N.K. leader Kim Jong-un (4th from L) attends an art performance in Pyongyang for the participants of the conference of chairpersons of ruling party primary committees in this photo published by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 29, 2016. It was Kim’s first appearance in 14 months to the performance by the Moranbong Band, an all girl band that he founded, who shared the stage with the State Merited Chorus. The Moranbong Band has been a source of interest for its lack for visibility, its last reported performance being in May this year. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
A ceremony to decommission the 2,400-ton rescue ship Pyeongtaek is held at the military port of Jinhae, 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Dec. 28, 2016. The ship served for 20 years after the South Korean navy took it over from the U.S. navy in 1997. The ship was mobilized into preventing the spread of a massive oil leak from a freighter on waters off the western county island of Taean in 2007 and salvaging the naval ship the Cheonan sunken by a North Korean torpedo attack in 2010. The ship will be delivered to its sister city of Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers southwest of Seoul, for security exhibition. (Yonhap)
Jean Penicaut, head of France’s Lumiere Technology, refutes the Seoul prosecution’s recent conclusion on the authenticity of the late South Korean painter Chun Kyung-ja’s “Beautiful Woman” during a news conference at the Press Center in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2016. He said his art appraisal team found the work, currently housed by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, to be a fake, squarely refuting the prosecution’s conclusion, which ended a 25-years-long controversy over the work’s genuineness. (Yonhap)
An egg wholesaler looks down at empty trays of egg at his storage facility in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2016. The nation has been suffering a severe egg supply shortage due to the worst-ever avian influenza that has forced poultry farmers to cull more than 26 million chickens and ducks since mid-November. (Yonhap)
These photos from the North’s daily Rodong Sinmun on Dec. 20, 2016, show the country’s top leader Kim Jong-un watching the Masik Pass Ski Contest 2016. Teams from each province and the military competed in the contest in slalom, ski jump, giant slalom and downhill, according to the report. (Yonhap)
U.S. ten-pin bowler Danielle McEwan delivers her shot at the 2016 Storm Cup Korea International Open Bowling Tournament in Anyang, south of Seoul, on Dec. 22, 2016. She won the tournament. (Yonhap)
Nursing officer Cho Yeo-ok, who worked at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on the day of the tragic Sewol ferry sinking, arrives at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 22, 2016, for a parliamentary hearing. Cho, who is in the United States for an academic program, was called to the hearing as the parliament probes the whereabouts of President Park Geun-hye on the day that the ferry sank on April 16, 2014, killing more than 300 people. Different speculations abound about the seven unaccounted for hours, including claims that she was getting a cosmetic procedure. (Yonhap)
This photo shows a concept baby carriage, which the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), has made. The stroller won the grand prize at the 2016 SPARK International Design Awards. UNIST provided this photo. (Yonhap)
South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo (R) holds talks with his visiting Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco on military cooperation at the Defense Ministry in Seoul on Dec. 19, 2016. The talks are the first of their kind since the two nations set up formal diplomatic ties 24 years ago. Angola has been North Korea’s traditional ally. (Photo courtesy of Defense Ministry) (Yonhap)
Mountain climbers in Santa Claus outfits climb Mt. Bukhan in Seoul on Sunday. [