The opening of North Korea’s Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations dominated state media this week, carrying both diplomatic and domestic significance. 

Visits by Russian State Duma Chairman Viacheslav Volodin and Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov underscored the deepening Pyongyang-Moscow ties, while at home, the memorial was used to glorify troops killed in the Russia-Ukraine war and stoke patriotic fervor in the younger generation.

A prolonged drought continues to threaten wheat and barley crops in North Korea. Despite some rainfall, authorities have extended drought warnings in parts of the country through