NK weekly-inter-Korean news

Summary of inter-Korean news this week

SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.

------------

S. Korea to spend 815 mln won on survey of separated families this year

SEOUL -- The unification ministry said Friday it has approved a plan to spend 815 million won (US$592,000) this year to conduct a survey on the fate of South Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The government plans to carry out the survey on some 38,000 applicants for separated family reunion events and their children and grandchildren from August to November, according to the ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

------------

Yoon vows to deter N. Korea's threats through strength

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that South Korea will defend liberal democracy through strength by deterring threats posed by North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile program and other provocations.

Yoon made the remark during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the right-leaning Korea Freedom Foundation as he slammed North Korea's recent signing of a mutual defense treaty with Russia and sending of trash-filled balloons across the border.

------------

(LEAD) Dossier offers glimpse into inter-Korean talks in 1981-87 following N. Korea's bombing attack in Burma

SEOUL -- The unification ministry on Tuesday unveiled newly declassified documents shedding light on inter-Korean talks on sports and humanitarian cooperation from 1981-87, following North Korea's deadly bombing attack in then Burma in 1983.

The dossier includes minutes of inter-Korean talks in the 1980s, ranging from the issue of fielding a unified team for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the delivery of North Korean aid for flooding in the South to Red Cross talks over the first-ever reunions by families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and art troupes' reciprocal performances in Seoul and Pyongyang.

------------

N. Korea switches transmission of state-run TV broadcasts to Russian satellite

SEOUL -- North Korea has been using a Russian communication satellite, instead of a Chinese one, to transmit its state-run television broadcasts, causing a setback in access in South Korea to the North's broadcasting, Seoul's unification ministry said Tuesday.

Since June 20, North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television has transmitted its broadcasts using Russia's Express 103 satellite, according to LyngSat, a provider of data about global satellite TVs and radio.

------------

(LEAD) S. Korean military says N. Korea's claim of successful missile test-firing likely a 'lie'

SEOUL -- North Korea's claim of a successful test-fire of a new missile is likely a "lie," South Korea's military said Tuesday, in the latest dismissal of the North's weapons test assertions.

Earlier in the day, the North said it test-fired the new Hwasong-11Da-4.5 tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a super-large warhead Monday to verify its flight stability and hit accuracy at the maximum range of 500 kilometers and the minimum range of 90 km.

------------

(LEAD) S. Korea resumes border artillery drills on land for 1st time in 6 years

SEOUL -- South Korea resumed live-fire exercises at artillery ranges near the border with North Korea on Tuesday for the first time in six years, following the suspension of an inter-Korean tension-reduction pact that restricted such drills.

Troops fired some 140 rounds using the K9 and K105A1 self-propelled howitzers during the drills at front-line ranges in the provinces of Gyeonggi and Gangwon, located within 5 kilometers of the Military Demarcation Line within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, according to the Army.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]