South fires back at North over propaganda broadcasts at border.

Key North Korean websites were back online after an hours-long shutdown that followed a US vow to respond to a crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures that Washington blames on Pyongyang.

Military generals from North and South Korea have met at a border village for talks on how to ease animosities between the rival countries after two clashes last week, South Korean media said.

Speculation about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un mounted after his name was missing from a list of dignitaries celebrating the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

Speculation about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is mounting after his name was missing from a list of dignitaries celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

South Korea has expressed outrage over an attack on its president by the North Korean government that likened her to a prostitute.

South Korea has approved US$6m (€4.5m) in government aid for vaccines, medical care and food for North Korean children.

Planned talks between South and North Korea have collapsed a day before they were due to begin because of a stalemate over who will lead each delegation.

North and South Korea have begun preparatory talks at a “truce village” on their heavily-armed border aimed at setting ground rules for a higher-level discussion on easing animosity and restoring stalled rapprochement projects.

North Korea has proposed working-level talks with the South as the rivals move to mend ties that have plunged during recent years amid hardline stances by both countries.

A factory complex that is North Korea’s last major economic link with the South was a virtual ghost town today after Pyongyang suspended its operations and recalled all 53,000 of its workers, cutting off jobs and a source of hard currency in its war of words and provocations against Seoul and Washington.

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

France has asked China to intervene in the Korean military crisis.

North Korea today barred South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the heavily armed border in the North, officials in Seoul said.

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”.

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”.

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

Tens of thousands of North Koreans lined the snowy streets of Pyongyang today, wailing and clutching their chests as a black hearse carrying late leader Kim Jong Il’s body wound its way through the capital for a final farewell.

North Korea vowed today to uphold Kim Jong Il’s son as “supreme commander” as the campaign to install the young man as the next leader of the socialist nation gained pace one week after his father’s death.

North Korea threatened today to launch a “sacred war” against South Korea even as a delegation from Seoul travelled across the countries’ heavily fortified border for a meeting on a stalled joint tourism project.

South Korea said today that it has accepted a North Korean proposal to hold high-level defence talks.

North Korea today reiterated a proposal for unconditional talks with South Korea to ease tensions on the divided peninsula.

THE number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea has surged in recent years because of economic suffering in the North, with more than 10,000 defections over the past three years, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said yesterday.

North Korea published a photo in state media today of leader Kim Jong Il’s youngest son and heir apparent Kim Jong Un – the first official image of him to be released.

North Korea requested a shipment of rice, cement and heavy equipment days after South Korea offered relief aid to its communist neighbour to help it recover from recent flooding, the Unification Ministry said.

North Korea threatened today to block cross-border traffic and blow up any South Korean loudspeakers blasting propaganda northwards after a six-year suspension, as tensions soared over the sinking of a South Korean warship.

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.

North Korea today expressed regret over its recent release of dam water that sparked flooding downstream blamed for six South Korean deaths.

South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak will meet a delegation of visiting North Korean officials tomorrow, the latest sign that ties between the divided countries are warming.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has been living at a coastal villa since mid-May and is probably convalescing after reportedly suffering a stroke last year, a newspaper said today, citing US and South Korean intelligence.

NORTH KOREA’S communist regime has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic bomb-making programme in defiance of new UN sanctions.

North and South Korea ended talks today in the communist country over a troubled industrial project shortly after they began as officials spent most of the day in a procedural stand-off.

South Korean officials travelled today to North Korea for the first meeting between the two governments in more than a year, amid tension over Pyongyang's moves to restart its nuclear programme following a defiant rocket launch.

South Korea today accepted North Korea’s proposal for talks on a troubled joint industrial complex, setting up the first official dialogue between the two countries in a year amid tensions over the North’s recent rocket launch.

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.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied in Pyongyang in a display of might and loyalty underscoring their government’s guiding “military first” principle amid tensions with rival South Korea

South Korean officials believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has recovered enough from a stroke to brush his own teeth but that sporadic spasms forced him to skip his country’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

A cargo rail service between North and South Korea will be expanded to take passengers starting next year, but only South Koreans will be allowed to cross the border by train, the Unification Ministry said today.

About 430 North Koreans have died of hunger in a northern region of the impoverished communist country over the past month because of chronic food shortages, a South Korean aid group said today.

South Korea was set to restart fertiliser shipments to North Korea today, marking the official resumption of economic assistance to the impoverished country.

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.

The UN Security Council unanimously approved tough sanctions against North Korea for its claimed nuclear test, but today divisions over how to enforce them signalled that implementation may not be easy.

THE president of South Korea Roh Moo-Hyun has said North Korea’s nuclear test was forcing a change in his policy of engagement with the communist state.

South Korea and North Korea have agreed to restart their suspended high-level talks this month in Pyongyang, the South’s Unification Ministry said today.