SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will pull out all remaining workers from a jointly run industrial zone in North Korea, it said on Friday, after Pyongyang rejected a call for formal talks to end a standoff that led to operations being suspended.

The decision to remove about 170 people from the Kaesong factory park located just north of the armed border deepens a conflict between the two Koreas and puts at risk their last remaining channel of exchange that resulted from their breakthrough 2000 summit and a bid to improve ties.

SEOUL (Reuters) – Kim Kyong-hui has battled alcoholism and the killing of her lover to stand alongside her nephew, North Korea’s youthful leader Kim Jong-un, as a reminder that he is the true heir of the dynasty’s blood-line.

The 67-year-old daughter of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung cuts a rare female figure in Pyongyang’s male-dominated hierarchy and ranks as a four-star general, often sporting her trademark dark glasses at important events.

SEOUL, April 25 (Reuters) – South Korea proposed formal
talks on Thursday with North Korea to discuss restarting a joint
factory zone located just north of the rivals’ heavily armed
border that was suspended in early April, sharply deepening
security tensions on the peninsula.

It was the first formal proposal aimed at making a
breakthrough in a deadlock over the Kaesong factory project,
which was the last remaining channel open between the two Koreas
until it was forced to close.

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea demanded an end to U.N. sanctions against it and a U.S. pledge not to engage in “nuclear war practice” before any dialogue with Washington, its most explicit conditions for talks after weeks of tension and threats of war.

North Korea’s top military body also said the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula would begin when the United States removed nuclear weapons that the isolated state claims it has deployed in the region.

SEOUL, April 16 (Reuters) – North Korea issued new threats
against South Korea on Tuesday, vowing “sledge-hammer blows” of
retaliation if South Korea did not apologise for anti-North
Korean protests the previous day when the North was celebrating
the birth of its founding leader.

The North also rejected what it called “cunning” U.S.
overtures for talks, saying it will not be humiliated into being
dragged to sit at the negotiating table by Washington.

SEOUL, April 16 (Reuters) – North Korea issued new threats
against South Korea on Tuesday, vowing “sledge-hammer blows” of
retaliation if South Korea did not apologise for anti-North
Korean protests the previous day when the North was celebrating
the birth of its founding leader.

The North also rejected what it called “cunning” U.S.
overtures for talks, saying it will not be humiliated into being
dragged to sit at the negotiating table by Washington.

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea made new threats of military action on Monday as the reclusive nation celebrated the anniversary of its founder’s birth, stoking tension on the peninsula with a new “ultimatum” to South Korea in the stand-off over its nuclear program.

The latest statement from Pyongyang followed threats of nuclear attacks on the United States, South Korea and Japan, after new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to the North’s latest nuclear test in February.

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea celebrated the anniversary of its founder’s birth on Monday and abandoned its shrill threats of war against the United States and the South, easing tensions in a region that had seemed on the verge of conflict.

The North has threatened nuclear attacks on the United States, South Korea and Japan after new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to its latest nuclear arms test in February.

SEOUL, April 12 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry warned North Korea on Friday it would be a “huge mistake”
to test launch a medium-range missile and said the United States
would never accept the reclusive country as a nuclear power.

Addressing reporters after talks with South Korea’s
president and leaders of the 28,000-strong U.S. military
contingent in the country, Kerry also said it was up to China,
North Korea’s sole major ally, to “put some teeth” into efforts
to press Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

SEOUL, April 12 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry dismissed as “unacceptable by any standard” weeks of
bellicose warnings of impending nuclear war by North Korea and
said Washington would never accept the reclusive state becoming
a nuclear power.

Kerry, addressing reporters after talks with South Korean
President Park Geun-hye and leaders of the 28,000-strong U.S.
military contingent in the country, also said the United States
would defend its allies in the region if necessary.