SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- The United States called on North Korea to "fully cooperate" with a landmark U.N. probe of widespread human rights violations in the North, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday. Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for human rights in North Korea, said the human rights situation in the North "remains deplorable," warning that, unless Pyongyang's leadership takes care of its people, it will become even more isolated.

Japanese and U.S. officials involved in North Korean affairs met in Tokyo on Thursday, with discussions expected to touch on the ongoing visit to North Korea of an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. During the meeting, Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, is expected to apprise Shinsuke Sugiyama, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, of a series of meetings he held with Chinese officials while in Beijing.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed a troop parade in Pyongyang on Thursday as the country marked the 81st anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army, its 1.2 million-strong military, an informed source said. KPA Supreme Commander Kim attended a military ceremony featuring marching soldiers at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a mausoleum of state founder Kim Il Sung and his son and former leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, the source told Kyodo News. The event was not open to the public, according to the source.

US Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday dismissed a set of pre-conditions laid out by North Korea for talks as "unacceptable," calling them an opening "gambit" from Pyongyang. The isolated North on Thursday responded for the first time to an offer from Kerry during his weekend visit to the Korean peninsula to return to the negotiating table in a bid to defuse heightened nuclear tensions. The demands by the North's main military body included the withdrawal of UN sanctions and a permanent end to South Korea-US joint military drills.