A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning, saying that nuclear weapons are “the nation’s life” and will not be traded even for “billions of dollars”.

A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning today, saying that nuclear weapons are “the nation’s life” and will not be traded even for “billions of dollars”.

North Korea said today it had entered “a state of war” with the South, in the reclusive communist state’s latest belligerent threat.

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 vowed military action if South Korea fires inside its territorial waters.

THE North Korean capital of Pyongyang is emerging from a tough few months.

Kim Jong Un spoke publicly for the first time today, praising his father Kim Jong Il's "military first" policy during celebrations marking the 100th birthday of the nation's late founder.

South Korean warships fanned out across the Yellow Sea today to search for debris from North Korea's failed rocket launch, which brought humiliation for the country's new young leader and condemnation from a host of nations.

North Korea’s much-anticipated rocket launch ended in failure, splintering into pieces over the Yellow Sea soon after lift-off.

South Korea conducted live-fire military drills today from five islands near its disputed sea boundary with North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s threat to attack.

A South Korean coastguard was killed and another injured today when they were stabbed by a Chinese captain whose boat was stopped for suspected illegal fishing.

A corporal in South Korea's marine corps went on shooting rampage today, killing four fellow soldiers and wounding another on a Yellow Sea island base near the country's tense border with North Korea, officials said.

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 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.

A Chinese fishing boat capsized in a maritime scuffle with a South Korean coast guard ship trying to curb its illegal fishing activities today, leaving two fishermen missing, officials said.

North Korea lambasted South Korea’s new defence chief for threatening to launch air strikes against the North and accused the South of causing “uncontrollable, extreme” tension on the peninsula.

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 US and South Korea prepared for war games tomorrow as South Koreans demanded vengeance over a deadly North Korean artillery bombardment that has raised fears of more clashes between the bitter rivals.

North Korea has today accused South Korea of using civilians as human shields around artillery positions on an island attacked by the North, seeking to justify a bombardment that killed four South Koreans and sent tensions soaring.

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.

South Korea’s defence minister resigned today amid intense criticism two days after a North Korean artillery attack killed four people on a small island near the Koreas’ disputed frontier.

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”.

South Korea’s troops were on high alert today as the government exchanged threats with rival North Korea following the military skirmish that took tensions on the peninsula to new extremes.

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.

NOTHING projects American global air and sea power more vividly than supercarriers.

A flotilla of US and South Korean warships led by a nuclear-powered supercarrier have begun the military exercises that enraged North Korea.

NORTH Korea yesterday threatened the US and South Korea with a “physical response” if they go ahead with war games this weekend.

North Korea today threatened the US and South Korea with a “physical response” if they go ahead with war drills this weekend.

CHINA’S largest reported oil spill emptied beaches along the Yellow Sea as its size doubled yesterday, while cleanup efforts included straw mats and frazzled workers with little more than rubber gloves.

The deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea overshadowed local elections today – seen as a gauge of public sentiment toward the pro-American president’s handling of the security crisis.

NORTH KOREA vowed yesterday to attack any South Korean ships which violate their disputed border and Seoul’s navy staged its own show of strength amid continuing high tension over the sinking of a warship.

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon recommended Security Council action against North Korea today for a torpedo attack that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

SOUTH KOREA’S president slashed trade to impoverished North Korea and pledged to haul Pyongyang before the UN Security Council, vowing yesterday to make it “pay a price” for a torpedo attack that killed 46 sailors.

South Korea’s president said his nation will no longer tolerate North Korea’s “brutality” and said the regime would pay for a surprise torpedo attack that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

NORTH Korea said South Korea fabricated evidence implicating the North in a torpedo attack in order to pick on the North and any attempt at retaliating for the warship’s sinking would be answered with “all-out war”.

In the face of world-wide condemnation North Korea today claimed damning evidence that it torpedoed a South Korean warship was fabricated.

South Korea accused North Korea today of firing a torpedo that sank a naval warship in March, killing 46 sailors in the country’s worst military disaster since the Korean War.

South Korea’s foreign minister said today it was “obvious” that North Korea sank one of the South’s warships in March, killing 46 sailors.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed today that his country would respond “resolutely and unwaveringly” against those behind the sinking of a naval ship near the tense maritime border with North Korea.

South Korea’s military has ended its underwater search for dozens of sailors missing from a navy ship that sank following a mysterious blast eight days ago, an official said today.