North Korea faces collapse if it does not abandon its nuclear bomb programme, South Korea's president warned.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly had his military chief executed for corruption and other offences.

South Korea and North Korea are holding their first high-level talks in nearly a year in a bid to defuse mounting tensions that have led to the brink of a military confrontation.

The record of high-ranking officials ‘purged’ by the eccentric megalomaniac leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, is continuing to grow as he tightens his grip on power, writes Paul French.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has executed 70 officials since taking power in late 2011 in a “reign of terror” which far exceeds the bloodshed of his dictator father’s early rule, South Korean officials said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il repeatedly pushed for summit talks before his death in 2011 - but demanded US$10bn and huge shipments of food and fertiliser in return, South Korea's former president has said.

Leave it to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to turn some of Hollywood’s sorest subjects into punch lines.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said he is open to a summit with his South Korean counterpart.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said he is open to a summit with his South Korean counterpart.

NORTH KOREA: In North Korea, there can be only one Kim Jong Un.

The world’s boldest effort yet to hold North Korea and leader Kim Jong Un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity moved forward yesterday at the UN, where a Pyongyang envoy threatened further nuclear tests.

Even when Kim Jong Un was nowhere to be seen, he was everywhere.

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in five weeks, the country’s official news agency reported.

Speculation about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is mounting after his name was missing from a list of dignitaries celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

North Korea has fired two short-range projectiles into waters off its east coast, South Korean officials said, on the eve of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s talks in Seoul expected to focus on the North’s nuclear weapons programme.

With no one else on the ballot, supreme leader Kim Jong Un was not only elected to the highest legislative body in North Korea, he won with the unanimous approval of his district, which had 100% turnout.

Dennis Rodman has checked into an undisclosed alcohol rehabilitation centre to treat his long-time struggle with alcoholism, his agent says.

The uncle of North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un was eaten alive by 120 starving dogs after being stripped naked and locked in a cage, it has been reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has described his once-powerful uncle and mentor, whom he purged and executed, as “factionalist filth” in a new year message in which he boasted of a surge of internal strength.

Basketball star Dennis Rodman has held tryouts for a North Korean team to face a dozen NBA veterans in an exhibition game on leader Kim Jong Un’s birthday next month – though he has not convinced all the players on the US team that it is safe to go to Pyongyang.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is flying to North Korea to help train the national basketball team and renew his friendship with the North’s young leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea said today that it executed Kim Jong Un’s uncle as a traitor for trying to seize supreme power, a stunning end for the leader’s former mentor, long considered the country’s No 2.

North Korean state media says Kim Jong Un’s uncle has been executed, calling the leader’s former mentor “worse than a dog”.

Kim Jong Un’s uncle has been executed, with the state media calling the leader’s former mentor “worse than a dog”.

North Korea announced it had sacked leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle, long considered the country’s second-in-command, saying corruption, drug use, gambling, womanising and generally leading a “dissolute and depraved life” had caused Pyongyang’s highest-profile fall from grace since Kim took power two years ago.

Goose-stepping soldiers, columns of tanks and a broad array of ominous-looking missiles poised on mobile launchers paraded through Pyongyang’s main square today in a painstakingly choreographed military pageant.

North Korea has proposed working-level talks with the South as the rivals move to mend ties that have plunged during recent years amid hardline stances by both countries.

North Korea has lashed out again at South Korea over a small public protest in Seoul in which demonstrators burned effigies of the North’s leaders.

After weeks of tension, North Korea has options to improve relations with the US and South Korea – but it is unlikely to be tempted by Washington’s offer to restart negotiations on its nuclear programme.

Oblivious to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets today to celebrate a major national holiday, the birthday of their first leader, Kim Il Sung.

North Korea has delivered a fresh round of rhetoric with claims it had “powerful striking means” on standby for a launch, while Seoul and Washington speculated that the country is preparing to test a medium-range missile during upcoming national celebrations.

North Korea’s neighbours were monitoring missile movements in the rogue state as Pyonyang began celebrating a series of April holidays today.

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.

A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning, saying that nuclear weapons are “the nation’s life” and will not be traded even for “billions of dollars”.

A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning today, saying that nuclear weapons are “the nation’s life” and will not be traded even for “billions of dollars”.

North Korea has responded to worldwide condemnation of its latest nuclear test by saying it was a “first response” to US threats and warned of unspecified “second and third measures of greater intensity”.

North Korea said today it had tested a “miniaturised” nuclear device, defying the United Nations’ orders to stop building atomic weapons.

North Korea could be almost ready to carry out its threat to conduct a nuclear test, a US research institute said, pointing to recent satellite photos.

Google’s executive chairman has started a visit to North Korea which has sparked controversy and fascination.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his people must pursue economic improvement with the same urgency scientists put into the launch of a long-range rocket.

Lavish fireworks displays have ushered in 2013 across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe is holding scaled-back festivities in the hope of beginning a new year that will be kinder to its battered economies.

The embalmed body of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, still in his trademark khaki jump-suit, has been put on display on the anniversary of his death.