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ROME, January 3 -- North Korea’s top diplomat in Italy has reportedly sought asylum in what would be another high-profile defection bid by one of Pyongyang’s envoys. Jo Song-gil, the acting North Korean ambassador to Rome, applied for asylum to an unidentified Western country with his family, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo daily said on Thursday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources in Seoul. "He sought asylum early last month," the JoongAng quoted one source as saying. Italian authorities were "agonising" over what to do, the official was quoted as saying, but added they were "protecting him in a safe place". If confirmed, this would be the first defection by a North Korean diplomat since 2016, when deputy ambassador to London Thae Yong-ho fled to the South with his wife and two sons. According to Joongang Ilbo, Jo has been serving as acting ambassador after Italy expelled then ambassador Mun Jong-nam following the North’s sixth nuclear test in September 2017. The Jo family had been living in Rome since 2015 with no direct relatives still living in Pyongyang – a rare privilege granted only to North Korean power elites because it leaves nobody behind to prevent them from defecting, the daily said. Jo is “known to be a son or son-in-law of one of the highest-level officials in the North’s regime”, the Joongang cited an unnamed North Korea expert as saying. The Kim dynasty has ruled the impoverished but nuclear-armed state for three generations with little tolerance for dissent, and the regime stands accused of widespread human rights abuses. North Korean diplomats are usually called back home when they have spent about three years overseas. Many are aggrieved when they are told to return home from developed countries where they can raise their children in a presumably favorable environment, North Korean defectors have said. SEOUL, January 2 -- Refuting Tokyo's claims in the ongoing military radar dispute, Seoul is calling for an apology for what it calls a Japanese aircraft’s threatening flight against a South Korean warship. In a text message sent to reporters on Wednesday, South Korea’s Defense Ministry expressed deep regret that Japan is repeating unilateral claims after releasing related video footage despite an agreement with Seoul to hold working-level discussions to establish facts. Reiterating its stance that the South Korean destroyer was conducting a normal rescue operation to help a drifting North Korean ship and did not lock its radar on a Japanese patrol aircraft, the ministry said the footage instead shows the aircraft making a low-altitude flight. It called on Japan to stop distorting facts and apologize for the aircraft's threatening flight while repeating that the two countries should continue working-level talks on the issue. Video footage @ Japan shows clip of alleged South Korea radar lock-on The North Korean leader acknowledges the two Koreas have escaped the danger of war and have “established ties of harmony and trust that are irreversible.". Kim regrets not being able to visit Seoul, whilst for the South Korean president, “There will be a lot of difficulties going forward. But our hearts will be opened to each other.” SEOUL, December 31 -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in asking for more peace talks in the new year. Moon yesterday welcomed North Korea's renewed commitment to the denuclearisation of the peninsula, which could give new impetus to the stalled negotiations with the United States over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. According to Moon, Kim has acknowledged that the two Koreas have escaped from the danger of war and “established ties of harmony and trust that are irreversible”. The North Korean leader, Moon added, “has expressed his willingness to actively carry out agreements reached at the inter-Korean summits and the US-North Korea summit”. “Chairman Kim said he wants to meet [with me] frequently in the new year again in order to discuss practical issues related with peace and prosperity and the issue of denuclearisation. I heartily welcome this.” Whilst the Office of the President did not fully disclose Kim’s letter, Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said that Kim expressed regret that he could not make a planned visit to Seoul, South Korea’s capital, by the end of December as the two leaders had agreed at their last summit in September in Pyongyang. In September, the Koreas agreed to a number of goodwill gestures to reduce their conventional military threat, such as removing mines and firearms from the border village of Panmunjom, destroying some front-line guard posts and creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border. “Kim said the leaders by meeting three times in a single year and implementing bold measures to overcome the long period of conflict lifted our nation from military tension and war fears,” Moon’s spokesman noted. In addition, he leader expressed his willingness to “keep a close eye on the situation and expressed strong will to visit Seoul.” Still, “There will be a lot of difficulties going forward. But our hearts will be opened to each other depending on how much effort we make,” Moon said.
TOKYO, December 29 -- Japan released video footage on Friday to prove that a South Korean warship allegedly locked its fire-control radar onto a Japanese warplane off the country's northern coast, the latest move in an escalating row between the two Asian neighbours.
The Defense Ministry's just over 13-minute footage, filmed from the P-1 patrol aircraft and published on its website, contained Japanese crewmembers asking the destroyer for clarification but getting no response.
Japan alleged that last Friday a South Korean destroyer repeatedly locked its targeting radar on the Japanese aircraft inside of Japan's exclusive economic waters off the Noto Peninsula. A lock with a fire-control radar is considered a hostile act and only one step away from actual firing. Relations between Japan and South Korea have degraded to their worst in recent years over compensation issues related to Japanese atrocities such as sexual abuse of "comfort women'' and Korean forced labour during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 through 1945. The radar flap has added to the strain.
"Korea South Naval Ship, Hull Number 971, this is Japan Navy. We observed that your FC antenna is directed to us. What is the purpose of your act, over?'' a crewmember asked the destroyer in English several times using three different frequencies but the destroyer remained silent. The voice grew slightly tense as the crew kept calling. The video starts showing the gray destroyer sailing near a North Korean vessel. About six minutes later, one of the crewmembers can be heard saying: "FC detected'' and that it was coming from the destroyer. Seoul has denied the allegation, saying its warship used an optical camera while rescuing a North Korean fishing boat in distress. Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters earlier Friday that he decided to release the footage and data to let the people in and outside Japan know that the Japanese Self-Defense Force operated appropriately. "It is most important that an incident like this should never be repeated between Japan and South Korea,'' Iwaya said, adding that relations between the two sides are crucial for regional national security. "Even though difficult issues remain between Japan and South Korea,'' he said, "I hope to overcome those problems and push forward our mutual understanding and exchange between our two militaries.'' PYONGYANG, December 20 -- North Korea will not relinquish its nuclear arsenal until the regional “nuclear threat” from the United States is removed, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a statement Thursday. In a dispatch released amid a visit to the peninsula by Washington’s top North Korea negotiator Stephen Beigun and months of deadlocked nuclear talks, the DPRK blamed the U.S. for a lack of progress since July’s Singapore summit. That meeting between DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump – as well as two inter-Korean summits in April and September – saw North Korea commit to work towards the “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” “The U.S. should recognize the meaning of the term ‘denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,’ and should especially get right to work studying geography,” the statement reads. “When referring to the Korean Peninsula, it includes not only our country’s territory, but also encompasses the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, which includes the U.S.’s nuclear weapons and other invading forces in the territory of the Republic of Korea,” it continues. “And when referring to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, it should be understood that this means removing all nuclear threats, not only from North and South Korean territory, but also from the surrounding area aimed at the Korean Peninsula.” While the U.S. removed all nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula in 1991, South Korea and Japan remain under the protection of the U.S.’s so-called “nuclear umbrella,” as part of a broader strategy of extended deterrence in the region. Thursday’s statement from North Korea suggests that Pyongyang now believes that any future negotiations over its nuclear weaponry would involve plans for the removal of this apparatus, as well as the withdrawal of United States Forces Korea (USFK) from the peninsula. In terms of phasing, Thursday’s statement suggested that this would need to take place before the DPRK were to relinquish its nuclear arsenal. “In this regard, a correct definition of the situation would be to say ‘the complete elimination of the U.S. nuclear threat against North Korea’ comes before the elimination of our nuclear deterrent.” It also stressed that Pyongyang continues to fear attempts at regime change by the U.S. should it relinquish its nuclear weapons. “It is evident that if we unilaterally eliminate our security guarantees against a U.S. nuclear preemptive strike, it would not be considered denuclearization, but rather it will leave [us] defenseless and bring about a nuclear war crisis with the destruction of the two sides’ nuclear strategic balance.” But it also suggested that the door remains open for dialogue, stressing that the denuclearization of the peninsula will only be achieved if “both North Korea and the U.S. work together.” It also follows a similarly hardline statement by an official from the DPRK foreign ministry’s Institute for American Studies earlier in the week, in which it was argued that Washington’s position on sanctions could – according to Pyongyang – “block the path to denuclearization.” Last month, too, that same organization threatened the U.S. with a resumption of nuclear development should sanctions relief not be forthcoming. BEIRUT, December 4 -- Syria and North Korea’s foreign ministers met in Damascus on Tuesday, officials said, and thanked each other for their support during years of international isolation. North Korea’s Ri Yong Ho thanked Walid Al-Moualem for Syria’s opposition to economic sanctions on Pyongyang, according to Syria’s foreign ministry. Moualem said Syria was grateful for North Korea’s support in international forums. United Nations monitors say the relationship has gone deeper than diplomacy and accused North Korea in February of cooperating with Syria on chemical weapons — a charge North Korea denied. Israel in 2007 bombed a suspected nuclear reactor in eastern Syria which it said was being constructed with help from North Korea and had been months away from activation. Syria, a signatory of the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has always denied that the site was a reactor or that Damascus engaged in nuclear cooperation with North Korea. Both countries have faced international isolation, North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, and Syria over its nearly eight-year-old civil war. A Syrian parliamentary delegation visited North Korea in October. TOKYO, November 13 -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence reaffirmed on Tuesday their countries' cooperation in resolving North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs, and its abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago.
At a meeting held at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Abe and Pence also confirmed close bilateral collaboration in order to realize constructive dialogue with China. They agreed to expand trade and investment in a way to benefit both Japan and the United States through bilateral trade pact talks seen starting in January 2019. The two sides reaffirmed the need to fully implement U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions against North Korea toward realizing the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Abe told a joint press conference after the meeting. Abe also underscored that he and Pence agreed on close Japan-U.S. cooperation for the early resolution of the abduction issue, which is of the most importance for Japan. BEIJING, January 27 -- New UN resolution on North Korea should not provoke aggravation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday at a joint press conference with US State Secretary John Kerry. Wang also said that new UN Security Council resolution on North Korea should bring the sides back to the negotiations table on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. China refutes ungrounded speculations about Beijing’s position regarding North Korea’s nuclear program, Wang Yi went on to say. He stressed that China’s position on the Korean issue will remain unchanged under influence of temporary factors and short-term developments. According to Chinese Foreign Minister, international sanctions against North Korea should not be the goal in itself but rather serve as means of resuming negotiations on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "Sanctions do not represent the end [of international efforts] and its goal. The goal is to maintain peace and stability in the region, continue negotiations and complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Wang said. North Korea announced on January 6 that it had successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The country’s government said in a statement circulated by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the test had had "no adverse impacts on the environmental situation." Now, according to the statement, North Korea "possesses the strongest deterrent forces." North Korea previously conducted three nuclear tests: in 2006, in 2009 and in 2013. Following these tests, the United Nations Security Council imposed various sanctions on Pyongyang. In the past two years, North Korea refrained from nuclear tests limiting itself to ballistic missile launches as a response to the US-South Korea large-scale military drills. PYONGYANG, December 22 -- North Korea has said US President Barack Obama is "recklessly'' spreading rumours of a Pyongyang-orchestrated cyber attack on Sony Pictures and warned of strikes against "the whole US mainland, that cesspool of terrorism". North Korea has said US President Barack Obama is "recklessly'' spreading rumours of a Pyongyang-orchestrated cyber attack on Sony Pictures and warned of strikes against "the whole US mainland, that cesspool of terrorism". Pyongyang specifically threatened the White House and the Pentagon in a long statement from the powerful National Defence Commission late on Sunday. Such North Korean rhetoric during times of high tension with Washington is routine. But it also underscores the country's sensitivity over a movie whose plot focuses on the assassination of leader Kim Jong-un. The US blames North Korea for the cyber attack that escalated to threats of terror attacks against US movie theatres and caused Sony to cancel the release of "The Interview". The US is now considering whether to put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terror, Obama said on Sunday. "We're going to review those through a process that's already in place," the president said in an interview aired on Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union". "And we don't make those judgements just based on the news of the day. We look systematically at what's been done and based on those facts, we'll make those determinations in the future." 'A dangerous precedent' North Korea had earlier denied responsibility for the hack attack and proposed a joint investigation with the US to to find the culprits. Obama's remarks, in the interview which was taped on Friday, followed a call from a leading US senator to reconsider North Korea's terror designation. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, saying the Pyongyang regime had set a "dangerous precedent" through cyber attacks that were "able to inflict significant economic damage on a major international company". The State Department rescinded its designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in October 2008. Currently, the list includes just four countries: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Obama has asked the State Department to consider removing Cuba, following the historic thawing of relations between the two Cold War rivals announced earlier this week. SEOUL, November 9 -- North Korea unexpectedly released two American prisoners, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller, following a Saturday conclusion of closed-door negotiations led by U.S. director of intelligence James R. Clapper. The surprise development, which follows the release of fellow American citizen Jeffrey Fowle earlier this month, now brings the count of detained U.S. citizens in North Korea to zero.
“We can confirm that U.S. citizens Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller have been allowed to depart the DPRK and are on their way home, accompanied by DNI Clapper, to re-join their families,” a rare statement published by the office of the Director of National Intelligence said on Saturday. “We welcome the DPRK’s decision to release both Mr. Bae and Mr. Miller. We want to thank our international partners, especially our Protecting Power, the Government of Sweden, for their tireless efforts to help secure their release,” the statement continued, adding that Washington was “facilitating their return to the United States”. The State Department subsequently told CNN that Clapper, who visited Pyongyang as an envoy of President Barack Obama, did not make a ”quid pro quo” offer for the men’s release. The development comes as a major surprise to North Korea watchers, something for which the rationale may not be revealed soon, one observer suggested. “The United States will probably not admit to talking with North Korea, especially under these circumstances,” said North Korea watcher Christopher Green, also international editor at the Seoul-based Daily NK. “We’ll likely never be told the content of the dialogue that goes on in Pyongyang, either, unless North Korea reveals it in a fit of pique at a later date. But at the end of the day James Clapper is a very serious man, and his presence cannot be overlooked,” added Green. KENNETH BAE Bae was arrested on November 3 2012 in the northeastern city of Rajin, and found to possess a computer hard drive containing pictures of starving North Korean children and a copy of the 2007 National Geographic documentary “Don’t tell my mother I’m in North Korea.” Sentenced to 15 years hard labor in May 2013, Bae was sentenced on four counts: - Plotting the overthrow of the North Korean government with a plan called “Operation Jericho.” - Admitting setting up bases in China to overthrow the government. - Inciting North Korean to overthrow their government. - Conducting a smear campaign against the DPRK. MATTHEW MILLER North Korea’s Supreme Court sentenced American detainee Matthew Miller to six years of hard labor in October 2014, for allegedly destroying his tourist visa and announcing his intention to seek asylum. In reports released after his trial, KCNA said that Miller “committed acts hostile to the DPRK while entering the territory of the DPRK under the guise of a tourist in last April”. “Prison life is eight hours of work per day. Mostly it’s been agriculture, like in the dirt, digging around. Other than that, it’s isolation, no contact with anyone,” Miller said in an interview with AP following his sentencing. “But I’ve been in good health and no sickness or no hurts (sic),” Miller added. PYONGYANG, October 25 -- The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “has repeatedly warned the South Korean authorities that such actions can lead to resolute counter-measures,” the newspaper said Planned launches of balloons by South Korean activists to send provocative leaflets to North Korea “may trigger large-scale military activities,” North Korea’s state-run Minju Choson newspaper writes on Saturday. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “has repeatedly warned the South Korean authorities that such actions can lead to resolute counter-measures,” the newspaper said. This position “affects inter-Korean relations extremely negatively,” it said. Earlier reports said activists from a South Korean conservative organization, having North Korean defectors in its ranks, plan to launch balloons carrying up to 50,000 leaflets from Imjinkak area close to the border with the North. A representative from the South Korea’s Korean National Police Agency said in this connection that “the government has no legal foundations to block launches of leaflets by private organizations”. PYONGYANG, October 22 -- Pyongyang has released Jeffrey Fowle, one of three Americans being held captive by North Korea (DPRK), the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Wednesday. The US citizen has been released “pursuant to President Barack Obama’s repeated requests,” the agency said. “The US citizen who arrived in DPRK as a tourist on April 29, committed actions in violation of the country’s law,” KCNA reported previously. Fowle was detained in April after apparently leaving a Bible in the bathroom of a nightclub in the northern port of Chongjin. In September, the Supreme Court of North Korea sentenced to six years of hard labour American Matthew Miller who was kept in custody since April 2014. According to KCNA, he confessed “to committing hostile acts against DPRK where he arrived this April as a tourist.”Another US citizen of Korean descent Pae Jun Ho, known as Kenneth Bae by US authorities, was found guilty in an April 30, 2013 trial of “hostile acts to bring down its government” and planning anti-North Korea religious activities. He was sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labour camp. The American was arrested in Rason City in the northeast of North Korea on November 3, 2012. He arrived in North Korea as a tourist. DPRK and the United States have no diplomatic relations. The interests of Washington in Pyongyang are represented by the Swedish embassy. The two countries’ bilateral political tension has been maintained over many years. SEOUL, October 19 -- South Korea and North Korea exchanged fire at the border, the Republic of Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported on Sunday. Another border incident occurred at about 17:40 local time (9:40 Netherlands time) as near the city of Paju in the western sector of the demilitarisation zone, dividing the two countries, several warning shots were made from the South Korean side as North Korean soldiers were approaching the demarcation line in the middle of the demilitarisation zone. Before the shots, the military of South Korea voiced several warnings through loudspeakers. North Korea, in its turn, fired back. Traces from North Korean shooting were found at the South Korean border station. In response, the South Korean military fired back. No victims were reported in South Korea. Technically, Seoul and Pyongyang are in the state of military confrontation, as the Korean War of 1950-1953 finished by signing of only a truce agreement, and the countries do not have a peace treaty. Exchanges of fire between the North and the South were registered several times last week at the sea and land borders. PYONGYANG, October 18 -- The United States and its allies deliberately distort the human rights situation in North Korea "to tarnish its reputation in the international arena," a representative of the National Association for the Study of Human Rights said in a statement released on Saturday via the KCNA news agency. Western countries criticise the report, which was presented recently to the United Nations Organisation as an official document and which received international recognition, to "focus on activities of the committee they created to investigate into human rights violations in the North," the report reads. Pyongyang believes that this committee makes decisions based on data provided by defectors from North Korea, "who have committed serious crimes in their home country." In Association stressed that North Korea "is taking efforts to strengthen international cooperation in the human rights area." However, the United States and its allies, "seek to politicize the issue of human rights and undermine the social system of the DPRK under the pretext of their violation." The Association’s representative said the DPRK would disrupt attempts from "hostile forces" to cause damage to the country "by means of their inflated campaign in human rights, and will undertake all necessary measures to protect the socialist system of the Korean style. |
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