The latest market, economy, central-bank, policy and company stories from North Korea, updated every 15 minutes. Last updated 19 October 2026.
| Unemployment (2025) | 3.5% | Low: the job market is tight. |
Latest official annual figures from World Bank Open Data (CC BY 4.0). Context, not a forecast or financial advice.
Shipping a single container from Dandong to Sinuiju now costs up to 8,000 yuan despite the three-kilometer journey, leaving traders with almost no profit.
The EU has introduced new sanctions targeting North Koreans and Russian entities for allegedly contributing to Pyongyangâs weapons of mass destruction programs.
North Korean ships are earning large sums of foreign currency through drug smuggling between Southeast Asia and China in 2026, according to a source in North Korea. âNorth Korean ships are carrying illegal goods from Southeast Asia to China and collecting shipping fees from Chinese traders,â the source said recently.
South Koreaâs unification minister says he opposed a foreign ministry proposal to sanction North Korean cyber operatives in response to the Sept. 21 mine blast in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), arguing that the two issues are unrelated.
A few years ago, two researchers â Dr. Andrew Yeo (Brookings Institution) and Dr. Justin Hastings (University of Sydney) â conducted a series of interviews with North Korean defectors to explore how marketization had changed interpersonal relationships in North Korean society.
North Korea has relied heavily on counterfeit U.S. and European parts to produce missiles and drones used in the war against Ukraine, a new report has found, suggesting that sanctions are limiting Pyongyangâs ability to source original components.
A North Korean military official met a Taliban counterpart on the sidelines of a Russian military exercise and weapons expo last week, where the DPRK joined Afghanistan and dozens of other countries as an observer.
North Koreaâs recent economic growth and leader Kim Jong Unâs repeated nods to addressing a widening regional âwealth gapâ suggest the time may be right to build a new bridge linking the countryâs main port city on the west coast to the southern provinces.
North Korea has rejected a recent report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) on the countryâs illicit overseas worker schemes, branding the multinational body a U.S.-backed âghost groupâ and characterizing its efforts to scrutinize Pyongyangâs economic ties as unlawful interference.