Foreign ministers from the G8 group of rich countries failed to patch up deep divisions over Syria or come up with a plan on North Korea during a meeting in London yesterday.

North Korea warned foreign embassies in Pyongyang that it was unable to guarantee their safety after Apr 10 and they should consider evacuating their missions amid soaring nuclear tensions.

North Korea vowed today to restart a nuclear reactor which can make one bomb’s worth of plutonium a year, escalating tensions already raised by near daily warlike threats against the United States and South Korea.

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

North Korea put its missile units on standby to attack US military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the US flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korea threatened to scrap an armistice that ended the 1950-53 civil war and sever a military “hotline” with the US if South Korea and Washington pressed on with two-month-long war games.

North Korea said today it had tested a “miniaturised” nuclear device, defying the United Nations’ orders to stop building atomic weapons.

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 Korea has vowed to launch “retaliatory military actions” against South Korea, continuing a barrage of rhetoric this week against its rival.

NORTH KOREA backed away from threats to retaliate against South Korea for military exercises yesterday and offered concessions on its nuclear programme.

IN secret and with remarkable speed, North Korea has built a new, highly sophisticated facility to enrich uranium, according to an American nuclear scientist, raising fears that the North is ramping up its atomic programme despite international pressure.

NORTH KOREA declared yesterday that it would sever all communication and relations with Seoul as punishment for blaming the North for the sinking of a South Korean warship two months ago.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said today that North Korea should face international consequences over the sinking of a South Korean warship.

NORTH Korea said South Korea fabricated evidence implicating the North in a torpedo attack in order to pick on the North and any attempt at retaliating for the warship’s sinking would be answered with “all-out war”.

North Korea said it was open to new dialogue to defuse tensions over its nuclear weapons programme, in what appeared to be a call for direct talks with the US.

North Korea’s defence chief today vowed to deal “unimaginably deadly blows” to the US and South Korea if they attack the communist nation amid a tense stand off over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

A RUSSIAN foreign ministry source yesterday said there were signs that North Korea was preparing new missile launches, Interfax reported.

NORTH KOREA has transported its most advanced missile, believed to be capable of reaching Alaska, to a launch site on its west coast near China, news reports said.

THE US and its Asian allies could look at tougher responses should diplomacy fail to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, officials at a security conference said at the weekend.

NORTH KOREA claimed it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test yesterday – much larger than one conducted in 2006 – a major provocation in the escalating international standoff over its rogue nuclear and missile programmes.

NORTH KOREA threatened to conduct nuclear and missile tests unless the UN apologises for criticising its April 5 rocket launch, dramatically raising its stake in the worsening standoff over its atomic programmes.

North Korea said today preparations to launch its controversial satellite were complete and lift-off was imminent.

North Korea’s military threatened immediate retaliation today if “even the slightest effort” was made to intercept a rocket it plans to launch in the next few days.

The US is working with North Korea to remove it from Washington’s blacklist of states sponsoring terrorism as American experts prepare to start disabling the Communist nation’s nuclear reactor, a top US diplomat said today.

North Korea and Syria today denied claims that they are co-operating on a Syrian nuclear programme.

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 may have launched a barrage of short-range missiles off the country’s west coast, a news report said today.

North Korea fired several short-range missiles towards the Sea of Japan early today, Kyodo News agency reported, citing Japanese and US sources.

North Korea is developing a new long-range ballistic missile that may be capable of hitting the US territory of Guam, a Japanese official said today.

The chief of North Korea's atomic energy agency today said his country will invite UN nuclear inspectors and discuss shutting down its reactor only after it confirms the release of funds frozen in a banking dispute.

North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator told US envoys today that his government would immediately invite UN nuclear inspectors into the country if £12.7m (€18.6m) in disputed funds were released.

A stalled round of talks on disarming North Korea’s nuclear programme will be extended even though a dispute over when around €19m of Pyongyang’s funds will be released from a Macau bank is not settled, a Japanese diplomat said today.

North Korea is ready to freeze a key nuclear facility and allow international inspectors back into the country in exchange for half a million tons of oil and an easing of US financial restrictions on the regime, a news report said today.

The chief US negotiator at six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program said today he was hopeful the talks can resume by the end of this month, and described as “useful” a meeting with his North Korean counterpart.

The special UN envoy on human rights in North Korea urged a quick resolution of the nuclear stand-off with Pyongyang today, saying it would help improve human rights in the communist regime.

International talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme are highly likely to resume in the week starting December 18, South Korea’s top nuclear envoy said today.

US president George Bush today welcomed an agreement to bring North Korea back to six-party arms talks and said the United States will insist the communist regime abandon its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable fashion.

South Korea said today it has formed a task force to decide how to impose UN sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear test, while its government’s chief of reconciliation with the North offered to resign over the test.

North Korea is not planning a second nuclear test and is willing to return to six-party talks under certain conditions but warned that it would take action if it feels pressured, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice today arrived in South Korea to press Seoul to support sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test that rattled the world.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the swift and effective implementation of sanctions against North Korea today, arguing in Tokyo, Japan, that the United States had no desire to escalate the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear test.

South Korea’s military was reportedly preparing for nuclear conflict today as rival North Korea warned that an international push for tighter sanctions on Pyongyang over its atomic weapons test would be an act of war.

The United States has no intention to meet with North Korea during a regional security meeting this week unless it rejoins stalled six-nation talks on the communist country’s nuclear weapons programme, a top US official said today.

Nato has called for a firm international response to North Korea’s missile launch which the western alliance condemned as a threat to security in east Asia and the wider world.