North Korea agreeing to discuss denuclearisation "is evidence that President [Donald] Trump's strategy to isolate the Kim regime is working," US Vice-President Mike Pence has said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is hosting a dinner for two South Korean delegates, the first time officials from Seoul have met the young leader since he took office in 2011.
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to attend Friday's opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, which are being held in the South, ministers in Seoul say.
North Korea has described the latest UN sanctions imposed on the country as an "act of war". A foreign ministry statement said the measures were tantamount to a total economic blockade, the official KCNA news agency reported.
The government of Burkina Faso has announced that it has placed a ban on imports from North Korea as it part of its compliance with a UN economic sanction against the Asian country.
North Korea says it has successfully tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can reach the whole of continental United States.
