A year after leader Kim Jong Un promised in a speech to bring an end to the "era of belt-tightening" and economic hardship in North Korea, the gap between the haves and have-nots has only grown with Pyongyang's transformation.
Read MoreAP: Young North Koreans Train to Seek 'Revenge on US' →
North Korea's newest batch of future soldiers scrawny 11-year-olds with freshly shaved heads punch the air as they practice taekwondo on the grounds of the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School. Students and teachers here say they're studying harder these days to prepare for a fight.
Read MoreAP: Tweets allow peek at life in NKorea in real time →
"Hello world from comms center in (hash)Pyongyang."
That Twitter missive, sent Monday from Koryolink's main service center in downtown Pyongyang using my iPhone, marked a milestone for North Korea: It was believed to be the first tweet sent from a cellphone using the country's new 3G mobile data service.
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Interviewing Dennis Rodman before breaking the story about his first trip to North Korea. Photo credit: Andy Wong.
AP: Dennis Rodman Worms His Way into North Korea →
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman brought his basketball skills and flamboyant style tattoos, nose studs and all to the country with possibly the world's strictest dress code: North Korea.
Read MoreAP: Google Executive Gets Look at North Koreans Using Internet →
Students at North Korea's premier university showed Google's executive chairman how they look for information online: They Google it.
Students at North Korea's premier university showed Google's executive chairman how they look for information online: They Google it.
But surfing the Internet that way is the privilege of only a very few in North Korea, whose authoritarian government imposes strict limits on access to the World Wide Web.
Google's Eric Schmidt got a first look at North Korea's limited Internet usage when an American delegation he and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are leading visited a computer lab Tuesday at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang.
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North Korea Rocket Launch Shows Young Leader as Gambler
AP: North Korea rocket launch shows young leader as gambler →
A triumphant North Korea staged a mass rally of soldiers and civilians Friday to glorify the country's young ruler, who took a big gamble this week in sending a satellite into orbit in defiance of international warnings.
Wednesday's rocket launch came just eight months after a similar attempt ended in an embarrassing public failure, and just under a year after Kim Jong Un inherited power following his father's death.
The surprising success of the launch may have earned Kim global condemnation, but at home the gamble paid off, at least in the short term. To his people, it made the 20-something Kim appear powerful, capable and determined in the face of foreign adversaries.
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AP: North Korea Replaces Defense Minister →
North Korea has replaced its defense minister with a hardline military commander believed responsible for deadly attacks on South Korea in 2010, diplomats in Pyongyang said Thursday. It is the latest in a series of high-profile appointments leader Kim Jong Un has made since he took power nearly a year ago.
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AP: Sweeping New Changes Expected at North Korean Farms →
North Korean farmers who have long been required to turn most of their crops over to the state may now be allowed to keep their surplus food to sell or barter in what could be the most significant economic change enacted by young leader Kim Jong Un since he came to power nine months ago.
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AP: Film festival opens in movie-crazy North Korea →
An international film festival opens Thursday in what may seem the unlikeliest of places: North Korea. Held every two years, the Pyongyang International Film Festival offers North Koreans their only chance to see a wide array of foreign films on the big screen — from Britain, Germany and elsewhere (but not America). And it's the only time foreigners are allowed into North Korean theaters to watch movies alongside locals.
Read MoreAP: Ex-North Korean Star Recalls 'Ping Pong Diplomacy' →
Her eyes well up when Li Pun Hui recalls her role in a historic example of "ping pong diplomacy."
"For 50 days, 24 hours a day, we lived together as one, trained together, slept in the same room and ate all our meals together," Li told The Associated Press at an interview in Pyongyang. "We shared the same food and our feelings."
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