North Korea replaces defense minister, drops unification goal in party charter

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- The following is a summary of domestic news in North Korea this week.

N. Korea replaces defense minister with Kim Song-gi in military reshuffle: KCNA

SEOUL -- North Korea has replaced its defense minister in a reshuffle of senior military leadership, state media reported Sunday.

Kim Song-gi, director of the General Political Bureau of the North's Korean People's Army, was appointed as the country's new defense minister, replacing No Kwang-chol, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

N. Korea denounces U.S. hostile policy toward it, vows 'toughest' response

SEOUL -- North Korea on Monday denounced the United States for maintaining what it called a "hostile" policy and vowed to respond with the "toughest" countermeasures.

A spokesperson at North Korea's foreign ministry made the criticism, slamming Washington for pursuing "hostile" measures under the banner of denuclearization and human rights.

N. Korea's Kim reaffirms strong ties with Vietnam in National Day letter

SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday reaffirmed his commitment to deepening ties with Vietnam in a letter to President To Lam marking the country's 81st founding anniversary, Pyongyang's state media said.

"I take this opportunity to express the belief that the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two parties and two countries would grow stronger in conformity with the spirit of the agreement reached at our meeting in Pyongyang in October last year," Kim wrote in the letter, released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

N. Korea's Kim stresses role of education at teachers' conference

SEOUL -- North Korea has opened the 15th National Conference of Teachers in Pyongyang, with leader Kim Jong-un stressing the importance of education and touting teachers' role in advancing it, state media reported Thursday.

In his opening address a day earlier, Kim called education "the most important state affair that cannot and should not lag behind the work of any other fields" and praised teachers as "patriots" at the forefront of raising the country's next generation.

N. Korea drops unification goal, cements Kim as sole leader in revised party charter

SEOUL -- North Korea has stripped references to "peaceful unification" with South Korea from the charter of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the full text of the document showed Thursday, in line with Pyongyang's redefinition of inter-Korean ties as those between "two hostile" states.

The text, released by Seoul's Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), is the first public disclosure of the charter in full.