A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning today, saying that nuclear weapons are “the nation’s life” and will not be traded even for “billions of dollars”.

South Korea mobilised troops, tanks, helicopters and fighter jets today for its largest winter military drills in a show of force a month after North Korea’s deadly shelling of a front-line island.

The UN Security Council met in emergency session today amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula and a North Korean warning of a “catastrophe” if South Korea goes ahead with a live-fire drill.

A US ENVOY yesterday said the North Korean nuclear crisis would come before the UN Security Council as soon as this week, and South and North Korea held high-level talks that were overshadowed by the dispute.