Immediately following the charm-offensive-masquerading-as-a-summit-meeting between the Kims of North and South Korea in Pyongyang last week, the Clinton-Gore Administration announced that it was lifting economic sanctions against the Communist regime.
Mr Ban also called on Russia - a member of the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme - to help bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.
But Pyongyang withdrew its workers two months ago as North-South tensions escalated following Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February.
This approach, enshrined most recently in the failed Six-Party Talks--based in Beijing--has neither stopped the North Korean nuclear threat, nor has it transformed Pyongyang's government from a highly militarized proliferation-prone tyranny to something at least more benign.
The administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush scrapped a nuclear-freeze agreement with North Korea in 2002 over allegations that Pyongyang abrogated the pact by exploring uranium-enrichment activities.
WSJ: Clinton Praises China Stimulus, Has Hope for North Korea Relationship
Rice also spoke to Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang Thursday.
Mar. 1995: Seoul agrees to provide the North with two light-water nuclear reactors if Pyongyang halts its nuclear weapons program.
In addition to ordering the nuclear watchdog out of North Korea, Pyongyang has left six-party talks focusing on its nuclear program and has vowed to bolster its nuclear self-defense capabilities.
CNN: U.S. issues warning to North Korea for expelling inspectors
In the most notable North Korean misfire, a Taepodong-2 missile that Pyongyang launched on July 4, 2006, imploded less than 35 seconds after taking off.
According to a report Sunday in Yediot Aharonot, Iran has financed its purchase of nuclear and other materiel from North Korea through the provision of super-notes to Pyongyang.
After months of crisis, Washington finally agreed to direct talks with Pyongyang - a long term North Korean goal - and an agreement was reached that traded a nuclear freeze for economic aid diplomatic concessions.
In a now-defunct U.S.-North Korean agreement in which Washington had planned last year to give food aid to Pyongyang in exchange for nuclear concessions, Washington had said it was prepared to increase people-to-people exchanges with the North, including in the areas of culture, education and sports.
There are reports that Beijing even turned down a North Korean request that China send to Pyongyang a deputy-ministerial-level envoy.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced it had put sanctions on North Korea's primary foreign-exchange bank in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test last month.
The U.S. and other countries, most notably Korea's close neighbor Japan, are deeply worried by the North's long-range ballistic-missile program, which Pyongyang has put on hold but not abandoned.
In Japan, the government convened a national security meeting soon after the test was detected, and later announced additional sanctions against the North, including a widening of entry ban for pro-Pyongyang ethnic Korean residents.
Turning to international news, experts tell Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that Beijing will verify the purpose of any bank accounts linked to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before taking any action against Pyongyang.
Foreign visitors to Pyongyang report that the North's button-down society has recently been starting, ever so slightly, to loosen up.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of people filled a stadium in North Korea's capital on Friday, calling for reunification of the Korea Peninsula.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- North Korea has repeated warnings to its citizens and military that it believes the United States is preparing to launch a large-scale attack on it, including a pre-emptive nuclear strike.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- North Korea says it may have "no option" but to stop honoring its commitments to the 1953 Korean War armistice because of U.S. "persistent war moves" in and around the Korean Peninsula.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Even before she takes office Monday as South Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye's campaign vow to soften Seoul's current hard-line approach to rival North Korea is being tested by Pyongyang's recent underground nuclear detonation.
It said South Korea, for its part, must stop all anti-North Korea talks, such as its recent announcement blaming Pyongyang for a cyberattack that shut down tens of thousands of computers and servers at South Korean broadcasters and banks last month.
After the talks in Beijing ended, it offered to provide North Korea with aid for its bankrupt economy provided Pyongyang scrapped its nuclear-arms programme.
Fahey, a second-time visitor to North Korea, said he booked his trip to Pyongyang six months ago, eager to see how North Korea might have changed under Kim Jong Un.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has refused aid, trade and talks with North Korea until Pyongyang apologizes for its alleged sinking of a South Korean navy ship and shelling of Yeonpyong Island.
The players' visit comes at a time of heightened tensions between the US and North Korea over the test and Pyongyang's launch of a three-stage rocket, a move condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology.
The visit by the players comes at a time of heightened tensions between the US and North Korea over the test and Pyongyang's launch of a three-stage rocket, a move condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology.
Mr. Kim is well regarded by conservatives in South Korea and has been nicknamed the "Upright General" because he, unlike many other South Korean delegates to a 2007 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, refused to bow to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il while shaking hands.
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