US-South Korea Investment & Hormuz Talks: Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, reaffirming Seoul’s willingness to help restore free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while ruling out troop deployment that could pull South Korea into the Iran war; the pair also pushed for faster execution of Seoul’s $350bn US investment pledge under last year’s trade deal. North Korea-Russia War Partnership: A new analysis highlights how Russia and North Korea have deepened military cooperation since 2022, with Pyongyang sending munitions, missiles and troops to Russia—while sanctions pressure and UN monitoring remain contested. Kim Jong Un’s Weapons Modernization: Kim inspected major munitions factories and urged expanded output and upgrades to weapons production, including AI and automation. North Korea Cybercrime for Crypto: Japan, the US, Australia and Germany publicly attributed the WaterPlum “Contagious Interview” hacking operation to North Korea, saying it hit 30,000 PCs in 100+ countries and stole at least $10.7m from 7,000+ crypto wallets, often via fake job offers. North Korea’s Overseas Labor Revenue: Multiple reports point to North Korea’s overseas worker network generating up to $800m a year, despite sanctions and growing scrutiny. Domestic Control via Language Crackdown: North Korea’s constitutional push to protect “Pyongyang Cultural Language” is driving a renewed crackdown on “puppet speech” in schools and workplaces.