Tags: DPRK

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on Thursday to claim his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were skeptical.

An extradition treaty signed by Russia and North Korea could be used to send back defectors from the North and put them at risk of serious harm in their home country, including torture, the U.N. human rights investigator on North Korea said on Thursday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit North Korea's capital Pyongyang this week, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, quoting a U.N. source, in what could be a rare diplomatic opening by the isolated state.