NK weekly-inter-Korean news

Summary of inter-Korean news this week

SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.

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S. Korea blocks access to N. Korean propaganda channels on YouTube

SEOUL -- South Korea has blocked local access to three YouTube channels, presumably run by North Korea for propaganda purposes, upon request by Seoul's spy agency, amid concerns over the North's psychological warfare against the South, officials said Friday.

As of 2:00 p.m., the three YouTube channels -- the Sally Parks SongA Channel, Olivia Natasha- YuMi Space DPRK daily and New DPRK -- are not accessible from South Korea, with a message on the platform showing that they are "not available."

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S. Korean rights watchdog head urges China to stop repatriation of N.K. defectors

SEOUL -- South Korea's human rights watchdog chief on Friday urged China not to send North Korean defectors back to their homeland, citing reports that about 2,000 North Koreans held in China face imminent repatriation.

Song Doo-hwan, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, issued a statement saying the human rights of North Koreans can be seriously infringed upon if they are repatriated and that the Chinese government should comply with the United Nations' recommendation.

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(LEAD) S. Korea crafts aggressive posture against potential N.K. drone infiltrations: source

SEOUL -- The South Korean military has adopted an aggressive counter-drone operational principle, under which a single North Korean drone infiltration would prompt it to send 10 or more unmanned aerial vehicles into Pyongyang, a source said Tuesday.

The measure is part of Seoul's efforts to beef up air defenses after five North Korean drones intruded across the inter-Korean border in December last year, with one of them having penetrated a no-fly zone close to Seoul's presidential office.

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S. Korea to release report on forced labor in N. Korea for 1st time

SEOUL -- South Korea plans to disclose a report on forced labor practices in North Korea for the first time as part of efforts to raise awareness on human rights violations in the secretive regime, the unification ministry said Tuesday.

The report will be based on interviews conducted with North Korean defectors who have arrived in the South over the past five years, as the ministry plans to carry out an in-depth inquiry into forced labor practices in the North this year.

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