TOKYO (AFP) ― A top North Korean defector Thursday said he had obtained the last will and testament of Kim Jong-il, in which the late leader purportedly urges his nation to develop weapons of mass destruction.“Keep in mind that constantly developing and keeping nuclear (weapons), long-range missiles and biochemical weapons is the way to keep peace on the Korean peninsula, and never drop your guard,” the will said, according to Japanese weekly tabloid magazine Shukan Bunshun.The report comes as p

North Korea was poised Thursday to send a rocket into space as the nation's young leader ascended to new top political posts strengthening his hold on power.There was no word early Thursday morning on the timing of the launch, which the North has said will take place sometime between Thursday and Monday. The launch, which the North says is for peaceful purposes, has raised international concern.Th

Celebrating the centenary of the late North Korea founder Kim Il-sung’s birth on Sunday, Pyongyang is holding a series of political events this week with a planned rocket launch between Thursday and Monday.As the first step, North Korea seems to have formally promoted Kim Jong-un to the reclusive state’s ruling party chief at the rare Workers’ Party conference on Wednesday, analysts said.The Workers’ Party is one of the two major political gatherings the North had announced it would hold in mid-

By Kim Yoon-mi and news reportsNorth Korea is likely to launch its “satellite” rocket between Thursday and Monday, despite repeated warnings by the U.S. and its allies.Paek Chang-ho, head of the satellite control center of the Korean Committee of Space Technology, told reporters in Pyongyang that the North started fueling the rocket on Wednesday. He did not make it clear when the fueling would be complete but analysts said it could take eight hours. Unlike the Musudan-ri launching facility in th

North Korea's increasingly sophisticated missile technology is a concern to Asia and the United States, the new U.S. Pacific commander said Wednesday ahead of Pyongyang's planned rocket launch."We have seen over time the North Koreans pursue increasingly sophisticated ballistic missile defense technologies," Admiral Samuel Locklear, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command based in Hawaii, said in Tok

Shin Dong-hyuk, born and raised in a North Korean concentration camp, on Tuesday appealed for the world to care more about the ongoing tragedy of political prisoners in the communist nation.He warned that a Holocaust-style slaughter could occur there any time if people outside continue to turn a deaf ear to the testimony of defectors."There is a place I always visit whenever I come to Washington D

The United States and Japan agreed Tuesday to take “appropriate action” against North Korea if it presses ahead with a ballistic rocket launch.“We will be pursuing appropriate action,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters after bilateral talks with her Japanese counterpart, Koichiro Gemba, who is visiting for a G-8 foreign ministerial meeting. She did not elaborate.Clinton underscored

North Korea is set to complete the assembly of its latest rocket by installing the satellite payload later Tuesday, a senior space official said."We are expecting to complete assembly by today," Ryu Kum-Chol, deputy director of the space development department at the communist state's Committee for Space Technology, told foreign journalists in Pyongyang. Ryu also insisted that debris from the laun

More than 640 North Koreans have been awarded state prizes or medals, Pyongyang’s media reported Tuesday, as the North seeks to further consolidate power of its new young leader Kim Jong-un.Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, took over the communist country after his father and long-time leader Kim Jong-il died in December. The North has since been stepping up efforts to boost the image and power of the new leader.The North conferred the Order of Kim Il-sung to 119 soldiers and officials as wel