Manila Trilateral Talks: South Korea’s Cho Hyun, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi met in the Philippines to reaffirm denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a robust deterrence posture against North Korea, while expanding cooperation on maritime security, supply chains, economic coercion, SMRs, and cybercrime. Pyongyang’s Intelligence Shift: A report says North Korea is enlarging the General Reconnaissance Information Bureau’s missions, treating South Korea as no longer a separate category and signaling a broader, more hostile stance. Russia Alignment: North Korea’s FM Choe Son-hui returned from Russia after talks with Sergey Lavrov, as Pyongyang and Moscow push deeper military and diplomatic coordination. Cyber Exposure in Seoul: Hackers reportedly accessed personal data tied to about 10,000 Korean diplomats via a KNDA online education server for nearly a year, raising questions about detection and national-security risk. Internal Policy Change in the North: North Korea is said to be shifting school repair costs away from parents toward factories and enterprises in Kimchaek, improving attendance. China-North Ties on the Ground: In Sinuiju, apartment prices are reportedly rising as hopes grow for renewed trade after Xi Jinping’s visit and attention turns to the New Yalu River Bridge.