Journalists, tour guides and tourists are increasingly using Instagram to capture snapshots of life in the DPRK. Here's a selection of our recent favourites, from a 1400-mile road trip through farming hinterland to a day out at the dolphinarium.

It's North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un as the world has never seen him. In a three-minute clip that has accumulated over 200,000 views after its early July posting on Chinese video site Tudou, a crudely photoshopped Kim dances on the street, on a baseball diamond, and in a cornfield, at various moments accompanied by Barack Obama or Osama bin Laden. 

When the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office released details of its North Korean programme spending this week, some eyes were immediately drawn to the £287.33 the government paid for rights to show the BBC’s Sherlock at the Pyongyang Film Festival in 2012.

When you think of North Korea, "cheerleaders" may not be the first thing that springs to mind.  But the news that Pyongyang plans to send a "cheerleading squad" to the South Korean city of Incheon for the upcoming Asian Games is not just a surprising and weird news story – it may actually be quite an important political sign.

North Korea will reopen some of its domestic scheduled air routes for the first time in years – another sign of moves to bolster tourism in the isolated country, a China-based tour operator said today.  Foreign tourists have previously had to charter ageing Soviet-era planes to fly between cities which can take up to two days to reach by rail or road.

This week Western newspapers had a field day with North Korea’s response to the release of a trailer for the upcoming movie “The Interview” starring Seth Rogan and James Franco. The BBC, NPR and Washington Post all carried headlines announcing that North Korea had threatened war over the movie. Not to be outdone, the New York Post ran a headline proclaiming North Korea “threatens ‘merciless’ war” over the movie, while the Huffington Post announced “North Korea Threatens… ‘All Out War.’” 

Pyongyang on Wednesday condemned an upcoming Hollywood film starring actors James Franco and Seth Rogen — who play characters caught up in a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — as an “act of war.” The reclusive communist country has vowed to unleash a “merciless countermeasure” if the U.S. government fails to ban the movie’s release. 

According to The Japan Times, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Monday that Japanese and North Korean diplomats will meet in Stockholm on May 26-28 to discuss a wide range of issues, including North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese citizens and its nuclear and ballistic missile program.The meeting is noteworthy, Clint rightly noted, mainly in that it is being held in Europe instead of Asia. The two sides usually hold their bilateral meetings in Asia, particularly China.