North Korea has begun persecuting those who did not appear genuinely emotional following their late leader's death.

Kim Jong-il, 69, died December 2011, and as the country's official mourning period has come to an end, authorities have begun punishing those who did not display genuine sadness, according to Mail Online.

North Korea, also referred to as Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a single-party state led by the Korean Workers' Party and often receives criticism for what critics allege is complete social control over its citizens and a lack of human rights. more >>

Release International, a ministry that supports Christians who are persecuted for their faith, is set to present a petition for religious freedom to the North Korean embassy in London on Jan. 20.

The petition will be presented after a staged funeral procession and prayer vigil which is meant to symbolize the death of freedom in North Korea. Release International hopes the petition will catalyze the British government into pressing for more religious freedom in North Korea.

The organization has gathered 48,000 signatures in response to the human rights situation in the communist country. more >>

On Friday, a day after North Korea completed its nearly two weeks of “mourning” for the late Kim Jong-il, the country sent a stern message to the world vowing that it would not alter policies despite the death of their “Dear Leader.”

North Korea is widely known as an intelligence “black hole” and leaders of the international community have expressed grave concerns over the future of the nuclear-armed nation, especially under a new and inexperienced leader.

The North Korean populace lives in some of the worst human rights conditions on the planet, with virtually no freedoms and all aspects of cultural, political, and social life tightly monitored and controlled by the leading Workers’ party. more >>

On Wednesday, a highly choreographed three-hour funeral took place for North Korea’s “Dear Leader,” Kim Jong-il.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans lined the streets of Pyongyang for Kim’s 25-mile funeral procession. The procession began and ended at Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where Kim’s father and founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, is preserved.

Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong Il’s son and heir, led the funeral procession for his father, which included American cars from the 1950s followed by a fleet of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. more >>

A two-day memorial for former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il began on Wednesday with the new leader, his son Kim Jong-un walking alongside the hearse carrying the late dictator.

Ahead of the memorial, news agencies and expert analysts made predictions on what the late ruler’s funeral will be like, with many agreeing that it will be modeled after his father Kim Il-sung’s own memorial, which took place in 1994.

From the tens and thousands of people unreservedly weeping, whether out of authentic grief or not, to choreographed parades displaying the country’s military power, Wednesday’s ceremony proved to be the same. more >>

A Christian group in South Korea has cancelled plans to light Christmas trees near their border with North Korea as a goodwill gesture toward the country following the death of Kim Jong-il.

North Korea had threatened “unexpected consequences” if the group lit the display, which could be seen easily from North Korean cities along the DMZ border.

Tak Sejin, a spokesman for the Yoido Full Gospel Church and one of the organizers of the effort, said the decision to remove the displays was a gesture of compassion. more >>