The wild world of professional wrestling is heading to North Korea.The authoritarian nation locked in a long stand-off with its neighbours and the United States over its nuclear bomb ambitions yesterday announced plans for an international pro-wrestling match in the capital, Pyongyang, in late August. “World renowned pro-wrestlers” from Japan, the US and other countries will take part, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. It provided few other details.

In a rare public acceptance of responsibility, the North Korean government announced Sunday that an apartment building under construction in its capital of Pyongyang collapsed, potentially killing hundreds of people. The collapse occurred last week, and rescue operations were suspended Saturday, according to state news agency Korean Central News Agency.Analysts said North Korea's disclosure of the accident may be intended to draw a contrast toSouth Korea's response to the deadly ferry accident in April that killed hundreds of people, many of them students.

In February, the United Nations released a remarkably comprehensive report on North Korea's human rights abuses. The report interviewed 320 people, including a number of survivors from the notorious secret political system, and concluded that the country was committing human rights violations “without any parallel in the contemporary world.”

President Obama plans to honor those who died in the Korean War with a surprising message for a foreign audience: a pitch for immigration reform back home. At a naturalization ceremony Friday for 13 U.S. service members and seven military spouses stationed in South Korea, he will offer a tribute to the contributions that naturalized American citizens have made through military service, according to an official familiar with the event.

North Korean state television has released cherubic photographs of dictator Kim Jong-un as a child after the photos were shown during a special Air Force concert held in his honor.

For nearly six decades, South Korea's (ROK) approach to security has focused on sustaining the status quo: Maintaining deterrence and a robust defence posture in order to prevent another major conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

From territorial disputes in two of Asia's major seas to the nuclear crisis in North Korea, Chinese and US officials have exchanged sharp words - a trend that analysts say has heightened China's frustration over what it perceives as intensifying efforts to contain its rise.

North Korea yesterday blasted South Korean President Park Geun-hye's proposal on laying the groundwork for reunification through economic exchanges and humanitarian aid as the "daydream of a psychopath".