Summary of inter-Korean news this week

SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.

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(3rd LD) N. Korea fires 3 short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea: S. Korean military

SEOUL -- North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea Thursday, the South Korean military said, in its first major provocation since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area of Pyongyang at 6:29 p.m., and the missiles flew some 360 kilometers at a top altitude of about 90 km.

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(LEAD) Yoon offers to send COVID-19 vaccines to N. Korea

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday offered to send COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea, his spokesperson said, a day after Pyongyang acknowleged an outbreak for the first time since the pandemic began.

After claiming for over two years that it was coronavirus-free, the North reported its first case of COVID-19 on Thursday, saying the country declared the implementation of the "maximum emergency" virus control system.

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(5th LD) Yoon champions freedom, offers to revive N.K. economy with 'audacious plan'

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk-yeol took the oath of office Tuesday, vowing to rebuild the nation on the foundation of a liberal democracy and market economy and offering to revive North Korea's economy with an "audacious plan" should it take steps to denuclearize.

In his inauguration address at the National Assembly Plaza, Yoon outlined various challenges facing the country and the world from pandemics and rearrangements in global supply chains to record-low growth and rising unemployment.

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Signs of movement detected at Kaesong Industrial Complex: ministry

SEOUL -- South Korea has asked North Korea to provide an explanation over signs of movement detected at the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex but has received no response yet, the unification ministry said Monday.

Earlier, a local newspaper, citing multiple sources, reported that the North has unilaterally resumed operations at some of the facilities in the North's border city of Kaesong, saying that such movement is what appears to have caused a fire there last month.

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S. Korean military to revive 'provocation' reference to N.K. missile tests: sources

SEOUL -- South Korea's military plans to revive the reference to North Korean ballistic missile tests as "provocations," informed sources said Thursday in an apparent reflection of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's hard-line stance on the recalcitrant regime's military threats.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff has decided to use the expression in its public announcements of future North Korean missile launches in line with new Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup's directive, according to the sources.

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(LEAD) New defense minister orders 'stern, immediate' response if N. Korea provokes

SEOUL -- New South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup called Wednesday for a "stern and immediate" response in case of a "direct" North Korean provocation, as he took office amid rising concerns about the recalcitrant regime's possible nuclear test.

Lee, a retired three-star general, made the call during a video-linked meeting of top military officials -- the first such gathering under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration -- shortly after his inauguration ceremony.
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