North Korea said Sunday it would not use a jailed U.S. citizen as a “bargaining chip” with Washington, and no prominent Americans would be invited to discuss his case.

Even if North Korea gives up its nuclear arms, Japan would not resume aid to the isolated state until it clears up abduction cases dating back more than three decades, a minister said Friday.

The last seven South Koreans stationed at a jointly run factory park in North Korea pulled out Friday, silencing the complex for the first time since it was launched nine years ago in a seemingly distant era of reconciliation.

South Korea on Friday jailed six nuclear power engineers and suppliers linked to a major corruption scandal that stoked public concern over safety standards.

North Korea said Thursday it had sentenced a Korean-American tour operator to 15 years' hard labor for “hostile acts,” stoking tensions with the United States which had pleaded for his release.

An international team of surgeons has successfully given a South Korean-Canadian toddler a life-saving windpipe transplant made from plastic fibers and some of her own stem cells.

South Korea urgently needs to encourage more women, especially highly educated ones, to join the workforce to shore up its competitiveness and growth potential. Calls have mounted for stronger measures to keep female employees from quitting their job when they marry, get pregnant or give birth.

China has stepped up checks on shipments to and from North Korea almost two months after agreeing to new U.N. sanctions that demand greater scrutiny of trade, but the flow of goods in and out of the reclusive state appears largely unaffected.

South Korea said Wednesday it was edging towards a deal with North Korea to ensure the return of the remaining workers at a joint industrial zone that has become a casualty of military tensions.

China has stepped up checks on shipments to and from North Korea almost two months after agreeing to new U.N. sanctions that demand greater scrutiny of trade, but the flow of goods in and out of the reclusive state appears largely unaffected.