NK weekly-inter-Korean news
Summary of inter-Korean news this week
SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.
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Gov't to make every effort to seek release of S. Korean detainees in N. Korea: minister
SEOUL -- Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said Friday the government will mobilize all available means to win the release of South Korean detainees in North Korea.
Kwon was speaking at a meeting with family members of two of the six detainees who have been held in the North since 2013. The rare session was arranged to explain the government's commitment to resolving the long-running issue.
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S. Korean envoy raises issue of female N.K. defectors' human rights at U.N. meeting
NEW YORK -- South Korea's top envoy at the United Nations appealed Thursday to the international community to pay more attention to the dire human rights conditions that female North Korean defectors endure in the North before escape.
Addressing a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) session, Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook said it is "heartbreaking" to see that many North Korean women arrive in South Korea only after suffering from years of human rights violations in the North.
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S. Korea urges N. Korea to honor 2018 accord on reducing military tensions
SEOUL -- South Korea's unification ministry on Thursday called on North Korea to honor a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing military tensions as Pyongyang's latest artillery firing constitutes a violation of the accord.
Since last week, North Korea has launched hundreds of artillery shots into maritime buffer zones set under the 2018 inter-Korean agreement in its "powerful military countermeasure" against military drills under way in the South.
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(LEAD) Seoul voices regret over N.K.'s removal of S. Korean-built facilities at Mt. Kumgang resort
SEOUL -- The Seoul unification ministry on Tuesday expressed regret over North Korea's continued dismantling of South Korean-built facilities at the Mount Kumgang resort on its east coast.
Voice of America reported that the North appears to have torn down a South Korean-built raw fish restaurant at the resort, citing satellite images taken by Planet Labs, a U.S. Earth imaging company.
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(LEAD) S. Korea keeping close tabs on N. Korea during Hoguk drills
SEOUL -- South Korea's military is keeping close tabs on North Korea's movements and maintaining an emergency response posture amid concerns of additional provocations during an ongoing defense exercise in the South, an official here said Monday.
The annual Hoguk drills kicked off earlier in the day after a series of provocations by the North in recent weeks, including the firing of a short-range ballistic missile Friday.
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