North Korean leader Kim Jong Il may die within three years, a senior U.S. envoy said in Seoul last month, according to a report published Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, a South Korean lawmaker ...

North Korea should let farms produce freely and allow food to be sold in local markets because the communist government cannot provide enough food for its people, a U.N. human rights investigator urged Monday. Vitit Muntarbhorn said North Korea's regime stopped small-scale farming ...

North Korea has allowed a Swedish diplomat to see an American detained in the communist state, the first time it has granted consular access, the State Department said Monday. The Swedish embassy, which represents US interests in Pyongyang in the absence of diplomatic relations, was given access to the American on Sunday, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. "We ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has allowed Swedish diplomats to visit a U.S. citizen detained nearly two months ago after allegedly entering the country from China, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. "We can confirm that on March 14 the DPRK (Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea) granted the Swedish embassy, our protecting power, consular access to a detained ...