'No Easy N. Korea Solution'

SEOUL, South Korea -- There is no sign of an easy solution to the North Korean crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday during a visit to Pyongyang, where he was expected to urge the communist state not to restart its nuclear arms plant.

"We shouldn't be controlled by our emotions. It's a complicated situation on the Korean Peninsula," a Russian diplomat quoted Lavrov as saying after talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun in Pyongyang.

Lavrov is scheduled to visit Seoul on Friday. (Reuters)

---

EU Hopes for Crime Pact

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The European Union's crime fighting agency is negotiating a cooperation pact with Russia to better crack down on organized crime, Europol's new director, Robert Wainwright, said.

The deal will let Russian police and Europol share information and better coordinate investigations into the activities of Russian mobsters. (AP)

---

Georgia Meets Separatists

ERGNETI, Georgia -- Georgia met officials from the breakaway South Ossetia region for the first time in the conflict zone Thursday at a meeting brokered by OSCE officials in a tent on the frontline between their forces.

They were joined by Russian delegates in the village of Ergneti in a neutral zone between the checkpoints of the two sides. "There are no concrete agreements at the moment. …We just agreed to hold regular meetings in the future," Shota Utiashvili, the Georgian delegation head, told journalists after the meeting. (Reuters)