Nuclear Tests, Pyongyang | featured news

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.