North Korea has acknowledged the purge of leader Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle on allegations of corruption, drug use and a long list of other "anti-state" acts.

It was in late 2010, following his father’s death, that Kim Jong Un was viewed as heir apparent to the leadership of the North Korean nation. The country’s state television network announced him as the "Great Successor" and the first image the world ever saw of him as an adult was released. The North Korean government vowed ‘with bleeding tears' to follow Jong Un, and has taken great care to promote him as an 'outstanding leader,' releasing photos to the North Korean people, and the world, accordingly. Here are our top ten picks of Kim Jong Un photos, as released by the North Korean government.

S Korean president Park Geun Hye said this week she is willing to hold a summit with N Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but she rejects any meeting with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe until Japan apologises for wrongdoings during its 35-year occupation of Korea.

The secretary-general of North Korea's ski association views the sprawling alpine landscape before him with unabashed pride.

She was first identified as Kim Jong-un's old flame 13 months ago, in July 2012. The poised, coiffed and elegantly dressed companion of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was filmed sitting next to him at a concert in Pyongyang.

A former police officer is vying to become the first person since the Korean War to walk a mountain range the length of the Korean Peninsula.

Goose-stepping soldiers, columns of tanks and a broad array of ominous-looking missiles poised on mobile launchers paraded through Pyongyang's main square in a painstakingly choreographed military pageant intended to strike fear into North Korea's adversaries and rally its people behind young ruler Kim Jong Un on the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

New Zealand Korean War veterans were serenaded with Po Kare Ana sung by a children's choir during South Korea's official commemoration of the 1953 armistice in Seoul this morning.

In the 4km wide demilitarised zone which separates North and South Korea, absurdities abound that would be laughable if not for the fact they reflect the deadly reality of war that is on hold rather than over.

The Korean War and the mates lost to it remain painful memories for many of the New Zealand veterans who yesterday visited the demilitarised zone which still separates North and South Korea 60 years later.

While the focus will be on free trade, New Zealand's defence commitments to South Korea are also likely to be on the table when Prime Minister John Key meets South Korean President Park Guen-hye today.

Skiing destinations tend to be in well-heeled areas - from Queenstown to the Austrian Alps and Whistler. Naturally, North Korea wants to take its place alongside the well-groomed resorts.

A 29-year-old whiteware salesman who only started playing golf last November has become NZ's most unlikely international sporting champion.

North Korea has fired a projectile into waters off its eastern coast, a day after launching three short-range missiles in the same area, officials said.

The Government is maintaining there is no specific threat to the safety of New Zealanders in South Korea, despite a new warning issued by the North.

Japan has deployed Patriot missiles in its capital as it readies to defend the 30 million people who live in greater Tokyo from any North Korean attack.

As tensions surrounding the world's most closed state escalate, Angus West asks experts from around the globe waht on earth they think is going on behind the sabre-rattling.

The US military is set to deploy an unmanned spy plane in Japan to boost surveillance capabilities as North Korea apparently readies for missile launches.

Each time it makes a threatening gesture to its sister in the south, the US and China respond like different parents. But a sibling often knows a troubled child better than either parent, says John Roughan.

The North Korea security crisis will be high on tomorrow's agenda when Prime Minister John Key meets new President of China Xi Jinping on the Chinese tropical island of Hainan, at the Boao Forum for Asia.

If North Korea matches its warlike rhetoric with actions we are all in trouble, writes Robert Ayson. Kim Jong-Un may not have inherited the kind of nuclear warheads from his father that are ready to be put on to long-range missiles.

The US is deploying a missile defense shield to the Pacific as North Korea renewed its threat of a nuclear attack on the States using "smaller, lighter and diversified'' weapons.