US President Barack Obama urged China yesterday to use its influence to rein in North Korea instead of “turning a blind eye” to its nuclear defiance, and warned of tighter sanctions if the reclusive state goes ahead with a rocket launch next month.

THE world watched anxiously as North Korea staged a huge funeral in the capital, Pyongyang, for former leader Kim Jong-il, searching for signs of what to expect from the isolated nation that may be close to attaining nuclear weapons capacity.

BRAZIL began their quest for a sixth world crown with victory over North Korea at Ellis Park last night but it was far from a vintage display from Dunga’s men against hard-working opposition.

A NORTH Korean mine may have caused the explosion that sank a South Korean naval ship near a disputed maritime border, the defence minister told lawmakers yesterday.

NORTH KOREA’s Kim Jong Il has anointed his 26-year-old son – said to be competitive, proficient in English and a heavy drinker – as the next leader of the communist state, it emerged yesterday.

WITH John Joe Joyce set to get the show on the road in the early hours of today Irish time, the Irish boxing team were last night perusing what High Performance Director, Gary Keegan, described as a ‘fair’ draw for the world championships in Chicago.

North Korea displayed a newly developed ballistic missile capable of reaching the US territory of Guam during a massive military parade, a news report said today.

A top White House adviser has personally delivered a pointed message to North Korean officials in New York, urging them to act on a nuclear disarmament pledge and telling them that US patience is limited, a US official said.

A South Korean human rights group today revealed what it claimed to be the first video footage of dissident activity in North Korea.

A Red Cross worker at the scene of a devastating train explosion in North Korea said the immediate area around the site was "obliterated," a group spokesman said.