BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- The train carrying the North Korean leader was spotted at a Chinese railway station Thursday, an indication that Kim Jong-il plans to return from his trip to Russia via China. Sources said that the special train was seen stopping at the Manzhouli Railway Station in Inner Mongolia at around 6:14 p.m. before it headed east again. During the short stop, there were sever...

Despite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s pledge this week to unconditionally return to the long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks, the communist state still has far to go before the deadlock is fully resolved, officials in Seoul and Washington said Thursday. On the last day of his week-long visit to Russia Wednesday, Kim held summit talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, promising to work on int...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's reported promise to impose a moratorium on nuclear testing is "insufficient," as its uranium enrichment program remains a serious concern, the U.S. government said Wednesday. Washington's cautious stance came in response to a host of media reports that the North's leader said his communist regime is ready to suspend a nuclear test and...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived in the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude Tuesday ahead of his summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The meeting planned for Wednesday comes as North Korea is struggling to improve its faltering economy after years of international sanctions imposed over its two nuclear tests. The North has expressed its interest in rejoining long-stalled ta...

Workers sent by South Korea to Mount Geumgang Resort in North Korea have returned to the South, Seoul said Tuesday, a day after Pyongyang demanded they leave its territory. A total of 16 people, including two Chinese nationals, crossed the border back to South Korea around 11:30 a.m., leaving no more South Koreans at the resort, an unnamed official here said. Banning the removal of South Korean...

Kim Jong-il arrived in an eastern Siberian city for talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, reports said Tuesday, as the leader of impoverished North Korea was expected to discuss a natural gas pipeline deal with its Cold War ally. Pyongyang’s reclusive leader is expected to hold the summit near the city of Ulan-Ude on Wednesday, the fifth day of his first trip to Russia in nine years. Re...

MOSCOW (AFP) -- The summit between North Korea's Kim Jong-Il and President Dmitry Medvedev is set to take place on Wednesday in the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, a person familiar with the plan told AFP. "The guest is arriving tomorrow," the person, who refused to go on the record because of the sensitivity of the situation, said on Monday. "Our (leader) will be there Wednesday," he said. ...

South Korea vows legal, diplomatic action to secure property rights North Korea on Monday banned the removal of South Korean assets from a mountain resort on its east coast, claiming Seoul has given up its rights to its property by not answering how to deal with it. It also ordered all South Korean workers at the troubled resort to leave within 72 hours. North Korea “will dispose of all proper...

North Korea said Monday it will legally dispose of all South Korean property at its scenic mountain resort, blaming Seoul for not responding to its proposals on how to handle the assets. Pyongyang has threatened to dispose of the roughly 300 billion won (US$284 million) worth of assets unless South Korean business representatives visit the resort on Mount Kumgang to discuss ways to handle their ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il toured a hydro-electric power station in eastern Siberia on Sunday in the second day of his trip to Russia, diplomatic sources said. Kim's trip to the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station in the Amur region fueled speculation that the two countries could discuss enhancing bilateral cooperation in energy. In recent years, Russia proposed transmitting surplus el...

Kim, Medvedev expected to discuss gas pipeline, railway construction North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s visit to Russia appears aimed at bolstering bilateral economic cooperation in some major projects including the construction of a gas pipeline and railroad to connect Russia and the two Koreas, experts here said Sunday. Also high on the agenda of the summit between Kim and President Dmitry Med...

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States responded cautiously Friday to North Korea’s announcement it would discuss operations to locate U.S. dead from the 1950-53 Korean War, saying only that the issue was important. North Korea said it had accepted a U.S. proposal to talk about resuming searches for remains ― one of the few means of interaction between the two countries until then-U.S. Defense Sec...

SEOUL (AFP) -- North Korean's heir apparent appeared to be absent from the entourage on leader Kim Jong-Il's trip to Russia, according to a list announced by the North's state media during the rare visit. Korean Central News Agency confirmed Sunday Kim's "unofficial visit to Siberia and the Far East" region at the invitation of Russian leader Dmitri Medvedev, calling it a "historic occasion". A...