US President Barack Obama rejected Pyongyang’s offer to halt nuclear tests if Washington ended its annual military exercises with South Korea.
The U.S. limited the travel of North Korean foreign minister, who is in New York for U.N. functions, in response to the reclusive state’s latest missile test-firing.
Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was detained in January for trying to steal a propaganda banner from a North Korean hotel.
The reported missile launch comes ahead of Pyongyang’s first key meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party in early May, after over three decades.
Disappointing earnings from American blue chip companies sapped investors’ risk appetite on the week’s last trading day.
The families of 13 North Koreans who defected to South Korea earlier this month after working at a restaurant in China will be allowed to visit them in Seoul.
European markets started the day on a wobbly note, with investors wary ahead of a European Central Bank policy meeting Thursday.
Beijing has bolstered security amid reports that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct its fifth nuclear test.
Oil prices, which had recovered over the past two days, were pulled down by news of oil workers in Kuwait calling off their three-day strike.
A U.S. diplomat said that further sanctions may be aimed at cutting off the remittance of hard cash earned by North Korean workers abroad to their country.
U.S. officials largely blamed an overcapacity in China, amid slowing domestic demand in the Asian powerhouse, for the crisis facing the global steel industry.
The breakdown of talks in Doha fueled investor fears that a production cut may not be agreed upon until the next meeting in June.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said earlier Monday that there were indications that the reclusive nation was preparing for a fifth nuclear test.
Sources in Seoul have pointed to a sharp increase in activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, according to a report.
The number of people diagnosed with autism continues to grow, but only 12 percent of high-functioning adults with the condition work full time.
The United Nations condemned Pyongyang's failed test-fire of the Musudan intermediate-range missile Friday.
South Korean sources suspect the rocket to be a Musudan missile, also known as BM-25, which experts believe was designed to put the mainland United States within range.
Asian stocks surged Thursday while European stock markets opened lower as investors tracked a dip in crude oil prices.
North Korea said that South Korea “cooked up” the report about 13 workers defecting to Seoul and warned of serious consequences if they were not returned immediately.
All major stock indexes around the globe gained during Wednesday trade even as crude oil prices slipped again due to oversupply concerns.
South Korea and the United States are in talks to install the missile system in the Korean Peninsula to counter threats from North Korea.
Seasonal factors may have played a part, but analysts see tentative signs of stabilization in China’s economy, though recovery remains fragile.