NORTH Korea has expanded its political prison camps in the past decade to hold about 200,000 people in “horrific” conditions, with some inmates eating rats to survive, Amnesty International has claimed.

SECRETIVE North Korea put its leader-in-waiting on display at a massive military parade in Pyongyang, showcasing the youngest son of current ruler Kim Jong-Il in a rare live television broadcast.

NORTH KOREA will this week launch its biggest political meeting for 30 years, apparently paving the way for another dynastic succession in the impoverished hardline communist nation.