Laos is in the interesting position of remaining aligned with the increasingly-shut out North Korea and forging closer ties with South Korea and the U.S.
North Korean karaoke videos in the background, decent food and a free copy of the works of Kim Il Sung: a dispatch from inside one of Pyongyang's currency-making outposts.
Defections appear to be on the rise, but it's difficult to tell what that means about relations between North and South — or the stability of Kim Jong Un's regime.
Pyongyang responded to the start of the 12-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills by threatening to turn the South into a "heap of ashes through a Korean-style pre-emptive nuclear strike."
Thae Yong Ho, the No. 2 diplomat at North Korea's embassy in London, recently arrived in South Korea, according to officials in Seoul. He is said to be among the highest-ranking officials to defect.