North Korea
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A series of conciliatory moves by the North, including a deal to resume family reunions, may have been prompted by UN sanctions which are cutting into a key source of cash for Pyongyang - the arms trade
North and South Korea in naval clash
North and South Korean warships have exchanged fire, raising tensions in the region just days before Barack Obama, the US president, is due to visit Asia
N Korea hails nuclear weapons progress
North Korea has claimed an important step in expanding its nuclear programme, venting frustration with Washington, which is still weighing how to respond to Pyongyang’s request for bilateral talks
China eyes N Korea’s mineral wealth
Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, can hail his visit to North Korea as a bit of a diplomatic coup. Now the question is whether there is an economic dividend too
N Korea ready to resume talks
North Korea says it is ready to return to international talks on ending its nuclear weapons programme but demands negotiations with the US first
N Korea’s Kim meets China’s premier
Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s dictator, made the rare step of personally greeting Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, at Pyongyang airport, offering hope for a fresh diplomatic initiative on nuclear disarmament
Related content and features
Interactive
In pictures: N Korea’s nuclear test
North Korea said it had detonated a nuclear weapon on May 25, sparking an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council amid fears the communist state is racing to fit atomic warheads on its improving arsenal of ballistic missiles
Comment and Analysis
To the court of King Kim
Bill Clinton’s trip to North Korea was not a humanitarian effort, as he claims, but a diplomatic one that blurred the lines of state power, writes Christopher Caldwell
It is China that holds the key to North Korea
Dennis Wilder on nuclear sabre rattling
When Bill Clinton went to Pyongyang
Washington must decide what it can realistically demand of Pyongyang in terms of nuclear commitments. Then it should stick to that position and not budge one iota until North Korea complies
Clearing the decks for Kim-Who
Plot thickens in Pyongyang as son number three emerges
