London, Oct. 18 : North Korean leader Kim Jong -il maybe dead. According to The Telegraph, North Korean diplomats abroad have been ordered to stay close to their embassies and await an "important announcement" concerning Kim Jong-Il.

The rumours circulating that Kim is dead have caused instability in North Korea''s diplomatic corps, and the announcement may very well be a carefully worded instruction to remain loyal to the regime or have the diplomats'' families still in North Korea face the consequences.

Washington, Oct 18 : The United States has said that the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has stuck to its promise of disabling its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. Only last week, the United States had removed the nation from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“The North Koreans have in their efforts reversed all their reversals in the reactor. All the seals are back on, the surveillance equipment is back, reinstalled. And the equipment that had been removed is back where it had been,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The United States had removed the DPRK from its terrorism list on October 11 after the two sides reached the agreement on verification measures over the latter’s nuclear program.

Washington - North Korea is again making progress in dismantling its nuclear facilities after the United States and North Korea broke an impasse last week over the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the US and South Korea said Friday.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and South Korean Defence Minister Lee Sang Hee in a joint statement welcomed the process being brought back on track and warned that freeing the Korean peninsula from nuclear weapons was key to security in the region.

Washington - North Korea is again making progress in dismantling its nuclear facilities after the United States and North Korea broke an impasse last week over the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the US State Department said Friday.

Seoul  - Communist North Korea stepped up pressure on its southern neighbour, threatening Thursday to cut all ties with Seoul, South Korean media reported.

Pyongyang reiterated its accusations that the conservative government of President Lee Myung Bak was following an aggressive policy against the North in a commentary run by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, a North Korean government mouthpiece.

Seoul - Communist North Korea stepped up pressure on its southern neighbour, threatening Thursday to cut all ties with Seoul, South Korean media reported.

Pyongyang reiterated its accusations that the conservative government of President Lee Myung Bak was following an aggressive policy against the North in a commentary run by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, a North Korean government mouthpiece.