North Korea has voted for a new Prime Minister at the annual meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly.

After weeks of warlike posturing North Korea is holding its annual spring parliamentary session following a declaration that nuclear bomb building and a stronger economy were the nation's top priorities.

South Korean warships fanned out across the Yellow Sea today to search for debris from North Korea's failed rocket launch, which brought humiliation for the country's new young leader and condemnation from a host of nations.

A senior North Korean party official has dismissed concerns about Kim Jong Un's readiness to lead, saying he spent years working closely with his late father and helped him make key policy decisions on economic and military affairs.

The sound of new artillery fire from North Korea just hours after the US and South Korea launched a round of war games in Korean waters sent residents and journalists on a front-line island scrambling for cover today.