North Korea

Trump says summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un may be delayed

He said the North must meet conditions for the summit to go ahead though if it did not, it might happen "later".

He was speaking as he received South Korea's President Moon Jae-in at the White House.

The North has said it may cancel the summit if the US insists on it giving up nuclear weapons unilaterally.

Mr Trump did not say what conditions the US had set for the summit but, asked by a reporter about the North's arsenal, he said "denuclearisation must take place".

N Korea cancels talks with South Korea and warns US

The North's official KCNA news agency said the exercises were a "provocation" and a rehearsal for an invasion.

It also warned the US over the fate of the historic summit between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump that is scheduled for 12 June in Singapore.

In March, Mr Trump stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Mr Kim.

"We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!" the US leader later tweeted.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un crosses into South Korea

Smiling and waving, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Mr Kim at the border before talks begin.

At the summit venue, Mr Kim said that he hoped for frank discussions.

The historic meeting will focus on the North's recent indications it could be willing to give up its nuclear weapons.

In a moment rich with symbolism, Mr Kim and Mr Moon shook hands on both sides of the border in the demilitarised zone.

The South Korean president briefly stepped into the border into North Korea as well - an unexpected moment.

Trump keen to meet Kim after 'successful' China talks

But Mr Trump said maximum sanctions and pressure on North Korea would continue ahead of proposed talks in May.

He added that denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was now a possibility.

The comments follow Mr Kim's meeting with China's President Xi Jinping, in his first known foreign trip since taking office in 2011.

Mr Kim and his wife were greeted with a banquet and a guard of honour, with the North Korean leader reportedly saying he was committed to denuclearisation. China is North Korea's main economic ally.

North and South Korea begin high-level talks on Olympic Games

The meeting, at the Peace House in the truce village of Panmunjom, will focus on North Korea's possible participation in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, taking place in South Korea in February.

South Korea also said it would raise ways to improve inter-Korean relations.

Ties have become increasingly tense since the last talks in 2015.

Relations broke down after Seoul suspended a joint economic project at the Kaesong Industrial complex in North Korea following a rocket launch and nuclear test by the North.

North Korea reopens hotline to South to discuss Olympics

South Korea confirmed it had received a call from the North at 15:30 local time on Wednesday.

The North Korean leader had earlier said he was open to dialogue with Seoul and to sending a team to the Winter Olympics in the South next month.

The two nations have not held high-level talks since December 2015.

North Korea cut off the communications channel shortly afterwards, refusing to answer calls, according to officials in the South.

A North Korean official announced the hotline's reopening in a televised statement.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un issues threats and olive branch

In a televised new year speech, he said the entire US was within range of North Korean nuclear weapons, adding: "This is reality, not a threat."

But he also offered a potential olive branch to South Korea, suggesting he was "open to dialogue".

North Korea may also send a team to the Winter Olympics in Seoul, he said.

When asked by reporters to respond to Mr Kim's latest threats, US President Donald Trump said, "We'll see, we'll see".

He was speaking at the sidelines of New Year's Eve celebrations at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Sydney man charged with being 'economic agent' for North Korea

Chan Han Choi, 59, has been charged with brokering illegal exports from the country and discussing the supply of weapons of mass destruction.

Police allege he has broken both UN and Australian sanctions.

The case against the suspect, who has lived in Australia for more than 30 years, is a first for the country.

Never before has someone been charged under the country's 1995 Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act.

Police say there was evidence that Chan Han Choi had been in contact with "high ranking officials in North Korea".

North Korea: Urgent need to open channels, UN says after visit

The statement follows a visit to Pyongyang by Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level trip by a UN official to the isolated nation in six years.

North Korea says it has agreed to regular communication with the UN.

Tensions over the North's weapons programme were raised further after a fresh ballistic missile test last week.

North Korea said it was its most advanced missile yet, capable of reaching the continental US.

The test was the latest in a series of nuclear and missile tests conducted in defiance of UN sanctions.

US urges all nations to cut ties with Pyongyang

Speaking at the UN Security Council, US envoy Nikki Haley said President Trump had asked his Chinese counterpart to cut off oil supplies to Pyongyang.

She said the US did not seek conflict but that North Korea's regime would be "utterly destroyed" if war broke out.

The warning came after Pyongyang tested its first missile in two months.