North Korea parliament writes to US Congress to protest new sanctions

North Korean state media reported the election of the South's new left-leaning president Moon Jae-In after a two-day delay, but at unusual length.

Moon has taken a more conciliatory line with North Korea than his conservative predecessors and advocates engagement.

A statement yesterday from the mission said a "Korean- style anti-terrorist offensive will be commenced to mop up the intelligence and plot-breeding organisations of the USA and South Korea".

South Korea has accepted a last-minute invitation from China to a conference on a new Silk Road, days after a new president took office on Seoul pledging to engage in discussions with Beijing to ease tension over a US anti-missile system.

"They agreed it would be important for the global community to continue to pursue a robust response to North Korean violations of UN Security Council resolutions and other worldwide obligations".

Chinese President Xi Jinping extended the invitation to the Belt and Road conference in Beijing during a telephone call on Thursday with new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Moon's spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, told a briefing on Friday.

According to the North's KCNA, the foreign affairs committee of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, in a rare move, on Friday wrote to the US House of Representative, condemning the imposition of the sanctions as a "heinous act against humanity".

North Korea has conducted five successful nuclear tests since 2006, and analysts say there are signs it's preparing now for a sixth. He asked them to help in curbing North Korea's nuclear programme and both promised to.

North Korea last week accused the Central Intelligence Agency of plotting with the South to assassinate Kim using a biochemical weapon, an allegation impossible to verify - and following the killing of his half-brother Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia with a banned nerve agent, a murder widely blamed on Pyongyang.

Beijing sees the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, newly installed in the South meant to guard against threats from the North, as a threat to its own military capabilities and has slapped a series of measures against South Korean businesses seen as economic retaliation.

But Korean critics said Japan did not go far enough under the deal, and earlier this year Tokyo recalled its ambassador over a statue symbolising the comfort women installed outside its consulate in Busan.

Finally, Lim writes, the next president of South Korea must decide how to approach relations with its reclusive and unpredictable neighbor, North Korea.

China was willing to keep working hard with all parties, including South Korea, for the peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula, Xi said.

As well as clouding efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the THAAD deployment has also led to recriminations from Beijing against South Korean companies.

The US is the South's security guarantor and has 28,500 troops stationed in the country, but Seoul was startled when Trump suggested it should pay for the $1 billion THAAD system.

Moon also expressed hopes the two countries would be able to cooperate in developing East Asia, including extending a natural gas pipeline from Siberia to South Korea, the Blue House said.

South Korean officials called the claim "groundless".