World: North Korea

SEOUL (AFP) - A North Korean patrol boat was set ablaze after exchanging fire with South Korea's navy on Tuesday, Seoul officials said, as the White House warned Pyongyang against an escalation of regional tensions.

WASHINGTON - A senior U.S. diplomat will travel to North Korea before year's end to try to pull the Koreans back into international negotiations on nuclear disarmament, the State Department said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The new US administration will send its first mission to North Korea to jumpstart denuclearization talks, officials confirmed Tuesday, although an exact date has not yet been set.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold bilateral talks with North Korea in hopes of coaxing Pyongyang back into broader negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear arms program.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AFP) - The White House on Tuesday warned North Korea against any actions that could be seen as an "escalation" after a fiery maritime clash between the North's navy and a South Korean vessel.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Navies from the rival Koreas exchanged gunfire for the first time in seven years on Tuesday, damaging vessels on both sides and raising tension just days before U.S. President Barack Obama travels to Asia.

PYONGYANG, North Korea - The French president's special envoy on North Korea held talks Tuesday with the country's foreign minister during a visit to Pyongyang to explore the possibility of establishing diplomatic ties with the communist regime.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea have had a naval skirmish in Yellow Sea waters off their west coast, the South's Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is likely to decide soon to send an envoy to North Korea, the first such mission by President Barack Obama's administration to jumpstart denuclearization talks, an official has said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will announce in the next several days whether it will start direct talks with North Korea amid signs Pyongyang may be ready to return to broader nuclear disarmament negotiations, a U.S. official said on Monday.

SEOUL (AFP) - France's special envoy on North Korea, Jack Lang, arrived in Pyongyang on Monday, state media reported, on a five-day mission expected to include talks on the North's disputed nuclear programme.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il — known for shunning air travel — has six luxurious trains equipped with reception halls, conference rooms and high-tech communication facilities, a South Korean newspaper reported Monday.

BEIJING (AFP) - France's special envoy on North Korea, Jack Lang, left China for Pyongyang on Monday on a five-day mission expected to include talks on the North's disputed nuclear programme, French diplomats said.

SEOUL (AFP) - Leader Kim Jong-Il has six special luxury trains at his disposal for travel around North Korea plus 19 stations built for his exclusive use, a South Korean newspaper reported Monday.

WASHINGTON - Nuclear impasses with Iran and North Korea are the dominant issues for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on her trip to Europe and Asia, which begins with a stopover in Germany to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration would be willing to hold bilateral talks with North Korea but only if certain conditions were met, the president's top adviser on Asia said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The nominee for US envoy on human rights in North Korea said Thursday he would press China for better treatment of refugees fleeing the impoverished neighboring state.

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea is asking private South Korean groups for urgent food aid even though it has still not accepted an offer from Seoul's government, a report said Thursday.

SEOUL (AFP) - The United States and North Korea have agreed to hold two rounds of bilateral meetings before the North returns to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks, a US news report said.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea claimed Tuesday that it has successfully weaponized more plutonium for atomic bombs, a day after warning Washington to agree quickly to direct talks or face the prospect of a growing North Korean nuclear arsenal.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - North Korea's plutonium production for atomic weapons "runs counter" to its disarmament commitments and "violates" UN Security Council resolutions, the State Department said Tuesday.

PARIS - Nicolas Sarkozy is once again wading into international diplomacy. After trying a hand at Mideast peace, raising France's profile on Iran and reaching out to Cuba, he's homing in on another problem long seen as Washington's to solve: North Korea.

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues .

Washington - Has North Korea just become a bigger nuclear threat?

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea's military provocations this year angered its ally China but Beijing remains reluctant to tighten the screws on Pyongyang, an influential think-tank said Tuesday.

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea on Monday pressed the United States to hold direct talks on ending their nuclear stand-off and vowed to "go its own way" if Washington refuses to do so.

SEOUL (AFP) - The United States and its ally South Korea have drawn up a contingency plan to cope with emergencies in North Korea, including a possible regime change there, a report said Sunday.

SEOUL, South Korea - Former South Korean spy chief Lee Hu-rak, who brokered the signing of a historic 1972 peace document with North Korea following a secret trip to Pyongyang, died Saturday. He was 85.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's government submitted a bill Friday to allow its coastguard and customs officers to inspect North Korean shipments suspected of including nuclear and missile-related materials.