Their reign has often been questioned and criticised, with many of them being accused of human rights violation.
North Korean shooting double medalist Kim Jong-su has tested positive for a banned substance and been excluded from the Beijing Olympic Games and stripped of his medals, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday. A female Vietnamese artistic gymnast, who finished out of the medals, has also tested positive for a banned substance, an IOC spokeswoman told reporters.
The MEA said Singh's visit to Pyongyang was at the invitation of North Korean government.
Kamala Harris used her forceful presidential acceptance speech to present herself as a leader who could unite the country to chart a 'new way forward' and warned Americans of 'extremely serious' consequences of putting her Republican rival Donald Trump back in the White House.
Not much is known about his personal life -- apart from snatches of information about his love for films, cognac and women.
He was heard about, revered and feared in equal measure, but the ruler of the world's most secretive regime was rarely seen in public. Kim Jong-il, who led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside Pyongyang, the capital.
South and North Korea have agreed to officially open railways and roads linking the two countries in late October, South Korea said on Sunday.\n\n
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma today assured Korean trade minister Kim Jong-Hoon that the stalled $12 billion-project of Korean steelmaker Posco would soon be resolved by obtaining the pending approvals.
2011, hopefully, will be remembered as the year that marked the beginning of the end of the world's worst dictators.
The opposition hit the roof and likened rulers of the state to Hitler, Mussolini and Kim Jong Un, though the department came out with a clarification that the controversy was stemmed from 'wrong interpretation' of a paragraph in the missive that ran into many pages.
North Korea will take part in the next two Olympic Games in Japan and China, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Saturday after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.
"President Trump believes that Kim has an unprecedented opportunity to change the trajectory of our relationship and bring peace and prosperity to his country," Pompeo said.
The Bush administration has said Kim Jong II, leader of North Korea, will "rue the day" he made the decision to go in for the nuclear tests as it (the US) is looking for ways to make it "very costly" for Pyongyang.
Would any former prime minister have travelled to a rogue country to negotiate for the freedom of just two of its imprisoned citizens?
"President Clinton has safely left North Korea with Laura Ling and Euna Lee," said Matt McKenna, spokesman for Bill Clinton. Clinton apologised to Kim Jong-Il for the behaviour of the two women journalists after which they were released, North Korea media reported.
As it stands now, the ChonAn incident will perhaps come to pass without a major fallout. However, as and when young Kim Jong Un ascends to power in North Korea a period of greater assertiveness may be anticipated in the North's nuclear agenda, writes Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
North Korea has threatened to go to war against South Korea a day after the latter fired dozens of artillery rounds across the rivals' border in response to what it said were several rounds of Pyongyang's artillery launched at the South.
Ivory Coast convincingly beat North Korea 3-0 on Friday, but the comprehensive win was not enough to prevent the Africans from going out of the World Cup.
North Korea are banking on team spirit, surprise and sheer determination to upset expectations and get them through to the knockout stages at the World Cup finals in South Africa. Aware his team are being written off as the weakest at the June 11-July 11 tournament, coach Kim Jong-hun is nevertheless backing them to spring a surprise.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whose rags-to-riches story is cited as case study across the world, will be the chief guest at the 60th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi.
Six races, six world records and six gold medals: there really is no stopping Michael Phelps at these Games.
Asked whether the president sought a pledge of loyalty from her, Haley replied, 'No'.
Fidel Castro of Cuba figures in the list along with Hu Jintao of China as the most corrupt dictators.
China, which has a formal, mutual defence alliance with North Korea, is apprehensive about the stability of Kim Jong-il's regime. The Asian giant is planning to send troops to North Korea in case the nuclear arsenal falls into the wrong hands due to political instability, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
Here are some of the memes going viral on Twitter.
Trump also said in a separate tweet that North Korea is 'no longer' the US' 'biggest and most dangerous problem', telling Americans and the rest of the world they can 'sleep well tonight!'
The return of the US servicemen's remains was part of a deal that was agreed to by Trump and Kim back in their summit in June.
An article in the magazine on Dr Singh by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said, "The man in the blue turban, despite his great success, has remained approachable and ready to listen and instinctively sympathetic to the underdogs of society."
The Winter Olympics sparked to life in a vivid, colourful ceremony of fire and ice in South Korea
North Korea made its decision to pull out of Tokyo at a meeting of its Olympic committee and Sports Minister Kim Il Guk on March 25, the ministry said on its website.
The Korean summit, laden with symbolism in everything from the choice of location to the mango mousse for dessert, could just be the first round in a continuing dialogue, says Dr Rajaram Panda.
'In 1984, Pyongyang just had one hotel and one could not move out without an official escort.' 'India was the only country with an embassy, apart from the socialist countries.'
Xu Kun snared gold in the men's individual and team 50 metre pistol events, as China's golden shooting spree continued at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
Forgot what happened in the week gone by? Here's a quick recap of what took place in 10 images.
KCNA said the new type of surface-to-ship cruise missile is designed to hit 'any enemy group of battleships' that threatened the country.
North Korea warns the US that it will soon 'suffer the greatest pain it ever experienced in its history'. Rajaram Panda looks at the latest twist in the North Korean crisis.
The Russians had appealed their exclusion from the Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over the doping scandal from the 2014 Sochi Games.
Extra security measures will be in force for these areas in the period between June 10 and 14.
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