Russian bid to defuse stand-off
The escalating war of words between Washington and Pyongyang prompted South Korea to announce that a top presidential security aide would fly to the US capital and Tokyo this week, part of a broader diplomatic push by Seoul to end the spat peacefully. Tensions have risen since North Korea expelled UN inspectors and reopened a reactor at a nuclear complex mothballed under a 1994 deal in which it had agreed to end such work in exchange for fuel oil from the United States and its allies.
Washington cut off oil supplies to North Korea after Pyongyang said last October it had a covert nuclear programme.
