Yonhap via Reuters

Kenneth Bae, 44, was convicted of "hostile acts" against North Korea.

An American tour operator sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea has begun his sentence at a “special prison,” state media reported Wednesday.

Kenneth Bae, 44, stood trial last month accused of “hostile acts” against the repressive regime.

Bae, who is from Washington state, was convicted of an attempt to topple the government through “state subversion” according to a brief report on the Korean Central News Agency's website.

“Pae Jun Ho, an American citizen, started his life at a special prison on Tuesday,” the report said, referring to him by his Korean name.

He is one of at least three other U.S. citizens who are also devout Christians to have been detained by North Korea in recent years.

While North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated.

Washington state Rep. Cindy Ryu told The Herald newspaper in December that Bae might have been doing missionary work in North Korea.

"Many of us are third- and fourth-generation Christians and many of our pastors are originally from North Korea," Ryu said. "We want to visit our home country, but in North Korea you cannot say you are a missionary."

A Facebook page has been set up titled “Remember Ken Bae, Detained in North Korea.”

Related:

• North Korea: Detained American tourist has 'admitted his crime'
• Detained American, Internet freedom on agenda as Google boss visits North Korea
• Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

Yonhap News Agency via EPA

South Korean President Park Geun-hye waves at Seoul Airport before departing for the United States on May 5.

SEOUL, South Korea – From her tough talk on North Korea to her penchant for large brooches on her power suits, South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has done plenty to become known as South Korea’s “Iron Lady.”

As South Korea’s first female president – inaugurated just in February – Park expressed admiration for Britain’s Margaret Thatcher during her successful run for president. And after Thatcher's recent death, Park praised how she “revived the British economy and led Britain to an era of hope in the 1980s.”

While her critics see her as cold and aloof – the ice queen – others praise the far tougher line she has taken with Pyongyang than her predecessors.

 “I will not tolerate any action that threatens the lives of our people and the security of our nation,” she warned the North during her inauguration.

She has vowed to hit back hard at any provocations, recently telling South Korean Army officers: “Any country that ignores its starving citizens to focus solely on nuclear weapons and military power will inevitably collapse.” 

Kim Jae-Hwan / AFP – Getty Images

South Korea's new president Park Geun-Hye arrives at the official dinner at the presidential Blue House in Seoul after her inauguration on Feb. 25, 2013.

 The 61-year-old president will meet President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday and addresses Congress Wednesday, but the message she’ll bring to Washington is likely to be more nuanced than her domestic rhetoric.

“Whether she will be tougher or softer on North Korea will depend on North Korea,” said former South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, who remains close to the Blue House, South Korea’s presidential house. “She will try and engage North Korea if North Korea is willing and responsive.”

And reports on Monday that the North has stood down two medium range missiles that had been primed for testing have set an intriguing tone for the summit. 

South Korean political family
She's certainly got the pedigree for a harder line. Park is the daughter of South Korea’s former military strongman Park Chung-hee. He was president for 18 years after seizing power in 1961. 

When she was just 22 her mother was shot dead by a North Korean assassin’s bullet aimed at her father, and for five years she assumed the duties of first lady – until her father also was assassinated, by his own spy chief, in 1979.

Saenuri Party via Reuters

South Korea's Park Geun-hye, center, poses with her father and then-President Park Chung-hee and her mother Yuk Young-soo along with her younger brother and sister in Seoul.

In 2006 Park Geun-hye herself was attacked, a convicted criminal slashing her face while she was meeting voters. She needed 60 stitches during surgery.

Given her avowed admiration for Thatcher, she has often been compared to the former British leader. 

“They are both women of principle, courage and experience as well as strong leadership,” said former Prime Minister Han.

Her father still generates strong and polarized emotions in Korea, and last year she issued a public apology for human rights abuses committed under his rule, though she’s also described the 1961 coup as necessary.

The election of Park, who has never married and has no children, has raised hopes among women in a country that was recently ranked 108^th out of 135 countries in terms of gender equality.

“Gender is not a barrier to high office in Korea anymore,” said Han. He pointed out that Park has sacrificed her personal life for the good of the nation. “She’s a very kind, warm-hearted lady but on making important decisions she’s very firm.”

Park was first elected to South Korea’s National Assembly in 1998, and when you take that together with her family experience in the Blue House, “she’s one of the most experienced presidents we could have,” Han says. 

‘Venomous swish of the skirt’
Her challenges are daunting, with North Korean relations at rock-bottom after weeks of blood-curdling rhetoric from Pyongyang – especially some targeted right at Park.

“The frenzy kicked up by the South Korean warmongers,” thundered the North’s Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, “is in no way irrelevant with the venomous swish of skirt made by the one who again occupies the Blue House.”

CBS Nocutnews via AP

Park Geun-Hye, chairwoman of the Grand National Party, is attacked by an assailant with a box cutter while campaigning ahead of local elections in Seoul on May 20, 2006. Park suffered a 10-centimeter (4-inch) cut on her face.

All links were severed during the recent tensions, including at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park. And on Friday the last seven South Korean workers remaining returned from Kaesong industrial park after the South sent in two vehicles loaded with $13 million in cash – described as “unpaid wages.”

To many familiar with the ways of the North, that looked like good old tried-and-tested extortion, and was accompanied by warnings from Pyongyang that Seoul should end its “hostile acts and military provocations” if the zone is to re-open.

Those “hostile acts” appear to be a reference to a joint South Korea-U.S. anti-submarine drill that began Monday in the Yellow Sea and lasts until Friday.

For now, the South is describing the shutdown of the industrial zone as a “suspension” and has not cut the power supply, which originates in the South.

“It’s a difficult time,” said Han, “but she’s well prepared.”

Related:

• North Korea removes missiles from launch site
• North Korea rejects talks with South's 'puppet regime'
• South Koreans evacuate Kaesong joint industrial complex with all they can carry

Paul J. Richards / AP

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, is greeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on April 13. Xi has made battling corruption a top theme of his administration, warning the problem is so severe it could threaten his party's survival.

BEIJING -- China's top newspaper warned on Wednesday that some government officials were avoiding new President Xi Jinping's graft-busting instructions to be frugal by taking banquets and other lavish displays underground, including hiding liquor in water bottles.

Since becoming Communist Party boss in November, and president in March, Xi has made battling pervasive corruption a top theme of his administration, warning the problem is so severe it could threaten the party's survival.

But despite his repeated admonitions for officials to practice frugality and stop wasting public funds, some people still have not gotten the message or are actively finding ways around it, the party's main People's Daily said in a front page commentary.

"In some places the use of public money for eating and drinking has switched from high-end hotels to private venues and places of business ... which has become known as 'low-key luxury,'" the paper said.

Cases had come to light of "saunas in farmhouses" and "maotai being put in mineral water bottles", the paper said, in reference to the fiery -- and expensive -- spirit traditionally drunk at banquets.

"These ways of pulling the wool over people's eyes is typical of not following instructions and not stopping what is banned," the commentary added.

This phenomenon has reminded the party of the need to strictly enclose power "in the fence of supervision" and "the cage of regulation," it said.

"Such a mechanism must be a long-lasting one, in order to make corruption not only detectable, but also impossible."

While Xi has also attempted to tackle corruption in the armed forces, for example by seeking to dismantle a system of privilege which has allowed the drivers of military vehicles to do as they please on the roads, he has taken few other concrete steps.

There has been little apparent progress to get officials to publicly disclose their assets, and the party has given no indication it will allow the establishment of a fully independent judicial body to tackle corruption.

As well, almost no senior officials have been fired or prosecuted for graft since Xi came to power, with the vast majority of cases which have come to light involving lower level officials with little real power.

Related stories:

• Chinese ex-police detained while trying to stamp out corruption
• More China coverage from our Behind The Wall blog

SEOUL -- North Korea said on Saturday that a Korean-American tourist, jailed by the reclusive state since late last year, will face trial for "committing crimes" against the North, a move that could further stoke tensions with the United States.

The move comes amid a diplomatic standoff between the North and the United States, and as Pyongyang has threatened to attack U.S. military bases in the Pacific and the South.

Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

Launch slideshow

A number of U.S. citizens of Korean descent have run into trouble in the North over the years, and Pyongyang has tried to use their detention to extract visits by high-profile American figures, most notably former President Bill Clinton.

In the latest case, Kenneth Bae, 44, has been held by police since arriving in the northeastern city of Rajin on November 3. He was among a group of five tourists.

"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it," KCNA state media reported, using the North's official title of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"His crimes were proved by evidence," it said, adding he would soon be taken to the Supreme Court "to face judgment". It did not provide further details.

South Korean rights workers said that the North's authorities may have taken issue with some of his photographs, including those of homeless North Korean children.

A South Korean newspaper published by an evangelical family said he may have been carrying footage of North Korea executing defectors and dissidents. It was impossible to verify this.

According to North Korean law, the punishment for hostile acts against the state is five to 10 years of hard labor.

Clinton flew to Pyongyang in 2009 and met then-leader Kim Jong-il before securing the release of two American media workers who had been charged with entering the North illegally.

Former U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson has made numerous trips to North Korea that have included efforts to free detained Americans. He delivered a letter regarding Bae to officials during a trip to North Korea in January, although he was unable to meet Bae.

Tensions between North Korea and South Korea and its ally the United States have spiraled in recent weeks since the United Nations tightened sanctions after the North's third nuclear weapon test in February.

The toughening of those sanctions led to the North threatening nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States.

North Korea has a long record of making threats to secure concessions from the United States and South Korea, only to repeat the process later. Both the United States and the South have said in recent days that the cycle must cease.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

On Friday, Pyongyang rejected a call for formal talks to end a standoff that forced operations at a joint industrial complex shared by the North and South to be halted.

South Korea in turn said it would pull out all its remaining workers from the Kaesong factory complex, which is just inside North Korea and is one of the North's few sources of ready cash.

Of the 175 remaining South Korean workers, 126 workers left the factory zone on Saturday. The rest are scheduled to return on Monday.

A representative of the South Korean firms at the complex urged the government to hold inter-Korean talks and to authorize their visit to North Korea on Tuesday, South Korea's news agency Yonhap said.

Related stories:

• North Korea rejects talks with South's 'puppet regime'
• Analysis: North Korea blinked in missile standoff, but will threaten again
• Full North Korea coverage on NBCNews.com

Jung Yeon-Je / AFP - Getty Images

A South Korean military vehicle drives past barricades on the road leading to North Korea's Kaesong industrial complex on Friday.

SEOUL - South Korea said on Friday it will pull out all remaining workers from the Kaesong industrial zone in North Korea after Pyongyang rejected a call for formal talks to resolve a standoff that led to a suspension of operations at the complex.

"Because our nationals remaining in the Kaesong industrial zone are experiencing greater difficulties due to the North's unjust actions, the government has come to the unavoidable decision to bring back all remaining personnel in order to protect their safety," said Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae.

About 170 South Koreans were left in Kaesong, which is just on the North Korean side of the border with the South.

The industrial zone opened in 2004 as part of a so-called sunshine policy of engagement and optimism between the two Koreas, still technically at war after their 1950-53 war conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

The North withdrew its 53,000 workers from the complex this month amid spiraling tension between the two Koreas. The North has prevented South Korean workers and supplies from getting in to the zone since April 3.

The North's National Defense Commission, its supreme leadership body, repeated that what it saw as the reckless behavior of the South had thrown into question the safety of the zone's operation and had forced it to stop access there.

"If the South's puppet regime turns a blind eye to reality and continues to pursue a worsening of the situation, we will be forced to take a final and decisive important measure," a spokesman for the commission was quoted as saying.

The zone was a lucrative source of cash for the impoverished North, providing it with almost $90 million a year. South Korean manufacturers have been paying about $130 a month to North Korea for each of the workers they employed.

North Korea stepped up defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions in December when it launched a rocket that it said had put a scientific satellite into orbit. Critics said the launch was aimed at developing technology to deliver a nuclear warhead mounted on a long-range missile.

The North followed that in February with its third test of a nuclear weapon. That brought new U.N. sanctions which in turn led to a dramatic intensification of North Korea's threats of nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States.

Related:

• Analysis: N. Korea blinked in missile standoff, but will threaten again
• Positive thinking after years of threats keeps S. Koreans going
• Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

Marty Melville / AFP

Gay-rights supporters celebrate at a bar in Wellington, New Zealand Wednesday.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- New Zealand's parliament voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriage on Wednesday, prompting cheers, applause and the singing of a traditional Maori celebratory song from the public gallery.

It becomes the 13^th country to legalize same-sex marriages, after Uruguay passed its own law last week. Australia last year rejected a similar proposal.

Countries where such marriages are legal include Canada, Spain and Sweden, in addition to some states in the United States. France is close to legalizing same-sex marriages amid increasingly vocal opposition.

Seventy-seven of 121 members of New Zealand’s parliament voted in favor of amending the current 1955 Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry, making New Zealand the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so.

"Two-thirds of parliament have endorsed marriage equality," Louisa Wall, the openly gay opposition Labor Party MP who promoted the bill, told reporters after the vote. "It shows that we are building on our human rights as a country."

The bill was widely expected to pass, given similar support for the change in a preliminary vote held last month. It will likely come into effect in August.

The bill was opposed by the Roman Catholic Church and some conservative religious, political and social groups which campaigned that it would undermine the institution of the family.

The law makes it clear that clergy can decline to preside in gay marriages if they conflict with their beliefs.

New Zealand gave same-sex relationships partial legal recognition in 2005 with the establishment of civil unions.

"I have a boyfriend, so it means we can get married, which is a good thing," said Timothy Atkins, a student who was among a crowd listening to the hearing in the parliamentary lobby.

"It's important to be seen as equal under the law." 

Related:

Uruguay approves gay marriage, second in region to do so

Protesters in France: Gay marriage would hurt children

U.S. defense officials are "highly confident" that North Korea is planning the imminent launch of a medium-range missile, echoing warnings from South Korea that the probability of Pyongyang carrying out its threat is "very high."

Pentagon officials say they believe the rogue communist state is preparing to fire one or more Musadan missiles from its east coast.

The North has been threatening the United States and its "puppet" South Korea almost daily in recent weeks, and the Commander of U.S. Pacific Command told Congress on Tuesday that he could not recollect a more tense time in the region since the end of the Korean War.

Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

Launch slideshow

World leaders have shown alarm at the prospects of a conflict.

"According to intelligence obtained by our side and the U.S., the possibility of a missile launch by North Korea is very high,” South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told a parliamentary hearing in Seoul, according to Reuters.

Musudan missiles could be launched "at any time from now,” he said.

U.S. defense chiefs have echoed that belief, acknowledging that North Korea has placed a Musadan missile -- which has a range of roughly 1,800 to 2,100 miles, with a minimum range of about 400 miles -- on its east coast.

On Wednesday Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said that the U.S. is "fully prepared to deal with any contingency" or provocation that North Korea may take, but added that the U.S. hopes the rhetoric will be "ratcheted down."

Speaking at the Pentagon budget rollout briefing, Hagel said that the U.S., the UN, and U.S. allies have made clear to North Korea that Kim Jung Un is "skating very close to a dangerous line," and that his actions and words are not helping to "diffuse the combustible situation."

Navy Adm. Sam Locklear told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the U.S. is ready to respond to a North Korean missile launch or other threat.

"I am satisfied that we are ready today, yes," Locklear said.

Asked specifically whether U.S. forces can intercept a missile from North Korea, Locklear said: "I believe we have a credible ability to defend the homeland, to defend Hawaii, defend Guam, to defend our forward-deployed forces and defend our allies."

He went on to say that the U.S. was in a position to intercept a missile even if one were launched imminently.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities in the northeastern city of Dandong told tour agencies to halt overland tourism into North Korea, local travel agents said Wednesday.

"All (tourist) travel to North Korea has been stopped from today, and I've no idea when it will restart," a travel agent in Dandong told Reuters.

And despite the taunts from North Korea, which include a warning for foreigners to leave the South, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said no new security warnings were being issued to Americans in South Korea or those planning to travel there.

"There's no specific information to suggest imminent threat to U.S. citizens or facilities in the Republic of Korea,” he added. “So the U.S. Embassy has not changed its security posture. We have not recommended that U.S. citizens who reside in or plan to visit the Republic of Korea take special security precautions at this time."

Amid the regional tension, South Korea blamed Pyongyang for a cyberattack that shut down tens of thousands of computers and servers at banks last month.

Investigators detected similarities between the March cyberattack and past hacking attributed to the North Korean spy agency, including the recycling of 30 previously used malware programs — out of a total of 76 used in the attack, said Chun Kil-soo, an official at South Korea's Internet security agency.

NBC News' Jim Maceda and Jeff Black contributed to this report.

Related:

Richard Engel answers your questions on North Korea

North Korea warns foreigners to leave South

'Positive thinking' after years of threats keeps South Koreans going

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 10, 2013 7:08 PM EDT

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Muslims prepare to pray around the coffins of the victims of a fire during funerals at Yaeway cemetery in Yangon, Myanmar, Tuesday.

YANGON - A fire caused by faulty electrical equipment killed 13 boys at an Islamic school in Yangon on Tuesday, the fire service said, although some Muslims voiced concern since it came after a wave of anti-Muslim violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

The boys suffocated after the fire broke out in a dormitory of the school in the central, multi-ethnic Botataung district of the former capital at about 2:40 a.m. (4:10 p.m. ET on Monday), neighbors and officials said.

Yangon Region Fire Service said it was setting up a team to investigate the fire with the police, the electricity company and representatives from Muslim groups.

"The fire, caused by the overheating of the transformer placed under the staircase, spread, trapping the boys sleeping in the attic. As a result, 13 twelve-year-old boys died of suffocation after inhaling smoke," a duty fire officer said, reading from a statement.

Armed riot police cordoned off the area but the crowd that had assembled in the area remained peaceful.

According to official records, electrical faults and overheating are major causes of fires in Yangon.

But, against the background of the recent sectarian violence, many Muslims were "very suspicious" about the Yangon fire, said Mya Aye, a Muslim member of the 88 Generation Students' pro-democracy group.

"We are worried and sad because innocent children died," he said.

A funeral for the 13 boys was due to be held on Tuesday afternoon.

Yangon, by far the biggest city in Myanmar, escaped the anti-Muslim violence in March although authorities posted police outside mosques and ordered restaurants in some areas to close early on some evenings as a precaution. 

Related:

PhotoBlog: Freedom of the press returns to Myanmar after 50 years

Muslims vanish as Buddhist attacks approach Myanmar's biggest city

Read more Asia-Pacific stories on NBCNews.com

Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, 80, pictured in Kathmandu, Saturday.

KATHMANDU - Yuichiro Miura, an 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had heart surgery four times, is heading to Mount Everest to try for his third ascent of the world's highest peak -- aiming to become the oldest person to reach the top.

Miura climbed to the summit of the 29,035 feet mountain in 2003 and 2008 -- and skied down Everest from an altitude of 26,246 feet in 1970.

Miura and a nine-person team will climb up the standard southeast ridge route, pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they became the first people to reach the summit in May 1953.

"The record is not so important for me," the white-haired Miura told Reuters in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, before setting out for the mountain.

"It is important to get to the top."

The record for the oldest person to climb the mountain is held by Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who reached the summit at the age of 76, in 2008.

A doctor specializing in heart ailments is in the team to keep an eye on Miura's health. The group hopes to summit in May.

Miura has skied down the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, and is merely following family tradition. His late father, Keizo Miura, skied down Europe's Mont Blanc at the age of 99.

"If you wish strongly, have courage and endurance, then you can get to the summit of your dream," said Miura.

He already has a new dream. He wants to ski down Cho Oyu, the world's sixth highest mountain at 26,906 feet, also in the Himalayas.

"Maybe, when I become 85 years old, and if I stay alive, I want to climb and ski down Cho Oyu," Miura said. "It is my next dream."

About 4,000 climbers have been to the top of Everest and about 240 people have died on its slopes. 

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Japan before and after the tsunami

North Korea said on Saturday that it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, following a call to arms by the country's young leader Kim Jong Un and days of increasingly belligerent rhetoric from the isolated state.

The North's official news agency KCNA published the joint statement issued by the government, political parties and other organizations.

"From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering a state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly," it said. 

The statement also warned that if the U.S. and South Korea carried out a pre-emptive attack, the conflict "will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war."

Analysts have said the North's threats have followed a similar pattern but that the country's 30-year-old leader is unpredictable and potentially dangerous.

The White House responded on Saturday by reiterating that "North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric and threats," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. However, she said the U.S. "takes these threats seriously".

"We continue to take additional measures against the North Korean threat, including our plan to increase the U.S. ground-based interceptors and early warning and tracking radar, and the signing of the ROK-U.S. counter-provocation plan," she said.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

On Thursday the U.S. sent two nuclear-capable bombers to South Korea, where they dropped inert munitions in a military exercise. The flight sparked an angry response from the North, which declared on Friday that it was preparing rockets aimed at American bases in South Korea and the Pacific.

A South Korean defense ministry official said there were no early signs that the North was mobilizing, Reuters reported.

The two nations have technically been at war since a truce ended their 1950-53 conflict, but tensions have been increasing since the North carried out its third nuclear weapons test in February.

NBC News' Kristen Welker and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Analysis: North Korea's threats predictable but Kim Jong Un is not

North Korea's Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist

PhotoBlog: Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'