North Korea announced a rare amnesty for prisoners on Friday as the Communist state faced mounting international pressure to improve the human rights conditions in its gulags, where North Korean defectors have said starvation, torture and summary executions are rampant. The move, the first of its kind in more than three years, appeared partly intended to improve the international image of the totalitarian regime while North Korea is engaged in crucial nuclear talks that could determine its long-term survival, experts said. Full Story
