Pyongyang is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about 109 km (68 mi) upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. Pyongyang is a directly administered city with equal status to North Korean provinces.
Gertrude "Trudy"Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovative methods of rational drug design for the development of new drugs. This new method focused on understanding the target of the drug rather than simply using trial-and-error. Her work led to the creation of the anti-retroviral drug AZT, which was the first drug widely used against AIDS. Her well known works also include the development of the first immunosuppressive drug, azathioprine, used to fight rejection in organ transplants, and the first successful antiviral drug, acyclovir (ACV), used in the treatment of herpes infection.
Dennis Keith Rodman is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding forward in NBA history". Nicknamed "the Worm", he played for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rodman played at the small forward position in his early years before becoming a power forward.
Matt Cooper is an Irish journalist, author, television presenter and radio presenter of The Last Word on Today FM. He is also a former editor of the Sunday Tribune.
Tourism in North Korea is tightly controlled by the North Korean government. All tourism is organized by one of several state-owned tourism bureaus, including Korea International Travel Company (KITC), Korean International Sports Travel Company (KISTC), Korean International Taekwondo Tourism Company (KITTC) and Korean International Youth Travel Company (KIYTC). The majority of tourists are Chinese nationals: one 2019 estimate indicated that up to 120,000 Chinese tourists had visited North Korea in the previous year, compared to fewer than 5,000 from Western countries.
Historically, North Korea's participation in international sporting events has been hindered by the relations with South Korea. Until the 1990s, North Korea used to host up to 14 international events every year, albeit in small scale. Since the early 1990s, the amount was reduced to just one, the Paektusan Prize International Figure Skating Festival. More recently, since the 2000s, North Korea both participates in and hosts more international competitions.
Kim Jong-un is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's second supreme leader from 1994 to 2011, and Ko Yong-hui. He is a grandson of Kim Il-sung and the first leader of North Korea to have been born in the country after its founding in 1948.
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) is North Korea's first privately funded university. It is founded, operated, and partly funded by associations and people outside the country. PUST was jointly planned and constructed by forces from both North and South Korea, along with contributions from groups and individuals from other nations, in particular China and the United States. The initiative is largely funded by Evangelical Christian movements. Originally scheduled for launch in 2003, the project was delayed for several years and began operations in October 2010.
Kim Chin Kyung born 1935 in Keijo (Seoul), Japanese Korea is a professor of economics and a builder of international institutes of higher learning. He holds a United States passport, but also an honorary permanent Chinese citizenship. He was held as a political prisoner of Kim Jong Il in 1998.
Kang San-eh is a South Korean folk rock singer-songwriter and actor. He is sometimes referred to as the "Korean Bob Dylan."
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) is an American non-profit medical research organization that provides funding for biomedical research, STEM education, and areas of career development for scientists. Since 1970, it has been headquartered in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.
Ri Sol-ju is the current First Lady of North Korea as the wife of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea national basketball team represents the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in international basketball and is controlled by the Amateur Basketball Association of DPR of Korea, the governing body for basketball in North Korea.
Sung-Yoon Lee is a scholar of Korean and East Asian studies, and specialist on North Korea. He is the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He was an Associate in Research at the Korea Institute, Harvard University. and a Research Fellow at the National Asia Research Program.
Kenneth Bae is a Korean-American Evangelical Christian Missionary convicted by North Korea on charges of planning to overthrow the North Korean government, including setting up bases in China for the purpose of toppling the North Korean government. In April 2013, he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. He was released on November 8, 2014, along with fellow American Matthew Todd Miller. In 2016, he founded the NGO named NGI - Nehemiah Global Initiative, whose goals consist of remembering, rescuing, and recovering North Korean refugees and rebuilding their lives in China and South Korea.
Ryan Duffy is a journalist and correspondent best known for his work with Vice Media, including accompanying Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters on a visit to North Korea in 2013. Duffy began his career at Vice as an intern while studying journalism at New York University. In 2012, Duffy appeared on Forbes' 30 under 30 list. In 2015, he started a series of short documentary reports with The Huffington Post titled Now What with Ryan Duffy.
Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in Pyongyang is a 2015 documentary film produced and directed by Colin Offland, written by Matthew Baker, and narrated by Matt Cooper. The film follows retired professional basketball player Dennis Rodman on his mission to host a basketball game between former NBA stars and the North Korean team in Pyongyang.
Kim Sang-duk, also known as Tony Kim, is a Korean-American professor who was detained in North Korea for 382 days. On May 9, 2018, it was reported that Kim was released from custody.
Michael Peter Todd Spavor is a Canadian consultant who has worked extensively in North Korea. He is the director and founding member of Paektu Cultural Exchange, a NGO that facilitates sports, cultural, tourism and business exchanges involving North Korea.
