[3] In December 2010, Kim invited the serving governor of the U.S. State of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, to North Korea in an unofficial capacity.
[4] In July 2011, he traveled to New York City in order to meet with U.S. officials in the Department of State, to encourage recent moves toward possible peace talks.
Private food aid shipments (of flour, meant for starving North Korean children) through the Demilitarized Zone have begun again, though South Korea will likely not resume official, government-based food aid shipments — or de-nuclearization and peace talks — until North Korea shows some sign of apologizing for the sinking of the Cheonan and its most recent nuclear test.
So far, North Korea — which is still under sanctions for pursuing nuclear weapons (it was regarded as a state sponsor of terrorism and was one of three countries in President George W. Bush's so-called "Axis of Evil" with Iraq and Iran) — has refused to do so.
These incidents, and others, have together drastically raised tensions between the two countries within the last two years since talks broke down in 2009 (the North and South are technically still in a state of war, having only signed a truce, and not a formal peace treaty).