Japan will deploy missile interceptors on a southern island chain ahead of a planned North Korean satellite launch in April, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday.

The defense ministry will ta

South Korea accused North Korea on Monday of trying to develop a nuclear-armed missile through a satellite launch next month, after Pyongyang dismissed international calls to abandon the exercise.

"O

The Japanese armed forces could shoot down North Korea's satellite, planned to be launched next month, if the need arises, a Japanese daily has quoted the country's Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka as sa

North Korea says it will go ahead with plans to launch an observation satellite into space and that criticism of it is provocative.

North Korea said on Friday it would launch the satellite on a rock

North Korea said on Saturday it would invite foreign experts and journalists to observe a satellite launch which the United States and other countries see as a disguised missile test.

The Korean Comm

North Korea's plan to launch a long-range rocket would breach a United Nations resolution and be a 'grave, provocative act', South Korea said on Friday.

The North announced earlier in the day that it

The United States said on Wednesday North Korea has agreed to suspend nuclear activities and accept a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, in a breakthrough in negotiations with the sec

North Korea on Saturday threatened to stage a 'sacred war' over US-South Korean annual joint military exercises next week, denouncing the drill as a 'silent declaration of war'.

The North's National

Senior US and North Korean diplomats began talks on Pyongyang's controversial nuclear programme on Thursday, in the first substantive contact between the two nations since leader Kim Jong-Il died.

Gl

North Korea's military warned on Sunday it could bombard islands near the disputed Yellow Sea border with South Korea, accusing Seoul of planning a naval live-fire drill in the area.

The North's West