Kim Jong Un

Pyongyang glitters, but rest of North Korea still dark

Pyongyang: The heart of this city, once famous for its Dickensian darkness, now pulsates with neon. Glossy construction downtown has altered the Pyongyang skyline. Inside supermarkets where shopgirls wear French designer labels, people with money can buy Italian wine, Swiss chocolates, kiwifruit imported from New Zealand and fresh-baked croissants. They can get facials, lie in tanning booths, play a round of mini golf or sip cappuccinos and cocktails while listening to classical music.

More than a million people are using cell phones. Computer shops can't keep up with demand for North Korea's locally distributed tablet computer, popularly known here as "iPads." A shiny new cancer institute features a $900,000 X-ray machine imported from Europe.

Pyongyang has long been a city apart from the rest of North Korea, a showcase capital dubbed a "socialist fairyland" by state media. A year after leader Kim Jong Un promised in a speech to bring an end to the "era of belt-tightening" and economic hardship in North Korea, the gap between the haves and have-nots has only grown with Pyongyang's transformation.

Beyond the main streets of the capital and in the towns and villages beyond, life is grindingly tough. Food is rationed, electricity is a precious commodity and people get around by walking, cycling or hopping into the backs of trucks. Most homes lack running water or plumbing. Health care is free, but aid workers say medicine is in short supply....more    

Goal of nuclear free North Korea tests US, China ties

Beijing: Bound by threats from North Korea, the US and China agreed on Saturday to rid the bellicose nation of nuclear weapons in a test of whether the world powers can shelve years of rivalry and discord, and unite in fostering global stability. Beyond this latest attempt to restrain North Korea, the burgeoning nuclear crisis has so frustrated the US and China that they are forming a new and tentative...  

N Korea's missile launch would be a 'huge mistake': US

Seoul: US Secretary of State John Kerry warned North Korea on Friday it would be a "huge mistake" to launch a medium-range missile and said the United States would never accept the reclusive country as a nuclear power. Addressing reporters after talks with South Korea's president and leaders of the 28,000-strong US military contingent in the country, Kerry also said it was up to China, North Korea's sole major ally,...  

North Korea nears 'dangerous line': US Defence Secretary

Washington: Asserting that the US is ready with all its contingency plans to defend itself and its allies from any misadventure from North Korea, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has warned that the isolated nation was "skating very close to a dangerous line." "North Korea has been, with its bellicose rhetoric, with its actions, skating very close to a dangerous line," said Hagel with Army Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the...  

Admiral says US can intercept North Korean missile

Washington: US defenses could intercept a ballistic missile launched by North Korea, the top US military commander in the Pacific said on Tuesday as the relationship between the West and the communist government hit its lowest point since the end of the Korean War. Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of US Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Kim Jong Un, the country's young and still relatively untested new...  

North Korea threat may be more bark than bite

Across North Korea, soldiers are gearing up for battle and shrouding their jeeps and vans with camouflage netting. Newly painted signboards and posters call for "death to the US imperialists" and urge the people to fight with "arms, not words." ...  

China's party paper falls for Onion joke about Kim

The online version of China's Communist Party newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the "Sexiest Man Alive" - not realising it is satire. The People's Daily on Tuesday ran a 55-page photo spread on its website in a tribute to the round-faced leader, under the headline "North Korea's top leader named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012". ...  

North Korea sacks Army chief: Report

Seoul: Kim Jong Un's top military official " a key mentor to North Korea's young new leader who had served under his father " has been removed from all posts because of illness, state media said on Monday in a surprise announcement that shakes the core of the authoritarian country's power structure. Ri Yong Ho had looked healthy in recent appearances, and his departure fed speculation among analysts that Kim...  

World waits as N Korea readies rocket for launch

Pyongyang: Fighter jets roared through the skies over downtown Pyongyang on Thursday as the world watched to see whether North Korea would defy international warnings and launch a long-range rocket over the Yellow Sea. The five-day window for the launch of a rocket mounted with an observation satellite opened on Thursday as North Koreans woke to details about developments at a Workers' Party conference where leader Kim Jong Un ascended...  

North Korea names Kim Jong Un Supreme Commander

Pyongyang: North Korea said on Saturday that Kim Jong Un has been officially named supreme commander of the military, further strengthening his authority after the death of his father. Officials and state media have bestowed on Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s, a string of titles as North Korea's elite rally around him after Kim Jong Il's death in mid-December after 17 years in power. But the...  

North Korea calls Kim Jong Un 'supreme leader'

Pyongyang: North Korea declared Kim Jong Il's son and successor "supreme leader" of the ruling party, military and the people during a memorial on Thursday for his father in the government's first public endorsement of his leadership. Kim Jong Un, head bowed and somber in a dark overcoat, stood on a balcony at the Grand People's Study House overlooking Kim Il Sung Square watching the memorial, which also served as...  

N Koreans line streets for Kim Jong Il's funeral

Pyongyang (North Korea): Tens of thousands of North Koreans lined the snowy streets of Pyongyang on Wednesday, wailing and clutching their chests as a black hearse carrying late leader Kim Jong Il's body wound its way through the capital for a final farewell. The funeral procession from Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where Kim's body had lain in state, was accompanied by top military and party officials, but there was little doubt...  

What to get NKorean heir apparent on his birthday

Seoul: What do you get the future leader of North Korea for his birthday? Sports cars, racehorses and yachts if you're a party apparatchik hoping to please the Swiss-schooled, 20-something 'Young General.' But if North Korea is planning a big birthday bash for Kim Jong Un, it's keeping it well under wraps. Unveiled to the world last year as leader Kim Jong Il's chosen successor to lead the communist nation,...