South Korea

S Korea 'could annihilate Pyongyang'

A military source told the Yonhap news agency every part of Pyongyang "will be completely destroyed by ballistic missiles and high-explosives shells".

Yonhap has close ties to South Korea's government and is publicly funded.

On Friday North Korea carried out what it said was its fifth, and largest, nuclear test.

The international community is considering its response.

The US says it is considering its own sanctions, in addition to any imposed by the UN Security Council, Japan and South Korea.

North Korea executes top education official, South Korea says

Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon Hee held a press conference early on Wednesday to address media reports of a public execution of a senior-level North Korean official.

Two other officials, Kim Yong Chol, the head of North Korea's United Front Department (UFD), and a senior member of North Korea's propaganda department, received "revolutionary measures," commonly referred to as re-education, according to the spokesman.

No other details are immediately available.

South Korea reveals location of THAAD missile defense system

In a statement, Deputy National Defense Minister Yoo Jeh Seung said the location for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery would "maximize the military effectiveness of the THAAD battery while ensuring the safety of the local population."

Washington and Seoul announced the battery's deployment last week, in a move that outraged North Korea, which has threatened to "physically act" against the THAAD and make the allies "suffer from the nightmare extreme uneasiness and terror."

N. Korea: U.S., South Korea will suffer 'extreme uneasiness and terror'

The harsh rhetoric by North Korea's People's Army (KPA) is the communist state's first comment on Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) since the U.S. and South Korea announced Friday they are in the final stages of negotiation about where to deploy the missile system.

THAAD can shoot down short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at incredible speed and altitude, and has been used by the U.S. for years to protect its military units.

North Korea fires two missiles, South Korea says

Both are believed to be Musudan intermediate-range missiles, fired from the North Korean port city of Wonsan, said Commander Dave Benham, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command.

North Korea has made at least four previous attempts this year to test this type of missile.

Both missiles were tracked over the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, "where initial indications are they fell," Benham said. Benham said the missile launches did not pose a threat to North America.

Deal reached easing North and South Korea tensions

During two rounds of marathon talks that began Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, the Koreas agreed on a set of steps aimed at easing tension, with Pyongyang agreeing to lift a "quasi-state of war" that it had declared last week, according to South Korea's presidential office and North Korea's state media.

The countries also agreed to resume in September reunions of families separated by the war and to hold further talks soon in either Seoul or Pyongyang, both sides said.

Seoul to halt broadcasts as N. Korea shows regret for blast

The countries made the announcement after three days of intense talks aimed at pulling the rivals back from the brink of war.

During the talks at the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea also agreed to lift a "quasi-state of war" that it had declared last week, chief South Korean negotiator and presidential security adviser Kim Kwan-jin told a televised briefing.

Koreas resume talks as Seoul sees North Korea troop movement

The talks are aimed to pull the rivals back from the brink, even amid reports of unusual North Korean troop and submarine movement that Seoul said indicated continued battle preparation.

While it was not clear whether any progress was made during the first round of talks, which started Saturday evening and finished just before dawn Sunday, the second day of diplomacy, for the time being, pushed aside the heated warnings of imminent war.

Rival Koreas hold high-level talks to defuse war fears

The closed-door meeting at Panmunjom, where the armistice ending fighting in the Korean War was agreed to in 1953, began early Saturday evening, shortly after a deadline set by North Korea for the South to dismantle loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda at their border, said an official from South Korea's Unification Ministry.

North Korea had declared that its front-line troops were in full war readiness and prepared to go to battle if Seoul did not back down.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ pre-orders to begin August 20

After a less-than-favorable financial fissure in 2014, the company has been on a major image overhaul agenda. TouchWiz has been trimmed down, the Galaxies are now made of glass (well the high-end ones at least), and even the product logos have been refined. As the company prepares for its Unpacked event, new news is leaking out about the upcoming Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, the phablet-sized follow-up to this spring’s flagship.