Asia, Koreas | featured news

North Korea rejected Tuesday international findings that it sank a South Korean ship, warning at the United Nations that the dispute could lead to war.

North and South Korea will address the U.N. Security Council separately on Monday over the deadly sinking of a South Korean naval ship in March that has raised tension on the Korean peninsula, an official said on Monday.

North Korea has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council rejecting accusations from South Korea that it was behind the sinking of one of its neighbor's navy ships, saying it was the victim of a U.S.-led conspiracy.

China deflected pressure to censure North Korea at a regional summit on Sunday, instead urging its neighbors to calm tensions over the sinking of a warship and avoid any clash that could shake Asia.

North Korea reacted to a South Korean anti-submarine exercise early Thursday by saying it would meet "confrontation with confrontation" and war with "all-out war," according to North Korean state-run media.

Relations between North and South Korea, already strained over the sinking of a South Korean warship, deteriorated to their worst point in many years.

North Korea fires artillery shells near the disputed sea border with South Korea for a third successive day.

North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near their disputed sea border on Wednesday, the second time in three months the rivals have clashed and briefly sending prices down on jittery Seoul financial markets.