16 June 2013 Last updated at 13:51 GMT

North Korea proposes high-level talks with US

Kevin Kim in Seoul says there is "cautious optimism", as well as questions, over North Korea's agreement to the talks

Korea crisis

North Korea has proposed high-level talks with the US days after cancelling a meeting with South Korean officials.

The National Defence Commission said it wanted "serious discussions... to secure peace and stability".

The US said it wanted "credible negotiations", but Pyongyang had to comply with UN resolutions and move towards "denuclearisation".

US and North Korean officials meet periodically, but have not engaged in high-level talks since 2009.

Earlier this year Pyongyang threatened to launch a nuclear attack on both the US and South Korea.

For years the North has cajoled the US and regional neighbours with a mixture of dire threats and promises of co-operation.

Correspondents say Pyongyang is constantly trying to improve its bargaining position to extract more food aid or fuel.

However, the regime has conducted three nuclear-weapons tests in recent years that have even angered its only ally, China.

Beijing co-authored a Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions on the regime earlier this year in response to its latest nuclear test.

Timeline: Korean tensions

12 Feb: North conducts underground nuclear test
11 Mar: US-South Korea annual military drills begin
30 Mar: North says it is entering a "state of war" with South
2 Apr: North says it is restarting Yongbyon reactor
3-26 Apr: North precipitates the shutting down of Kaesong industrial zone
2 May: North jails US man for 15 years
22 May: North sends envoy to China
10 June North and South agree to government-level meeting in Seoul

The North responded with increasingly hysterical threats, cut hotlines used for emergency communication with the South and withdrew workers from a joint industrial park near the border.

Pyongyang finally agreed to open talks with the South earlier this week.

But on Thursday, the North cancelled the meeting, accusing the South of "deliberate disturbance" by changing the head of its delegation.

On Friday, Pyongyang issued an appeal calling on the South to change fundamentally its "policy of confrontation".

The National Defence Commission on Sunday said that in the meantime it proposed "high-level talks between the North and the US to secure peace and stability in the region and ease tension on the Korean peninsula".

The commission said it was willing to have "serious discussions on a wide range of issues, including the US goal to achieve the world free of nuclear arsenal".

Washington could decide the time and venue, but there should be no preconditions, the statement said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets generals from the Korean People's Army Strategic Rocket Forces (29 March 2013)

North Korea recently threatened nuclear and missile strikes against the US

The National Defence Commission is headed by North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, who succeeded his father in December 2011.

For years, delegates from the North engaged with the US, Russia, South Korea, Japan and China in talks over its nuclear programme.

The regime was rewarded with food and fuel aid when it gave concessions, such as destroying a cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear plant in 2008.

However, the North walked out of the talks in April 2009 after the UN criticised a rocket launch.

Putin warns U.S., West against arming organ-eating Syrian rebels

By Chelsea J. Carter, CNN

June 17, 2013 -- Updated 0031 GMT (0831 HKT)

UK, Russia differ over Syria

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Vladimir Putin blames both sides for the bloodshed in Syria
Russian president says alleged acts by rebels don't represent the values of Europe or Russia
Russia's arms contracts with Syria are in ''full compliance'' with international law, he says
Russia warns the U.S. against a no-fly zone over Syria

(CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Sunday against arming Syrian rebels "who kill their enemies and eat their organs," referencing a widely circulated video that purports to show a rebel fighter eating the heart of a dead soldier.

Putin's comments signaled a clear disapproval of a U.S. plan to increase military support to Syrian rebels, and his warning came just one day before he was to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama for talks at the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland where Syria is expected to top the agenda.

"I believe you will not deny that one should hardly back those who kill their enemies and eat their organs. ... Do you want to support these people? Do you want to supply arms to these people?" Putin asked, speaking to reporters in London after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Explosion, fire at Damascus military airport

Syrian rebels leave their position in the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan on Thursday, June 13. The White House said on Thursday that the Syrian government has crossed a "red line" with its use of chemical weapons. Tensions in Syria flared in March 2011 during the onset of the Arab Spring, escalating into an ongoing civil war. View the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict.

Syrian civil war in photos

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Syrian civil war in photos

How will the U.S. arm Syria's rebels?

The video referenced by Putin first surfaced online in May and generated outrage. The video, which was posted by a group loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, also raised questions abut the credibility of the rebels despite widespread condemnation of the act by the opposition.

Putin said those actions do not represent the "humanitarian and cultural values" of Europe or Russia.

Opinion: Why a man eats another man's heart

What types of weapons do rebels need?

Rebels: U.S. unlikely to give heavy arms

McCain pushes more intervention in Syria

Fareed's Take: U.S. arming Syrian rebels

"If we speak calmly, in a businesslike fashion, let me draw your attention to the fact that Russia supplies arms to the legitimate government of Syria in full compliance with the norms of international law," he said. "We are not breaching any rules and norms. Let me emphasize that: we are not breaching any rules and norms, and we call on all our partners to act in the same fashion."

Russia has been at odds with the United States, the UK and others over how to bring an end to the bloodshed in the civil war that has raged in Syria for more than two years, a conflict that the United Nations estimates has left more than 92,000 people dead and millions displaced.

Russia and Syria have an alliance dating back to the Cold War, and Moscow has been one of the leading weapons suppliers for al-Assad's government.

Obama is expected during his meeting with Putin to make his case for increasing support to the rebels. Obama's administration announced the move last week after it said Syria crossed a "red line" with the use of chemical weapons, including sarin gas, against the opposition.

Obama has not detailed the increased military support, but Washington officials told CNN that the plan includes providing small arms, ammunition and possibly anti-tank weapons to the rebels.

World leaders have put enormous pressure on al-Assad to end the war and step down, and U.N. Security Council efforts to take action have been repeatedly blocked by Russia and China.

Cameron, meanwhile, told reporters that Britain had not decided whether to provide weapons to rebels but was providing technical assistance and training alongside the United States, France and its other allies.

"I'm in no doubt that responsibility lies with President Assad. It is the onslaught that he is inflicted on his own people which is the primary cause of the suffering, the humanitarian catastrophe and the deaths we have seen," he said.

Putin told reporters that he hoped the G8 summit would provide an avenue that would allow him to help broker a peace deal to end the Syrian conflict. He said he believed both sides were responsible for the bloodshed.

Will Rouhani alter Iran's policy on Syria?

Cameron acknowledged that he and Putin have deep differences on the issue of Syria but said they agree that it will take political and diplomatic efforts to help end the carnage.

Putin did not address Russian concerns that the United States may attempt to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria, using F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missiles based in Jordan.

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned the United States against taking such action, saying it would be a violation of international law, according to Russian state broadcaster Russia Today.

Russian television reported that Lavrov's comments followed speculation in the media that a no-fly zone could be imposed through the deployment of the missile systems and fighter jets sent by the United States to global military drills in Jordan.

Those reports followed news that the United States had approved a Jordanian request to keep the fighter jets and missiles in the country after the conclusion of a joint military exercise.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has dismissed media accounts that Obama has decided on establishing a no-fly zone. Those reports are incorrect, she told reporters on Friday.

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes also addressed the matter Friday when he was asked how difficult it would be to establish a no-fly zone.

"In Syria, when you have the situation where regime forces are intermingled with opposition forces, they're fighting in some instances block by block in cities. That's not a problem you can solve from the air," he said.

Syrian rebels have pleaded for anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, saying they are outgunned by al-Assad's miltary.

In recent weeks, the rebels have suffered a series of devastating setbacks, including the loss of the stronghold of Qusayr near the Syria-Lebanon border, that coincide with the arrival of Hezbollah fighters who have been reinforcing government troops.

In recent days, al-Assad's military and the Hezbollah fighters, backed by Lebanon and Iran, have been battling rebels for control of Aleppo, Syria's largest city.