Kim Jong Un may have left Pyongyang and hid in his family's apartment for the first time since his father's death, Pyongyang's state media reported Monday, citing Seoul. He ordered his troops to practice firing artillery, the state-run Korean news agency KCNA reported Monday.

North Korea claimed the test was a thermonuclear warhead, but expected a yield of at least 4 kilotons, possibly suggesting that its plutonium program still has a number of technical hurdles to overcome before it would have a nuclear warhead. Immediately after the tests, the North released photos showing Kim Jong Un inspecting a peanut-shaped nuclear warhead that resembled the design of a hydrogen bomb. Photos released by North Korea after its March 29 missile test showed the missile reaching a range of about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from its launch site.

Denuclearization of North Korea can only be achieved if Washington and Seoul establish a peaceful relationship with Pyongyang. If you think the North Koreans think the Trump administration is too crazy to negotiate with the United States, or that they are "too crazy" to talk to Pyongyang, think again.

North Korea is still a fascinating and totally unique country, and you might be curious to experience the place for yourself. The Television Tower Restaurant in Pyongyang is often considered the better restaurant in North Korea and can be reached by visiting. Those who work in the restaurant probably see it as a prestige object, "said Kim Dong-jin, managing editor of NK News, a news and analysis site focused on North Koreans.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in September 2003 that North Korea had completed the reprocessing of spent fuel and would abandon its 5 MW reactor at Yongbyon, but it would continue to operate it while it continued its nuclear weapons program. Earlier this year, it was accused of torpedoing a South Korean warship operating within the border, killing 46 sailors. Sigley first visited North Korea as a tourist in October 2002, after spending five nights in Pyongyang.

North Korea, however, has also engaged in several military confrontations with the South, conducting six nuclear tests, and its political system is virtually intact, despite the removal of a few hundred officials from office by Kim Jong-un. He visited China in June and indicated that he was willing to continue efforts at denuclearization, but his relationship with Pyongyang was at a low point. Xi, who is snuggling up to him, has signaled his willingness to leave South Korea as soon as possible, if only for a few months.

North Korea is the most closed country in the world, and the veil over its borders with South Korea, China, Japan, and South Vietnam remains as tight as ever.

In this sense, we can only imagine how poor and boring a dystopian life in North Korea must be. We can assume that we are all monitored at all times and that Kim Jong-un controls our lives in it. Ironically, for all the talk of nuclear disarmament and the threat of war with the United States, the communist state that it once was has not changed much.

North Korea is currently vulnerable and ready to give the US and South Korea a try, but it also threatens to demolish South Korean-built buildings in its capital, Pyongyang. North Korea has stepped up pressure, severing virtually all cooperation and blowing up its nuclear test site and missile test last month. The moment when it was most vulnerable to US military action and the threat of war offers the United States the opportunity to drive a wedge between Pyongyang and Beijing.

At that time, North Korea began building its first nuclear test site, the Yongbyon nuclear power plant. It ended what it calls "Juche 43" - a series of nuclear and missile tests since the Korean War that devastated Pyongyang.

The nuclear program has accelerated significantly since Kim Jong-un took over North Korea's leadership in late 2011. Last year, he announced a three-week deadline in 2020 that would free the nation to focus on its economy. But Kim's observers were quick to note that he tends to disappear for the three weeks of 2020 that begin in late January, coinciding with the moment North Koreans close their borders to contain the virus.

Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, is one of the few socialist cities in the world that has not adopted the new economic model.

Trump has said he is willing to give North Korea security guarantees and halt joint military exercises with South Korea, while Kim has promised to halt missile tests and work toward denuclearization. Pyongyang is located on the border with the formally Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is in South Korea's - claimed - South Pyeongan province. After the 1950-53 Korean War, Kim Il Sung, the leader of the North Korean Communist Party, decided to keep Pyongyang as the capital of the DPRK (North Koreans). It is the second largest city in South Korea after Seoul and home to the largest Korean population in Korea.