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May 8, 2013 Dennis Rodman, America's unlikeliest link to Kim Jong Un, wants his friend to release Kenneth Bae. A 44-year-old U.S. citizen, Bae was this month sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labor camp for unspecified "hostile acts."

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May 2, 2013 Pae Jun-ho, known in the U.S. as Kenneth Bae, is among a number of U.S. citizens arrested in North Korea over the years.

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April 15, 2013 "The world media run headlines about the Korean peninsula being on the brink of war. Of course it's not on the brink of war, it's just [the] normal show," says Andrei Lankov, who has studied in the North and follows it closely from Kookmin University in Seoul.

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April 13, 2013 Secretary of State John Kerry is asking China's government to help ease tensions on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea has issued threats of war as it tests its weapons systems. The top U.S. diplomat met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing two days before a North Korea-promised missile test.

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April 12, 2013 While condemning North Korea's recent rhetoric as "unacceptable," the secretary of state also said the U.S. wants to talk — if the North is serious about discussing denuclearization.

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April 11, 2013 The assessment says such a weapon would probably not be very reliable. This is the first time the U.S. has concluded that Pyongyang's nuclear efforts have reached this point.

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April 11, 2013 The North is expected to test another ballistic missile in the next few days. Its rhetoric has been hot in recent weeks. But there's a case to be made that once the U.S. and South Korea wrap up military exercises, the North will declare it won this war of words.

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April 10, 2013 South Korean officials say the North has made preparations and looks ready to make its next provocative move. The mood in Seoul remains calm, however.

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April 9, 2013 "It's like a joke," one retiree in Seoul says of the North's daily provocations. His view is shared by many South Koreans, who believe leaders in the North are trying to extort more aid from other nations and are trying to bolster their own positions.

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April 9, 2013 On Tuesday, the North said tourists and foreign companies in the South should leave because nuclear war may be imminent. But people in Seoul have heard such talk for years. They think North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is trying to bolster support at home with such threats.

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April 8, 2013 The factory complex inside North Korea produces products for South Korean companies. It has been a rare example of cooperation. Now, it's caught in the latest round of escalating tensions on the peninsula.

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April 4, 2013 ANALYSIS: The threats are coming almost daily. But put what's being said by North Korean leaders in context, and remember, we've heard this before. Still, war on the Korean peninsula would be disastrous. So the talk can't be dismissed.

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