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SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has begun to sell large amounts of gold to China in a bid to tide over its economic crisis, multiple sources familiar with North Korea affairs said Wednesday.

North Korea announced Monday it had sacked leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle, long considered the country’s No. 2 power, saying corruption, drug use, gambling, womanizing and generally leading a “dissolute and depraved life” had caused Pyongyang’s highest-profile fall from grace since Kim took power two years ago. The removal of Jang Song Thaek, once seen as Kim’s mentor, is the most significant in a series of purges the young leader has conducted in an apparent effort to bolster his power since his father’s 2011 death. But worries remained over whether the expulsion of such a senior figure could instead lead...

Documentary footage of North Korea ruler Kim Jong-Un appears to have been edited so as to remove his once-powerful uncle, who has reportedly been sacked from some of the highest-ranking positions in the so-called "Hermit Kingdom." (SNIP) Yonhap reportedly viewed the documentary footage of Kim's inspection visit to a military unit, which was rerun on the North's Korean Central Television Station, and noted in a report that Jang had been hidden or deleted in a total of 13 scenes. By contrast, a version that aired nine times in October clearly showed Jang accompanying his nephew and standing close by.

It's "very likely" that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle, Jang Sung-taek, has been removed from his top-level position in government, two South Korean lawmakers said Tuesday, citing a briefing from their county's intelligence service. And two close allies of Jang -- Lee Yong-ha and Jang Soo-kee -- have been publicly executed, one of the South Korean lawmakers said at a news conference.

Kim Jong Un orders 9 executed to protect wife from scandal September 21, 2013 By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Correspondent North Korea executed nine music group performers in an apparent attempt to squelch rumors leaking that the wife of leader Kim Jong Un might once have led a provocative lifestyle. The information comes from a high-ranking North Korean government official who recently defected. According to sources, both the Japanese and South Korean governments have confirmed the veracity of the report. Kim's wife, Ri Sol Ju, was a singer with the Unhasu Orchestra before she married him in June 2012. The scandal involves...

Speaking to reporters, he said: "He's my friend for life - I don't care what you guys think about him."

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA -- Former NBA star Dennis Rodman landed Tuesday in North Korea for what he called a trip to hang out with authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un, have a good time and bridge some cultural gaps — but not to be a diplomat. The trip by the flamboyant basketballer — his second to North Korea — comes days after Pyongyang rejected a visit by a U.S. envoy who had hoped to bring home an American missionary jailed there, Kenneth Bae. Speaking to reporters ahead of his flight to Pyongyang, Rodman declined to say whether he would seek Bae's...

Hyon Song-wol, a singer, rumoured to be a former lover of the North Korean leader, is said to have been arrested on Aug 17 with 11 others for violating laws against pornography.

<p>The ex-girlfriend of North Korean leader Kim-Jong-un was one of a dozen people reportedly executed by a firing squad last week.</p> <p>The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reports that singer Hyon Song-wol and 11 others had been arrested on August 17 for violating North Korea's laws against pornography and was executed three days later.</p>

Fixer charges $15k for N. Korea trip, interview with Kim Jong Un Kim Jong Un interview would be first between N. Korean leader and international press since 1994 SEOUL – An exclusive interview with Kim Jong Un was offered to journalists covering Korean War anniversary events in North Korea as part of a 17-day trip organized by the same Korean-American fixer to facilitate Dennis Rodman’s Pyongyang visit. The press trip, which surrounds efforts to cover the remains of a U.S. Navy pilot who died during the 1950-53 Korean War and is being covered by AP, CNN and VOA, was organized...

Dennis Rodman wants a Nobel Peace Prize for his NBA diplomacy Dennis Rodman sat down with Sports Illustrated’s Franz Lidz to talk about his controversial trip to North Korea, saying that his efforts in world diplomacy should be enough to earn him a Nobel Peace Prize. “My mission is to break the ice between hostile countries,” he said. “Why it’s been left to me to smooth things over, I don’t know. Dennis Rodman, of all people. Keeping us safe is really not my job; it’s the black guy’s [Obama’s] job. But I’ll tell you this: If I don’t finish in...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un handed out copies of Adolf Hitler's memoir "Mein Kampf" to department chiefs of the Workers Party's Central Committee on his birthday on Jan. 8, an anti-regime website said Tuesday. The book is among a special selection of the world's 100 best classic books according to the tastes of the Kim family, New Focus quoted an informed source as saying. New Focus is run by Jang Jin-song, a North Korean poet who used to work at the Workers Party's United Front Department before defecting to the South. Hitler's book lays out a deranged program of anti-Semitism...

Kim Jong Un building 'mini world' with replica Big Ben and Eiffel Tower Chubby tyrant Kim Jong Un is building a “miniature world” in North Korea – with a replica of London's Big Ben at its heart. The dictator is set to open the theme park in capital Pyongyang – and has included the iconic clock tower. The new attraction, which opens this year, will also boast a copy of Paris’ Eiffel Tower. The secretive state famously doesn’t allow its citizens to leave the country – so it appears Jong Un has decided to bring the world to his people....

North Korea has announced that an American tourist is to be tried on charges of plotting to overthrow the government, a crime that carries a possible death penalty. The case against Korean-American Kenneth Bae, who has been imprisoned in North Korea since early November, could further stoke tensions between Pyongyang and Washington. … Bae, 44, was arrested in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea’s far north-eastern region bordering China and Russia, according to official state media. The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not been disclosed, but North Korea accuses Bae, described as a tour operator, of...

IF KIM JONG UN thinks he can shake down Washington by threatening nuclear apocalypse, President Obama says, the belligerent North Korean dictator has another think coming. "Since I came into office, the one thing I was clear about was: We're not going to reward this provocative behavior," Obama told NBC's Savannah Guthrie in an interview last week. "You don't get to bang your spoon on the table and somehow you get your way." No rewards for Pyongyang's criminal regime or its bloody-minded young tyrant. Everyone clear on that? Well, maybe not everyone. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo the day before...

Pyongyang wants withdrawal of all UN sanctions and US pledge not to engage in 'nuclear war practice' with South North Korea has issued a detailed statement on its terms for dialogue with the United States, after weeks of tensions. The demands from the North's top military body include the withdrawal of all UN sanctions imposed due to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests, and a US pledge not to engage in "nuclear war practice" with the South. It said denuclearisation of the peninsula should begin with the withdrawal of US weapons. Seoul was swift to dismiss the North's conditions as incomprehensible...

Do we know what's happening? Probably not. But historical context may help.Topographic map of North Korea. Created with GMT from SRTM data. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] The following article from Stratfor, republished with permission, provides useful historical context for the current situations in Korea and its usual (apparent) ally, China. It spans many centuries. The Chinese ruling powers are new. Kim Jong-un and his regency are also relatively new. Nevertheless, we probably have better insights into what's happening at the top in China than we do into what's happening at the top in North Korea, an informational black hole from which very...

U.S. Treasury tracking N. Korea's overseas slush funds U.S. Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen says his department is tracking slush funds used by the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his family. In an interview with Voice of America released on Sunday, Cohen said Washington plans to introduce measures to ensure the slush funds can not be used. Media reports have been rife with suggestions Kim Jong-il left more than 3 billion U.S. dollars in Swiss bank accounts for his son and current successor, Kim Jong-un. When asked if North Korea continues to...