Japan will have a new leader after outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s governing Liberal Democratic Party holds a vote on Sept. 27 to choose his replacement.

North Korea says Kim Ki Nam, the propaganda chief who helped build personality cults around the country’s three dynastic leaders, has died at 94.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un turns 40 on Monday with no announced public celebrations at home.

The world is largely relying on North Korean and Russian media for information about the meeting between the nations' leaders Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin at a space facility in Russia's Far East.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un's train journey to Russia has a storied history.

Kim Jong Un’s trip to Russia for a possible meeting with President Vladimir Putin has drawn attention to the traditional method of travel for North Korean leaders: luxury, armored trains that have long been a part of the dynasty’s lore and are symbols of its deep isolation.

The Russian authorities have announced an endeavor to boost production of movies glorifying Moscow’s actions in Ukraine this year.

The U.N. Security Council will hold its first open meeting on North Korea’s dire human rights situation since 2017 next week.

North Korea has unveiled the little-known daughter of its leader Kim Jong Un at a missile launch site.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is being remembered as a woman of conviction and determination who liked to say she told things like they were and not the way she might like them to be.

A day after a North Korean missile exploded after takeoff, there's speculation that the failed launch is related to the North’s push for its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in years.

North Korea has celebrated the 80th birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il with a concert, fireworks and a rare outdoor ceremony near its border with China.

North Korea is commemorating the 10th anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il's death with calls for greater public loyalty toward his son and current leader Kim Jong Un, who is facing pandemic-related hardships and long-dormant nuclear diplomacy with the U.S. North Korean state newspapers published articles Friday venerating the late leader.

FILE - In this June 15, 2020, file photo, South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea. A North Korean diplomat who served as the country's acting ambassador to Kuwait has defected to South Korea, according to South Korean lawmakers who were briefed by Seoul's spy agency on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)SEOUL – A North Korean diplomat who served as the country’s acting ambassador to Kuwait has defected to South Korea, according to South Korean lawmakers who were briefed by Seoul’s spy agency. In September 2017, the Kuwaiti government expelled North Korea's ambassador and four other diplomats following North Korean nuclear and missile tests. More than 33,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool, File)SEOUL – What has happened to Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s influential sister? Some say Kim Jong Un may have demoted his sister over general policy failures. Kim Yo Jong hasn't been purged or forced to quit politics, a fate that some officials have met under Kim Jong Un, and she still retains her membership in the party’s Central Committee, also a high-level body. Previously little known to outsiders, Kim Yo Jong has soared politically since her brother inherited power after their father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011. “Kim Yo Jong can meet and talk to Kim Jong Un freely anytime ... so we can’t help saying that she has a tremendous influence,” Oh said.

During the meeting, Kim also vowed to build more sophisticated nuclear weapons, disclosed economic developmental goals and reshuffled party officials. During a 2016 party congress, he was named party chairman and before that had led the party with the title of first secretary. But general secretary has important symbolism in the country led by dynastic rule since it was the title held by his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung. When Kim Jong Un inherited the country’s leadership upon his father’s death in late 2011, some foreign experts initially questioned his grip on power. Cheong Seong-Chang, a fellow at the Wilson Center’s Asia Program, said Kim likely restored the old general secretary title after determining that it would further benefit his dictatorship.

North Korea has opened its biggest political event in five years amid what some experts see as the most fraught moment of leader Kim Jong Uns nine-year rule. Here are a few things to know about the biggest political event of the year in North Korea:___WHAT IS IT? Some experts say Kim Jong Il’s “military-first” policy helped undermine the influence of the Workers’ Party during his 17-year rule. During this month’s congress, North Korea has said it will announce new economic developmental goals for the next five years. Others says North Korea, which recently completed an 80-day “productivity campaign,” might call for more such campaigns to squeeze its people for increased labor.

North Korean defector Kang Mi-Jin speaks during an interview in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. “North Korean people have gotten used to providing such (free labor) for so long. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un faces his share of trouble: crippling U.S.-led economic sanctions, the coronavirus pandemic and damage from devastating typhoons and summer floods. “North Korea is staging (this campaign) as it doesn’t have any other available option. “In North Korea, complaining about the government could get your family sent to a political prison camp,” he said.

Jo, a senior North Korea diplomat who vanished in Italy in late 2018, lives in South Korea under government protection, lawmakers said Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020. (Parish of Farra di Soligo via AP, File)SEOUL – A senior North Korea diplomat who vanished in Italy in late 2018 lives in South Korea under government protection, lawmakers said Wednesday. Ha said he was confirming Jo’s arrival on behalf of the committee to prevent a media frenzy, after a South Korean TV station reported about his defection on Tuesday evening. Before Jo, Thae Yong Ho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, was the most senior North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea. About 33,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the late 1990s to avoid political suppression and poverty in the North.

Korean War veterans of South Korea salute during a ceremony to unveil an installation artwork to commemorate the upcoming 70th anniversary of the Korean War, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 15, 2020. South Korea on Sunday convened an emergency security meeting and urged North Korea to uphold reconciliation agreements, hours after the North threatened to demolish a liaison office and take military action against its rival. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)SEOUL South Koreas president called on North Korea to stop raising animosities and return to talks, saying Monday the rivals must not reverse the peace deals that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reached during 2018 summits. North Korea has recently unleashed a slew of harsh rhetoric against South Korea, accusing it of failing to prevent activists from launching propaganda leaflets across their border. In an apparent bid to soothe North Korea, Moons government vowed to ban civilian leafleting campaign.

A visitor passes a window with a sign "Pyongyang" at the N Seoul Tower in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)SEOUL – South Korea’s government has dismissed rumors that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in fragile condition, as speculation about his health intensifies amid the North’s silence on his whereabouts. The rumors about Kim’s health began to swirl after he missed the April 15 commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Un is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, and he hadn’t missed the event, one of the most important in the North, since assuming power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011. The Trump-Kim diplomacy remains largely deadlocked since their second summit ended without any deal amid disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea.