11.   Chinese ambassador to Seoul Zhang Tingyan on Sunday ruled out any immediate danger of armed conflict on the Korean peninsula despite tension over a North Korean submarine incursion.

12.   The United States said Tuesday it was dispatching an envoy to Seoul to agree on a common approach to Pyongyang in the aftermath of the North Korean submarine incursion.

13.   The submarine incursion has triggered an angry war of rhetoric between the two Koreas.

14.   The South Korean Red Cross said Wednesday it would continue to seek donations for North Korea despite a submarine incursion by the communist North last week.

15.   Washington on Sunday welcomed an unprecedented apology from North Korea for a submarine incursion into South Korean waters.

16.   Kim, however, reiterated in his talks with Hashimoto his demand that North Korea apologise for the submarine incursion and urged Pyongyang to avoid any repeat.

17.   Kim said the submarine incursion ran counter to international efforts to provide assistance to the impoverished North, which is suffering from serious food shortages.

18.   North Korea has agreed in principle to apologize this week for its spy submarine incursion into rival South Korea in September, newspapers said here Sunday.

19.   North Korea made an unprecedented apology Sunday for a submarine incursion into South Korean waters, giving a major boost to peace hopes for the volatile peninsula.

20.   North Korea, which recently apologised for a submarine incursion into South Korea, is also expected to feature prominently in the talks.