NK weekly-external news

Summary of external news of North Korea this week

SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of external news of North Korea this week.

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Yoon arrives in Washington to attend summit with Biden, Kishida

WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Washington on Thursday to attend a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on ways to enhance security cooperation in the face of North Korea's nuclear threat.

The summit will be held at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland on Friday, marking the first time the three countries' leaders will meet for a stand-alone trilateral summit that's not on the sidelines of a multilateral event.

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N. Korean athletes, believed to be attending taekwondo event in Kazakhstan, arrive in Beijing

BEIJING -- A group of North Korean athletes, who are believed to be attending an international taekwondo event in Kazakhstan this weekend, arrived in Beijing on Thursday, according to scenes witnessed by Yonhap News Agency.

The arrival of the North Korean team in Beijing is seen as another step in the North's reopening after senior Russian and Chinese officials participated in a military parade in Pyongyang last month.

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U.S. continues to seek safe return of American soldier in N. Korea: Kirby

WASHINGTON -- The United States is seeking and will continue to seek the safe return of a U.S. service member who crossed into North Korea last month, a White House official said Wednesday, dismissing the North's claim that the American soldier is seeking asylum in the reclusive country.

John Kirby, National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communications, insisted that North Korean claims cannot be trusted.

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U.S. designates 3 entities for brokering weapons deal between N. Korea, Russia

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC) on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three entities involved in illicit arms deals between North Korea and Russia, amid speculation that the countries may be seeking to bolster their illegal arms trade.

OFAC imposed sanctions on Verus LLC, Defense Engineering LLP and Versor SRO, all of which are owned or led by Slovakian national Ashot Mkrtychev.

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(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. to launch key military drills next week amid persistent N. Korean threats

SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States will kick off a major combined military exercise next week to beef up their joint defense, both sides said Monday, amid North Korea's hardening rhetoric fueling concerns about the possibility of North Korea unleashing new provocations.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise based on an all-out war scenario is set to take place from Aug. 21-31, featuring various contingency drills, such as the computer simulation-based command post exercise, concurrent field training and Ulchi civil defense drills.

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