Summary of domestic news in North Korea this week

NK weekly-domestic news

Summary of domestic news in North Korea this week

SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of domestic news in North Korea this week.

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N. Korea reports women's football win, makes no mention of S. Korean venue

SEOUL -- North Korean state media reported Sunday that a North Korean women's football club won Asia's top tournament, while avoiding any mention that the final was held in South Korea.

The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Naegohyang Women's FC won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League the previous day, defeating Tokyo Verdy Beleze 1-0 in the final.

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N. Korea's Kim sends condolences to Xi over deadly coal mine blast

SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a message of condolences to Chinese President Xi Jinping over a deadly gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China, state media reported Monday.

A gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China's Shanxi Province on Friday killed 82 people and injured 182 others, while two remained unaccounted for, marking the country's worst mining disaster in nearly two decades, according to foreign media reports.

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N. Korea to hold key party meeting in late June: KCNA

SEOUL -- North Korea will convene a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) next month for an interim review of state and party policies for this year, state media reported Monday.

The WPK's political bureau has decided to hold the second plenary meeting of the ninth central committee in late June, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

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Pro-Pyongyang Korean group in Japan drops reunification goal at 1st congress in 4 years

SEOUL -- Chongryong, the largest organization of pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans in Japan, has stripped all references to unification on the Korean Peninsula from its rules, signaling an ideological shift in line with North Korea's hardened stance toward Seoul.

The organization held its 26th general congress in Tokyo over the weekend, its first in four years, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, on Tuesday.

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N. Korea tests new lightweight missile launcher, tactical cruise missiles under Kim's watch: KCNA

SEOUL -- North Korea has tested a newly developed lightweight multipurpose missile launching system and multiple tactical cruise missiles, state media said Wednesday, with leader Kim Jong-un overseeing the test as part of Pyongyang's ongoing weapons modernization drive.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published the report a day after South Korea's military detected the launch of multiple close-range ballistic missiles (CRBMs) and artillery rockets toward the Yellow Sea from the Jongju area of North Phyongan Province at around 1 p.m.

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Top diplomats of N. Korea, Singapore hold talks in Pyongyang

SEOUL -- North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has held talks with her Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan in Pyongyang, state media said Wednesday, in the first visit by a Singaporean foreign minister to North Korea in eight years.

On Tuesday, the two discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and deepen cooperation in "multiple areas," as well as "regional and international matters," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

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N. Korea's Naegohyang women football team welcomed home after AFC win

SEOUL -- North Korea's women's football team Naegohyang received a grand welcome home ceremony in Pyongyang after winning a recent regional tournament, state media reported Wednesday.

Players were greeted Tuesday by government and sports officials, as well as family members, at the airport, before their bus made its way through Pyongyang streets lined with cheering, flag-waving citizens, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

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N. Korea slams Quad statement calling for Pyongyang's denuclearization

SEOUL -- North Korea on Thursday denounced a recent joint statement by the top diplomats of the United States, Australia, Japan and India that called for the North's complete denuclearization, reiterating that it will never abandon its nuclear weapons.

The foreign ministers of the four nations, known as the U.S.-led multilateral security grouping of the Quad, reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete" denuclearization of North Korea in a joint statement issued Tuesday after their meeting in New Delhi.

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