A new book claims that the leader of North Korea sees himself as John F. Kennedy and his wife Ri Sol Ju as the parallel of Jackie Kennedy.

The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean leader.

The North Korean dictator, 36, who was last seen in public on April 11, has been reported to have died by a Hong Kong Satellite Television director.

Lindsey Graham has frequently commented on the regime in the US media and, last year, was reported by CNN to be a powerful foreign policy adviser for the Trump administration.

Ji Seong-ho told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that he had been 'informed that Kim Jong-un (pictured in March this year) died last weekend' after cardiovascular surgery.

As questions swirl around the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the U.S. military contingency plan for the regime's collapse, Operations Plan 5029, is being reviewed with new urgency.

Gunfire broke out between the two nations early Sunday when North Korea fired multiple shots towards South Korea at 7:41 am local time, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staffs said in a statement.

Speculation about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's health mounded around the world after the head of the Hermit Kingdom had not been seen in public for nearly three weeks.

'Handful of shots came across from the north, we think those were accidental,' he told ABC's 'This Week.' 'South Koreans did return fire. There was no loss of life on either side,' he added.

North Korea's former deputy ambassador to Britain, Thae Yong Ho (pictured), has apologised after claiming leader Kim Jong-un was so unwell he could not stand.

North Korea is nearing completion on a new base near the capital of Pyongyang which could be used to increase and protect the country's stockpile of nuclear weapons, analysts say.

Former Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman opened up on his unlikely friendship with the Supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un ever since he visited the country in 2013.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wasn't willing to fully endorse President Trump's 'fire and fury' rhetoric, which he used with North Korea last month.

President Donald Trump said North Korea's special representative to the U.S. for nuclear negotiations had not been assassinated and said he looks forward to meeting again with Kim Jong-un.

The North Korean mass games are a spectacle of gymnastic synchronisation believed to be the world's 'biggest human performance' held at Rungrado, reportedly the world's biggest stadium.

The magnitude 1.3 quake took place in the Chinese city of Hunchun at 19:38pm local time today with a focal depth of zero metres, reported China seismic network.

The Pyongyang strongman beamed as he led Xi on a stroll through the gardens of the city's state guest house and hosted a lunch with

A Korean NGO has mapped out the 318 places in North Korea where people have been publicly executed - most commonly for theft or damage to property.

Alex Sigley, a 29-year-old student of Korean Literature at Kim Il Sung University, has been arrested and the Australian government is frantically trying to work out why.

An Australian exchange student who ran tours in North Korea has been arrested after posting about life in the secretive country.

Alek Sigley's wife Yuka Morinaga said she received her last message from him on Monday. The 26-year-old, who is based in Tokyo, usually speaks to Mr Sigley every day on WhatsApp.

North Korea has released its own smartphone which is incapable of connecting to foreign WiFi. The Pyongyang 2425 handset can only access state-run 'Mirae' WiFi, an intranet network.

Perth man Alek Sigley, missing in North Korea, may have been silenced ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to the demilitarized zone, an expert said on Friday.

Trump heads to the DMZ on Sunday, after tweeting from the G-20 in Osaka: 'If Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!'

Alek Sigley hasn't been heard or seen since Tuesday morning and is believed to be detained in North Korea.

President Trump still isn't saying for certain he will meet Kim Jong-un at the DMZ, just hours before he takes his trip there.

Former federal MP Michael Johnson, who has visited North Korea three times, fears Australian exchange student Alek Sigley has been physically abused in detention.

Australian exchange student Alek Sigley's release from North Korea occurred just four days after Donald Trump set foot in the secretive communist nation to meet with Kim Jong-un.

Alek Sigley, 29, last made contact with his family on June 25, sparking concerns he had been detained in the secretive nation's capital, Pyongyang.

An Australian student was freed from the clutches of North Korea after a colourful Swedish politician urged the hermit kingdom to let him go.

The Australian student's business partner, Michelle Joyce, said she would 'be surprised' if he didn't return to the country despite the negative experience.

Kim's eagerness to meet Trump in the DMZ that divides North and South Korea contrasted with the picture that Pyongyang paints of a powerful and proactive leader, a source told Korean media.

Alek Sigley, 29, landed in China safe and well on Thursday after spending nine days detained in the communist country.

The hermit country claimed on Saturday that Alek Sigley had spread anti-Pyongyang propaganda by providing photos and other materials to news outlets with critical views toward the North.

Mr Sigley, 29, returned to social media late on Wednesday, where he released a brief statement after assuring everyone he was well, mentally and physically.

Alek Sigley (left), 29, who is believed to be the only Australian living in North Korea, went missing this week after a series of posts on social media about life in the mysterious capital of Pyongyang.

Starting in Rotterdam, the two Maybach S600s took a four-month route across five countries before it is thought they were flown to North Korea from Russia, before Kim Jong-un took a ride in one (pictured).

The Beijing-backed company, which has been blacklisted in the U.S. over fears of its possible role in Chinese espionage, is said to have worked on a range of projects in the secretive state over eight years.

The two missiles were launched from the coastal city of Wonsan into the Sea of Japan early on Wednesday, almost exactly a week after a similar test in the same location (file image).

US national security adviser John Bolton has said that North Korea's latest missile tests did not violate pledges made by the state to Donald Trump. Short-range missiles were launched on Tuesday.

Two projectiles, believed to be short-range ballistic missiles, were fired from South Hwanghae province Tuesday, before North Korea issued a statement condemning joint US-South Korea military drills.

Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the test of a 'new-type tactical guided weapon' on Tuesday, North Korean state media said, which was meant as 'a warning' to the US and South Korea.

The latest launch comes shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had received a 'very beautiful letter' from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un supervised test-firings of an unspecified new weapons system today, seen as an attempt to build leverage ahead of negotiations with the United States.

Japan's military last year said it was 'possible' that North Korea had achieved miniaturisation, but Tokyo now appears to have upgraded its assessment (pictured, a recent North Korean weapons test).

Jacob Bogle, a researcher from the US, analysed satellite images of North Korea taken since 2003 and found that a uranium plant at Pyongsan appears to be leaking waste into a nearby river.

The Coast Guard says the short-range projectiles did not reach Japanese waters or the  Exclusive Economic Zone.

The North Korean leader is reported to have personally overseen the test of the ballistic missiles. North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released photos of the test, Sunday.

Images of the Sinpo South Shipyard suggest circumstantial evidence of the construction of a new ballistic missile submarine, according to the report on Wednesday.

Kaoru Hasuike and his girlfriend Yukiko spent 24 years as captives in North Korea, where he was forced to work training spies after being kidnapped from a Japanese beach.