Summary of external news of North Korea this week

NK weekly-external news

Summary of external news of North Korea this week

SEOUL, May 10 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of external news in North Korea this week.

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

(2nd LD) Nuclear envoys of S. Korea, China discuss Korean Peninsula issues in Tokyo

SEOUL -- The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and China discussed issues related to the Korean Peninsula on the margins of a multilateral security dialogue in Japan earlier this week, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.

The talks between Lee Jun-il, director general for North Korean nuclear affairs, and Liu Xiaoming, China's special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, took place Thursday in Tokyo on the sidelines of the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD), an annual public-private security dialogue forum, the ministry said.

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

U.S. military official stresses need not to 'overreact' or 'underreact" to N.K. threats

WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. military official has cautioned against "overreacting" or "underreacting" in the midst of tensions heightened by North Korea's persistent nuclear and missile threats and its tough rhetoric against South Korea and the United States.

The official, who requested anonymity, made the remarks in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday, as he noted the need to prevent escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula in the absence of meaningful dialogue between the two Koreas and between the U.S. and the North.

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

Nuclear envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan underline 'resolve' against N. Korea's threats, ties with Russia

WASHINGTON -- The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan emphasized their "resolve" against North Korea's "grave" security threats and its growing military cooperation with Russia during a meeting in Tokyo on Thursday, the State Department said.

Lee Jun-il, director general for North Korean nuclear affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, held the talks with U.S. Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak and Hiroyuki Namazu, director general for Asian and Oceanian Affairs at Tokyo's foreign ministry.

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

U.S. nuclear envoy stresses concerns about N.K-Russia ties during talks with Chinese counterpart

WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. nuclear envoy for North Korea reiterated concerns over growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia during talks with her Chinese counterpart in Tokyo on Thursday, the State Department said.

U.S. Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak held the talks with Liu Xiaoming, China's special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, amid deepening worries about implications of military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow for security on the peninsula and beyond.

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

(Yonhap Interview) Ex-Pentagon official stresses need for war plan rethink, swift OPCON transfer, USFK overhaul

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States need to revise their combined wartime contingency plans if they involve America's dispatch of massive military assets to fend off a North Korean invasion, a former Pentagon official has said, stressing the U.S.' imperative to focus on the "decisive" threat from China.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency Monday, Elbridge Colby, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development during the Trump administration, also expressed his support for the swift transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul, saying the Asian ally should undertake "overwhelming" responsibility for its own defense.

(END)

<저작권자(c) 연합뉴스, 무단 전재-재배포, AI 학습 및 활용 금지>

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved