A key factor driving this new North Korean modernization push is undoubtedly Pyongyang’s ever-growing closeness with Moscow.

Foreign amateur runners on Thursday flew out of Beijing for North Korea to race in the first Pyongyang Marathon in six years, an official travel agent said.

In return for boosting weapons shipments to Russia, Pyongyang wants financial aid ... A cardinal rule of a smart, effective policy is to avoid driving disparate adversaries together.