South Korean activists have sent another batch of propaganda leaflets across the border into North Korea, ignoring calls from the South Korean government to stop the airdrops which it says are inflaming already tense relations on the peninsula.
Activists said the latest batch of 100,000 plastic-covered leaflets was carried across the heavily-fortified border by unmanned helium balloons on Thursday.

PYONGYANG (Reuters) – It took six decades for the divided Koreas to meet to talk about Japan’s colonial past, but it took them just two hours to agree they had common grievances with their Asian neighbor.
Despite the 1950-53 Korean War that killed millions and decades of animosity, there was little dispute between a South Korean group that visited Pyongyang last week and their North Korean hosts, as they agreed Japan’s colonial rule still casts a shadow over the peninsula.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea blamed Seoul for a sharp deterioration in relations after years of detente, accusing South Korea’s conservative president Friday of wanting neither reunification nor dialogue.
Relations between the two Koreas, which fought a devastating war in 1950-53 and remain divided by the world’s most heavily fortified border, reached a new low this week with North Korea’s military announcing it will halt border crossings Dec. 1.

TOKYO (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il may have had a second stroke in October that has affected his speech, a Japanese news report said Tuesday.
US intelligence received information that Kim, 66, had another stroke in late October, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) said on its website, citing an unnamed American intelligence source based in South Korea.

SEOUL, South Korea – New South Korean intelligence indicates that ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suffered a serious setback in his recovery from a stroke and has been hospitalized, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The report in the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper cited an unnamed government official in saying intelligence obtained Sunday suggested “a serious problem” with Kim’s health. The report did not elaborate, and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and Unification Ministry said Wednesday they could not confirm it.

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea, angry at a leaflet campaign by Seoul groups urging the overthrow of its leader, accused South Korea Tuesday of planning a pre-emptive strike and threatened to reduce it to “debris” in retaliation.
The North’s military said it would use a “more powerful and advanced” strike of its own if South Korea launches a pre-emptive strike.

SEOUL, – North Korea complained during rare military talks with the South on Monday about anti-Pyongyang leaflets being sent into its territory by balloons, with a South Korean civic group sending a new batch over the communist state.
The talks were held despite a threat about 10 days ago from impoverished North Korea to cut off all ties with the South, a major supplier of aid and cash, in anger at the hardline policies of its president, whom it brands a U.S. sycophant.