North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is putting the spotlight on women in his attempts to win over world opinion.

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.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Il made his youngest son a four-star general today in a major promotion seen as confirmation that he is to become the country’s next leader.

North Korea confirmed today that a major communist party convention will be held next week as observers speculated that the secretive regime’s ageing leader was ready to give his son an important position to pave the way for his succession.