Asia, Pyongyang | featured news

Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman met North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Thursday on the third day of his improbable journey to Pyongyang, telling the leader "You have a friend for life," a delegation spokesman said.

North Korea's increasingly reclusive leader, Kim Jong Il, put in a rare appearance at Arirang celebrations in Pyongyang Saturday, along with his youngest son, Kim Jong Un.

Washington hopes to coax the nuclear-armed nation back into six-party disarmament negotiations, but Pyongyang wants one-on-one talks with the U.S.

North Korea launched a scathing personal attack on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday after she likened the leadership in Pyongyang to "small children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention."

The United States is ready to hold talks with North Korea if the conditions are right but will also press U.N. sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests, a senior envoy for Asia said on Saturday.

The leaders of South Korea and the United States told North Korea to drop its atomic ambitions and stop threatening the region while media reports on Wednesday said Pyongyang was moving ahead with plans to launch a long-range missile.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied in Pyongyang on Monday to condemn the U.N. rebuke of the country's latest nuclear test amid concern the communist regime could conduct another one.

As the international community condemned North Korea's nuclear test and missile launch today, analysts said the tests signaled Pyongyang's growing disillusionment over the U.S. refusal to conduct bilateral talks.