U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned that Iran and North Korea would face even deeper isolation if they failed to bring their nuclear programs under international law.

"There is a future of greater opportunity for the people of these nations if their governments meet their obligations. But if they continue down a path that is outside international law, they must be met with greater pressure and isolation," Obama said. "That is what our commitment to peace demands."

The chief nuclear envoys for North and South Korea met in Beijing to try to revive international nuclear disarmament talks on Wednesday, with little hope of any early breakthroughs.

The one-day meeting at a private members' club in the center of the Chinese capital is the second round of talks between the South's Wi Sung-Lac and his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-Ho in two months.

A meeting Wednesday of the rival Koreas' nuclear envoys could provide crucial momentum toward restarting disarmament talks, just months after the two countries were threatening to bomb each other into rubble.

Relations are still complicated and wariness lingers as the envoys prepare for face-to-face talks in Beijing that aim to build on their surprise meeting in July — which was seen as a small breakthrough after months of acrimony.

North and South Korean negotiators are likely to meet next week for a second round of talks aimed at restarting stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations, a news report said Friday.

The South's chief nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-Lac and his counterpart Ri Yong-Ho of North Korea are likely to hold talks in Beijing, possibly on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency said.

South Korea has arrested a North Korean agent who plotted to assassinate an outspoken anti-Pyongyang activist with a poison-tipped needle, the intended victim and a news report said Friday.

The agent, identified only as An, was in possession of the needle and other weapons at the time of his arrest, Yonhap news agency said.

The United States and the European Union sharply criticized North Korea on Wednesday as the board of the U.N. atomic agency was briefed on Pyongyang's nuclear activities.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s latest report "is testimony to the long history of the DPRK (North Korea)'s lack of cooperation with the agency," a U.S. statement to the meeting in Vienna said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and his son and heir apparent appeared Friday at a military parade staged to mark the 63rd anniversary of the country's founding, official media reported.

Kim and his youngest son Jong-Un clapped from the reviewing stand as motorized units including howitzers, anti-aircraft guns and multiple launch rocket systems rumbled past, according to North Korean TV footage.

South Korea has struck a $43 million deal with an Israeli company to buy advanced rockets to protect a front-line area attacked by North Korea last year, officials said Tuesday.

South Korea will deploy 67 Spike NLOS rockets on Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands in the Yellow Sea as early as late this year, a South Korean government arms procurement official said. Four South Koreans were killed on Yeonpyeong when the North shelled it last November.

The United States sent a plane loaded with a small but symbolic shipment of emergency aid that was due to arrive in flood-stricken North Korea on Saturday, in the latest sign of a thaw in relations between the countries.

A cargo plane departed Friday from the U.S. packed with $900,000 worth of food, medical aid, soap, blankets and cooking kits, according to the North Carolina-based aid group Samaritan's Purse.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il told China Friday he was ready to resume six-party nuclear talks without preconditions, as he traveled through the Asian nation, China's state media said.

Kim, who travels by armored train and is on his way back from an official visit to Russia, made the comments in a meeting with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo in northeast China's Heilongjiang province.