Propaganda broadcasts at North Korea will continue unless Pyongyang apologises for a land mine attack that maimed two soldiers, South Korea’s president said.

Senior officials from North and South Korea have resumed a second round of talks, which temporarily pushed aside vows of imminent war on the peninsula.

South Korea and North Korea are holding their first high-level talks in nearly a year in a bid to defuse mounting tensions that have led to the brink of a military confrontation.

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.

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.

Veterans in medal-laden uniforms have streamed into North Korea’s capital for ceremonies marking the end of the Korean War, an annual event being closely watched after the secretive country’s new leader reshuffled the leadership of the military.

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.

North Korea today said it had handed over the remains of a British pilot shot down during the Korean War.

South Korea’s president pledged today to boost security around islands near the site of a North Korean artillery attack as the North warned of more retaliation for any “reckless military provocations”.

North Korea warned the US and South Korea of possible deadly consequences in retaliation for what it called psychological warfare involving journalist tours to the South’s portion of the buffer zone between the rivals.

High-level military officials from North Korea and the US-led UN Command held urgent talks at the border today amid heightened tensions in the region and concerns that the North intends to test-fire a long-range missile.

NORTH KOREA said yesterday it is working to restart its atomic reactor and no longer wants US concessions after accusing Washington of breaking a nuclear disarmament pact.

A North Korean diplomat denied today that leader Kim Jong Il was ill, calling widespread speculation about the leader’s health troubles “nonsense spread by bad people”.

North and South Korea have agreed to simplify customs inspections and other border-crossing procedures for South Koreans heading into the North, in a further boost to growing economic ties and reconciliation.

North Korea demanded that the US military call off war manoeuvres with South Korea planned at the same time as the second-ever summit between the rival Koreas later this month.

Military officials from North and South Korea failed to reach an agreement after two days of high-level talks, the South’s Defence Ministry said today.

The main hospital treating victims of a train explosion in North Korea laid out young patients on filing cabinets today as it struggled to overcome a shortage of beds and problems with medical equipment, according to an aid official.

NORTH KOREA raised the stakes in a nuclear standoff yesterday by saying for the first time it had processed fuel rods that could be used to make atomic bombs.

North Korea today cut off the only regular military contact with the US-led United Nations Command that monitors the Korean War armistice, accusing America of trying to attack the communist state.

North Korea today accepted a South Korean proposal to resume talks in Seoul next week for the first time since official contacts broke off in March.