TOKYO - North Korea yesterday announced it will attend a briefing with the US and South Korea on Korean peace talks, a sign that North Korea was trying to put on a normal face after an embarrassing high-level defection.
In a statement by the Foreign Ministry, Pyongyang said it would attend the US-South Korean briefing in New York on March 5th to discuss four-way peace talks involving China.
The North Korean Defence Minister, Mr Choe Kwang (78), has died of a heart attack, the official Korea Central Radio said in a brief statement early this morning. Earlier yesterday, North Korea announced the appointment of an acting premier to replace Mr Kang Song-san, the sixth-ranked official in its power structure. Pyongyang Radio said Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Hong Song-nam, had been appointed acting premier.