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.

The United States and South Korea were finishing war manoeuvres today aimed at North Korea after a deadly attack and discussing whether to hold more, as China tried to restart the aid-for-nuclear-disarmament talks coveted by the North.

The sound of new artillery fire from North Korea just hours after the US and South Korea launched a round of war games in Korean waters sent residents and journalists on a front-line island scrambling for cover today.

A top-level North Korean official held talks in Damascus with senior members of Syria’s ruling Baath Party on ways to develop relations between the two countries, Syria’s official news agency reported.