Part 6 of 6 in our Inside the Hermit Kingdom series on the people and culture of North Korea. Worldfocus multimedia producer Ben Piven writes about the stark contrast between the stagnant North Korean economy and the booming economies of China and South Korea to the north and south.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry has requested funds to beef up its resettlement facilities for defectors from the North -- as the number of refugees arriving from its destitute neighbor keeps climbing. A Worldfocus contributing blogger discusses the chronic unemployment among 16,000 North Koreans now living in the South.

The homecoming of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling dominated the news in the U.S. this week, but what's the North Korean media saying about the incident?

The United States said on Monday that it will continue to press the United Nations Security Council for a strong response to this weekend's rocket launch by North Korea, a rocket that President Obama said could be used for long-range missiles. Leon Sigal of the Social Science Research Council discusses the implications of the launch.

A Worldfocus contributing citizen journalist examines the interests of North Korea's neighboring countries.