Kim’s trip indicates urgency in securing economic assistance from ChinaNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived in the eastern city of Nanjing and looked around industrial facilities there, the South Korean media said on Tuesday, the fifth day of the secretive trip indicating the communist state’s need to secure aid and economic support from its main benefactor. Kim traveled to Nanjing in a convoy

BEIJING/YANGZHOU/SHANGHAI(Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il departed the eastern city of Nanjing on Tuesday by train after touring a top electronics company on a trip in which he apparently hopes to learn about China's vibrant economy.Kim appears to be heading toward China's northwest, though his next destination remains unclear.Earlier on Tuesday, he arrived in Nanjing in a convoy of som

Pyongyang media remains silent as China confirms Kim’s tripNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-il is currently visiting an eastern Chinese city, local reports said Monday, as Pyongyang remained silent about the secretive trip posing potential influence over inter-Korean ties. A train carrying Kim and the 70-member delegation arrived at Yangzhou, west of the Chinese capital Beijing, late night Sunday, and

SEOUL, (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may visit the site of a joint industrial park with China on his way back from the latest trip to the neighboring nation, sources said Monday, a move that could underscore his commitment to economic cooperation with the ally.The 69-year-old Kim has been traveling by train through the Changchun, Jilin and Tumen regions of China's northeastern region

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived at a northeastern Chinese city on the second day of his secretive trip to the ally state, TV reports here said Saturday.Kim's special train arrived in Changchun around 8:20 a.m., and a convoy believed to be carrying an entourage accompanying the leader was seen heading toward the city's South Lake Hotel, according to reports citing unnamed sources there. A l

The United States said Friday it will send a delegation to North Korea next week to assess the food situation and discuss human rights conditions in the impoverished communist state.The mission, led by Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will travel to North Korea for five days from Tuesday for "food assessment" and to address "appropriate human rights issues," State D

North Korea has vowed full disclosure of how donated food is distributed among its people, a senior World Food Program official said Thursday in an apparent bid to encourage Seoul to send food to the impoverished state. The comments by Claudia Von Roehl, director of the U.N. food agency in Pyongyang, come as Washington prepares to send its own delegation to North Korea to monitor the food conditio

A North Korean defector is waging a lonely legal battle against South Korean authorities over the alleged disappearance of his relatives in his communist homeland, following an unwanted disclosure of his identity in the South.The battle started two years after Lee Kwang-su arrived in the South along with his wife, two children and a friend aboard a small barge across the eastern sea border in 2006

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― China blocked the release Friday of a report by U.N. experts accusing North Korea of violating U.N. sanctions that ban the export and import of ballistic missile and nuclear-related items as well as conventional arms and luxury goods.China’s U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the Security Council to discuss implementation of two rounds of