North Korea has launched a long-range rocket, which critics say is a test of banned missile technology.
But according to local media, North Korea had successfully placed a satellite in orbit.
The launch was condemned by Japan, South Korea and the US, who have requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on February 7.
South Korea says it is to begin discussing with the US the deployment of a missile defense system.
Ryu Je-Seung, a senior defense official, said if the THAAD missile system – considered one of the most advanced in the world – were deployed it would be only to counter the threat from the North.
In a statement, the North Korean National Aerospace Development Administration said earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 had entered orbit about 10 minutes after lift-off from the Sohae space centre in North Phyongan province.
Announcing the launch on state TV, a newsreader said it had been ordered by North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and said the country planned to launch more satellites in the future.
“The fascinating vapor of Juche satellite trailing in the clear and blue sky in spring of February on the threshold of the Day of the Shining Star,” was how the launch was described.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun said a warship had detected the launch at 09:31.
The rocket launch was roundly condemned by the international community. US Secretary of State John Kerry called it a “flagrant violation” of UN resolutions and warned of “significant measures to hold the DPRK [North Korea] to account.”
China said it “regrets” North Korea’s actions but urged “the relevant parties” to “refrain from taking actions that may further escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula”.
Contenders for the Republican ticket in the US presidential election this year were asked for their reaction during a debate in New Hampshire.
Donald Trump said China was the key.
“I would get on with China. Let China solve that problem.”
UN Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from carrying out any nuclear or ballistic missile tests.
South Korean analysts had speculated that North Korea might carry out the launch ahead of February 16, the birthday of the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il.
South Korea, Japan and the United States have said they will be united in their response to North Korea’s claim to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.
North Korea said it carried out the test on January 6.
If confirmed it would be North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, and its first of the more powerful H-bomb.
The UN Security Council has also agreed to start drawing up new measures against North Korea.
However, skepticism remains over whether North Korea really did conduct such a test.
Experts have said the seismic activity generated by the blast was not large enough for it to have been a full thermonuclear explosion.
The White House said President Barack Obama had spoken separately to South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye and Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe.
They “agreed to work together to forge a united and strong international response to North Korea’s latest reckless behavior”, it said in a statement.
PM Shinzo Abe told reporters: “We agreed that the provocative act by North Korea is unacceptable… We will deal with this situation in a firm manner through the cooperation with the United Nations Security Council.”
He added that Japan may take unilateral action, saying it is “considering measures unique to our nation”.
South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement that Presidents Geun-hye and Barack Obama had agreed to closely co-operate and that the international community “must make sure that North Korea pays the corresponding price” for the nuclear test, reported Yonhap news agency.
The UN Security Council held an emergency session on January 6 and condemned the test claim as “a clear threat to international peace and security.”
Japan’s ambassador to the UN, Motohide Yoshikawa, called for a swift and robust new UN resolution, insisting: “The authority and credibility of the Security Council will be put in question if it does not take these measures.”
However, the UN ambassador for Russia, which has been developing warmer relations with Pyongyang, said it would be going “too far” to say Moscow supported further sanctions.
Meanwhile, South Korea has begun limiting entry to the Kaesong industrial park in North Korea, jointly run by both countries. Only those directly involved in operations there will be allowed to enter from the South, said Seoul’s Unification Ministry.
South Korea has also said it will restart propaganda broadcasts across the border on January 8, an act which North Korea strongly opposes. The broadcasts were stopped in 2015 as part of a deal with North Korea to ease tensions that had escalated sharply in the summer.
The nuclear test came days before North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s 33rd birthday, which falls on January 8 and is expected to be marked by celebrations.
Hydrogen bombs are more powerful and technologically advanced than atomic weapons, using fusion – the merging of atoms – to unleash massive amounts of energy.
Atomic bombs, like those that devastated two Japanese cities in World War Two, use fission, or the splitting of atoms.
South Korea’s intelligence agency also told politicians that the estimated power of the blast fell far short of what would be expected from a hydrogen bomb.
Some analysts have suggested it is possible Pyongyang tested a “boosted” atomic bomb, which uses some fusion fuel to increase the yield of the fission reaction.
The United States and nearby countries are thought to be carrying out atmospheric sampling, hoping to find leaked radioactive material, which would give clues as to what kind of device was tested.
North Korea claims it has successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb which, if confirmed, would be its fourth nuclear test since 2006.
It came after a 5.1-magnitude quake was detected close to its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, indicating a test may have been conducted.
This is North Korea’s first claim to have tested a H-bomb – more powerful than an atomic bomb.
International experts have cast doubt over North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
Suspicion of an underground test was first raised after the US Geological Survey said the epicenter of the quake – detected at 10:00 Pyongyang time – was in the north-east of the country, some 30 miles from Kilju city, near Punggye-ri.
Then in a surprise announcement, a newsreader on North Korean state TV said: “The republic’s first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed at 10:00 am on January 6, 2016.”
It could be days or weeks before independent tests are able to verify the claim.
In December 2015, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang had developed a hydrogen bomb, although many experts were skeptical.
Hours before the seismic activity, South Korean media reported that Pyongyang had test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine in late December. It is unclear whether the test was successful or not.
In May 2015, North Korea claimed it had successfully launched a missile from a submarine.
Strong reaction started pouring in after the North Korean announcement of the hydrogen bomb test, with South Korea saying it was a serious challenge to global peace and a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe said it was a threat to Japan’s safety and could not be tolerated.
The US called on North Korea to abide by its international commitments and obligations saying it would respond to provocations.
After previous tests, the international community has responded with economic and political sanctions.
Kim Yang-gon, a top aide to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has died in a car crash on December 29, state news agency KCNA has said.
Kim Yang-gon, 73, was the director of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers’ Party and was in charge of ties with South Korea.
He was part of a high-level delegation from North Korea that helped ease a stand-off with South Korea in August, after an exchange of artillery fire.
KCNA called Kim Yang-gon Kim Jong-un’s “closest comrade and a solid revolutionary partner”.
“Comrade Kim Yang-gon, a Workers’ Party secretary and member of the party Central Committee Politbureau… died in a traffic accident at 6:15AM, Tuesday, at age 73,” KCNA said, without giving details.
It added that Kim Jong-un would lead an 80-member state funeral for Kim Yang-gon on December 31.
Tension between North Korea and South Korea increased in August when a border blast injured two South Korean soldiers.
Meetings at that time eventually led to the two Koreas stepping away from a military confrontation.
Kim Ynag-gon was succeeded by Jun-Scol Nic as director of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party.
North Korean pop group Moranbong has halted its goodwill tour of China – before it even began.
The all-female band unexpectedly turned up at Beijing’s main airport just hours before their first concert and flew back to Pyongyang.
Moranbong were due to play three shows to help improve ties between China and North Korea.
It is not yet clear why the performances were canceled.
Moranbong is one of North Korea’s most popular bands. Its members were reportedly handpicked by the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, himself.
The band plays a mixture of Western and traditional Korean tunes, and has been happy to perform the theme from the movie Rocky alongside patriot songs praising North Korea’s communist rulers.
Photo Getty Images
Moranbong members play a range of instruments, including electronic violins.
In North Korea, the Moranbong musicians are also known for wearing revealing outfits and sporting fashionable hairstyles.
The women were waved off for their first-ever foreign tour from Pyongyang railway station on December 9 by senior leaders.
Dressed in military uniforms, they smiled and waved to fans when they came and went from their hotel after arriving in China.
There was no hint of trouble when they practiced in Beijing’s National Center for Performing Arts on December 11.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the performances were aimed at improving ties between China and North Korea. She also joked that she did not know where to get hold of a ticket for the concerts.
However, on December 12, the band unexpectedly arrived at Beijing airport and boarded a plane back home – a scheduled flight whose departure was delayed for several hours.
Moranbong’s stage set was dismantled and its concerts were canceled. Neither China nor North Korea has given an official reason for the abrupt end of the tour.
China and North Korea are allies. China’s Chairman Mao once said they were as close as lips and teeth.
However, they have not always seen eye-to-eye over recent years. China has been particularly angry at three nuclear tests carried out by North Korea, the last in 2013.
Kim Jong-un has appeared to suggest North Korea possesses a hydrogen bomb, in comments published on state media.
North Korea was “ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb”, KCNA quoted Kim Jong-un as saying.
If true, the development would mark a significant advancement in North Korean nuclear capabilities.
However, the claim has not been independently verified and has drawn skepticism from experts.
The North Korean leader made the remarks as he inspected a historical military site in the capital Pyongyang.
The work of his grandfather Kim Il-sung had turned North Korea into a “powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation”, Kim Jong-un is quoted as saying.
While North Korea has made previous claims about its nuclear weapons capabilities this is thought to be its first reference to an H-bomb.
Such devices use fusion to create a blast far more powerful than a more basic atomic bomb.
North Korea has carried out three underground nuclear tests before, but experts cast doubt over the latest suggestions.
Independent observers are rarely allowed access to the secretive communist state, making verifying the authorities’ claims difficult.
Kim Jong-un’s aunt, Ko Yong-suk has filed a defamation case against three North Korean defectors who “spread false stories” about her.
Ko Yong-suk claims the defectors – who fled to South Korea in the 1990s – lied about her having plastic surgery and managing a secret fund.
Her lawyer says she is seeking 60 million won ($51,600) in a South Korean court.
The move is unusual – ruling family members living outside North Korea tend to avoid the public eye.
The defectors appeared on talk shows and claimed that Ko Yong-suk used plastic surgery to hide after having Kim Jong-un’s half-brother expelled from North Korea, her lawyer said.
“These defectors who often make appearances on TV are not in a position to know about her directly and what they are saying is not true,” he told Reuters.
“She and her husband find it very unpleasant.”
Ko Yong-suk took asylum in the US with her husband in 1998. She took care of Kim Jong-un when he was a teenager studying in Switzerland, according to her lawyer.
It is not clear if she will appear in court.
Ko Yong-suk’s lawyer told AFP news agency: “I’m not 100% sure, but her husband indicated she could come.”
North Korea is marking the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party with huge parades in capital Pyongyang.
It is expected to be one of North Korea’s biggest celebrations ever.
A cavalcade of armored vehicles and ballistic missiles rumbled through Pyongyang, accompanied by marching troops.
North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un presided over the ceremony, but no world leaders attended.
Kim Jong-un said that North Korea was ready to fight any war waged by the US.
“The party’s revolutionary armament means we are ready to fight any kind of war waged by the US imperialists,” he said at Pyongyang’s main Kim Il-sung Square.
The celebrations featured thousands of soldiers – many carrying red party flags or banners – in tight square formations goose-stepping to martial music.
Tanks rolled past the podium where Kim Jong-un spoke, with an aircraft flypast forming the number 70.
When it announced plans for the anniversary earlier this year, the government spoke of “cutting-edge” weaponry suitable for modern warfare, and the day’s event will be closely watched for any new military hardware indicating North Korea’s military development.
China, North Korea’s closest ally, sent a senior Communist Party official to the anniversary.
Kim Jong-un began the day by paying respects to his late father and grandfather at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, official media reported.
Officials did not divulge details of the day’s celebrations, although thousands of Pyongyang citizens have been seen in public squares across the city practicing for a torchlight parade to be held in the evening.
A stage has also been set up on a river for a late-night concert featuring the all-female Moranbong Band – North Korea’s most popular musical group.
North Korea and South Korea will hold a second day of top-level talks amid growing tension, South Korean officials say.
The announcement was made after several hours of negotiations on August 22.
Senior aides to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye met at the Panmunjom truce village on the border.
North Korea had threatened “strong military action” if South Korea did not stop border loudspeaker broadcasts that had provoked a “semi-state of war”.
The two sides have agreed to meet again on August 23 to “narrow down differences” as overnight talks were finally wound up after nearly 10 hours of negotiations.
No media organizations were present at the talks, which took place inside the Demilitarized Zone which divides the two Koreas.
South Korea said ahead of the talks that it would be represented by national security adviser Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, and North Korea would send senior officials Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Yong-gon.
Hwang Pyong-so is seen by many analysts as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s second-in-command.
Photo South Korean Unification Ministry
North Korea had earlier issued a deadline for the dismantling of banks of loudspeakers, which have been blasting news bulletins, weather forecasts and music from the South. It had moved artillery into positions to fire on them.
South Korea has evacuated almost 4,000 residents from border areas and warned that it would “retaliate harshly”.
American and South Korean fighter jets have been flying in formation near the border.
The US’s top military officer has reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering commitment” to South Korea’s defense in a phone call to his South Korean counterpart.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey and South Korea’s Admiral Choi Yoon-hee agreed they would “ensure that the US and [South Korea] continue to work closely with one another to deter further North Korean provocations and defuse tensions,” a Pentagon statement said.
North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
In 2004, the two Koreas reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
The broadcasts were part of a program of psychological warfare, according to South Korean newspaper Korea Times, to deliver outside news so that North Korean soldiers and border-area residents could hear it.
Kim Jong-un has ordered the North Korean frontline troops to be on a war footing after an exchange of fire with South Korea across their heavily fortified border, state media reports.
The North Korean leader declared a “semi-state of war” at an emergency meeting on August 20, the KCN reports.
North Korea threatened action unless Seoul ends its anti-Pyongyang border broadcasts.
The secretive country often uses fierce rhetoric when tensions rise and it has made similar declarations before.
At the emergency meeting of the central military commission, Kim Jong-un had ordered that troops be “fully ready for any military operations at any time” from August 21 at 17:00 local time, the KCNA reports.
Photo Twitter
Earlier, North Korea warned that it would take strong military action if South Korea does not end border propaganda broadcasts and dismantles the broadcast facilities “within 48 hours”.
However, in a separate letter Pyongyang said it was willing to resolve the issue even though it considers the broadcasts a declaration of war, South Korea’s unification ministry said, according to Reuters.
The tensions were ratcheted up after North Korea on August 20 shelled across the border reportedly to protest against the propaganda broadcasts which restarted after a hiatus of 11 years.
In 2004, South Korea and North Korea reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
The broadcasts were part of a program of psychological warfare, according to South Korean newspaper Korea Times, to deliver outside news so that North Korean soldiers and border-area residents could hear it.
On August 10, South Korea restarted broadcasting in an apparent reaction to two South Korean soldiers being injured in a landmine explosion in the demilitarized zone that was blamed on North Korea.
Military authorities say days later North Korea also restarted its broadcasting of anti-South propaganda.
However, some reports said that the quality of the North Korean loudspeakers is so bad that it is difficult to understand what they are saying.
South Korea responded with artillery fire. There were no reported casualties.
Meanwhile, South Korea ordered the evacuation of residents from an area of its western border.
South Korea and the US also began annual joint military exercises on August 17 – they describe the drills as defensive, but North Korea calls them a rehearsal for invasion.
North Korea’s vice-premier Choe Yong-gon was executed in May on the orders of supreme leader Kim Jong-un, the South Korean government says.
Choe Yong-gon was executed after he “expressed discomfort against the young leader’s forestation policy”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports.
Close to 70 officials have been killed under Kim Jong-un’s rule, Yonhap says.
North Korea rarely confirms South Korea’s reports of executions.
Choe Yon-gon was last seen publicly in December, South Korea’s unification ministry said.
The ministry said it was “closely monitoring the possibility of any changes in Choe’s circumstances”.
Few details about the execution were given by Yonhap, which is often first to report news from North Korea.
Choe Yong-gon was deputy minister of construction and building material industries, and had represented North Korea in trade talks in Seoul in the mid-2000s.
He was appointed as one of seven vice-premiers in June 2014, and his promotion was seen by one analyst as a sign Pyongyang was keen to maintain close ties with South Korea.
In April, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Kim Jong-un had ordered the execution of 15 officials in the first four months of the year.
Among them was a forestry official who complained about the leader’s forestation plan, the agency said at the time, but it is not clear if this man was Choe Yong-gon.
In May, the agency said North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol was reportedly executed by anti-aircraft fire for apparently showing disloyalty to the leader.
The reports of the killing of Choe Yong-gon for disagreeing with Kim Jong-un’s forestry policy bring into focus a program that is closely followed by the leader.
North Korea is suffering its worst drought in a century and close to a third of rice paddies have dried up.
Radio Free Asia says the country launched an intensive “greenification” program last year, with more power granted to every province’s forestry department.
In a speech in February, Kim Jong-un delivered a speech in which he said: “At present, the forests of the country can be said to have reached a crossroads – whether to perish for ever or to be restored.”
Kim Jong-un also criticized officials for seeking to respond to problems caused by flooding, rather than prevent flooding in the first place by planting more trees.
Former South Korea’s First Lady Lee Hee-ho has travelled to North Korea for a peace visit.
It is unclear whether, the widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who is on a private trip, will be able to meet top North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong-un.
In 2000, President Kim Dae-jung held inter-Korean reconciliation talks – later winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
The two Koreas are technically still at war since 1953.
Kim Dae-jung, who died in 2009, was a supporter of rapprochement with Pyongyang. The summit between him and Kim Jong-un’s father, and former leader Kim Jong-il, led to a time of relatively better relations between the two Koreas.
“Lee voiced hope that the two Koreas could heal pain and wounds from a 70-year-long inter-Korean division and promote reconciliation and co-operation, “ said Kim Sung-jae, from the Kim Dae-jung Peace Centre which organized the trip, according to Yonhap news agency.
“She expressed wishes that this visit could pave the way for continuous dialogue, exchanges and co-operation between the two Koreas.”
Lee Hee-ho’s official itinerary says she will visit a maternity clinic, an orphanage and a children’s hospital.
According to new reports, the manager of a terrapin farm near Pyongyang, was shot on the orders of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un following a disappointing tour of the farm in May 2015.
The farmer was shot and killed after Kim Jong-un toured the facility in May. The tour left Kim Jong-un furious at the number of terrapin deaths and the failure to breed freshwater lobsters, sources inside the country told the Daily NK, a website run by Koreans from both sides of the border and funded by NGOs who emphasize democracy and human rights.
The farm manager attempted to explain that the terrapins had died due to a lack of electricity, water and food for the terrapins. Regardless of the reasons behind the terrapin deaths, Kim Jong-un apparently decided to set an example by executing the farmer, according to another Daily NK source who corroborated the story.
At the time of the inspection the official state website KCNA reported that Kim Jong-un was unhappy with the breeding of lobsters which had been given to the farm to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of North Korea in October, but information about the death of the manager only emerged earlier this week.
In May 2015, Kim Jong-un also ordered the execution of the North Korean defense minister Hyon Yong-chol, who was charged with treason after falling asleep at an event where the Supreme Leader was the guest of honor.
Kim Jong-un has ordered the execution of 15 other state officials for challenging his authority in 2014.
North Korea has released pictures of a new airport terminal in Pyongyang.
Several pages of the daily newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed images of Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju inspecting the restaurants and shops.
North Korea has unveiled several large building projects in recent years but human rights groups say much of the country still lives in poor conditions.
The new airport, which will serve only a few flights, is set to open on July 1.
Earlier this month, North Korea said it was facing its worst drought in a century, sparking fears of worsening food shortages.
Three pages of Thursday’s Rodong Sinmun – the ruling Workers’ Party official daily newspaper – were devoted to images of Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju being shown around the terminal.
In one image, Mars bars and bottled beers were on display in one of the airport’s new duty-free shops. Another showed a cafe serving espresso-based drinks.
The glass-fronted building is reported to be six times larger than the old terminal but passenger numbers are likely to be low.
Most of the tiny handful of flights to and from Pyongyang carry Chinese tourists and North Koreans on official business between the North Korean capital and Beijing.
Kim Jong-un described the building as a “landmark of the Songun [military-first] era”, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He told workers and officials he was “very satisfied to see the terminal well built in harmony with modern aesthetic taste and national character”, KCNA said.
The North Korean leader was also reported to have called for the construction of a high-speed railway and a motorway between Pyongyang and the airport, some 15 miles northwest of the capital.
Since taking power in 2011, Kim Jong-un has promised to raise living standards in the isolated country, but most of his signature projects have been beyond the reach of average North Koreans, like ski resorts and water parks.
Many North Koreans suffer from a lack of food, drinking water and stable electricity.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has failed to dismiss a legal action brought by nine ex-employees over the last year’s cyber attack.
A judge said the plaintiffs could pursue claims that the film unit of the Sony corporation had been negligent.
The plaintiffs are seeking to hold Sony liable for not bolstering security after previous breaches.
“We are pleased that the court has properly recognized the harm to Sony’s employees,” said lawyer Michael Sobol.
Many Sony employees had their personal details made public in 2014 when a group calling itself Guardians of Peace leaked data from the studio’s computers.
The attack was described as an act of revenge motivated by Sony’s release of The Interview, a comedy about an assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The nine plaintiffs claim Sony Pictures Entertainment violated a California confidentiality law by spurning security measures to stop the theft of employees’ salary and health data, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information.
Without ruling on their action’s merits, US District Judge Gary Klausner said Sony had created a “special relationship” with its employees by requiring them to provide personal information to be eligible for salaries and benefits.
The former workers said Sony’s negligence caused them economic harm and that the hack had been “an epic nightmare, much better suited to a cinematic thriller than to real life”.
The Interview, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen as journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong-un, was initially withdrawn from cinemas but was later made available online.
Kim Jong-un’s elder brother Kim Jong-chul has been spotted attending two Eric Clapton concerts in London.
The footage shows a man resembling Kim Jong-chul visiting the Royal Albert Hall.
Kim Jong-chul has previously been seen attending Clapton concerts abroad.
One North Korea observer said the man in the footage did appear to be Kim Jong-un, who was taken out of the leadership succession several years ago.
Video filmed by a Japanese television network on May 20 shows a car arriving outside the venue in west London, and a woman wearing a green leather jacket and sunglasses emerging from inside.
Cameras follow her briefly before another similar-looking man, dressed in identical clothes, also walks out of the car.
He is asked a number of questions by journalists but does not speak. Several minders surround him, and they push journalists and cameras away from the man.
The same visitors were seen at a second Eric Clapton concert in the same venue on May 21.
Kim Jong-chul has attended Eric Clapton concerts in Germany in 2006 and Singapore in 2011.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap said that the man stayed at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel in west London, where rooms can cost more than £2,100 ($3,290) a night.
He was due to board a flight to Moscow on May 22, Yonhap said.
Kim Jong-chul is the oldest child of the fourth wife of former ruler Kim Jong-il, and is 33 years old.
Like his full brother Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-chul was educated in Switzerland before returning to North Korea.
Kim Jong-chul plays an important support role for his brother. At one point, he worked in North Korea’s propaganda department.
According to South Korea’s spy agency, General Hyon Yong-chol, the North Korean defense minister, has been executed for showing disloyalty to Kim Jong-un.
The spy agency has told South Korean parliament that Gen. Hyon Yong-chol was killed on April 30 by anti-aircraft fire in front of an audience of hundreds, the Yonhap news agency reports.
It said Hyon Yong-chol had fallen asleep during an event attended by Kim Jong-un and had not carried out instructions.
Reports from North Korea are impossible to independently confirm.
According to analysis site NK News, Hyon Yong-chol had last appeared in state media a day before the alleged execution date.
Hyon Yong-chol is believed to have been a general since 2010, though little is known about him. He served on the committee for late leader Kim Jong-il’s funeral in December 2011, an indication of his growing influence.
He was appointed defense minister in 2014.
Kim Jong-un has conducted a series of purges of close officials since becoming North Korea’s leader.
The most notable was his uncle, Chang Song-thaek – once North Korea’s second-most powerful figure.
Chang Song-thaek was arrested in December 2013 in front of a party meeting, found guilty of treason and immediately executed. The move was widely seen as the young Kim Jong-un stamping his authority.
North Korea has announced it successfully tested a submarine-launched missile.
If confirmed would be a significant boost in North Korea’s arsenal.
Pictures on state media showed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un looking on as a missile shot out of the water.
Analysts say North Korea owns several nuclear warheads but this development would be an advance as submarine-fired devices are difficult to detect.
This latest test has not been independently verified.
State media described the missile emerging with “a fiery, blazing trail”, but did not mention the date or the location of the test.
One possibility is the eastern coastal city of Sinpo, where satellite images released earlier this year appeared to show a submarine being equipped with launch capabilities.
Kim Jong-un said North Korea now possessed a “world-level strategic weapon capable of striking and wiping out in any waters the hostile forces infringing upon [North Korea’s] sovereignty and dignity”, the reports said.
Such a test would violate UN sanctions banning North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.
Up to now, North Korea’s missiles have been land-based and only capable of hitting neighboring countries.
North Korea is also believed to be attempting to miniaturize nuclear weapons to fit on its missiles.
According to South Korea’s intelligence, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the execution of 15 people in 2015, including several top officials.
South Korea’s spy agency told a parliamentary meeting on April 29 that they were executed by firing squad on spying charges.
Those killed include two vice ministers who challenged Kim Jong-un over his policies and members of an orchestra, intelligence officials said.
Kim Jong-un purged and executed his once-powerful uncle Chang Song-thaek for treachery in 2013.
South Korean politicians were told that one of the officials killed was a forestry minister who had complained about North Korea’s forestation plan, Yonhap news agency reported.
“Excuses or reasoning doesn’t work for Kim Jong-un, and his style of rule is to push through everything,” said Shin Kyung-min, a member of South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee, quoting an intelligence official.
Shin Kyung-min’s office told Reuters news agency that the unnamed official had added that the executions were a “showcase” in response to what Kim Jong-un saw as a challenge to his authority.
Four members of North Korea’s Unhasu Orchestra are also believed to have been executed in March.
Reports say that Kim Jong-un’s wife, Ri Sol-ju was a singer in the orchestra before her marriage.
South Korean politician Lee Cheol-woo told Yonhap that the head of the orchestra had been executed, possibly for leaking family secrets.
There has been no confirmation from North Korea about the executions but Kim Jong-un has purged his opponents before.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has climbed Mount Paektu, the country’s highest mountain, KCNA reported.
Photos of Kim Jong-un show him standing on a snowy mountaintop, with the sun behind him.
His father, Kim Jong-Il, is said by the state to have been born on the mountain, however many historians say he was actually born in Russia.
Reports say Kim Jong-un reached the 2,750-metre peak alongside hundreds of fighter pilots and party officials.
“Climbing Mount Paektu provides precious mental pabulum more powerful than any kind of nuclear weapon,” the Rodong newspaper quoted Kim Jong-un as saying to troops.
The purpose of the visit is said to have been to see pilots from the Korean People’s Army who have completed a tour of battle sites in the area.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines “pabulum” as “bland or insipid intellectual matter, entertainment”.
The peak of the volcanic mountain, lying on the border with China, is considered a sacred place in Korean folklore.
It is also part of the propaganda which glorifies the Kim family, who are said to have a “mount Paektu bloodline”.
Recently it has been claimed that Kim Jong-un could drive by the time he was three years old.
The regime also says that Kim Jong-Il, who ruled until his death in 2011, scored 11 holes-in-one the first time he ever played golf.
Like his father before him, Kim Jong-un makes many “field guidance trips” to army bases, factories and other important sites.
Analysts say this is his way of showing himself as an energetic man of the people.
North Korea has a troubled economy, with two-thirds of the population, approximately 16 million people, not knowing where their next meal is coming from, according to the UN.
North Korea has expelled US aid worker Sandra Suh after accusing her of engaging in “plot-breeding and propaganda”.
Sandra Suh frequently visited North Korea over the past 20 years.
According to North Korea’s state media, Sandra Suh had traveled to North Korea “under the pretense of ‘humanitarianism”, but that she had secretly produced and directed anti-North Korean videos and photos because of her “inveterate repugnancy” toward Pyongyang.
Sandra Suh arrived on a flight to Beijing on April 9 but made no comments to reporters there.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf in Washington said on April 8 she could not confirm any of the details that have been reported about Sandra Suh.
North Korea has occasionally detained Americans and other foreigners for what it considered missionary work or “anti-state” activities that it sees as attempts to bring down its authoritarian government.
Analysts say past detentions have been attempts to wrest outside concessions out of Washington. Authorities in Pyongyang have also in the past staged news conferences, during which foreign detainees appeared before the media and made statements that they then recanted after their releases.
However, the KCNA report appeared to be the first word about Sandra Suh.
Pyongyang said it decided to deport Sandra Suh because of her “old age” and after she apologized and admitted that she’d “seriously insulted” its citizens’ trust in leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korean activist Lee Min-bok has flown thousands of copies of controversial Sony film The Interview over the North Korean border.
Lee Min-bok said he had carried out the launches at night four times since January, most recently on April 4.
The Seth Rogen comedy, about a fictional CIA plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, enraged Pyongyang.
Sony initially pulled The Interview after a hacking attack and threats to attack cinemas which were screening it.
But it changed its mind and gave the film a limited cinema release after being accused of responding to an attack on free speech.
The FBI says North Korea was behind the hack and threats, though it denies this.
Lee Min-bok, a defector from North Korea, said he had tied the DVDs to balloons along with bundles of US dollars and leaflets criticizing Kim Jong-un’s regime.
He told AFP news agency: “I launched thousands of copies and about a million leaflets on Saturday, near the western part of the border.”
He said the launches were all done in remote areas and without publicity but that the police “would have no right to stop me”.
Lee Min-bok told CNN, which joined him on Saturday’s launch, that he had not laughed at The Interview and found it vulgar.
But he said North Korea “hates this film because it shows Kim Jong-un as a man, not a God” and that he wanted to “tell the truth” to North Koreans.
Any North Korean who had access to a DVD player and was found to have watched the film would likely face a lengthy sentence in a prison camp.
South Korean activists have repeatedly carried out balloon drops across the border of material which they say shows the reality of life outside the restrictive country, in the hope of encouraging North Koreans to reject propaganda and stand up to their leadership.
North Korea has demanded South Korea stop such launches, saying they are provocative. Its border guards have in the past tried to shoot down the balloons.
On the last day of the annual US-South Korea military exercise, North Korea has fired seven ground-to-air missiles into the sea, South Korea’s defense ministry says.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was present during the launch, a ministry spokesman from South Korea said.
The annual exercises, which Pyongyang calls a rehearsal for invasion, are always a trigger for a surge in tensions between the two Koreas.
North Korea showed its opposition to this year’s drills by firing two short-range ballistic missiles when they began earlier this month.
South Korea said the missiles fired on March 13 were believed to be SA-2 or SA-3s, with a range of “dozens of kilometers”, as well as one SA-5 with a range of 120 miles.
“We see this as another show of force by the North related to the exercises,” a spokesman told AFP news agency.
There were no reports of tests in North Korean media.
One of the US-South Korean exercises, Key Resolve, ended on March 13 while other, Foal Eagle, continues into April. The US and South Korea say they are for defense training purposes.
The missile launch comes as North Korea and South Korea are already involved in a row over wages at their jointly run Kaesong industrial zone.
Kaesong area lies just over the border into North Korea and is the only area of co-operation between the North and South.
Last month, Pyongyang said it would raise the basic salary of more than 50,000 North Koreans working there, but South Korea rejected this saying any wage rise had to be agreed by a joint committee overseeing the management of the industrial area.
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