Seoul: North Korea sent one of its top military officials to Beijing on Wednesday as a "special envoy" of its leader Kim Jong-un, state news agency KCNA reported. There were few details of Choe Ryong-hae's visit, which came amid strained relations between China and North Korea after Beijing backed UN sanctions on Pyongyang for its February nuclear test.
Choe is the most senior North Korean official to visit Beijing since Kim's uncle Jang Song-thaek made the trip in August 2012.
Jang had been seeking a visit to China for Kim Jong-un and to bolster Chinese investment in the impoverished and isolated North. Choe is part of a powerful circle around the North's young leader that is headed by Jang. He is a long-time political administrator and was surprisingly made a vice marshal in the army last year despite having no military background.
China, the North's only major diplomatic ally, publicly condemned the nuclear test and Bank of China recently said it had ceased dealings with the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank, an institution that has been identified as a conduit for Pyongyang's weapons programme....
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08:59 AM, May 22, 2013
Seoul: Activity in North Korea appears to show it is preparing for a fourth nuclear test, with movement at its atomic test site similar to events preceding earlier blasts, a newspaper reported on Monday, quoting a senior South Korean government official. North Korea has intensified warnings in recent weeks, declaring it had entered a state of war with Seoul, threatening to strike US targets and blocking access to a border...
09:10 AM, Apr 08, 2013
The United States sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday to join military drills aimed at underscoring the US. commitment to defend Seoul in the face of an intensifying campaign of threats from North Korea. ...
10:35 AM, Apr 01, 2013
North Korea upping its war rhetoric, has said on Wednesday that it is cutting a key military hotline with South Korea in response to new UN sanctions, which was its only formal channel of communication with the South. This comes a day after North Korea reportedly readied its military units, tasked with targeting the US. ...
11:30 AM, Mar 28, 2013
The UN Security Council, ignoring threats from North Korea, is set to impose a fourth round of even tougher sanctions against Pyongyang in a fresh attempt to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, said the council will vote on the draft sanctions resolution on Thursday morning. The resolution was drafted by and the United States and China, North Korea's...
01:40 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Pyongyang: Isolated and impoverished North Korea said on Tuesday it was ready to go ahead with its proposed long-range rocket launch, an announcement that sparked immediate condemnation from South Korea and Russia and a plea from China, its main ally, for calm. The launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which North Korea says will merely put a weather satellite into space, breaches UN sanctions imposed to prevent Pyongyang from developing a...
05:36 PM, Apr 10, 2012
New sanctions target Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and include freezing the assets of 40 additional companies ...
11:06 AM, Jun 11, 2010
UN acting on reports of human rights violations against Tamils in Sri Lanka. ...
12:09 PM, Sep 20, 2009
Crackdown against the JuD started last week. ...
11:58 AM, Dec 15, 2008
France has said it is ready to go to war with Iran over its nuclear programme. ...
02:35 PM, Sep 17, 2007
