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. 

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.

For a second time, North Korea has rescinded an invitation for a special American envoy to visit Pyongyang, the capital, to seek the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary held in the country for over a year, the State Department said on Sunday.

Dennis Rodman has named a team of former NBA players to play an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang, North Korea. Rodman will lead the team that includes former NBA All-Stars Kenny Anderson, Cliff Robinson, and Vin Baker. Craig Hodges, Doug Christie and Charles D. Smith are on the team, as well. They will play against a top North Korean senior national team on Wednesday, marking Kim Jong Un's birthday.

I’m standing outside the Egyptian Palace nightclub in Pyongyang’s Yanggakdo Hotel, a place that promises all the advantages of a combination bar, nightclub, sauna and massage service, geared toward the tired and terminally lonely (which, like all other services at the Yanggakdo, means “foreigners only”). The only problem? It’s nearly midnight, and the bar is firmly, implacably closed.

When it comes to choosing a summer camp to send your children to, North Korea may not be top of the list. But for decades the Songdowon International Children's Camp has entertained young people from around the world with its swimming pools, waterslides and boating lakes. When it opened in the 1960s, Songdowon International Children's Camp was a centre for the kind of cultural exchanges common amongst Communist countries at the time. Set on a beach front, amongst a sweep of pine trees, it was a place where young people from friendly nations could meet.