SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) — The following is a summary of external news in North Korea this week.
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S. Korean, U.S., Japanese nuclear envoys condemn N.K.’s artillery firing, missile test
SEOUL — Top South Korean, U.S. and Japanese nuclear envoys expressed deep concerns over North Korea’s latest barrage of military provocations during their phone talks Friday, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry.
Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and his American counterpart, Sung Kim, strongly condemned Pyongyang’s short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) launch and artillery firings into maritime “buffer zones” earlier in the day.
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S. Korea to conduct annual Hoguk defense exercise next week amid N.K. threats
SEOUL — South Korea will kick off a major military exercise next week to hone defense capabilities to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, Seoul officials said Friday.
The annual Hoguk exercise, set for Monday to Oct. 28, has been arranged amid heightened tensions caused by North Korea’s provocations, including its firing of a short-range ballistic missile and some 170 artillery shots early Friday.
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Timely U.S. strategic asset deployment ‘most desirable’ option to deter N.K. threats: Seoul official
SEOUL — Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul said Thursday the “timely, coordinated” deployment of U.S. strategic military assets to South Korea is the “most desirable” option among the possibilities to counter North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats.
A debate has recently resurfaced over whether South Korea should push for the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear arms to the peninsula, as North Korea has adopted an assertive nuclear policy while pushing to secure tactical nuclear weapons.
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Ruling party chief calls for stronger U.S. nuclear umbrella against N. Korean provocations
SEOUL — Ruling party leader Chung Jin-suk called Thursday for significantly bolstering the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea to cope with intensifying nuclear threats from North Korea.
Chung issued the call a day after he called for scrapping a 1991 inter-Korean declaration on denuclearization, stressing that strengthening the alliance with the U.S. is the only feasible option to deter the North.
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(LEAD) U.S. reaffirms commitment to engage with N. Korea in new security strategy
WASHINGTON — The United States reaffirmed its commitment to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula through diplomacy in its latest national security strategy released Wednesday that focused largely on how it will handle its growing competition with China.
It said the country will continue to enhance and expand its alliances to achieve both ends.
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Nuclear envoys of S. Korea, Japan hold consultations over N.K. provocations
SEOUL — Top South Korean and Japanese nuclear envoys held consultations Wednesday on ways to deal with North Korea’s continued provocations highlighted by its recent string of ballistic missile launches, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
Kim Gunn, the ministry’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, at the South Korean foreign ministry in Seoul. They previously met in Tokyo early last month together with their U.S. counterpart, Sung Kim.
Source: Yonhap News Agency