A South Korean marine LVT-7 landing craft sails to shore through a smoke screen during the U.S.-South Korea joint landing exercise on Monday. North Korea has reportedly announced plans to conduct live-fire drills near the rivals' disputed western sea boundary. Image via Ahn Young-joon/AP.

[A North Korean woman on a bus weeps as she holds her South Korean relative's hand after the Separated Family Reunion Meeting at Diamond Mountain in North Koreaon Tuesday. The first reunions of North and South Koreans in more than three years have been held in North Korea. Image via Yonhap, Lee Ji-eun/AP/KOREA OUT.]

A refugee from the Democratic Republic of North Korea who spent six years in one of that nation's harshest gulags has shared his chilling illustrations of its conditions with the UN High Commission on Human Rights.

Kenneth Bae, the American missionary who has been jailed in North Korea for more than a year, told reporters at a press conference in Pyongyang on Monday that the United States could help ensure his release if they cooperated with Kim Jong Un's government. He also admitted to commtting crimes against North Korea.

Dennis Rodman has a perfectly good explanation for his disastrous CNN appearance on Tuesday: He was drunk as hell.

Not satisfied with his on-air meltdown yesterday, Dennis Rodman sang "Happy Birthday" on Wednesday to his "best friend" Kim Jong Un in front of 14,000 spectators gathered to watch an exhibition basketball game between former NBA players and the North Korean team at Pyongyang's Indoor Stadium.

While in North Korea to play basketball for Kim Jong Un's birthday, Dennis Rodman took some time out his schedule to (drunkenly?) scream and rant at CNN's Chris Cuomo. It's... something.

North Korean dear leader Kim Jong Un is a sonofabitch who offed his uncle last month. But he likely didn't strip naked Uncle Jang and slowly feed him alive to a pack of 120 starving dogs, as the media excitedly reported last week. In fact, that entire frenzy may have originated in a tweeter's dark-humored imagination.

Looks like Kim Jong-un was more upset about those clams, crabs, and coal mines than anyone thought: According to a report in pro-China paper Wen Wei Po, Kim executed his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, by feeding him alive to a pack of 120 hungry dogs.

The New York Times has a fascinating report about the story behind the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle, Jang Song-thaek: According to the report, Kim ordered the death of Jang and his top lieutenants because of a dispute over North Korea's highly profitable clam and crab fishing grounds, which saw the North Korean military humiliated by Jang's loyalists.

[Dennis Rodman is having some trouble getting American basketball players to play in Kim Jong Un's birthday basketball game next month. “You know, they’re still afraid to come here, but I’m just telling them, you know, don’t be afraid man, it’s all love, it’s all love here,” Rodman told the AP. Image by David Guttenfelder via AP]

[Dennis Rodman is back in North Korea, to visit his "friend for life," Kim Jong Un, train North Korea's basketball team, and "open doors for America." His visit will also probably help Kim to deflect the fact that he just casually executed his uncle. Image by David Guttenfelder via AP]

Kim Jong-un has let his aunt remain a top official in North Korea, even after he executed her husband, Jang Song-thaek, on Friday. Jang Song-thaek was a mentor to Kim Jong-un and second-in-command of the security-minded nation.

This was on CNN about 20 minutes ago.

An 85-year-old veteran detained in North Korea for more than a month has "apologized" to North Korea for committing "indelible crimes against" the country during his current trip as well as his last trip to North Korea (which was to fight North Koreans). Merrill Newman had been taken off a plane bound for California moments before takeoff.

Last month, North Korean officials pulled Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old veteran of the Korean War, from a plane just as it was about to depart from Pyongyang, according to Newman's son. No one from Newman's family has heard from him since.

Bad news for anyone planning their holiday vacation in North Korea (and there are some!) The U.S. State Department has warned U.S. citizens from traveling to North Korea, amid reports that an 85-year-old man has been detained by North Korea.

[Illuminated portraits of North Korea's late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il glow amid the dark buildings of central Pyongyang before dawn yesterday. Photo by David Guttenfelder via AP]

No matter what Dennis Rodman says, North Korea is a nightmarish land where countless innocent citizens are shipped off to prison camps and subjected to incomprehensible horrors. Here is an example of what defectors have said recently.

There are terrible vacation plans, and then there are deadly ones. A tipster recently forwarded us a promotional email from the Chinese travel agency Taedong Travel, copied below, hawking “the first Christmas tour of North Korea,” costing approximately $1,000 (€740) for five days and four nights in the capital city of Pyongyang. “You can now join local North Koreans for a Christmas and New Year to remember!” the pitch promises. “Will you be visited by Santa Claus, enjoy Ginseng flavoured Turkey or listen to familiar Christmas carols?”