So there I was, on stage, swinging three hula-hoops in front of a big crowd of wildly cheering North Koreans. It's not what I went there to do and I had not anticipated that this sort of thing might happen.

A group of women peace activists, led by American feminist Gloria Steinem, made a rare crossing of one of the world's most militarised borders on Sunday to promote reconciliation between North and South Korea.

North Korea appears to be clamping down on international aid groups in the country. On Wednesday, the country’s propaganda news service announced the deportation of Sandra Suh, a U.S. citizen, accusing her of carrying out acts of propaganda against the state. It was the second deportation of an aid worker in less than two months.

These performances offer one of the best forms of cultural exchanges currently available with North Korea; the Pyongyang National Circus is an oft-requested guest by international festivals around the world, even coming to Seoul in 2000. 

The notoriously hermetic and isolated country of North Korea closed its borders to tourists last fall due to concerns about the threat of Ebola. Remarkably, it has recently decided to reopen them in order to hold a sporting event: the Pyongyang Marathon. 

In a move that could plunge the corporation into confrontation with the North Korean dictator, the World Service is examining how to set up a special news channel that will get around Pyongyang’s ban on foreign media broadcasts.

Defectors have turned to floating soap operas - even Hollywood movies - into the North to stir up 'regime change'.