With the pick of Sung Kim, a Korea-born career diplomat, as his new ambassador to Seoul, U.S. President Barack Obama aims to handle the North Korean nuclear issue in a more professional way and step up public diplomacy with South Koreans...

A convoy of trucks crossed the border with North Korea on Friday, carrying the first South Korean rice donations for North Korea in nearly three years, as officials from both Koreas huddled to discuss the reunion of families separated by the Korean War six decades ago.