North Korea

A soldier from the U.S. Marine Corps takes part in a U.S.-South Korea joint landing operation drill along the shore in Pohang, about 370 km (230 miles) southeast of Seoul, November 4, 2009. The drill was part of preparations for possible aggression by North Korea, which remains technically at war with South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953. North Korea said on Tuesday it had completed reprocessing spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear plant and turned it into arms-grade plutonium, giving the mercurial state more material to produce atomic arms.