North Korea’s supreme court sentenced American student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested while visiting the country, to 15 years of hard labour for crimes against the state.

Western scientists doubt new claims of success, but each test will increase the country’s knowledge, until it has a long-range warhead, says Sharon Squassoni

North Korea has issued a furious statement against the United States for imposing sanctions against its government figures and defence industry after the cyber-attack against Sony.

North Korea has hurled racial slurs at President Barack Obama as the communist state blamed the US for shutting down its internet amid the Sony hacking row.

It’s definitely a novel way to spend a week off. Today FM broadcaster Matt Cooper is in North Korea as part of documentary crew covering a basketball game stuffed with former NBA stars, and coinciding with the birthday of leader Kim Jong-un.

South Korea has said North Korea has fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters.

North Korea said today it will soon put a detained American on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow the government.

After weeks of tension, North Korea has options to improve relations with the US and South Korea – but it is unlikely to be tempted by Washington’s offer to restart negotiations on its nuclear programme.

It’s a month since the UN passed a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear testing. Since then a geopolitical game of cat and mouse has taken place between Pyongyang, Seoul, and Washington. David Keelaghan in Seoul looks at the potential consequences.

North Korea has warned that its military has been cleared to attack the US using “smaller, lighter and diversified” nuclear weapons.

North Korea said today it had entered “a state of war” with the South, in the reclusive communist state’s latest belligerent threat.

Reclusive North Korea is to cut the last channel of communications with its southern neighbour because war could break out at “any moment“, it said, days after warning the US and South Korea of a nuclear attack.

North Korea will be punished if it carries out its threat to conduct a nuclear test, John Kerry has warned.

The UN Security Council condemned North Korea’s successful rocket launch today and said it will urgently consider “an appropriate response”.

The US said yesterday that North Korea had agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests and long-range missile launches and to allow nuclear inspectors to visit its Yongbyon nuclear complex to verify a halt to all nuclear activities including uranium enrichment.

North Korean state television has showed Kim Jong Il laid out in an open coffin today.

A US aircraft carrier group set off for Korean waters yesterday, a day after North Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island, in a move likely to enrage Pyongyang and unsettle its ally, China.

A North Korean guard shot dead three people and wounded a fourth on the border with China last week, it emerged today.

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon recommended Security Council action against North Korea today for a torpedo attack that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

North Korea said today that it was in the final stages of enriching uranium, a process that could give the nation a second way to make nuclear bombs in addition to its known plutonium-enriching programme.

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon said he hoped North Korea’s release of two American journalists would lead to fresh talks on eliminating its nuclear weapons programme.

The United Nations Security Council condemned North Korea’s recent firing of seven ballistic missiles on US Independence Day – the reclusive country’s biggest display of firepower in three years.

NORTH KOREA said yesterday it is working to restart its atomic reactor and no longer wants US concessions after accusing Washington of breaking a nuclear disarmament pact.

NORTH Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programmes and disable facilities at its main reactor complex by December 31, overseen by a US-led team, the six nations involved in disarmament talks said yesterday.

North Korea has promised to disable its main nuclear weapons plants by the end of the year.

North Korea has agreed to declare and disable all its nuclear facilities by the end of this year, the chief US negotiator said today.

North Korea has cooperated fully with a team of UN nuclear experts who were monitoring the shutdown of the country’s sole plutonium-producing reactor, the leader of the team said today.

EFFORTS to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme moved ahead yesterday, with the chief US envoy saying he wants the North’s reactor completely disabled by year’s end and UN inspectors heading to Pyongyang to supervise the shutdown.

The UN’s nuclear agency today approved sending experts to North Korea to supervise the shutdown of its plutonium-producing reactor, the agency’s chief Mohamed ElBaradei said.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said today that sanctions alone would not resolve the stand-off over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

US and North Korean envoys today ended talks failing to reach an agreement on when to resume six-nation talks on dismantling Pyongyang’s atomic weapons programme.

NORTH KOREA yesterday said it considered UN sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test “a declaration of war”, as Japan and South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion.

The UN Security Council should congratulate North Korea for its nuclear test instead of passing “useless” resolutions or statements, the country's UN ambassador said today.

The Government has strongly condemned the testing of nuclear weapons in North Korea this morning.

North Korea today said it would conduct a nuclear test as part of measures to bolster its self-defence amid what it calls increasing US hostility toward the communist regime.

North Korea has accused the United States of torpedoing six-party talks on its nuclear programme.

North Korea today publicly acknowledged for the first time that it had tested missiles and vowed to continue launching them, threatening to take even stronger action if opponents of the tests pressured the country.

North Korea is ready to answer a pre-emptive US military attack with an “annihilating strike and a nuclear war,” state-run media said today.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reportedly arrived in Beijing today for talks with President Hu Jintao on resuming stalled negotiations aimed at ending the North’s nuclear development.

The US should provide North Korea with light-water nuclear reactors as soon as possible to build confidence in nuclear disarmament talks, North Korea’s deputy foreign minister told the UN General Assembly today.

The chief US envoy to talks on ending North Korea’s atomic weapons programme met today with his North Korean counterpart seeking to break a stalemate, and said afterward that the negotiations are still “in business".

The US served notice on North Korea today that it would not accept an agreement that only pretends to halt its nuclear weapons programme.

The US met North Korea yesterday on halting its nuclear weapons programme and withdrew a threat to try to punish the North Koreans soon with UN sanctions.