David Guttenfelder / AP

North Koreans dance beneath a painting of late leader Kim Il Sung during a mass folk dancing gathering in Pyongyang on April 11. The gathering marked the anniversary of the first of many titles of power given to leader Kim Jong Un after the death of his father Kim Jong Il.

As the United States and South Korea watched nervously for a North Korean missile launch, North Koreans kicked off a spring festival as part of celebrations surrounding the April 15 birthday of founding father Kim Il Sung. Thursday was also the first anniversary of Kim Jong Un's official ascent to power, although he became de-facto leader immediately after his father's death. Read Story

 Video: Kim dynasty celebrated in North Korea

Jon Chol Jin / AP

Performers carry a flag at the opening of the April Spring People's Art Festival at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater on April 11. The festival opened Thursday to mark late president Kim Il Sung's birthday on April 15, known in North Korea as the Day of the Sun. In the background are portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and his son, Kim Jong Il.

Jon Chol Jin / AP

Performers sing about North Korea's late leader Kim Jong Il.

Jon Chol Jin / AP

North Korean performers at the opening of the April Spring People's Art Festival.

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

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Na Son Nguyen / AP

Patients sit in a sauna room at the Scientology Health Center of the Vietnam Association of Agent Orange Victims in Thai Binh, Vietnam. The center runs a 25-day health program which, as well as massive consumption of vitamins, includes four-hour sauna sessions and a morning run.

THAI BINH, Vietnam — North Vietnamese army veteran Nguyen Anh Quoc grimaces as he forces down the last of the 35 vitamins he takes each morning. After decades of suffering from illnesses he believes were caused by exposure to Agent Orange, he is putting his faith in a regime advocated by the Church of Scientology.

"I have to take them," the 62-year-old said at a treatment center established with the help of a Scientology-funded group. "They will clean up my body."

Na Son Nguyen / AP

Patients at the center take a dose of 35 vitamins early each morning.

The center, a converted mushroom farm in northern Vietnam, owes as much to Scientology's desire to expand around the world, away from scandal in the United States, as it does to pressure in Vietnam to try to help aging veterans still suffering from the effects of war.

Many medical experts regard the treatment — a 25-day vitamin and sauna regime — as junk medicine or even dangerous. But for now at least, it has found fertile ground here. Read the full story.

Previously on PhotoBlog: The legacy of Agent Orange

Na Son Nguyen / AP

Patients get their pulse and blood pressure checked by doctors at the center. While there is no medical evidence that the treatment is effective, Vietnamese authorities are supporting it as a way of relieving some of the suffering of the between 2 and 4 million people suffering from illnesses linked to exposure to Agent Orange during the war.

Na Son Nguyen / AP

A patient enters a sauna room.

Editor's note: Photos taken on March 18, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Lynn Bo Bo / EPA

Journalists work in the Voice Weekly News Journal newsroom as they prepare for publication in Yangon, Myanmar.

Lynn Bo Bo / EPA

A Buddhist monk and a man read a new private daily newspaper in Yangon, Myanmar on April 1. Myanmar ended a five-decade state monopoly on daily news, when four privately owned newspapers hit the streets.

Lynn Bo Bo / EPA

A journalist works in the Voice Weekly News Journal newsroom in Yangon, Myanmar.

Myanmar ended a five-decade state monopoly on daily news, when four privately owned newspapers hit the streets on Monday.

In August of 2012, Myanmar's quasi-civilian government embarked on media reforms as part of its democratization program and recently granted licenses to 16 media groups to print daily papers. Only four publications were available on the first day that the reforms took effect.

"All four papers sold out quickly today," Kyi Kyi, a roadside book vendor, told Reuters.

"But it's very hard to predict their future sales since three of them were distributed free of charge today and the remaining one was sold at 150 kyat ($0.17) per copy." Continue reading.

Myanmar media was ranked among the most oppressed during its military rule.

-- European Pressphoto Agency, Reuters, Associated Press

Khin Maung Win / AP

A press operator holds a page of a daily newspaper at a printing press on April 1, in Yangon, Myanmar.

Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Workers arrange the pages of The Voice Daily newspaper at a press machine house in Yangon on April 1.

Lynn Bo Bo / EPA

A street vendor displays new private daily newspapers and journals to a taxi driver at a road of Yangon, Myanmar on April 1.

Jon Chol Jin / AP

University students punch the air as they march through Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 29, 2013.

Jon Chol Jin / AP

Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for a mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang on Friday in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms.

Placards read "Let's crush the puppet traitor group" and "Let's rip the puppet traitors to death!", The Associated Press reported.

Earlier on Friday, the isolated communist state put its rocket units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, Reuters reported, after two nuclear-capable stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop inert munitions on a range in South Korea as part of a major military exercise.

KCNA via EPA

A picture released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows Kim Jong Un convening an urgent operation meeting at 0:30 am on March 29, 2013 at an undisclosed location, in which he ordered strategic rocket forces to be on standby to strike US and South Korean targets at any time.

Related:

Combat ready? Kim Jong Un inspects troops as North Korea issues new threats

Kim Jong Un gets to grips with North Korean army's latest technology

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

Google via AP

A screenshot made from the Google Maps website shows stranded ships left as a testament to the power of the tsunami which hit the area, near a road in Namie, Japan.

Google via AP

A crushed building in Namie, a nuclear no-go zone where former residents have been unable to live since they fled from radioactive contamination near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant two years ago.

Google via AP

Google's camera-equipped vehicle moves through Namie in a photo released on March 27, 2013 and taken earlier in the month.

Crumpled homes, abandoned shops, empty streets. The town of Namie has lain virtually untouched since its residents were evacuated two years ago, following the accident at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.

On Wednesday they were able to see their town again thanks to Google, which began offering glimpses of Namie on its Street View service. The town's mayor, Tamotsu Baba, invited Google to document the current state of Namie after receiving numerous requests from constituents who wanted a reminder of their home town.

Although some restrictions on entering the town have been lifted, Namie's 21,000 former residents have not yet been allowed to return to live there due to the still-high levels of radiation.

In a message posted on the Google website, the mayor said he hoped that sharing the images with the rest of the world would serve as a reminder of the consequences of a nuclear accident.

Related:

Nuclear refugees visit their home near stricken Fukushima plant

Fukushima: Before, during and after

Inside the Fukushima exclusion zone

Google via AP

Google via AP

KCNA / KNS via AFP - Getty Images

A picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday shows Kim Jong Un speaking with female members of an artillery unit during his inspection of the landing and anti-landing drills of KPA Large Combined Units 324 and 287 and KPA Navy Combined Unit 597 at an undisclosed location on North Korea's east coast on March 25, 2013.

KCNA via Reuters

Soldiers of the Korean People's Army (KPA) take part in landing and anti-landing drills as Kim Jong Un watches on March 25, 2013.

KCNA via KNS / AFP - Getty Images

Kim Jong Un inspects landing and anti-landing drills at an undisclosed location on North Korea's east coast.

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

North Korea stepped up its aggressive rhetoric on Tuesday, ordering its rocket and long-range artillery units to be combat ready and on the “highest alert” and issuing new threats against U.S. bases on Hawaii, Guam and mainland America.

Pyongyang warned that U.S. facilities would be "reduced to ashes and flames the moment the first attack is unleashed," according to a military order issued by the pariah state’s military "supreme command." Read the full story.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Kim Jong Un gets to grips with North Korean army's latest technology

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

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

KCNA via Reuters

Kim Jong Un looks at the latest combat and technical equipment made by unit 1501 of the Korean People's Army, during his visit to the unit on March 24, 2013.

KCNA via Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got some hands-on experience of his military's latest high-tech equipment during a visit to a Korean People's Army unit on Sunday.

Kim, the third of his line to rule North Korea, also praised musical instruments made by the North's 1.2 million-strong army, state news agency KCNA reported.

Meanwhile, South Korean security experts say the North has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the nations' rivalry. 

-- Reuters, The Associated Press

Slideshow: Glimpse into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

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

KCNA via Reuters

Kim Jong Un holds a gun as he inspects the second battalion under the Korean People's Army Unit 1973, honored with the title of "O Jung Hup-led 7th Regiment", on March 23, 2013.

Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Firemen attempt to extinguish fires during riots in Meikhtila, Myanmar, on March 22, 2013. Unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar has reduced neighborhoods to ashes and stoked fears that last year's sectarian bloodshed is spreading into the country's heartland in a test of Asia's newest democracy.

Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

A riot policeman stands guard next to a burning building in Meikhtila on March 22, 2013. A curfew was imposed for the second night as riots between Buddhists and Muslims continued.

By The Associated Press

MEIKHTILA, Myanmar — Myanmar President Thein Sein has declared a state of emergency in a central town where at least 20 people have been killed in violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

Burning fires from two days of Buddhist-Muslim violence smoldered across Meikhtila on Friday as residents cowered indoors amid growing fears the country's latest bout of sectarian bloodshed could spread.

The government's struggle to contain the unrest is proving another major challenge to Thein Sein's reformist administration as it attempts to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent. Read the full story.

Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

People carry their belongings as they arrive at a temporary rescue center in Meikhtila on March 22, 2013.

Soe Than Win / AFP - Getty Images

Residents sit on a railway track watching buildings burn around a mosque in riot-hit Meikhtila on March 21, 2013.

Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Burnt houses are seen in Meikhtila on March 21, 2013.

Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

Protesters throw a bench from a balcony following an apparent suicide by a college freshman at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila on March 18.

Protesting students at the Polytechnic University of Philippines created a bonfire of furniture to mourn a freshman who apparently committed suicide last week after she was forced to suspend her studies because of her inability to pay her tuition. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, classes were canceled on Monday to mourn 16-year-old Kristel Tejada and student organizations vowed to continue protests against school policies on tuition fees.

Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

Chairs and tables are burned by student protesters.

Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

Student protesters throw a chair.

Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

Pilar Pangalinan, 75, holds pictures of her late granddaughter Kristel Tejada during a wake in Manila on March 18.

See more stories from the Philippines on PhotoBlog

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Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP - Getty Images

Police officers search for tsunami victims at a mud-covered field near the Okawa elementary school in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture, on March 11, 2013.

Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images

A police officer searches for missing people in a wrecked vehicle at a beach in Namie, near the striken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, on March 11, 2013.

Kyodo via Reuters

A man prays to mourn victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami as a ship brought ashore by the disaster is seen in the background, in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.

By Arata Yamamoto, Producer, NBC News

TOKYO -- Japan marked the second anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that swept through northern Japan, damaging more than one million homes and killing almost 19,000 people.

A moment of silence was observed at 2:46 p.m. local time on Monday at various locations where the scars of the disasters still remain.

While most of the debris has been cleared, progress has been extremely slow in redeveloping areas affected following the tsunami-triggered explosion at Fukushima Daicihi nuclear power plant. Read the full story.

Shizuo Kambayashi / AP

Women take part in a moment of silence in front of what is left of a disaster control center in an area devastated by earthquake and tsunami, in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.

Kimimasa Mayama / EPA

Two women take a moment to offer a prayer for the victims killed by the tsunami on the sandy shore at Arahama in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.

Kyodo News via AP

Two pictures of a so-called 'miracle pine tree', on March 27, 2011 (left) and March 11, 2013 (right). The 88-foot-tall tree, a single survivor among 70,000 trees in a forest along the coast in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, has been artificially restored in a project to preserve it.

Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan

An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2011.

Launch slideshow

Related:

Rare tour of Fukushima reveals colossal decontamination efforts

'Nuclear refugees' visit their home near Fukushima

Inside the Fukushima exclusion zone

Franck Robichon / EPA

Wearing white protective masks and suits, Yuzo Mihara, left, and his wife Yuko pose for photographs on a deserted street in the town of Namie, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Feb. 22, 2013.

Franck Robichon / EPA

A single house remains standing in an area wiped out by the tsunami near Ukedo port in the town of Namie.

Until two years ago, Yuzo Mihara and his wife Yuko lived quietly in the Japanese town of Namie. Yuzo ran a store and Yuko a beauty salon. But their lives were upended on March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami crippled the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 

Yuzo and Yuko are now among over 100,000 Japanese 'nuclear refugees', having had to abandon their home when the town was evacuated due to the nuclear alert.

European PressPhoto Agency photographer Franck Robichon followed the couple as they made a brief visit to their old home last month. They were able to collect a few belongings and clean the house, which had been invaded by mice.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuko Mihara enters her house, where the floor is littered with books and furniture.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuko Mihara offers prayers to her ancestors in front of a family Buddhist altar inside her house.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuko Mihara cleans her kitchen, which is covered with debris and putrefied food.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuzo Mihara cleans the couple's house, which has been invaded by mice.

Located within the 20-kilometer exclusion zone, Namie saw its coastal area wiped out by the tsunami and its inland zone contaminated by radiation. Most of the town's 21,000 former residents still hope to make a permanent move back in the future, but for now they are only allowed to return for a few hours to minimize their exposure to radiation.

Wearing white protective masks and suits, former Namie residents have to drive through Okuma and Futaba, towns where the radiation levels are so high that a future return is inconceivable. 

Most of the former residents of the exclusion zone are still waiting for proper compensation to be negotiated with the government and TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant. Two years have passed since the disaster and frustration is gaining ground in the community. Cloistered in cramped temporary accommodation, the evacuees face an uncertain future. The stigma of being seen as 'assisted persons' by the wider community only adds to their despair.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuzo Mihara carries garbage out of his house.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuzo Mihara looks at a collapsed house in his neighborhood.

Franck Robichon / EPA

A destroyed house in the abandoned town of Namie.

Related:

Fukushima: Before, during and after

Inside the Fukushima exclusion zone

Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan