South Korean troops have exchanged fire with a runaway soldier who was surrounded in a forest after he killed five comrades near his North Korea border outpost, and brought in his parents to persuade him to surrender, a defence official said.

North and South Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into each other’s waters in a flare-up of animosity that forced residents of five frontline South Korean islands to evacuate to shelters for several hours, South Korean officials said.

The US is repeating its willingness to send an envoy to seek the freedom of an American detainee in North Korea after a pro-Pyongyang newspaper reported that such a visit was being planned.

North Korea said today that it executed Kim Jong Un’s uncle as a traitor for trying to seize supreme power, a stunning end for the leader’s former mentor, long considered the country’s No 2.

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Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman has returned to North Korea to visit his ‘friend’ leader Kim Jong-Un, playing down speculation he would try to help free a jailed American.

Officials from North and South Korea met today in a North Korean border town to discuss how to restart a factory complex they ran until it was shut down in April.

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.

South Korea has vowed to take “grave measures” if Pyongyang rejects talks on a jointly run factory park shut for nearly a month.

A mechanical fault is being blame for US military helicopter crash near the North Korean border.

A US military helicopter taking part in a joint South Korea-US drill has crashed near the North Korean border.

Oblivious to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets today to celebrate a major national holiday, the birthday of their first leader, Kim Il Sung.

The US and Japan yesterday offered new talks with North Korea to resolve the increasingly dangerous stand-off over its nuclear and missile programmes, but said the reclusive communist government first must lower tensions and honour previous agreements.

Investigators have traced a co-ordinated cyber attack that paralysed tens of thousands of computers at six South Korean banks and media companies to a Chinese internet protocol address, but it is still unclear who orchestrated the attack, authorities in Seoul said.

Stephen Hendry shrugged off the effects of a 10,000-mile round trip to China as he fired in a thrilling 147 maximum break on day one of the Betfred.com World Championship today.

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NORTH Korea’s power brokers publicly declared Kim Jong-un the supreme leader for the first time at a massive public memorial for his father Kim Jong-il, cementing the family’s hold on power.

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.

IN one of their deadliest attacks yet, Syrian army defectors killed at least 27 government soldiers and police in clashes in the south, activists said. The escalating political unrest yesterday prompted Canada to become the latest country to urge its citizens to leave Syria.

FORMER President Mary Robinson has travelled to the Far East to play a key role in an international delegation aiming to ease tensions between the warring North and South Koreas.

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”.

North Korea has branded South Korea's military exercise today as "provocative" and "offensive".

South Korea mobilised troops, tanks, helicopters and fighter jets today for its largest winter military drills in a show of force a month after North Korea’s deadly shelling of a front-line island.

North and South Korea battered each other with artillery fire today in one of the most serious confrontations since their war ended nearly 60 years ago.

Delegates to North Korea’s biggest political meeting in decades were gathering in the country’s capital today amid speculation that leader Kim Jong Il is to appoint one of his sons and other family members to key positions as part of a succession plan.

North Korea announced today that it will scrap an accord aimed at preventing accidental naval clashes with South Korea in retaliation for Seoul blaming Pyongyang for the sinking of one of its warships.

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.

Two North Korean spies have admitted they tried to assassinate the regime’s most high-profile defector, a man who once mentored leader Kim Jong Il.

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

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned two American journalists and ordered their release today during the visit of former US president Bill Clinton, it was reported tonight.

Former US president Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to North Korea today amid an international stand-off over the country’s nuclear programme and concerns about two imprisoned American reporters.

North Korea might release two convicted American journalists if the US offers a gesture such as an official apology, a US-based scholar who visited Pyongyang said in interviews released today.

North Korea has convicted two US journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in a labour camp.

North Korea decided to put two US journalists on trial following an investigation into allegations that they entered the country illegally and conducted "hostile acts," state-run media said.

Two Americans have been detained by North Korea for illegally crossing its border and are under investigation, the country’s official news agency said today.

North Korea’s premier arrived in Seoul today for the first prime ministerial talks with South Korea in 15 years to discuss a reconciliation agreement by their leaders.

Leaders of North and South Korea pledged in a reconciliation pact today to finally seek a peace treaty to replace the Korean War’s 1953 cease-fire, and expand projects to reduce tension across the world’s last Cold War frontier.

North Korea has promised to disable its main nuclear weapons plants by the end of the year.

South Korea’s president reported differences between the two sides in historic summit talks today with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, while Kim gave a signal that the meeting be extended for an extra day.

Floods after heavy downpours in North Korea have left “hundreds” dead or missing and destroyed more than 30,000 homes, the country’s state media reported today.

North Korea said today that any future progress on its disarmament would depend on the US and Japan ending alleged hostile policies against the communist regime.

North Korea has told the United States it has shut down its nuclear reactor, the US State Department said today, hours after a ship cruised into port loaded with oil promised in return for the country’s pledge to disarm.