North Korea Economy Watch: North Korea appears to be pulling out of the COVID-era slump, with Bank of Korea estimates pointing to three straight years of growth around 3% since 2023, helped by heavier industry, construction, more trade with China, cooperation with Russia, and better grain output—while the regime pushes its 20×10 regional development plan and rural/mining housing to narrow gaps, even as market prices and exchange rates show growing strain. Education & State Capacity: Pyongyang opened the 15th National Conference of Teachers, with Kim Jong-un calling education the top state priority and praising teachers as “patriots,” as the country continues a “revolution” in schooling and rolls forward universal 12-year compulsory education. Cyber & Infrastructure Risk: Security researchers say North Korean actors embedded a Linux malware toolkit directly into compromised web infrastructure via altered HAProxy binaries, letting attackers watch and manipulate traffic while keeping the system running normally—an example of how espionage can hide inside everyday services. Climate Extremes in Korea: South Korea’s summer saw record heat and compound disasters, including 42 days over 39°C and a major deluge after extreme heat—raising the stakes for disaster planning across the peninsula. Marine Climate Signal: A study warns that Japanese flying squid in the East Sea may be spawning in warmer waters, but offspring are hitting record-low levels, suggesting a recruitment crisis that fisheries monitoring may miss.