Summary of inter-Korean news this week

SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.

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(LEAD) Presidential candidates denounce North Korea's threat of weapons tests

SEOUL -- South Korea's major presidential candidates slammed North Korea on Thursday after Pyongyang threatened to consider resuming nuclear and long-range missile tests.

Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party expressed "strong regret" and urged the regime to halt all actions that could make the situation worse.

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NSC to prepare for possibility of escalating tensions as N. Korea hints at resuming major weapons tests

SEOUL -- The presidential National Security Council (NSC) said Thursday it will prepare for the possibility of escalating tensions as North Korea hinted at restarting nuclear and long-range missile tests.

North Korea held a key meeting of the ruling Workers' Party earlier this week and decided to consider restarting "all temporarily-suspended" activities, the North's state media reported earlier in the day, apparently referring to its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.

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Number of N. Korean defectors plunges in 2021 amid pandemic

SEOUL -- The number of North Koreans who defected to South Korea dropped to double digits last year apparently due to the North's strict border restrictions against the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an official here Thursday.

A total of 63 North Koreans -- 40 men and 23 women -- settled in the South during the year, compared with 229 in 2020 and 1,047 in 2019, the unification ministry official told reporters on background.

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S. Korea says it's monitoring N. Korea with 'sense of tension,' stresses need for dialogue

SEOUL -- The South Korean government emphasized Thursday that dialogue and diplomacy are the only key to building peace on the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea's thinly veiled threat to scrap a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

The North held a high-profile politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party the previous day and decided to consider restarting "all temporally-suspended" activities to brace for a "long-term confrontation" with the United States, according to Pyongyang's state media.

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Yoon vows to secure preemptive strike capability after N.K. launch

SEOUL -- Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday vowed to secure a preemptive strike capability after North Korea conducted its fourth missile test this year.

Yoon of the conservative People Power Party previously mentioned the need to carry out a preemptive strike in the event North Korea appears ready to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at the South.

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NSC expresses strong regret over N. Korea's latest projectile launch

SEOUL -- The presidential National Security Council (NSC) expressed strong regret Monday after North Korea fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles eastward that marked the North's fourth show of force this month.

The council held an emergency meeting after South Korea's military announced that the North fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the East Sea.
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