North Korea has demanded the lifting of United Nations sanctions and the end of US-South Korea military drills as conditions for resuming talks meant to defuse tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Campaigners have chained themselves to the gate of a naval base in protest against the nuclear missiles stored there.

David Cameron provoked surprise today when he claimed that North Korea now possessed the capability to launch a nuclear strike against Britain.

Just last month a North Korean official threatened South Korea with “final destruction” during a debate at the UN Conference on Disarmament

Plus, what the President didn't say in his State of the Union address

There would be no better way for the Labour leader to make a break with the past than a renouncing of Trident. He knows we simply do not need it

Viv Bingham was a Liberal stalwart of firm unilateral views on nuclear defence who retained the affection and support of the whole Party.

President Barack Obama will visit the Demilitarised Zone separating North and South Korea next week.

The US and North Korea resumed talks yesterday that had been delayed by the death of North Korea's long-time leader Kim Jong-il two months ago, with the US envoy saying he and his counterpart covered US food aid and other topics.

An army intelligence unit was used to infiltrate civil rights groups and protest organisations after Margaret Thatcher came to power. Former soldiers claim that they were ordered to undertake the spying missions by a senior officer in the Ministry of Defence.

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could put a brake on talks ultimately aimed at getting the secretive communist state to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

Nuclear envoys from North and South Korea emerged smiling from a face-to-face meeting yesterday, saying they were ready to work together to resume disarmament talks.

Sue Willett was an expert in the economics of defence and international defence policy. She became one of the foremost authorities on the vicious cycle of debt, underdevelopment and conflict in the developing world and called for radical action by the international community to break the cycle. Her conviction that the developed world can only bring about security if it pursues an ethical arms policy has been vindicated time and time again.

The Cabinet Office is to conduct a new assessment of alternatives to Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent in a fresh concession to the Liberal Democrats, it was announced today.