Summary of inter-Korean news this week

SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.

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S. Korea calls on N. Korea to pay back US$80 mln loan

SEOUL -- South Korea's unification ministry Friday called on North Korea to repay its 2007 loan of industrial raw materials, worth US$80 million, from Seoul, saying it is coming to maturity.

Under an inter-Korean agreement at that time, meant to help improve the North's light industries, the South loaned the North raw materials needed to produce garments, shoes and soaps.

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Unification minister discusses cooperation on N. Korea with top Japanese officials

SEOUL -- South Korea's unification minister had discussions with top Japanese government officials on ways to bolster cooperation over North Korea's nuclear and missile problems and the issue of those abducted by the North decades ago, according to his office Friday.

Kwon Young-se had talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno in Tokyo on Thursday, the second day of his four-day trip to Japan, it said.

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(LEAD) Yoon vows to make N. Korea pay for reckless provocations

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Friday to make North Korea pay for its reckless provocations as the regime claimed to have carried out additional simulations of nuclear attacks on its enemies.

Yoon issued the warning hours after North Korea said it conducted the simulations this week involving cruise missile launches and an underwater nuclear attack drone, with leader Kim Jong-un threatening to make Seoul and Washington "plunge into despair."

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(2nd LD) S. Korea co-sponsors UNHRC draft resolution on N.K. human rights after 5 yrs

SEOUL -- South Korea has co-sponsored a U.N. human rights council draft resolution on North Korea's gross rights violations for the first time in five years, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

Seoul has participated as a co-sponsor in the draft resolution to be adopted at the 52nd regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) around April 3, according to the ministry.

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S. Korea seeks to block N. Korea from acquiring satellite-related materials

SEOUL -- The South Korean government announced a ban Tuesday on the export via a third country of dozens of materials that can be used for North Korea's satellite development.

The move is aimed at prohibiting the secretive nuclear-armed nation from circumventing U.N. Security Council sanctions, as Pyongyang said it plans to put what it claims to be a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit in spring.

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