South Korea’s president proposed today that North and South Korea each set up a liaison office in the other’s capital to break the impasse in their strained relations and facilitate dialogue between the rival states, an official said.

South Korea's government and private analysts questioned media reports that North Korea was poised to make an important announcement possibly concerning the health of its leader, Kim Jong Il, or a power shift in the communist nation.

South Korea will begin sending fertiliser aid to North Korea later this month, Seoul’s Red Cross chief said today.

South Korea today revealed it had offered energy aid to impoverished North Korea as an incentive to encourage it to return to nuclear disarmament talks this month after more than a year of deadlock.

South Korea will start shipping €22.5m in relief goods next week to a North Korean town devastated by a deadly train explosion, officials said.