Summary of inter-Korean news this week

NK weekly-inter-Korean news

Summary of inter-Korean news this week

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.

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Opposition leader urges N.K. leader to stop provocations

SEOUL -- Main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to stop its missile provocations, saying it will only lead to further isolation of the regime and intensify the suffering of its people.

Lee, chairman of the Democratic Party, made the remarks amid heightened tensions over North Korea's continued saber-rattling, such as its recent test-launch of a solid-fuel hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile and artillery firings near the western inter-Korean sea border.

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(2nd LD) Number of N. Korean defectors entering S. Korea nearly triples in 2023

SEOUL -- The number of North Korean defectors who arrived in South Korea came to 196 last year amid a rise in defections by North Korean diplomats and trade officials, government data showed Thursday.

The defections by 32 men and 164 women raised the total number of the North's defectors in South Korea to 34,078, according to the data from Seoul's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

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Ministry creates symbol of S. Koreans abducted by N. Korea by using forget-me-not motif

SEOUL -- The unification ministry said Thursday it has used the motif of a forget-me-not to create a symbol of South Koreans abducted and detained in North Korea in a bid to raise public awareness of the issue.

The move is part of the government's efforts to draw people's attention to the long pending issue in hope of their safe repatriations, according to the ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

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S. Korea imposes sanctions on 11 vessels over N. Korea's illegal ship-to-ship transfers

SEOUL -- South Korea on Wednesday imposed independent sanctions on 11 vessels and five individuals and entities engaged in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil and other products to North Korea, tightening the sanctions against the North's maritime activities.

The latest sanctions designation is part of South Korea's efforts to discourage the North's illicit procurement of resources and financing that are used to fund its nuclear and missile programs, the foreign ministry said.

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(4th LD) Yoon vows multiple-times stronger punishment in event of N.K. provocation

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Tuesday to punish North Korea multiple times as hard in the event it carries out a provocation against South Korea, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for defining South Korea as a "primary foe and invariable principal enemy."

Kim issued the call during a parliamentary meeting Monday, saying the country should revise its constitution to codify the new definition of South Korea and the North's commitment to "completely occupying" South Korean territory in the event of war.

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