North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast, South Korea's Defence Ministry said, prompting Western powers to urge Pyongyang to exercise restraint.
North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers.
North Korea fired two short-range missiles, making six launches in three days, and it condemned South Korea for criticizing what it said were its legitimate military drills.
The United States and South Korea agree on maintaining a deterrent posture towards North Korea and on not rewarding that provocative behavior from Pyongyang, President Barack Obama said.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye called on North Korea to end a "vicious circle" in which it raises and reduces tensions to win diplomatic rewards and buy time to build up its nuclear arms programme.
Increasingly tough financial sanctions, an arms embargo and other international restrictions on trade with North Korea have significantly delayed expansion of Pyongyang's illicit nuclear arms program, according to a confidential report by a UN panel of experts.
North Korea said that a Korean-American tourist, jailed by the reclusive state since late last year, will face trial for "committing crimes" against the North.
North Korea sentenced an American citizen to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state, prompting a US call for his amnesty in hopes of avoiding him becoming a bargaining chip between the two countries.
North Korea's continuing development of nuclear technology and long-range ballistic missiles will move it closer to its stated goal of being able to hit the United States with an atomic weapon, a new Pentagon report to Congress said.
North Korea celebrated the anniversary of its founder's birth today and abandoned its shrill threats of war against the United States and the South, easing tensions in a region that had seemed on the verge of conflict.
North Korea offered the United States and South Korea a list of conditions for talks, including the lifting of UN sanctions, signaling a possible end to weeks of warlike hostility on the Korean peninsula.
The United States remains open to "authentic and credible" negotiations with North Korea, but the country would first need to show it is serious about abandoning its nuclear ambitions, a White House spokesman said.
Foreign ministers from the G8 group of rich countries condemned "in the strongest possible terms" North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology and called for more humanitarian aid to help civilians in Syria.
Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed as "unacceptable by any standard" weeks of bellicose warnings of impending nuclear war by North Korea and said Washington would never accept the reclusive state becoming a nuclear power.
The United States and China agreed to make a joint effort to push for the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, following weeks of bellicose rhetoric from North Korea and rising tensions in northeast Asia.
Staff at embassies in North Korea appeared to be remaining in place despite an appeal by authorities in Pyongyang for diplomats to consider leaving because of heightened tension after weeks of bellicose exchanges.
North Korea intensified threats of an imminent conflict against the United States and the South, warning foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid being dragged into a "merciless, sacred, retaliatory war".
South Korea said there was "very high" probability that North Korea, engaged in weeks of threats of war, would launch a medium-range missile at any time as a show of strength despite diplomatic efforts to soften its position.
North Korea has placed two of its intermediate range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them on the east coast of the country in a move that could threaten Japan or US Pacific bases, South Korean media reported today.
North Korea has asked embassies to consider moving staff out and warned it cannot guarantee the safety of diplomats after April 10, Britain said, amid high tension and a war of words on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea announced plans to restart a mothballed nuclear reactor that has been closed since 2007, but emphasised it was seeking a deterrent capacity, rather than repeating recent threats to attack South Korea and the United States.
North Korea closed access to a joint factory zone with South Korea, officials said, putting at risk $2 billion a year in trade that is vital for an impoverished state with a huge army, nuclear ambitions and a hungry population.
The Pentagon said it was sending an advanced ballistic missile defense system to Guam in the coming weeks, describing the move as a precaution against North Korea's regional ballistic missile threat.
North Korea put its missile units on standby to attack US military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.
North Korea said it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, but Seoul and its ally the United States played down the statement as tough talk.
South Korea will strike back quickly if the North stages any attack, the new president in Seoul warned, as tensions ratcheted higher on the Korean peninsula amid shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang and the US deployment of radar-evading fighter planes.
North Korea threatened the United States with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric while the UN Security Council considers new sanctions against the reclusive country.
The Pentagon has condemned North Korea's threats to target US military bases, saying the United States was ready to respond to "any contingency."
North Korea is to cut the last channel of communications with the South because war could break out at "any moment", it said today, days after warning the United States and South Korea of nuclear attack.
A nuclear test monitoring agency said today an unusual seismic event detected in North Korea showed "clear explosion-like characteristics" and suggested it occurred at about the same place as previous tests by the North.
South Korea's new president Park Geun-hye urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and to stop wasting its scarce resources on arms, less than two weeks after the country carried out its third nuclear test.
The United States and China reached a deal that "significantly expands" UN sanctions on North Korea for its third nuclear test, eliciting a renewed threat by Pyongyang to scrap an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea stepped up its bellicose rhetoric threatening to go beyond carrying out a promised third nuclear test in response to what it believes are "hostile" sanctions imposed after a December rocket launch.
North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in defiance of existing UN resolutions, drawing condemnation from the United States, Japan, Europe and Pyongyang's only major ally, China, which summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest.
The UN Security Council today "strongly condemned" North Korea's third nuclear test and vowed to take action against Pyongyang, the president of the Security Council said.
The UN Security Council today unanimously condemned North Korea's December rocket launch and expanded existing UN sanctions thanks to a deal secured by the United States and Pyongyang's ally China.
North Korea said today it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy".
The UN Security Council is united on North Korea's nuclear arms program and will undoubtedly approve tough measures against Pyongyang if it carries out a new atomic test as expected, South Korean UN Ambassador Kim Sook said today.
China on Saturday urged North and South Korea to exercise restraint and safeguard peace on the peninsula, after the communist north threatened to fire on the south.
North Korea is to carry out its second rocket launch of 2012 as its youthful leader Kim Jong-un flexes his muscles a year after his father's death, in a move that will likely heighten diplomatic tensions and draw criticism from Washington.
This month's rocket launch by reclusive North Korea shows it has likely developed the technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km, South Korean officials said, putting the US West Coast in range.
Isolated North Korea stepped up its war of words against the United States, vowing to boost its nuclear deterrent after Washington warned Pyongyang of further sanctions if it did not abandon its atomic programme.
Severe flooding across North Korea has killed 88 people and left tens of thousands homeless, state media reported late, threatening to make the poverty-stricken country's already chronic food shortage still worse.
Impoverished North Korea threatened today to open fire on South Korea if it allows activists to go ahead with plans to drop anti-North leaflets on its territory, its most strident warning against its long-time foe in months.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said North Korea's long-range rocket test today was deplorable, in direct violation of U Security Council Resolution 1874, and threatened regional stability.
The UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's rocket launch, urged tightening of existing UN sanctions and warned Pyongyang of further consequences if it carries out another missile launch or nuclear test.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China to help defuse tension over Iran, North Korea and other global flashpoints, seeking to salvage talks that have been overwhelmed by negotiations over a dissident.
The White House warned North Korea that its planned long-range missile launch would be a flagrant breach of the impoverished country's international obligations and would jeopardize food aid from Washington.
Impoverished North Korea rejected international protests over its planned long-range rocket launch and said today that it was injecting fuel "as we speak", meaning it could blast off as early as tomorrow.
North Korea's much hyped long-range rocket apparently crashed into the sea a few minutes after launch, South Korean and other officials said, dealing a blow to the prestige of the reclusive and impoverished state.
North Korea said it will hold a special parliamentary session next month during which the reclusive country's new young leader, Kim Jong-un, is expected to be given a top title aimed at consolidating his grip on power.
US President Barack Obama vowed today to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia, urged China to follow suit and issued stern warnings to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear standoffs with the West.
The United States urged North Korea not conduct a nuclear test or launch a satellite and called on China to exert its influence over its neighbour to try to ward off such "provocative actions."
North Korea has agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches and enrichment of uranium at its Yongbyon nuclear facility, the North's KCNA news agency said today.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that North Korea's nuclear moratorium is a "modest first step in the right direction" onto the path of peace.
The UN nuclear watchdog stands ready to return to North Korea, its chief said, after the reclusive state agreed to stop nuclear tests and uranium enrichment and let inspectors visit its Yongbyon site to verify the moratorium.
The North Korean television showed the body of late leader Kim Jong-Il lying in state in a glass coffin as his son and successor Kim Jong-Un and other senior officials paid their respects.
After the reclusive state emerges from a period of mourning on Thursday, Kim Jong-un, vice chairman of the ruling party's Central Military Commission, is expected quickly to take on additional titles to cement his place at the top.
North Korea sounded a bellicose note in its first communication with the outside world since the death of leader Kim Jong-il, saying its confrontational stance against South Korea would not change and labeling its opponents "foolish."
The United States is in no rush to resume nuclear talks with North Korea even though Washington has invited a senior diplomat to New York this week, US officials said.
North Korea agreed today to a third round of talks with South Korea aimed at resolving a long-running row over a shuttered joint tourist resort in the North. A rush of diplomatic contacts between the two Koreas and the United States, plus a shipment of food aid from the South today, raised hopes for a resumption of long-delayed aid-for-denuclearization talks.
North Korea may be considering additional attacks and provocations, a top US general told Congress, adding Washington needed to be prepared to respond appropriately if necessary.
Reclusive North Korea has agreed to hold a second round of talks with South Korea this week to try to resolve a row over Pyongyang's decision to seize a South Korean company's assets at a jointly run resort, an official said.
South and North Korea held high-level talks for the first time in two years in Indonesia and said they would work to resume the stalled six-party dialogue for nuclear disarmament on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea said it would strike again at the South if a live-firing drill by Seoul on a disputed island went ahead, with an even stronger response than last month's shelling that killed four people.
South Korea has dismissed a North Korean call for unconditional talks to ease tensions, saying the offer was "propaganda" it does not take seriously.
The United States warned China that it would redeploy forces in Asia if it failed to rein in its ally North Korea, the New York Times reported, as Pyongyang bowed to Seoul's demands for crisis talks.
Retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea to film a television documentary with representatives of the Harlem Globetrotters celebrity team.
Former NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman emerged from four days in North Korea today, calling the leader of the reclusive country "an awesome kid."
Argentina and Mexico qualified for the pre-quarter finals of the U20 World Cup held in Colombia. Perazzo’s team clashed North Korea, while the Mexican team drew without goals against England in the last Group F round.
North Korea women's football team delayed the beginning of the match against Colombia after the South Korean flag was incorrectly displayed on a giant screen before kickoff at Glasgow's Hampden Park stadium.
A diplomatic incident when the North Korea Olympic women's football team walked off the field after the South Korea flag had been displayed was a "simple human mistake", International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said.