AFP - The United States on Wednesday dismissed North Korean protests over US joint exercises with South Korea, saying that the communist state should not be surprised.

AP - North Korea plans to replace its top diplomat in Switzerland who is believed to be a key manager of leader Kim Jong Il's alleged secret funds stashed overseas, a news report said Wednesday.

The Christian Science Monitor - Firsthand exposés about the personal lives of North Korea’s leaders can put the lives of their authors at risk, even if they are far away.The latest tell-all, published in Austria by two journalists to whom former Army Col. Kim Jong-ryul told his story, is a case in point.

AP - North Korea has recently created an army division in charge of newly developed intermediate-range missiles capable of striking U.S. forces in Japan and Guam, a South Korean news agency said Tuesday.

AFP - North Korea said Tuesday it would strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response to US military threats and is prepared for both dialogue and war with Washington.

AFP - Tens of thousands of US and South Korean troops Monday began an annual military exercise despite threats from North Korea, which claims the drill is a preparation for nuclear war.

AFP - North Korea said on Sunday it was abandoning efforts towards nuclear disarmament in response to US-South Korean military exercises and would be free to build up its nuclear forces.

Reuters - North Korea said on Sunday it will bolster its atomic arsenal and was no longer bound by the cease fire that ended the Korean War due to joint U.S.-South Korean military drills, which start this week.

AFP - Kim Jong Ryul spent 20 years doing business for North Korea's dictators with European firms, before he defected to Austria in 1994. Now he fears for his life after emerging from hiding this week.

AFP - Iran is building a new rocket launch site a short distance from an existing complex and seems to be working with North Korea, information group IHS Jane's said Friday.

AFP - A senior Chinese diplomat said Friday he hopes stalled North Korea nuclear disarmament talks could resume by the end of June, but admitted he was not sure the parties would meet the target.

Reuters - China wants stalled six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear arms activities to restart before July, a senior Chinese diplomat said, warning that progress was by no means certain.

AFP - South Korea insisted Friday on firm safety guarantees from North Korea before it resumes cross-border tourist programmes, despite the North's threat to shut down the business permanently.

AP - China hopes to revive stalled negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program within the next few months, an official newspaper reported Friday.

AP - A North Korean colonel who spent two decades going on European shopping sprees for his country's rulers said Thursday the late dictator Kim Il Sung lived in luxury while many people struggled to survive in his impoverished communist nation.

AFP - The United States said Wednesday it was considering whether to issue a visa for North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, who is believed to be seeking talks to break a deadlock.

AP - North Koreans are getting better medical treatment as the result of a joint program between the two Koreas that has trained thousands of doctors, provided modern equipment and renovated hospitals, the World Health Organization said Thursday.