North Korea, its economy weaker, reopens to South

08-16-2009 • Reuters

North Korea said Monday it would reopen its border with the South, ending a self-imposed blockade on a vital source of income for Pyongyang's leaders as their ravaged economy is squeezed by tightening U.N. sanctions.

It is the latest step by the hermit North to resume some sort of relationship with an outside world from which it has been all but isolated by its months of military grandstanding, including a second nuclear test in May and a series of missile launches.