FILE PHOTO: In this photograph taken in June 2019, North Korean workers are seen entering a store in Dandong, China. (Daily NK) “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. A Daily NK investigation has uncovered the stark truth behind North Korea’s overseas labor program in the industrial hubs of Dalian and Dandong. While North Korean authorities trumpet new directives to “protect the human rights of overseas workers,” the women in these factories tell a different story – one of punishing work hours, vanishing wages, and a byzantine system...

North Korea has released “Agricultural Weather 2.0,” a mobile app providing detailed weather information down to the village level for farmers across the country. According to a copy of the app obtained by Daily NK, it offers comprehensive agricultural weather data, including disaster alerts and weather notifications specific to farming needs. The app’s core features allow users to access village-specific weather observations and predictions, specialized agricultural weather data, climate information, and real-time weather disaster alerts. Users can access local data by selecting their region through the app’s observation and prediction location settings. While observation data is available at the county level, prediction data is more granular, reaching down to individual villages and neighborhoods. The app presents a wide range of data through various visualizations, including weather predictions, notifications, and astronomical information. Users can view weather patterns through graphs spanning 1-day, 10-day, and 1-month periods, along with distribution charts showing temperature,...

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that a splendid New Year’s concert was held at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang on Jan. 1. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended the concert with his daughter. (Rodong Sinmun, News 1) North Korea is cracking down on corrupt provincial officials, but many people don’t believe it is having much effect. Multiple sources in North Korea told Daily NK recently that a recent Central Committee secretariat meeting has become a major topic of discussion. The meeting, officially called the 30th Enlarged Meeting of the Secretariat of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, was chaired by Kim Jong Un on Jan. 27. It addressed two main issues: officials from Nampo’s Onchon county party committee violating party rules, and farm inspectors in Ushi county engaging in abusive behavior. According to state media, party officials in Onchon county severely violated rules by...

“Comrade Kim Jong Un conducted on-the-spot guidance of a fissile material production site and nuclear weapon research institute,” the Rodong Sinmun reported on Jan. 29, noting that Kim had been accompanied by Hong Sung Mu, senior vice director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea. (Rodong Sinmun, News 1) North Korea is conducting lectures for state security agents to reinforce the country’s nuclear status and sharpen surveillance for signs of ideological dissent among a public increasingly strained by economic hardship. According to a source in South Hamgyong province, the provincial state security bureau held a lecture on Feb. 1 during its regular Saturday study session. The presentation highlighted North Korea’s independent acquisition of nuclear weapons and how nuclear development initiatives begun under Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il have supposedly strengthened national defense and economic growth. The lecture emphasized state security agents’ crucial role in...