Park Geun-hye, daughter of a divisive military strongman from South Korea's authoritarian era, has been elected the country's first female president in a landmark win that could mean a new drive to start talks with rival North Korea.

North Korea fired a long-range rocket today in a second launch under its new leader, defying warnings from the UN and Washington.

North Korea has accepted an offer of aid from South Korea after devastating floods, the South said yesterday, the first time the new leadership in Pyongyang has accepted aid from Seoul.

Japan today called on South Korea to end its "illegal occupation" of tiny islets in the strongest language so far in a dispute that has sent the two countries' relations to the lowest levels in years.

China said it would lodge a complaint with Japan after it detained Chinese activists who landed on a disputed island and raised a flag yesterday, as tension between Japan and its neighbours escalated on the anniversary of the end of World War Two.

South Korean president Lee Myung-bak made a surprise visit today to islets at the centre of a long-running territorial dispute with Japan, ignoring warnings from Tokyo that it would worsen the neighbours’ already strained relations.

North Korea claims it has aimed rockets at the specific co-ordinates of South Korean media groups.

US President Barack Obama today warned North Korea it risks deepening its isolation in the international community if it proceeds with a planned long-range rocket launch.

South Korea says that North Korea has moved a long-range rocket to its north-western launch site in preparation for a launch.

North Korea will launch “merciless” strikes if South Korea goes through with planned live-fire drills near their disputed sea border, a North Korean officer said yesterday, amid persistent tension on the divided peninsula.

SOUTH Korea’s president urged rival North Korea yesterday to use the transition of leadership after Kim Jong Il’s death to usher in a new era of peace on the tense Korean peninsula, even as he warned the North against any provocations.

South Korea’s president urged North Korea today to embrace a “new era” by using its recent leadership handover as an opportunity to transform Korean ties, but warned that Seoul would respond sternly to any provocations.

NORTH Korea warned the world there would be no softening of its position towards South Korea after Kim Jong-il’s death as Pyongyang strengthened his son and heir’s authority with a new title: Great Leader.

North Korea warned the world today there would be no softening of its position toward South Korea’s government after Kim Jong Il’s death.

THE widow of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, the author of a now-jettisoned engagement policy with North Korea, crossed the fortified land border between the two sides yesterday to pay her respects to deceased dictator Kim Jong-il.

Whether they have a strong political pedigree or none, women are climbing to the top of Asian politics, writes Vishakha Desai

The body of North Korea’s long-time ruler Kim Jong Il was laid out in a memorial palace today as weeping mourners filled public plazas and state media fed a budding personality cult around his third son, hailing him as “born of heaven”.

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

WORLD governments are viewing the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il with wary optimism.

World governments are viewing the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il with wary optimism.

North Korea has urged its 24 million people to rally behind heir-apparent Kim Jong Un as the nation mourned the death of supreme leader Kim Jong Il.

North Korea’s long-time leader Kim Jong Il has died of heart failure.

Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died at the age of 69.

President Barack Obama says the US can support all the allegations of an alleged assassination plot against a Saudi Arabian diplomat and show the world that it was reckless behaviour on the part of the Iranian government.

South Korea's president called for cooperation with rival North Korea and pledged limited humanitarian support for suffering North Koreans as the two nations try to set aside animosity and pursue dialogue.

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.

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

SOUTH Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak yesterday dismissed North Korea’s offers of dialogue as insincere and said the communist state must apologise for two deadly border incidents last year.

The US is considering resuming food aid to the country it regards as a rogue state amid fear that many North Koreans face starvation after a harsh winter.

South Korea’s president compared a deadly North Korean artillery barrage to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, saying today that the South must strengthen defences and cannot let the North “covet even an inch of our territory”.

South Korea's president vowed relentless retaliation against North Korea if provoked again, saying he was not afraid of a war with the communist state.

SOUTH KOREA will stage naval firing drills at 23 venues from today, but will exclude areas near the disputed sea border with North Korea, the military said.

NORTH and South Korea beat the drums of war yesterday, with each threatening the other with immediate retaliation if attacked.

North Korea today threatened to launch a “sacred” nuclear war against South Korea if it is attacked

North Korea warned South Korea today not to stage artillery drills on a front-line island the North bombed last month, saying it would hit back even harder than in the previous attack that killed four South Koreans.

South Korea’s president declared the reunification of Korea was drawing near, in a surprising statement amid soaring tension on the divided peninsula.

The US, Japan and South Korea have said they will not resume nuclear negotiations with North Korea until it ends its "provocative and belligerent" behaviour and takes concrete steps to roll back its nuclear arms programme.

President Lee Myung-bak's choice for new defence minister said today that South Korean jets will bomb North Korea if Pyongyang stages an attack similar to last week's deadly artillery barrage.

South Korea today announced a provocative series of front-line military exercises on the island shelled by North Korea last week, then immediately postponed them.

South Korea’s president took responsibility today for failing to protect his citizens from a deadly North Korean artillery attack, vowing tough consequences for any future aggression and expressing outrage over the “ruthlessness of the North Korean regime”.

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.

NORTH KOREA staged an artillery drill yesterday within earshot of a South Korean island shelled earlier this week, and warned that an upcoming US-South Korean naval exercise heightens the risk of war.

Sounds of artillery have been heard on the Yellow Sea island attacked earlier this week by North Korea, South Korea said today.