Kim Jong Un, the 31-year-old "semi-divine" leader of the world’s most secretive state, has not made a public appearance in almost 35 days.

Rumors have been flying about what happened to the dictator — some say he's having health problems, some say someone else has taken control of the country, and others speculate the regime is about to topple.

Three months ago, North Korea's state media broadcasted footage of the hereditary leader quickly limping onstage at the anniversary memorial service of his grandfather and the nations' founding president, Kim Il Sung:

Here is a roundup of possible reasons why Kim Jong Un is MIA:

Swiss cheese addiction

Kim Jong Un's weight apparently ballooned after developing an addiction to Swiss cheese. The excess weight reportedly caused stress fractures in both of his ankles which later required surgery.

Apparently, obesity does greatly increase your risk of getting ankle fractures.

Kim reportedly grew fond of the cheese while he was at boarding school in Switzerland, according to The Telegraph.

Bum ankles from heeled shoes

Another theory is that the North Korean leader tripped while walking in his 'Cuban heels' (stylish heels designed for men), according to the Korean news outlet The Chosun Ilbo.

According to the report, Kim Jong Un wore the heels while touring an exhaustive number of Cuban military bases and factories.

Speculation about the Swiss cheese addiction and fractured ankles started after Kim failed to attend last month's meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly, one of the country's biggest events.

North Korean state TV reportedly admitted that Kim was ill.

Gout

And then there is a chance that the leader may have gout, a form of arthritis characterized by sudden attacks of pain and tenderness in joints.

The gout is said to have been brought on by excessive binge drinking, smoking, and again, an abnormal consumption of Swiss cheese, The Guardian reports.

Political coup

Despite the perception that Kim has absolute power in North Korea, officials have apparently been criticizing Kim and disagreeing with his policies recently, which has led to speculation about a possible coup.

This is rather unlikely since people have been predicting the demise of the North Korean regime for decades, but there are some signs that this is a possibility. The North Korean capital is in a lockdown, which could be a move to prevent people who are involved in the coup from fleeing the city.

A former North Korean official has said that Kim is no longer in control of the country and that members of North Korea's Organization and Guidance Department comprised of former Kim Jong Il officials have taken over, Vice News reports.

Kim Jong Un's sister is now in control

Some say that Kim Jong Un's 24-year-old sister, Kim Yo Jong, is now in control of North Korea, according to The Telegraph.

Kim's younger sister has reportedly "taken up some of the key leadership positions" in North Korea and is Kim's closest confidante. Some say she controls Kim's schedule already. She attended the same boarding school in Switzerland as her older brother.

Kim Jong Un's car reportedly hasn't left Pyongyang since he vanished from public view, so it is likely he remains within the capital. Health problems seem to be the most likely explanation for Kim's disappearance, but because of the North Korean regime's extreme secrecy, no one outside of his circle knows for sure what's going on.

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The formerly tiny band of journalists and academics who specialize in North Korea has expanded dramatically in numbers over the past several years. Watching this has been a cause for rejoicing.

The pendulum may have swung a bit too far, though, judging from the current mad rush by what has become a veritable horde of Pyongyang watchers to put forth theories about the meaning of Kim Jong Un’s mysterious month-long absence from the public eye.

On the basis of scanty evidence we’re hearing theories that:

• Kim is gravely ill (if not dead).
• He has been replaced by his sister.
• He has been removed in a coup.
• He is under house arrest and — this one you gotta love — in danger of being hung out to dry as the fall guy taking the blame for the three-generation Kim dynasty’s horrible human rights record.

Obviously what the waiting world really needs is another theory explaining why Kim — even as state media continued to report such activities as sending or receiving greetings or tribute — halted his usual schedule of public appearances. After all, as the wheelchair-bound US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a polio victim, proved, even an indisposed leader may be able to prop himself up behind a desk for a reassuring photo.

Here's a theory to try on: Kim and his colleagues are playing a mind game with us, similar to a macabre hoax perpetrated in his grandfather's time.

In 1986 North Korean loudspeakers at the Demilitarized Zone, the border with South Korea,broadcast that President Kim Il Sung had been killed. North Korean students in China removed the lapel portrait pins with which they had demonstrated loyalty to the Great Leader.

One theory on that incident is that it was a head fake done for the purpose of gauging how neighboring countries and the United States would respond to the eventual death of Kim Il Sung.

South Korea publicly announced Kim’s reported death and placed its military on alert.

The loudspeaker announcements ceased, the students put their pins back on and Kim, who was 74 at the time and very much alive, made a public appearance — hugely embarrassing the South’s government.

Kim lived for eight more years. No explanation ever came from the regime.

A similar reason might be behind encouraging the world to wonder this time what, if anything, has happened to the 31-year-old Kim Jong Un — especially if the “discomfort” that the country’s official news media mentioned he’d been suffering was an illness serious enough to decrease life expectancy.

If so, the regime no doubt wanted to know whether China on the one hand, and the US and maybe South Korea on the other, would get together to plan a coordinated response to a regime change or collapse.

There’s no report that they’ve done so. Although American strategic thinkers have argued for some time that such joint planning is urgently needed, the Chinese haven’t cared to go that far in distancing themselves from their delinquent ward.

But there could have been another reason for the North Koreans — perhaps taking their cue from a real (if not life-threatening) illness or minor injury that took Kim out of commission for a while — to play up the drama.

World events, most notably in Ukraine and the Middle East, had taken the news focus away from perennial bad boy North Korea. That couldn’t be permitted to continue, or the regime would be hard pressed to stick with its M.O. of extorting concessions from enemies.

But what could Pyongyang do to regain the spotlight?

After all, the North’s rulers knew that the timing in terms of relations with protector China was by no means propitious for, say, a fourth nuclear test, what with Beijing still steaming over the third one.

Circumstantial evidence seems consistent with the idea that the North’s vagueness about Kim’s absence could amount largely to a publicity stunt, in the category of confusing the enemy with inconsistency.

Yes, a surprise trip by Kim’s chief deputies to South Korea for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games had a domestic political function. It was a means of further associating the regime, in the eyes of the public back home, with the remarkable achievements of the North Korean athletes.

But in the context of the North’s relations with the South, the trip was also an opportunity to launch a new round of confusing diplomatic and military behavior. A pleasant luncheon meeting with South Korean officials that resulted in an announcement that more formal talks would be held later was followed by — what else? — military confrontations, along the disputed sea border.

Long-time Asia correspondent Bradley K. Martin, the author of “Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty,” currently holds the Roger Tatarian Lecturership in Journalism at Fresno State University.

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As we pointed out on Thursday, no one outside of North Korea really knows for sure what happened to notorious dictator Kim Jong Un.

But there is one theory that seems to be more credible than the rest — that Kim is suffering from health problems and is recuperating (or deteriorating) away from public view.

Kim has not made a public appearance in more than a month, leading people to speculate that the dictator's regime is about to fall, that he is no longer in control of the country, or that he fell ill and is now hiding away.

Considering the fact that people have been predicting the downfall of North Korea for decades, this scenario doesn't seem as likely. Political observers have said there's little risk of a coup in the Hermit Kingdom, and reports that Kim has lost control of the country are so far unconfirmed.

This leaves the more likely scenario of Kim undergoing a surgery or recovering from some sort of illness.

Some of the more outlandish health theories include a Swiss cheese addiction and ankle fractures due to excessive weight, but it's also possible that he's suffering from a less sensational affliction.

South Korean public broadcasting network KBS reported that Kim might have gout and diabetes brought on by weight gain and an unhealthy diet.

The speculation that he's suffering from ankle fractures started after he was seen limping across a stage at the anniversary memorial service of his grandfather and the nation's founding president, Kim Il Sung:

If the ankle theory proves correct and Kim had to undergo surgery, it's possible that Kim is recovering privately in a hospital.

Another explanation for the limp is that Kim hurt his leg while overseeing military exercises, according to a source with access to North Korea's leadership who spoke to Reuters.

The Kim family has a history of gout, diabetes, and heart problems, according to CBS News.

North Korean state TV has alluded to an illness, saying "Kim is suffering from uncomfortable physical condition," but has not elaborated on what is ailing him.

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North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un hasn't been seen in public since early September, leading to intense media speculation that a shakeup or even a coup could be taking place in one of the world's most opaque and repressive states. But South Korean officials do not see Kim's absence as significant, Barbara Demick reports for The New Yorker.

Demick, the author of a critically lauded book about daily life in North Korea, writes that the South Korean officials who deal most closely with the country's northern neighbor aren't terribly concerned with the current situation:

Scott Snyder, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations, who was in Seoul last week, told me that South Korean officials at the Ministry of Unification, which handles relations with the North, also attached no particular significance to Kim Jong-un’s absence ... As for the suggestion that Kim Jong-un is no longer in charge, Snyder said, “these are the usual low-credibility rumors.’’

Rumors have circulated throughout the media, suggesting scenarios ranging from Kim suffering from gout to the possibility that he's been overthrown in an internal coup and subsequent power struggle. 

The basis for all of these rumors stem from the fact that Kim has not been seen in public since the beginning of September. But this is not the first time that a North Korean leader has disappeared for significant periods of time, which perhaps explains South Korea's apparent lack of alarm.

During the rule of Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Un's grandfather, the North Koreans even faked the death of Sung in order to gauge the international community's response. 

Subsequently, there are no external indicators that a coup has transpired within North Korea. Geo-political tremors that would indicate a coup, such as military buildups along the Chinese and South Korean borders with North Korea, have not taken place. 

Of course, given the closed-off nature of the Hermit Kingdom, there's little way to confirm any kind of speculation into the on-the-ground realities of North Korea. But ongoing health issues offer perhaps the most likely explanation for Kim's over month-long absence. 

SEE ALSO: Here are all the reasons people think there's something big happening in North Korea

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North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has reportedly made his first public appearance in over a month, Yonhap News Agency reports.

Pyongyang's state media agency says Kim was touring a newly built housing complex, according to Yonhap.

It's worth noting that the North Korean state media agency is basically a propaganda tool, and it's still unclear why Kim has been absent from public view since September.

State media reportedly released photos of Kim walking with a cane as proof that he's reappeared, but did not say when the photos were taken, according to CNN.

Speculation about what happened to Kim has been mounting since he was seen limping across a stage during at the anniversary memorial service of his grandfather and the nations' founding president, Kim Il Sung:

Since his last public appearance at a concert Sept. 3, Kim has missed high-profile public events that he would normally attend, fueling speculation that something was amiss, the Associated Press notes.

North Korean observers have theorized that Kim is suffering from health problems, that he's no longer in control of the country, or that he's in the midst of an attempted coup.

Considering the fact that people have been predicting the downfall of North Korea for decades, the latter two scenarios don't seem likely.

The most plausible explanation for the dictator's absence is that he was recovering from some sort of operation or dealing with other health issues. A source with access to North Korea's leadership told Reuters that Kim hurt his leg while overseeing military exercises, while other North Korean officials have said that his health is fine.

North Korean state TV previously alluded to an illness, saying "Kim is suffering from uncomfortable physical condition," but did not elaborate on what was ailing him.

Foster Klug writes for the Associated Press:

This bewildering ability to command attention by doing nothing said a lot about the North's propaganda focus on Kim as the center of everything. Remove for 40 days the sun around which that propaganda spins and the international media, both traditional and social, exploded with curiosity.

SEE ALSO: Here's The Most Likely Explanation Of What Happened To Kim Jong Un

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North Korean state media announced on Monday that its leader, Kim Jong Un, was photographed touring a newly built housing complex, marking his first public appearance in over a month.

The photos show Kim walking with a cane, which supports the most plausible theory that Kim sustained an ankle or leg injury that might have required surgery and a subsequent recovery period.

The news was likely meant to quell rumors of serious health issues or a coup in the secretive state. Kim, who is usually eager to be seen out and about at various events, last appeared in public Sept. 3 when he attended a concert with his wife.

His 40-day absence from public was unusually long, leading North Korea observers to speculate that he was no longer in control of the country or was suffering from any number of afflictions, including gout, diabetes, fractured ankles brought on by a cheese addiction, or some sort of leg injury.

Photos released by North Korean state media give the appearance that Kim is back from his temporary absence, but the propaganda agency didn't say when the photos were taken or when the visit to the housing complex took place.

The Korean Central News Agency story was accompanied by this statement from Kim:

Our scientists are patriots who are devoting all their lives to building a rich and powerful nation, convinced that though there is no frontier in science, they have a socialist motherland and are under the care of the mother party. There is nothing to spare for them. It is necessary to project and treat scientists preferentially and always take care of them.

Here are the photos:

One of the more outlandish theories suggested that ankle fractures brought on by a weight gain from Swiss cheese addiction were the source of Kim's injury. But a source with access to North Korea's leadership told Reuters that Kim hurt his leg while overseeing military exercises.

Others theorized that Kim's sister had taken control of the country or that Kim fell victim to some sort of coup. This is unlikely — political scientists said earlier this year that North Korea's coup risk was very low, and people have been predicting the downfall of North Korea for decades.

North Korean state TV previously alluded to an illness, saying "Kim is suffering from uncomfortable physical condition," but did not elaborate on what was ailing him.

An (unofficial) North Korea joke Twitter feed offered this explanation of where Kim has been for the past month:

Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un returns from martial arts training and meditation atop Mount Paektu, to defend people against Japanese aggression

— DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) October 13, 2014

The new photos of Kim appeared on the front page of North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

Sky News' China correspondent Mark Stone notes that we should be skeptical of the photographs:

[The photos] could be unpublished photos from a previous visit — albeit a recent one, given that he is carrying a walking stick. It is conceivable the photos were taken in the past few months, but not published at the time because Mr Kim didn't want to appear weak. ... The North Korean regime has form in releasing doctored or inaccurate photographs.

SEE ALSO: No One Really Knows What Happened To Kim Jong Un

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An informed understanding of North Korean leadership stymies analysts and policy makers alike. Isolated, idiosyncratic, and intensely secretive, Pyongyang seldom reveals much about its decision making.

However, there are occasional moments when the closed world of North Korean politics opens ever so slightly. But speculation and rumor also thrive under such circumstances, making it very difficult to view the North’s situation with clarity or certainty.

An Unexplained Absence

The past month and a half provides a telling example of this challenge. On September 3, Kim Jong-un, the North’s peripatetic young leader, appeared at a concert in Pyongyang, and then disappeared from view, not reappearing in official media until October 14. His prolonged, unexplained absence triggered intense interest in his whereabouts, health, and political standing, and in the stability of the regime.

What best explains Kim’s absence from public view for nearly six weeks? We need to begin with known facts.  On July 8, Kim walked with a pronounced limp in a memorial service commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung. Videos of this event and of several subsequent political occasions did not obscure his physical condition, though there was no official explanation. On September 26, there was a single cryptic reference in official media that Kim was experiencing “discomfort.”  His absence from the anniversary of the founding of the Korean Workers Party on October 10 appeared to confirm continued, if undisclosed, physical problems.

Rumors of Political Infighting and Health Concerns Spread

Kim’s extended absence triggered a torrent of rumors and speculation, much of it emanating from elite defectors from the North now living and working in South Korea.  While conceding that Kim might have some serious physical problems, these defectors insisted that his larger problems were political. They offered a steady stream of claims, all purportedly based on sources in the North.

One group contended that Kim had been ousted in a quiet coup by leaders in the Party’s Organization and Guidance Department; others argued that unnamed senior generals had overthrown him. Some defectors claimed that there was an ongoing power struggle at the top, all while Kim was suffering from numerous debilitating medical conditions, including gout, diabetes, renal failure, and severe ankle and leg problems.

There was (and is) no way to definitively prove or disprove these arguments. But they provided catnip for newspapers and broadcast media in South Korea and beyond. Sensational claims appeared in numerous publications and on U.S. news networks. Moreover, Kim’s increasing obesity and his smoking and drinking habits lent credence to assertions about Kim’s health problems. Several leading South Korean media outlets, for example, reported that German and French doctors had visited the North to address Kim’s purported medical issues (kidney failure in the case of an unidentified German doctor, and surgery on both ankles in the case of an unidentified French doctor).

There was at least superficial plausibility to some of these reports. The Kims have relied in the past on European doctors to address serious maladies afflicting members of the ruling family, including Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il, who suffered from kidney failure and from heart disease. But elite defectors, being deeply alienated from the North Korean system, were predisposed to seize on reports of Kim’s health problems, believing that his days (and perhaps the regime’s days) were numbered.

Examining the Evidence

Various elite defectors emphasized the inherent implausibility of a young, untested, and impetuous leader wielding absolute power in Pyongyang.  To some, this suggested that Kim was a figurehead, albeit the “next of Kim” selected by his father.

Others argued that senior figures near the center of power had grown increasingly disenchanted with Kim’s repeated purges of senior officials and his disruptive and destructive policies, thereby undermining the internal stability on which this most Confucian of systems has long rested.

However, if there had been an intense, ongoing struggle for power at the top of the system, was there evidence to substantiate it? Some sources alleged that Pyongyang was in virtual lock down in recent weeks, but visitors to the North Korean capital reported nothing to substantiate this claim. At the same time, leading South Korean and American officials detected no signs of internal upheaval such as troop redeployments or unusual activities of internal security personnel.  

The chairman of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Choi Yun-hee, informed Korean parliamentarians that Kim “[did] not have major problems in ruling the country.” Admiral Choi also stated that South Korean military intelligence disputed claims that Kim was in a vegetative state, though he demurred from responding to a query about the overall status of Kim’s health. Similarly, the spokesman of the Ministry of Unification has declared that “Kim Jong-un’s rule is in normal operation.”

Another reputed North Korean source informed a leading newspaper in Seoul that Kim underwent ankle and foot surgery in mid-September and was recovering at a villa away from Pyongyang. But this source claimed that senior party and army officials were visiting Kim regularly and receiving orders directly from him. These purportedly included Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong-so, Kim’s closest aide at present and one of three senior figures who traveled on one day’s notice to Incheon last week for the closing ceremonies of the Asian Games, where he also met with senior South Korean officials. Hwang and his colleagues flew to the ROK on Kim Jong-un’s personal aircraft, the first time it had ever been flown outside North Korea. Even more important, it defied rationality that three ranking officials would leave Pyongyang even for 12 hours if the capital was in the midst of an intense power struggle.

Kim’s Reappearance

But the longer Kim remained absent, the more it raised doubts about his well-being. Kim’s recent reappearance while relying on a cane suggests that his immediate physical problems concern one or both legs and ankles. The new photographs appearing in North Korean media suggest tentative, somewhat awkward bodily movements; Kim seems far from fully recovered from what ails him. It is also possible that he confronts other undisclosed conditions.

But Kim must have decided that it was better to resurface (albeit in a somewhat diminished state) than remain absent from the political scene. Even within a hermetically sealed leadership process, visibility matters.

Kim Jong-un’s return does not mean that all is settled in Pyongyang.  North Korea remains an acutely damaged society confronting prodigious problems, overseen by a young, self-important leader who seems unable or unwilling to grasp the enormity of the longer-term crisis that the regime confronts. But understanding North Korea must begin with what is known, not with what those outside the North hope for or imagine.

Jonathan D. Pollack is a senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. A specialist on East Asian international politics and security, he has published extensively on Chinese political-military strategy, U.S.-China relations, the political and security dynamics of the Korean Peninsula and U.S. strategy and policy in Asia and the Pacific. His latest publication, No Exit: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, and International Security, was published in May 2011 by Routledge for the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

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The image at right, taken by an AP photographer, shows the spot in Pyongyang, North Korea, where the government is building a new international airport terminal at record speed.

The AP reports that the initiative is part of a series of "speed campaigns," big infrastructures built in record-time thanks to thousands of workers dressed in brown or green uniforms, who "toil under huge signs calling on them to carry out their tasks with 'Korea Speed,'" the AP writes. Patriotic music is also blasted from loudspeakers as they work.

North Korea is hungry for foreign cash and since Kim Jong Un took over as supreme leader a couple of years ago, the country has launched an ambitious campaign to boost the appeal of the reclusive kingdom to international tourists. Remember the Dennis Rodman stunt?

Pyongyang, though, is still served by an old, small airport, Pyongyang Sunan. It has just one baggage carousel and a tiny duty free shop. Only a handful of international connections fly there, mainly from China.

Work on the new airport is still done the old style, with a few simple tools or even by hand. The AP reports that most of the work is now completed, and the workers are focused on flattening a large tarmac area outside the terminal, as shown in the picture below. The date of the opening has not been announced yet.

SEE ALSO: This Is North Korea's Version Of The iPhone

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has taken time out from his schedule of visiting orphanages and restaurants to instead visit one of the country's airfields. 

North Korean media reports that he watched flights take off at the airfield and perform "the high art of aviation."

Kim Jong-un reportedly "feels whenever watching flight drills that our airmen are very good at flying."

The North Korean air force uses a variety of Chinese and Russian planes. The country's most-used military jet is the MiG-21 PFM, which was created in Russia in 1967. North Korea's "People's Air Force" is reported to number around 110,000 personnel.

The country says that he sat in the seat of pursuit plane No. 550 to "learn in detail" the engineering data and talk to the pilot.

Yesterday South Korea claimed to have "solved" the mystery of the North Korean leader's recent disappearance, saying that he vanished for 40 days while undergoing treatment for a cyst on his ankle. They claimed that his illness was down to obesity, smoking, and his busy schedule. However, the South Korean government and media often make claims about North Korea that have little basis in fact, so the new claim may fully explain why Kim Jong-un was absent for so long.

SEE ALSO: No One Really Knows What Happened To Kim Jong Un

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According To Multiple Sources, as of 12:10 AM EST, The two Americans released seemingly out of nowhere by North Korea have returned to US soil.

ABC News and CNN have reported the news via Twitter.

Perhaps the most surprising piece of this whole story was the involvement of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. 

Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller, who had been doing hard labor for months in the reclusive country, were being accompanied home by Clapper, his office said. Their release comes less than three weeks after another American was freed by Pyongyang.

Bae, a missionary from Washington state, was arrested in North Korea in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for crimes against the state. Miller, who reportedly was tried on an espionage charge, had been in custody since April this year and was serving a six-year hard labor sentence.

The United States had frequently called for the men to be freed for humanitarian reasons, especially since Bae was said to have health problems.

"He (Clapper) was not there to negotiate. And our position hasn't changed."

As Director Of National Intelligence, a job created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Clapper oversees the CIA and some 15 other intelligence agencies, making his involvement in the release surprising. U.S. officials said it was the first time a National Intelligence Director had been involved in such a high-profile diplomatic matter.

U.S. officials said it was the first time a National Intelligence Director had been involved in such a high-profile diplomatic matter.

An Obama administration official, who declined to be identified, said there was no connection between Clapper's trip and the issue of North Korean nuclear weapons, but that he acted as a presidential envoy with a broader mandate to listen to what North Korea had to say.

Arrangements for the release had come together in the past several days and North Korea had asked for a high-ranking envoy to be involved, the official said.

Clapper went to Pyongyang but there was no indication that he met personally with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The men were released just hours before President Barack Obama was to start a trip to Asia that will include talks with Chinese leaders about how Beijing can use its influence with North Korea to rein in its nuclear weapons program, U.S. officials have said.

"It's a wonderful day for them and their families," Obama said at the White House. "Obviously we are very grateful for their safe return and I appreciate Director Clapper doing a great job on what was obviously a challenging mission."

A senior U.S. official said: "The DNI (Clapper) did carry a brief message from the President indicating that Director Clapper was his personal envoy to bring the two Americans home."

Bae's delighted son, Jonathan, told Reuters from Arizona that he received a call Friday night and spoke to his father. "The brief time on the phone, he sounded good," Jonathan said. "I'm sure he will be back to his old self in no time."

"It came out of the blue. One minute he was doing farm labor and the next minute they are saying, 'You are going home.' Just like everyone else, he was surprised," he said.

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Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's Kim Jong-un assassination comedy "The Interview" has been the subject of a lot of controversy. The film was originally scheduled to be released in October, but after North Korea declared the film an "act of war" and threatened a "resolute and merciless" response if the US government failed to stop the film's release, it was delayed until Christmas Day. 

While changing an American film based on the demands of a dictator may seem ridiculous, Sony agreed to make minor digital alterations, including covering up "thousands of buttons worn by characters in the film" since they "depict the actual hardware worn by the North Korean military to honor the country's leader."

After viewing the relentlessly crass and silly finished product, I find it hard to take North Korea's assertions seriously. The film is clearly a comedy far more than it is a statement on foreign policy. While Rogen weaves in plenty of details that don't portray North Korea in very positive light, the movie never feels like an attack on the hermit kingdom.

The opening scene depicting a young Korean girl serenading a gathering of fellow Koreans with sing-songy insults to America sets the bar right away, and the film never takes itself too seriously.

James Franco plays Dave Skylark, the host of "Skylark Tonight," a tabloid news program that falls more in line with TMZ than CNN. Aaron Rapaport (Rogen) is the show's producer, and after 1,000 episodes of asinine celebrity coverage, he wishes to be taken seriously. When Skylark finds out Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, is a fan of his program, he sets up an exclusive interview with the dictator in North Korea. When the CIA gets wind of this, they bring Skylark and Rapaport in and ask them to assassinate him.

As all good comedies should, 'The Interview" has heart, and the on-screen chemistry between Franco and Rogen keeps everything afloat. The script features plenty of Rogen's trademark witty, crass humor and, just like in "Pineapple Express," the off-the-cuff banter between the two leads never gets old. Lizzy Caplan is also great (but underused) as the CIA agent who "honeypots" the duo into the assassination. 

"The Interview" is full of pop culture references, Hollywood in-jokes, and hysterically funny cameos. Besides the barrage of unexpected celebrities, one of the film's biggest laughs comes from Franco's rendition of a pop song that rivals his Britney Spears piano number from "Spring Breakers." While it's not as inherently self-referential as "This Is The End" since Rogen and Franco aren't playing themselves, there is similar humor at times, as Rogen shows that he isn't afraid to make fun of anyone.

The film is poised to be another surefire hit for Rogen, whose last two starring vehicles ("Neighbors,""This Is The End") were modestly budgeted at $18 million and $32 million respectively and each managed to gross over $100 million domestically. The reported budget for "The Interview" is around $30 million, so factoring in Rogen's track record, the film should have no trouble raking in some serious cash when it opens this Christmas. 

Watch the trailer below.  

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In North Korea, there can be only one Kim Jong Un.

A South Korean official said Wednesday that Pyongyang forbids its people from using the same name as the young absolute leader.

The measure appears meant to bolster a personality cult surrounding Kim, who took over after the death of his dictator father Kim Jong Il in late 2011. Seoul officials have said Pyongyang also banned the use of the names of Kim Jong Il and the country's founder, Kim Il Sung.

The South Korean official said Kim Jong Il in early 2011 ordered citizens with the same name as his son to get new names and demanded that authorities reject birth registrations of newborn babies with the name.

The official requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. He refused to disclose how the information was obtained.

Kim Jong Un made his international debut in late 2010 when he was awarded a slew of top political jobs. His father, who reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, was seen as moving fast to hand over power so his family could rule for a third generation.

Kim Jong Il inherited power in 1994 when his father Kim Il Sung died.

North Korea enforces strict, state-organized public reverence of the Kim family, which serves as the backbone of the family's authoritarian rule of the impoverished country. The North is locked in a long-running international standoff over its nuclear ambitions.

All North Koreans are required to wear lapel pins bearing the images of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and to put the leaders' portraits on the walls of their homes. Their birthdays are considered the most important holidays in North Korea.

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The size and scope of the recent hack of Sony Pictures is unprecedented for a major US company.

Hackers shut down Sony's systems and then released an estimated 11 terabytes of data. 

Stolen information was sent to reporters and is available to download online.

It's not clear who is responsible for the attack.

Here are some of the most eye-opening things we've learned so far:

• Sony thinks it was North Korea, Re/code reports. The new Seth Rogen and James Franco film "The Interview," a comedy about two men sent on a mission to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, is believed to be why the hack took place, since North Korea previously sought Sony to stop the release of that film. Rogen had no comment when asked about the incident by Business Insider.

Re/code reported last week that Sony is investigating whether hackers operating on behalf of North Korea were behind the attack. North Korean officials previously stated their opposition to the movie. 

• Experts say the hack is "the first major attack on a US company to use a highly destructive class of malicious software that is designed to make computer networks unable to operate,"Reuters reports.

• Employees had to forgo their electronics entirely and do their work using pen, paper, and fax machines after the hack, according to The Los Angeles Times.

• Salary information for employees was among the information released in the hack. People noticed that Hannah Minghella, who serves as co-president of production at Sony's Columbia Pictures division, makes $800,000 less per year than her male counterpart, Columbia Pictures co-president of production Michael De Luca. The hackers also released "detailed salary information for more than 30,000 employees of Deloitte, the New York-based auditing and professional services firm,"Fusion reports.

• The hack didn't just encompass corporate information either — employee documents containing passwords, credit-card numbers, medical histories, and, in one case, a woman's breastfeeding diet were also stolen.

• A spreadsheet with a list of fired and laid-off employees was also included in the hack, according to Fusion. The sheet listed the reason for termination and the cost to terminate the employees.

• Movies that have not been released in theaters yet were leaked, including the "Annie" remake, which Sony is counting on to be a big holiday blockbuster. The other movies leaked so far are "Fury,""Still Alice,""Mr. Turner," and "To Write Love On Her Arms."

• A script from the creator of "Breaking Bad" for a pilot show was also leaked.

• Disciplinary files detail the romantic relationship one manager had with a subordinate, according to BuzzFeed. This includes the business-travel history of the manager and employee.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is one of Hollywood's biggest studios.

The hackers say they haven't yet released all of the documents and information they stole from Sony, claiming more is coming soon.

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The hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment is one of the most debilitating ever targeted at US corporate servers.

The Nov. 24 incident didn't just result in the theft of proprietary data, including unreleased films and employee information.

It is also, experts say, the first to use "a highly destructive class of malicious software that is designed to make computer networks unable to operate" within a company's computer system in the US, according to Reuters.

North Korea has emerged as a leading suspect in the hack. Pyongyang had already vowed "merciless" retaliation over "The Interview," a coming Sony release in which James Franco and Seth Rogan play talk show hosts whom the CIA enlists for an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. And it has greatly developed its cyberoffensive capabilities over the past decade. An unnamed security source told Reuters that North Korea was the "principal suspect."

If the Hermit Kingdom really is involved, it would make the Sony incident a potential turning point in the history of cyberwarfare.

For the past several years, states have started to compromise the computer systems of rival governments and private companies to further political or strategic aims: think China's infiltration of computers at The New York Times in response to a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning reports in 2012 on the private wealth of the country's top leadership, or Russia's "cyber-invasion" of Estonia in 2007.

But according to Dave Aitel, a former NSA research scientist and CEO of the cybersecurity firm Immunity, the severity of the Sony attack, along with its nakedly political motives, would put the incident in its own unique category assuming it was North Korea's handiwork.

"If it was North Korea, these attacks against Sony would indicate that foreign powers are going beyond the traditional information-stealing attacks to enforcing their own law against American companies via what we would consider cyber terrorism," Aitel told Business Insider by email. "It would be a watershed moment in how the world handles cyber policy and reaction."

Aitel says the hacks are potentially  "a 'near red-line moment'" because they represent the kind of incident that would almost require a US policy response assuming a rival state was behind it. As Aitel says, "This is the first demonstration of what the military would call Destructive Computer Network Attack (CNA) against a US Corporation on US soil ... a broad escalation in cyberwarfare tactics" that would demand some kind of American response.

It would also signal an increased willingness for North Korea to deploy its developing cyberoffensive capabilities against American targets.

An August 2014 report from Hewitt Packard Security Research explained Pyongyang's longstanding policy of attempting to integrate cyberattacks into its doctrine of "asymmetrical warfare"— namely, North Korea's attempts at closing the defense gap with its more conventionally capable enemies, like South Korea and the US, in whichever ways it can.

"Cyber warfare allows North Korea to leverage the Internet's inherent flaws for offensive purposes while maintaining its defenses, primarily via air-gapping its most critical networks from the outside world," the report says.

To that end, North Korea established a group of hackers within its military special forces architecture, called Unit 121, that is trained in a hotel in eastern China. Early results were alarming: As early as 2004, North Korea "reportedly gained access to 33 of 80 South Korean military wireless communication networks;" in 2006, "an attack on the US State Department originating in the East Asia-Pacific region coincided with US-North Korea negotiations over the regime’s nuclear missile testing."

There's evidence that North Korea was attempting ambitious attacks on private sector entities as well. According to the HP report, in February 2013, a private security firm called Solutionary recorded 11,000 "touches," or electronic attempts to steal information, on "a single financial institution," all originating from North Korean IP addresses. Solutionary noted that North Korean IPs attempted just 200 touches a month at a time, suggesting this rapid uptick was part of a concerted attack on the institution, which goes unnamed in HP's report.

North Korea has been developing its hacking capabilities from the safety of a web infrastructure that's largely cut off from the rest of the world. And it might feel as if it can afford to gamble a bit, given successful nuclear tests and rocket launches in the past couple of years. The international community responded with trade sanctions and a policy of diplomatic isolation — but not the point where the regime's control over the country has ever been all that seriously in question.

It would be unsurprising if North Korea believed it could get away with something of the Sony hack's magnitude. The question now is how the US might respond if Pyongyang's responsibility is more conclusively proven.

Michael B. Kelley contributed to this report.

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SEOUL (Reuters) - Despite its poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into a sophisticated cyber-warfare cell called Bureau 121, defectors from the secretive state said as Pyongyang came under the microscope for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

A North Korean diplomat has denied Pyongyang was behind the attack that was launched last month but a U.S. national security source said it was a suspect.

Defectors from the North have said Bureau 121, staffed by some of the most talented computer experts in the insular state, is part of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, an elite spy agency run by the military. They have said it is involved in state-sponsored hacking, used by the Pyongyang government to spy on or sabotage its enemies.

Pyongyang has active cyber-warfare capabilities, military and software security experts have said. Much of it is targeted at the South, technically still in a state of war with North Korea. But Pyongyang has made no secret of its hatred of the United States, which was on the South's side in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Military hackers are among the most talented, and rewarded, people in North Korea, handpicked and trained from as young as 17, said Jang Se-yul, who studied with them at North Korea's military college for computer science, or the University of Automation, before defecting to the South six years ago.

Speaking to Reuters in Seoul, he said the Bureau 121 unit comprises about 1,800 cyber-warriors, and is considered the elite of the military.

"For them, the strongest weapon is cyber. In North Korea, it’s called the Secret War," Jang said.

One of his friends works in an overseas team of the unit, and is ostensibly an employee of a North Korean trading firm, Jang said. Back home, the friend and his family have been given a large state-allocated apartment in an upscale part of Pyongyang, Jang said.

"No one knows ... his company runs business as usual. That’s why what he does is scarier," Jang said. "My friend, who belongs to a rural area, could bring all of his family to Pyongyang. Incentives for North Korea’s cyber experts are very strong ... they are rich people in Pyongyang."

He said the hackers in Bureau 121 were among the 100 students who graduate from the University of Automation each year after five years of study. Over 2,500 apply for places at the university, which has a campus in Pyongyang, behind barbed wire.

"They are handpicked," said Kim Heung-kwang, a former computer science professor in North Korea who defected to the South in 2004, referring to the state hackers. "It is a great honor for them. It is a white-collar job there and people have fantasies about it."

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The technology news site Re/code reported on Wednesday that Sony intends to name North Korea as the source of the attack. But when asked about the Re/code report, a Sony spokeswoman said no announcement from the studio was coming. The company declined comment on Thursday.

Sony Pictures, a unit of Japan's Sony Corp, is the distributor of "The Interview," a forthcoming comedy featuring a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has described the film as an "act of war".

Last year, more than 30,000 PCs at South Korean banks and broadcasting companies were hit by a similar attack that cybersecurity researchers widely believe was launched from North Korea.

Months later, the South Korean government's online presence was targeted, with the president's website defaced with a banner reading "Long live General Kim Jong Un, president of reunification!"

Neither attack was particularly sophisticated, but South Korean authorities said North Korea was to blame, even though 'hacktivist' groups - online activists who hack high-profile targets in order to spread political messages - first appeared to claim responsibility.

Those attacks used rudimentary but effective malware which security researchers later dubbed DarkSeoul.

Also known as the DarkSeoul Gang, the hackers have been involved in a five-year spree against South Korean targets, according to a report last year by computer security firm Symantec, which estimated the group included 10 to 50 hackers and described it as "unique" in its ability to carry out high-profile and damaging attacks over several years.

Some security experts have cast doubt on North Korean involvement in the attack on Sony, citing the publicity-seeking hacktivist style of the attacks. However, the use of an unknown name by the group behind the Sony attacks, "Guardians of Peace", is similar to previous attacks by the DarkSeoul gang.

It remains unclear if the DarkSeoul gang are outsiders working on behalf of North Korea, or some of Pyongyang's troops in the isolated country's own 'cyber army'.

(Additional reporting by Jim Finkle and Ron Grover; Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Sony's film studio, Sony Pictures, was hit by a massive hack that resulted in the leaking online of a huge trove of documents from the company.

Re/code reports that one of the files posted online was the email archive of Amy Pascal, the company's co-chairman. Her inbox contained emails sent by Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai in which he instructs Sony Pictures staff to make an important change to the ending of coming comedy "The Interview."

North Korea has spoken out against "The Interview," calling it "an act of terrorism and war." The movie's plot features James Franco and Seth Rogen as journalists who are recruited to kill Kim Jong-un.

North Korea treats its leader as a god, so a movie that revolves around a plot to kill him is going to be hugely controversial. There has even been speculation that Sony Pictures was hacked by a gang of computer experts working within the North Korean government.

It seems Sony's CEO was aware of the outrage that "The Interview" would go on to cause. In emails sent to executives, he requests changes to one of the movie's final scenes.

Obviously, what follows contains major spoilers for the ending of the movie:

I’ve given this a lot of thought and would like to go ahead with a variation of version 337 ... It would be much appreciated if you could push them a bit further as you mentioned in your e-mail. Also, please ensure that this does not make it into the international version of the release.

"The Interview" ends with a scene that sees Kim Jong-un's head explode as he is caught in crossfire between a helicopter and a tank. In the initial cut of the movie, that scene was pretty gory. 

Here's part of the email that Rogen sent to Pascal:

We will make it less gory. There are currently four burn marks on his face. We will take out three of them, leaving only one. We reduce the flaming hair by 50% … The head explosion can’t be more obscured than it is because we honestly feel that if it’s any more obscured you won’t be able to tell its exploding and the joke won’t work. Do you think this will help? Is it enough?

In other emails, Rogen assures the executive that changes are being made, saying, "We will play with the color of the head chunks to try to make them less gross."

Rogen sent Pascal a copy of the edited footage but did not receive a reply. He sent her an email that read, "Is no news good news?"

Pascal eventually replied to the draft footage, saying: "Let’s talk in the am. I need one night without dreaming about head explosions. But I am damn happy."

Here's the final email sent by Rogen after the sequence was approved:

This is it!!! We removed the fire from the hair and the entire secondary wave of head chunks. Please tell us this is over now. Thanks so much!!

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North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un's health problems have returned, according to a report in South Korea newspaper JoongAng Ilbo.

Speculation swirled earlier this year about Kim's health when he disappeared from public for over a month after he was seen limping across a stage. He then reappeared in October and was photographed walking with a cane.

South Korean government officials said on Monday that Kim, 30, has had a relapse in his health problems. He was reportedly seen "severely limping" in a video clip from an event that took place at the end of last month. North Korean state TV reportedly aired the clip on Sunday.

Kim started having problems with his leg last spring, according to the newspaper.

North Korean state TV has previously alluded to some sort of ailment, saying "Kim is suffering from uncomfortable physical condition," but has not elaborated on what was ailing him.

The most likely explanation for Kim's earlier absence is that he was recovering from some sort of operation or dealing with other health issues. A source with access to North Korea's leadership told Reuters that Kim hurt his leg while overseeing military exercises, while other North Korean officials said his health is fine.

South Korean officials say Kim underwent an ankle surgery after visiting French, Chinese, and Russian doctors, JoongAng Ilbo reports.

While Kim was out of public view earlier this year, rumors about his 25-year-old younger sister Kim Yo Jong started spreading. Some observers have said that she's rising to power in North Korea and is the elder Kim's closest confidante.

JoongAng Ilbo reports that intelligence officials think Kim Yo Jong is being groomed to succeed Kim Jong Un if an emergency arises.

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Russia has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to attend a May ceremony marking the end of World War Two, in what would be Kim's first foreign visit since taking the helm of the reclusive state in 2011, Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily said on Wednesday.

Kim would probably meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, as North Korea backs Russia in the Ukraine crisis and Moscow needs Pyongyang's cooperation in boosting natural gas exports to South Korea, the paper said, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources.

But it was unclear at the moment if Kim would accept the invitation, the Asahi said.

North Korea is seeking closer ties with Russia as it faces international criticism over accusations of human rights abuses and its nuclear program.

Putin held talks with Kim's personal envoy last month and called for deeper ties with North Korea to improve regional security.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said North Korea was ready to resume stalled international talks on its nuclear program.

North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States began talks in 2003 to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons, but they were suspended after Pyongyang tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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After the Sony hacking scandal surrounding the movie "The Interview," we wondered — how much do people really know about one of the most controversial countries in the world? 

Learn some mind-blowing facts about this country that hangs off the east coast of China.

Produced by Matthew Stuart. Research by Elena Holodny.

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The climactic moment that portrays Kim Jong Un's head exploding is clearly the main reason why North Korea is upset with Sony's "The Interview," but the movie is filled with other things the hermit dictatorship would not like.

Hackers linked to North Korea savaged Sony, forcing the company to cancel the movie's release by leaking thousands of private documents, threatening to leak more, and threatening the safety of moviegoers at theaters.

We saw the film a few weeks ago at a screening with Seth Rogen himself as he drank beer and high-fived the audience. Here are some parts that we enjoyed but North Korea might not [WARNING: SPOILERS]:

• The opening scene portrays a young Korean girl singing a beautiful and poignant song that we realize — through subtitles — is so virulent and anti-American it's laughable, with lines like, "May they drown in their blood and feces."
• The film quickly establishes a plot to assassinate Kim. It happens after Aaron Rapoport (Rogen), the broadcast news producer of the fluffy news show "Skylark Tonight," and host Dave Skylark (James Franco) discover that Kim is a huge fan of their show. As soon as they set up an interview with the dictator, they are contacted by the CIA with a request that they take him out.
• Randall Park's portrayal of Kim is one of the film's greatest assets. While on the surface he's cold and intimidating, Kim frequently acts ridiculous, like when he meets Skylark and turns into a shrieking fanboy. Tons of laughs stem from this relationship, as Kim takes Skylark on his own personal tour of his country, complete with fruity drinks, Katy Perry sing-a-longs, adorable puppies, and general juvenile tomfoolery.
• While Skylark starts to think Kim and North Korea aren't half-bad, there's a turning moment late in the film when Rapoport rushes into a North Korean supermarket only to find that it's filled with fake food. The functional society is a sham, and North Koreans are actually starving. 
• The most offensive and buzzed-about aspect of the film is the assassination itself. The original plan put in place by the CIA was to poison the dictator with a ricin-strip that Skylark was to apply during a handshake with Kim during the interview. But when the moment comes, Skylark no longer has the ricin, and instead he tries to use the television airtime to turn North Korea against Kim by making the dictator appear weak on camera. When Kim realizes what's happening, he pulls out a gun and shoots Skylark on air — but Skylark is wearing a vest and survives.
• As Aaron and Skylark make their escape, they steal a North Korean tank as Kim flies above in a helicopter and prepares to kill them both as well as launch nuclear weapons all over the world. The particularly controversial head explosion occurs here, when Aaron and Skylark fire from their tank and effectively blow up the helicopter and Kim. The camera lingers on Kim's exploding face as Katy Perry's "Firework" plays in the background, making the moment even more surreal. 

Leaked emails revealed that there was some tinkering behind the scenes to tone down the sheer violence on display during the supreme leader's death, and the version shown to audiences isn't nearly as graphic as it was previously. The exact specifications of these changes have also been made public.

Following Sony's cancellation of the release, the US announced its intention to officially blame North Korea for the hack, having gathered enough evidence. The White House officially responded also, stating that the US planned to continue investigating and that the FBI had the lead.

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