Discussion with North Korea ‘more fruitful’ now: UN

October 12th, 2009 SEOUL - North Korea Monday test-fired five short-range missiles off its eastern coast, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing government sources. The missiles were launched from the bases between North Hamgyeong and Gangwon provinces, it said.

September 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested the US is prepared to engage in direct talks with North Korea to encourage the communist country to rejoin negotiations over its nuclear programme. But Clinton said there had been no formal decision on whether to accept a North Korean invitation for the US special envoy Stephen Bosworth to travel to Pyongyang.

September 5th, 2009 PYONGYANG - Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has concluded his three-day official visit to North Korea Saturday. Parrilla's visit to Pyongyang has helped to continue the high-level political dialogue between the two countries, sources said.

September 4th, 2009 PYONGYANG - Foreign Ministers of North Korea and Cuba have held talks here. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla Bruno arrived in Pyongyang from China Thursday along with a Cuban government delegation.

August 31st, 2009 PYONGYANG - US and South Korean spy planes conducted over 170 reconnaissance missions over North Korea in August, the official media reported Monday citing a military source. Some 90 flights were conducted by the US, which used the RC-135, U-2 and E-3 reconnaissance aircraft over waters near the northeastern part of South Korea, while South Korea was responsible for at least 80 flights, the Korean Central News Agency said.

August 17th, 2009 SEOUL - North Korea Monday put its troops on alert as an annual joint South Korean-US war game commenced and accused its neighbour of planning an attack. North Korea would react to any provocation with a "merciless and prompt annihilating strike at the aggressors with all offensive and defensive means, including nuclear deterrent", state media quoted the high command of the Korean People's Army as saying.

July 27th, 2009 SEOUL - North Korea left the door open for possible dialogue about its nuclear programme in a statement Monday, despite its withdrawal from six-party talks aimed at ending its efforts to become a nuclear power. "There is a specific and reserved form of dialogue that can address the current situation," said a statement from the North Korean Foreign Ministry published in the state media.

July 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - What North Korea has been doing does not deserve international attention it wants to get, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said. The top US diplomat Monday said in the "Good Morning America" programme of the ABC television that the Obama administration has changed its approach toward Pyongyang last month, after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test May 25 and test fired a series of ballistic missiles.

July 13th, 2009 STOCKHOLM - North Korea must give up its controversial nuclear programme, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Lee said he supported sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council after North Korea on May 25 conducted an underground test of a nuclear device, which raised tensions in the region.

July 10th, 2009 Clinton: Reporters held by N. Korea showed remorseWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says two American reporters sentenced last month to 12 years of hard labor for entering North Korea illegally have expressed "great remorse for this incident." Clinton called Friday for North Korea to grant amnesty to Laura Ling and Euna Lee and let them return home quickly to their families.

July 7th, 2009 NEW YORK - The UN Security Council held discussion Monday on the reported launch of seven missiles by North Korea in defiance of the UN resolution demanding a halt to such exercises. The communist country fired the missiles Saturday, coinciding the US Independence Day, during which the council had planned no meeting.

May 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that the US had detected no unusual military movement in North Korea and did not plan to send reinforcements to South Korea in response to Pyongyang's threat to attack the South, the New York Times reported. Speaking to reporters on his plane on the US Pacific island of Guam, Gates said he saw no reason to reinforce the 28,000 American troops already stationed in South Korea.

May 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - China, which has been leading the effort o restart six party talks with Russia, US, Japan, South and North Korea - is walking a tightrope after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China is "resolutely opposed" to the North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

May 27th, 2009 SEOUL - North Korea Wednesday warned it will respond militarily to South Korea joining a US-led initiative to intercept ships carrying illicit weapons, the South Korean Yonhap news agency said.

April 17th, 2009 NKorea proposes meeting on joint factory parkSEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says that North Korea has proposed a meeting on a joint factory park in the North next week. Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told reporters Saturday that the North recently proposed a meeting to discuss the joint complex in the border town of Kaesong.