Risch, the chairman of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee, said Mr Trump would make good on his pledge to impose crippling economic penalties on Moscow’s trading partners by Aug 8. The US president this week shortened his deadline for hitting Russia with the most severe sanctions on its oil experts to date, giving Vladimir Putin 10 days to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine. “When and if secondary sanctions hit, it’s going to be shock...

The famous DataRepublican data analyst dropped damaging information she had gathered about Code Pink's connections to the communist Chinese government after the group threatened legal action against her. The database kernel engineer, whose real name is Jennica Pounds, said Wednesday on social media that the group sent her a message accusing her of libel. "We are writing to formally address and correct the false and defamatory statements made in your recent social media posts regarding CODEPINK," the group reportedly wrote. "These claims — which falsely allege that our organization is funded by China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or any...

Russia and China's foreign ministers on Sunday discussed their relations with the United States and the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine, Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Beijing on Sunday. Lavrov is due to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) foreign ministers in China. "The parties also discussed relations with the United States and prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis," the foreign ministry said. "The importance of strengthening close coordination between the two countries in the international arena, including in...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where he described the two nations' relations as "an invincible fighting brotherhood", Russia's foreign ministry said. The ministry quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit represented the continuation of "strategic dialogue" between the two sides inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last year. In a message passed on by Lavrov, Putin said that he hoped for more direct contacts in future, TASS news agency reported. Lavrov, the ministry said, also thanked North Korea for the troops...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew to North Korea’s eastern Wonsan city on Friday for a meeting with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui. Relations between Russia and North Korea have been flourishing in recent years, with North Korea supplying troops and ammunitions to support Russia’s war against Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. That has raised concerns among South Korea, the U.S. and others that Russia might also transfer to North Korea sensitive technologies that can increase the danger of its nuclear and missile programs. After a meeting with Choe on Saturday, Lavrov accused the U.S.,...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived on Friday in the coastal city of Wonsan, North Korea, according to RIA Novosti. The visit comes ahead of the second round of the strategic dialogue between Moscow and Pyongyang, with Lavrov scheduled to meet his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, to discuss bilateral ties. Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced the meeting would take place, adding that the first round of the dialogue took place in Moscow in January 2024.

In exchange for sending tens of thousands of troops and vast amounts of artillery shells to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea is likely demanding and receiving critical Russian military technology. While Pyongyang receives cash payments for its mercenaries, the real prize for Kim Jong Un is access to advanced Russian know-how that it cannot develop itself.

In the wake of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, the regime appears to be turning inward — escalating repression with chilling speed. According to Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC research at United Against Nuclear Iran, the Islamic Republic is accelerating toward what he said is a "North Korea-style model of isolation and control." "We’re witnessing a kind of domestic isolation that will have major consequences for the Iranian people," Aarabi told Fox News Digital. "The regime has always been totalitarian, but the level of suppression now is unprecedented. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen before." A source inside Iran...

North Korea is tripling the number of troops fighting for Russia in Ukraine, sending 25,000 to 30,000 more soldiers, CNN reported, citing an intelligence assessment from Ukrainian officials. The country sent 11,000 troops to help repel Ukraine from the Kursk region of Russia last November. About 4,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed, CNN reported. Russian President Vladmir Putin did not confirm North Korea's involvement until late April.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been seen mourning over his soldiers believed to have been killed in the Russia-Ukraine war, images aired by state media showed on Tuesday. Aired by Korean Central Television, the images showed Kim solemnly placing a North Korean flag over a coffin during a ceremony for the return of the remains of North Korean soldiers who were deployed and killed in the conflict. The images showed photos of Kim in the background footage during a joint cultural event co-hosted by North Korea and Russia in Pyongyang on Sunday, marking the first anniversary of the...