The following is a summary of external news of North Korea this week.
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S. Korea's foreign minister reiterates calls for N. Korea's return to dialogue
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign minister has renewed calls for North Korea to return to dialogue during a regional security forum, his office said Saturday, as Seoul seeks to resume nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang following the recent restoration of inter-Korean communication lines.
Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong made the call during Friday's virtual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF), a rare multilateral forum involving North Korea.
North Korea's Ambassador to Indonesia An Kwang-il attended the forum instead of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon, as was the case last year.
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Blinken says open to 'different options' in renewed call for N.K. dialogue: official
SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken showed a willingness to consider different "options" and "possibilities" with North Korea in a renewed call for its return to dialogue during a regional forum last week, a Washington official said Monday.
Kin W. Moy, a senior official for the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the remarks during a telephone press conference on Blinken's attendance at a series of forums led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"In his comments, I thought we were very good about our openness to talk to the North. And I think that shows a kind of willingness to consider different options," Moy said during the press meeting.
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S. Korea, U.S. begin preliminary training ahead of main summertime exercise
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States on Tuesday began a preliminary training in the runup to next week's annual summertime military exercise, prompting the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to issue a statement blasting Seoul and Washington.
The four-day crisis management staff training is aimed at checking the military's response to unexpected situations before a war breaks out. It will be followed by the main computer-simulated Combined Command Post Training scheduled for Aug. 16-26, according to the sources.
The two countries have decided to push ahead with the drills as planned, albeit in a scaled-back manner due to the pandemic, despite North Korea's warning the maneuvers will dampen the budding conciliatory mood between the two Koreas.
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Senior diplomats of S. Korea, U.S. hold phone talks after N.K. berates allied exercise
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- Senior diplomats of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, after the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slammed the allies for pressing ahead with their combined military exercise.
During the talks, First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman agreed to continue coordinated diplomatic efforts for substantive progress in the efforts for the complete denuclearization of and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, the ministry said.
Earlier in the day, Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader's sister, issued a statement, calling the joint exercises the "the most vivid expression of the U.S. hostile policy" toward the North and vowing to strengthen the North's "deterrent of absolute capacity."
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U.S. says joint military exercise is defensive, holds no hostility toward DPRK
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- The United States on Wednesday reiterated the defensive nature of its joint military exercise with South Korea, one day after North Korea called it a "hostile act."
A State Department spokesperson also said the U.S. holds no hostility toward the North.
"The joint military exercises are purely defensive in nature. As we have long maintained, the United States harbors no hostile intent towards the DPRK," the department official told Yonhap News Agency in an email. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
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N.K. envoy demands U.S. troops' withdrawal from S. Korea, denounces military drills as war rehearsal: TASS
SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's top envoy in Russia has called for the U.S. troops' withdrawal from South Korea and called the allies' joint military exercise a "war rehearsal," a Russian news agency said Thursday.
North Korean Ambassador to Moscow Sin Hong-chol made the demand in an interview with Russia's TASS as Pyongyang recently ramped up criticism of South Korea for going ahead with its summertime combined military exercise with the U.S.
"The U.S. should primarily pull out its aggressive troops and military hardware deployed in South Korea to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula," he said in the interview.
Source: Yonhap News Agency