Asia, Nuclear Disarmament | featured news

A U.S. envoy will hold talks with North Korea on its nuclear program in Beijing next week, the first such negotiations since the death of the nation's longtime leader, Kim Jong Il.

China said on Friday it would send a senior official to Tehran to discuss Iran's nuclear standoff with the West, and India indicated it would also weigh in, as Asia's two giants seek to head off new sanctions already playing havoc with trade.

North Korea says that before Kim Jong Il's death the United States offered to provide food aid if Pyongyang halted its uranium enrichment program. North Korea responded angrily to the offer Wednesday, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman accusing Washington of "politicizing" food shipments.

North Korea said Monday it has agreed to hold more talks with the United States as Pyongyang renewed its commitment to resuming the long-stalled talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs.

Top nuclear envoys from North and South Korea emerged smiling from a face-to-face meeting Friday, saying they were ready to work together to resume stalled disarmament talks....

South Korea agreed on Thursday to hold high-level military talks with rival North Korea, marking a major breakthrough in a crisis on the Korean peninsula and heightening the prospect of renewed aid-for-disarmament talks.

North Korea's claim of a new, highly sophisticated uranium enrichment facility could be a ploy to win concessions in nuclear talks or an attempt to bolster leader Kim Jong Il's apparent heir.

The Obama administration has told U.S. lawmakers that a nuclear cooperation deal with Vietnam is unlikely to include a coveted promise by the Hanoi government not to enrich uranium, congressional aides say.

The United States announced new sanctions against North Korea on Wednesday including on the purchase and sale of arms and an asset freeze on individuals.

North Korea has announced that it has made significant progress towards the development of thermo-nuclear power. It is a claim that is likely to be met with some skepticism. Despite hopes that the technology can produce large ...