North Korea's foreign minister has arrived in Burma for talks with top leaders, reports from the region say.
It is thought to be the first visit by Pak Ui-chun since the two countries resumed formal ties in 2007.
Analysts have raised concerns in recent months that Burma is co-operating with North Korea to develop nuclear technology. Burma denies this.
Burma severed ties with North Korea in 1983, following an attack by North Korean commandos on the South Korean president as he paid a visit to Rangoon. The president, Chun Doo-hwan, survived, but 21 other people were killed.
The government in Nepal has lifted a ban that prohibited Nepalis from seeking work in Iraq. The ban was introduced in 2004 when 12 Nepalis working in Iraq were killed.
It had left 30,000 Nepalis already in Iraq at risk of losing their jobs because of a demand by the US for contractors to prove that their staff were in Iraq legitimately.
It appears that the comparatively high wages made tens of thousands defy the ban. An estimated 30,000 Nepalese working in Iraq are thought to have got there through illegal channels.