In December last year, over 11,000 North Korean troops had been deployed in Russia's Kursk region to aid Russian forces in foiling Ukrainian counterattacks in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The first tour is set to take place Feb. 12 to 18, when major celebrations are planned for the birthday of the country's late leader Kim Jong Il, one of North Korea's biggest holidays.

The dictator, eager to shut out the influence of Hollywood and K-pop, has been exalting a “shock brigade” of 300,000 teens and 20-somethings drafted into flood reconstruction.

"I never expected to meet you at this place," said Kim to Trump. The US president had organised the last-minute rendezvous on Twitter, as it was then known, just 30 hours earlier when he suggested meeting Chairman Kim at the DMZ "just to shake his hand and say Hello (?

On Monday, tensions escalated between Pyongyang and Washington. Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, called North Korea a “rogue state”. It's the first warning North Korea has sent to the United States since Donald Trump became president.