Seoul - North Korea announced on Saturday it was reconnecting its so-called military "hotline" with its southern neighbour.

The isolated communist regime had cut the hotline two weeks ago in protest at a joint US-South Korean military exercise, deeming the troop maneouvres as preparations for a possible attack.

Beijing  - North Korea on Saturday confirmed that it arrested two US journalists this week as they were illegally crossing the border with China, and said it was "investigating the case."

The US journalists were detained on Tuesday as they were "illegally intruding into the territory of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) by crossing the DPRK-China border", the Chinese government's Xinhua news agency quoted a report by the Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang.

Seoul  - North Korea's newly elected parliament is to hold its first session on April 9, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Friday, publishing a date that comes shortly after a planned launch eyed with concern by the West.

In March 8 elections, which were widely regarded as a farce by Western powers, 686 candidates handpicked by the ruling communist Workers' Party of Korea were elected, among them North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who reportedly received 100 per cent of the vote.

Seoul  - North Korean authorities detained two US journalists at the border with China, news reports said Thursday.

The two women who work for US-based online media were detained this week by North Korean border guards when they filmed footage at the Stalinist state's border with China, the South Korean Yonhap news agency said, quoting diplomat sources.

"Two reporters working for US internet news media, including a Korean American, were detained by North Korean authorities earlier this week, and they remain in custody there," the source said.

Washington  - North Korea has informed the United States that it no longer wants to receive food shipments as tensions grow over the stalled nuclear negotiations and Pyongyang's plans to launch a rocket next month.

US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Tuesday North Korea did not provide a reason for cutting off the aid, but added that Washington regrets the decision.

"This was a program intended to try to help get food to needy North Koreans," Wood said. "And we're obviously disappointed in that."

Seoul - North Korea on Tuesday allowed hundreds of South Koreans access to a joint industrial park after closing down its borders for several days to protest joint US-South Korean military exercises.

Pyongyang allowed the entry of 500 South Koreans while at the same time 300 South Koreans who had been stranded at the Kaesong industrial complex in the North for days were allowed to leave, the Defence Ministry in Seoul said.

The reopening of the heavily guarded border crossing also allowed for the more than 90 South Korean companies operating at Kaesong to receive deliveries of urgently needed raw materials.

On Monday, the Stalinist state opened the border for hundreds of South Koreans who were stuck at Kaesong but denied entry.