North Korea on Monday began imposing restrictions on crossings at its border with South Korea in protest at what it terms Seoul's hostile policy, military officials said.

North Korea's late founder Kim Il Sung swore to Beijing in the 1960s that he opposed the development of nuclear weapons, a report said on Monday, citing a newly declassified Chinese document.

North Korea reported on Sunday that its leader Kim Jong-Il has made another public appearance in an apparent attempt to quell continuing rumours over his health.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has stated that the six-nation talks on the liquidation of the North Korean nuclear programme are facing new difficulties due to a dispute between Washington and Pyongyang.

South Korea called on Thursday for talks with North Korea to ease tensions after the communist country escalated threats against Seoul's government with a vow to close the border.

Ahead of the latest James Bond film's release in the US this Friday, a foreign policy journal has listed out five missions it would like the most popular fictional spy to take up, including infiltrating India's nuclear programme to find out if the country has got a hydrogen bomb.

Mottaki's North Korean visit, following his Malaysian tour, is in the second leg of his four nation diplomatic mission to south Asia that will take him to South Korea and Myanmar as part of Tehran's 'Look East' policy.

The brother-in-law of North Korea's Kim Jong-Il has become even more powerful since Kim fell sick, officials and analysts say, with some believing he is effectively standing in for the supreme leader.

A top US envoy has held talks with North Korean officials in New York about steps to verify their nuclear disarmament and deliveries of energy aid under the disarmament deal.

North Korea has told Russia that it will not allow its partners in six-party nuclear talks to take any samples from the reclusive country's nuclear facilities for the purpose of verifying Pyongyang's nuclear declaration, sources said on Thursday.

North Korea on Sunday released photographs of leader Kim Jong-Il watching a football match, in an apparent bid to quell mounting speculation over the state of his health.

A US diplomat involved in the six-party negotiations for North Korea's nuclear disarmament will meet delegates from Pyongyang who are due in New York next week, the State Department said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-II has missed the funeral of a top party leader, in Seoul said on Friday, amid mounting speculation about his health.

South Korean intelligence indicates that ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suffered a serious health setback, a newspaper reported on Wednesday, while the latest undated video released shows him touring the communist country.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is likely in hospital but is still capable of making decisions, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday, citing intelligence reports.

South Korea accepted a North Korean proposal to hold military talks, a Defence Ministry official said on Saturday, amid continuing tensions on the divided peninsula.

South Korea's Defence Ministry says North Korea has proposed a meeting of working-level officials amid tense relations between the two countries.

A six-way heads-of-delegation meeting is expected by the middle of November. The multilateral talks involve North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

The UN pointman on North Korean human rights has urged Pyongyang to stop punishing asylum-seekers returned from abroad and also to end public executions.

South Korean activists said on Wednesday they plan to float about 100,000 leaflets into communist North Korea next week, despite threats from Pyongyang that to do so threatens a military confrontation.

The US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Friday that US officials in North Korea report that Pyongyang has removed more fuel rods from the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

North Korea threatened on Thursday to cut all ties with South Korea saying the new conservative government is pro-US and engaged in reckless confrontation with its neighbor.

North Korea planned to resume dismantling its nuclear program on Wednesday for the first time in two months, days after the United States removed the communist regime from a terrorism blacklist as a reward under a disarmament pact.

The move comes a day after the North said it would resume dismantling its nuclear facilities in response to the US decision to remove North Korea from its list of states sponsoring terrorism.

South Korea is considering expanding cross-border projects with North Korea following major progress in an international standoff over the communist country's nuclear program, an official said on Monday.