NK weekly-inter-Korean news
Summary of inter-Korean news this week
SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.
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Presidential office says N. Korean troops in Russia have not yet engaged in full-fledged combat against Ukraine
SEOUL -- The presidential office said Wednesday that North Korean troops in Russia's western front have not yet engaged in full-fledged combat with Ukrainian forces.
A senior presidential official shared the assessment after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the first combat engagement between North Korean troops and Ukrainian forces and some 11,000 North Korean soldiers were already in Russia's Kursk region.
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'Considerable' number of some 10,000 N.K. troops in Russia moved to front lines: S. Korea
SEOUL -- Some 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed in Russia, with a "considerable" number of them having been dispatched to front-line areas, South Korea's defense ministry said Tuesday.
The assessment came amid concerns that North Korean troops may join Russian forces for combat in Russia's western border region of Kursk in the coming days.
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KISA warns of growing hacking risks related to N. Korean troop dispatch
SEOUL -- South Korea's cybersecurity watchdog on Monday called on local organizations and businesses to increase their data protection readiness, citing rising risks of hacking attacks related to North Korea's troop dispatch to Russia.
"Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as North Korea's dispatch of troops, cyber threats against South Korean organizations through distributed denial-of-service attacks have increased," the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) said in a statement.
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(LEAD) N. Korea raises earthen mounds to block severed inter-Korean roads: S. Korean military
SEOUL -- North Korea has raised 11-meter-high earthen mounds to completely block inter-Korean roads that it blew up last month, South Korea's military said Monday, in yet another show of Pyongyang's efforts to sever ties with the South.
Around 300 to 400 personnel have each been deployed to raise the mounds just north of the sections of the western Gyeongui Line and the eastern Donghae Line the North blew up last month, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
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(2nd LD) Yoon calls for thorough countermeasures against 'illegal' N. Korea-Russia military cooperation
SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday called for thorough countermeasures against the "illegal" military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, saying that the deepening alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow poses a significant security threat to South Korea.
In a parliamentary address read by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Yoon pledged to bolster security and defense amid growing security concerns posed by North Korea's troop deployment to Russia in support of its war in Ukraine.
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N. Korea presumed to change name of think tank dealing with affairs with S. Korea
SEOUL -- North Korea appears to have changed the name of a think tank designed to analyze affairs with South Korea, Seoul's unification ministry said Monday, as its leader Kim Jong-un has bolstered animosity toward the South.
North Korea disclosed the entity named the DPRK Institute of Enemy State Studies for the first time Sunday when it introduced a white paper issued by the think tank criticizing President Yoon Suk Yeol.
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