north korea

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U.S. Policy Against 'Axis of Evil' Foundering

President Bush's campaign against what he once termed the "axis of evil" has suffered reverses on all three fronts in recent days that underscore the profound challenges confronting him 3 1/2 years after he vowed to take action. [...] Whereas Bush in his first term vowed to reinvent foreign policy with a new doctrine of military preemption to deal with rogue states, he has largely dropped such talk since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

DIPLOMACY, CONDI STYLE: Rice says does not know if N.Korea's Kim is sane

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday she did not know whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was sane, a remark that could anger Pyongyang's unpredictable ruler.

Three Little Words Matter to N. Korea

This is the story of three little words -- "no hostile intent" -- and the fierce tussle within the Bush administration over them as officials tried to develop a policy to confront North Korea's nuclear ambitions. To a non-diplomat, the phrase might seem typical of the awkward and diffuse verbiage frequently uttered by men in pinstriped suits. But to the North Korean government, hearing those words from the United States looms large as the diplomatic equivalent of the Holy Grail.

North Korea Says It Has Nuclear Weapons and Rejects Talks

"We advise the U.S. to negotiate with dealers in peasant markets it claims that are to its liking or with representatives of the organization of North Korean defectors on its payroll, if it wishes to have talks..."

The Less Hair the Better for Building Socialism

Communist North Korea is waging a war against long hair on men, ridiculing nonconformists as unhygienic, anti-socialist and "blind followers of bourgeois lifestyle."

Talk Swirling of North Korean Regime Collapse

Since Kim ordered his portraits removed from buildings in the capital, activists flooded the Net with unsubstantiated rumors of instability.

Think-tank warns of increased nuclear threat

The threat of nuclear proliferation by North Korea and Iran has increased over the past year and will probably get worse because of continued US difficulties in Iraq, a leading defence think-tank reported on Tuesday.

N. Korea Continues Criticism of Bush

For the second straight day, North Korea yesterday hurled unusually personal criticism at President Bush, calling him a "fascist tyrant" and "human trash." The official statements strongly suggested the communist nation is seeking to disrupt further talks on its nuclear programs before the U.S. presidential election, some U.S. officials said.

Ranks breaking over North Korea

South Korea and China move away from the US negotiating position as six-party talks reconvene Wednesday in Beijing.

North Korea's Use of Chemical Torture Alleged

A senior North Korean chemist who defected to the South two years ago says he witnessed the government testing chemical weapons on political prisoners.

N. Korea May Be in 'Anybody but Bush' Camp

In return for shutting down its weapons program, the North wants to get the most generous possible trade terms, aid and security guarantees. Pyongyang is betting that by stalling, it can achieve a better deal with a new administration, analysts say. Nor does it want to grace Bush with a diplomatic victory that might help reelect him.

Cheney's tough talking derails negotiations with North Korea

The US and Chinese Presidents, George Bush and Hu Jintao, talked at the weekend after revelations that hardliners in Mr Bush's Administration had derailed diplomatic preparations for a new round of talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons.

N. Korea's Nuclear Success Is Doubted

The Bush administration has asserted in recent months that North Korea possesses one or two nuclear bombs and is rapidly developing the means to make more. The statements have raised anxiety about a nuclear arms race in Asia and the possibility that terrorists could obtain atomic weapons from the North Korean regime. But the administration's assessment rests on meager fresh evidence and limited, sometimes dated, intelligence, according to current and former U.S. and foreign officials.

N. Korean nuclear efforts looking less threatening

A year after North Korea provoked a crisis with the United States by admitting a secret effort to make weapons-grade uranium, U.S. officials say the program appears to be far less advanced than diplomats had feared.

North Korean Defector Plans Talks in U.S.

After six years under virtual house arrest in Seoul, South Korea, Hwang Jang Yop, who proudly clings to his status as North Korea's highest-ranking defector, is to arrive in the United States on Monday to talk with Washington's elite about the inner workings of North Korea's secretive

North Korea Says It Is Using Plutonium to Make A-Bombs

With nuclear talks expected in weeks, North Korea said today that it had completed reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods and is using the plutonium to make atomic bombs.

N Korea calls Rumsfeld 'psychopath'

North Korea has launched a scathing attack on US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, calling him a "dictatorial psychopath". The official KCNA news agency commentary went on to call him a "politically illiterate old man" who was "cursed and hated worldwide" because of his belief that only the US can dispense international justice.

Drawn-out Iraq war weakens US hand against Pyongyang

... the length and cost of the Iraqi campaign had diminished the implicit US threat that it could use overwhelming force to remove the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, if he failed to give up his nuclear ambitions.

N Korea refuses to deal with hawkish US official

A spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry said Pyongyang would no longer consider Mr Bolton as an official of the US administration. According to the state news agency, he said there was no place at the negotiations for "human scum" and "bloodthirsty vampires" - in an apparent reference to Mr Bolton.

U.S., North Korea Trade Harsh Accusations in Nuke Dispute

North Korea and the United States traded harsh criticism on Thursday, with a U.S. official describing the communist nation as a "hellish nightmare" and the North accusing Washington of "all sorts of lies and plots."

Proposals to N. Korea Weighed

Bush administration officials are considering granting North Korea formal guarantees it will not come under U.S. attack as part of a verifiable dismantlement of its nuclear facilities, in what would be part of a diplomatic gambit by the Bush administration aimed at resolving a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

North Korea, South Korea Exchange Fire on DMZ

South Korean and North Korean soldiers exchanged machine gun fire across the Demilitarized Zone Thursday morning, the South Korean military said.

Report: N. Korea reprocessed rods

North Korea has reprocessed all 8,000 spent fuel rods stored at its Yongbyong nuclear complex, giving the communist state the means to make more atomic weapons, a South Korean news agency said on Sunday.

C.I.A. Said to Find North Korean Nuclear Advances

American intelligence officials now believe that North Korea is developing the technology to make nuclear warheads small enough to fit atop the country's growing arsenal of

In Korea, a quiet US weapons buildup

As the US prepares to reduce and redeploy troops that have long guarded the DMZ in South Korea, it is also sending a huge array of state-of-the-art military equipment onto a peninsula confronting a nuclear crisis.

North Korea's Arms Are Top U.S. Concern

At Asian security forum, Powell calls for stepping up the squeeze on the regime. Pyongyang says 'dialogue and pressure are not compatible.'

U.S. to withdraw troops from Korean DMZ

The United States and South Korea agreed Thursday to withdraw U.S. troops from the tense Demilitarized Zone separating South Korea from communist North Korea.

US makes new plans for war on Pyongyang

The United States is said to be developing new plans for a war in North Korean that would bypass the demilitarised zone dividing the two Koreas and target the leadership in Pyongyang.

N. Korea Regime Can Survive if It Emulates China, U.S. Official Says

If North Korea wants to survive, it should look to China to learn how a failed communist state can reform without collapsing, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told Asian defense ministers in a speech here Saturday.

Tightening noose on North Korea

North Korea's persistent saber rattling and leader Kim Jong Il's threat that his communist regime may export the nuclear capability it is now openly pursuing beg the question of what concrete steps, short of war, the United States and its allies can take in response. Indeed, the issue tops the agenda for Friday’s meeting between President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Bush's Texas ranch.