Summary of external news of North Korea this week

NK weekly-external news

Summary of external news of North Korea this week

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of external news of North Korea this week.

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U.N. council's response to N. Korea's provocations 'deplorable': S. Korean envoy

NEW YORK -- South Korea's top envoy to the United Nations expressed disappointment Thursday that the U.N. Security Council has failed to be united in responding to North Korea's recent provocations violating the council's resolutions against Pyongyang.

Addressing a session of the council, Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook said it is "deplorable" that the council has failed to respond properly to the North's "plain, flagrant and repeated violations of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions" during its meetings on North Korea last year.

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Yoon's comment on nuclear armament indication of will to defend nation: official

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol's recent comment on the possibility of South Korea's own nuclear armament was an expression of his firm commitment to defending the nation against North Korea's growing nuclear threat, his office said Thursday.

Yoon made the remark during a policy report by the foreign and defense ministers Wednesday, saying if North Korea's provocations intensify, "The Republic of Korea could deploy tactical nuclear weapons or possess its own nukes."

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U.S., Japan, S. Korea enhancing trilateral cooperation against N. Korean provocations: Blinken

WASHINGTON -- The United States is working with South Korea and Japan to strengthen their trilateral cooperation against North Korea's reckless provocations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Wednesday.

The top U.S. diplomat also reaffirmed U.S. support for Japan's new National Security Strategy that will arm Tokyo with counter-strike capabilities.

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(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. to hold 'table-top' exercise against N. Korea's possible nuke use:ministry

SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States plan to stage a combined military exercise next month under the scenario of use of a nuclear weapon by North Korea, Seoul's defense ministry said Wednesday in its report to President Yoon Suk Yeol on major policy tasks this year.

Among other plans are holding a 11-day springtime South Korea-U.S. exercise without a break, conducting a final test of a homegrown solid-propellant space rocket and launching the country's first military surveillance satellite.

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(LEAD) Yoon calls for closer security cooperation with U.S. over N. Korea's threat

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol called Wednesday for closer security cooperation with the United States to counter North Korea's missile and nuclear threats.

Yoon told an interview with The Associated Press that South Korea and the U.S. have been in discussions on joint planning involving U.S. nuclear assets, in the face of the North's nuclear threat.

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Yoon's office keeps open communication channel with N.K. rights activists

SEOUL -- Presidential officials have granted meetings with North Korean human rights activists last year and will continue to keep dialogue channels with them open in a departure from the preceding Moon Jae-in administration, an official said Monday.

Last year, members of Fighters for Free North Korea and other activist groups requested a meeting with the presidential office and had one, a presidential official told Yonhap News Agency.

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