SEOUL: The only US soldier known still to be living in North Korea after defecting more than five decades ago died last year pledging loyalty to the “great leader Kim Jong-Un,” his sons said.
James Joseph Dresnok was among just a handful of American servicemen to desert following the 1950-53 Korean War, crossing the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone in 1962.
He went on to appear in North Korean propaganda films and was believed to be the last US military defector in the country, the others all having died or been allowed to leave.
In a video interview posted on the state-run Uriminzokkiri website, Ted and James Dresnok, his two adult sons, confirmed that their father suffered a fatal stroke in November last year.
“Our father was in the arms of the republic and received only the love and care of the party until his passing at age 74,” said Ted Dresnok, the elder of the two.
Brown-haired and hazel-eyed, he wore a Korean People’s Army uniform in the video like his brother, adorned with a badge depicting the North’s founder Kim Il-Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-Il.
Both men were born in North Korea and spoke Korean with a thick Northern accent.
“Our father asked us to render devoted service to our great leader Kim Jong-Un,” said Ted Dresnok, who also goes by the Korean name Hong Soon-Chol.
Their comments were similar to those of ordinary North Koreans, who normally only ever express officially approved sentiments when speaking for a foreign audience.
It was the brothers’ second appearance on the program, after they praised the country in a May 2016 interview.
Their mother is said to have been Doina Bumbea, a Romanian whose family say she was kidnapped by Pyongyang.
In a searing 2014 report on human rights in North Korea, a UN commission of inquiry said: “Women abducted from Europe, the Middle East and Asia were subjected to forced marriages with men from other countries to prevent liaisons on their part with ethnic Korean women that could result in interracial children.”
Another American soldier defector, Charles Jenkins, married Japanese abductee Hitomi Soga within weeks of meeting her in the North.
Soga was allowed to leave in 2002, and Jenkins and their two daughters followed suit two years later. He was court-martialled for desertion and given a 30-day custodial sentence. They now live on a small Japanese island where he makes a living selling rice crackers.
Four other post-1953 US army deserters are all believed to have died in the North.
Reports of Dresnok’s death emerged earlier this year but the brothers’ video is the first official confirmation.
Tensions have been mounting in the region since Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month that appeared to bring much of the US within range.
That sparked a volley of threats between Pyongyang and Washington, with President Donald Trump warning the North of “fire and fury” while Pyongyang threatened to fire a salvo of missiles toward the US territory of Guam.
Ted Dresnok said the “US imperialists” were raising “war hysteria madness” while knowing little about the North’s military and its people.
If war breaks out, he said, “We will not miss the opportunity and wipe the land of the US from the earth forever.”
In the video, posted Friday, his brother James, whose Korean name is Hong Chol, added: “We have our dear supreme commander Kim Jong-Un. If he is by our side, our victory is certain.”
The late James Dresnok, known as Joe, was 21, newly divorced and reportedly facing a court-martial when he made his way through the minefields that litter the DMZ to reach North Korea.
He was the subject of a 2006 British documentary, “Crossing the Line,” which was nominated for a Grand Jury prize at the Sundance film festival.
In it he expressed satisfaction with his life in Pyongyang, where citizens enjoy better standards of living than people elsewhere in the isolated country.
Co-director Nick Bonner told AFP: “Joe seemed to have accepted he was going to remain in the north due to politics and ill health.
“Also his memory of life in the US was not so rosy, having grown up in an orphanage and not established himself.”
Dresnok once told a CBS interview he would not leave the North even if “you put a billion damn dollars of gold on the table.”
Sons of US defector to N. Korea confirm his death
Sons of US defector to N. Korea confirm his death
South Korean investigators arrest impeached President Yoon
- Earlier more than 3,000 police officers and anti-corruption investigators had gathered there before dawn, pushing through throngs of Yoon supporters and members of his ruling People Power Party protesting attempts to detain him
SEOUL: South Korean authorities arrested impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday over insurrection accusations related to his Dec. 3 martial law declaration, investigators said.
A motorcade was seen leaving the gates of his hillside residence where Yoon has been holed up for weeks behind barbed wire barriers and a small army of personal security.
Earlier more than 3,000 police officers and anti-corruption investigators had gathered there before dawn, pushing through throngs of Yoon supporters and members of his ruling People Power Party protesting attempts to detain him.
Yoon’s lawyers have argued attempts to detain Yoon are illegal and are designed to publicly humiliate him. The warrant investigators secured for his arrest is the first ever issued against an incumbent South Korean president.
As local news broadcasters reported that Yoon’s detention may come soon, some minor scuffles broke out between tearful pro-Yoon protesters and police near the residence, according to a Reuters witness at the scene.
Yoon’s declaration of martial law stunned South Koreans and plunged one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies into an unprecedented period of political turmoil. Lawmakers voted to impeach him and remove him from duties on Dec. 14.
Separately, the Constitutional Court is deliberating over to uphold that impeachment and permanently remove him from office.
Australia summons Russian ambassador over reports captured soldier killed
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had been maintaining “a very difficult relationship for many years” with Russia under different governments
SYDNEY: Australia summoned the Russian ambassador over reports a Melbourne man had been killed after being captured by Russia while fighting for Ukraine, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday.
The Australian government had asked Russian authorities to immediately confirm the status of Oscar Jenkins and remained “gravely concerned” over reports that he had been killed, Albanese said during a media conference.
“We’ll await the facts to come out. But if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that’s absolutely reprehensible and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible,” Albanese said.
When asked by a reporter if Australia would expel the Russian ambassador or recall its envoy in Moscow, Albanese said his government would determine its response after verifying all reports.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had been maintaining “a very difficult relationship for many years” with Russia under different governments.
“We will look at the facts when they have been ascertained but I want to be clear all options are on the table,” Wong told ABC Radio on Wednesday. She said the Russian ambassador was summoned by the foreign ministry earlier this week.
Jenkins, a teacher from Melbourne, was serving alongside Ukraine’s military when he was captured by Russia last year as a prisoner of war, Australian media reported. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in combat uniform, being asked if he was a mercenary, reports said.
Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West’s support for Ukraine and has been supplying aid, ammunition and defense equipment.
It has banned exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.
Irregular migration into the European Union fell sharply last year, border agency says
- The agency said that there were just over 239,000 detections of irregular border crossings, the lowest number registered since 2021, when migration was lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic
WARSAW, Poland: The number of irregular border crossings into the European Union fell significantly in 2024, according to the bloc’s border control agency Frontex, something which it attributed to intensified cooperation against smuggling networks.
The Warsaw-based agency said in a statement that its preliminary data for last year reveal a 38 percent drop in irregular border crossings into the 27-member bloc.
The data refers to the number of detections of irregular border crossing at the external borders of the EU, not the total number of people who tried to cross. In some cases the same erson may cross the border several times in different locations at the external border, Frontex notes.
The agency said that there were just over 239,000 detections of irregular border crossings, the lowest number registered since 2021, when migration was lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency said that despite the overall decrease, challenges persist, including dangerous sea crossings resulting in significant loss of life and the evolving tactics of smuggling networks.
Despite the decrease in irregular arrivals, a sense has taken hold across Europe that there is too much unregulated immigration to the continent.
The issue has dominated political life in Europe since 2015, when more than a million people arrived at once, many fleeing the war in Syria. The issue has boosted far-right parties that strongly oppose accepting large numbers of refugees and migrants — including in places like Austria and Germany.
The decrease in the total number was mainly driven by a 59 percent plunge in arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route due to fewer departures from Tunisia and Libya, Frontex said. It also reported a 78 percent fall in detections on the Western Balkan route following efforts in that region to halt arrivals.
At the same time irregular arrivals were up last year along the EU’s eastern borders with Belarus.
Frontex also said it recorded an 18 percent increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that is increasingly used as an alternative stepping stone to continental Europe.
It said the nearly 47,000 arrivals it recorded there marked the highest figure since it began collecting data in 2009.
“While 2024 saw a significant reduction in irregular border crossings, it also highlighted emerging risks and shifting dynamics,” Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens said.
The Frontex statement noted that authorities have reported increasing violence by smugglers along the Western Balkan route, while growing instability in regions like the Sahel continues to drive migration toward Europe.
Risks from unregulated tanker fleet rising, UN shipping chief says
- There have been a number of incidents involving collisions and shadow fleet vessels breaking down in recent months
LONDON: The safety risks posed by unregulated oil tankers are rising, and the so-called shadow fleet is a threat to both the maritime environment and seafarers, the head of the United Nations’ shipping agency said on Tuesday.
The shadow fleet refers to hundreds of ships used by Russia to move oil, in violation of international restrictions imposed on it over the Ukraine war, as well as by oil exporters such as Iran and Venezuela hit by US sanctions.
At least 65 oil tankers dropped anchor this week at multiple locations, including off the coasts of China and Russia, since the United States announced a new sanctions package on Jan. 10.
“The risk is growing in relation to the environmental impact and the safety of the seafarers as the shadow fleet grows,” Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), told a news conference.
“We see it by different accidents and events that have taken place.”
Dominguez, who could not comment on sanctions, said his biggest concern was with aging tankers, which were “putting people onboard at risk and the environment as well.”
“The more that ships start looking to ... avoid meeting the IMO requirements, the more that we will have situations like we have been experiencing in the last part of 2024.”
There have been a number of incidents involving collisions and shadow fleet vessels breaking down in recent months.
Dominguez said an IMO meeting would follow up in March on a resolution adopted in 2023 aimed at greater scrutiny of ship-to-ship oil transfers in open seas — a frequent risk with shadow fleet tankers which carry out such transfers with little regard for safety. He said he had also met with smaller flag registry countries, which typically provide flagging for shadow fleet tankers.
Commercial ships must be registered, or flagged, with a particular country to ensure they are complying with internationally recognized safety and environmental rules.
Shipping industry sources say many of the smaller flag registries are lax about enforcing compliance and also sanctions regulations.
“Substandard shipping ...has been on the agenda at IMO for many years,” Dominguez said.
Venezuela restricts diplomats from ‘hostile’ European countries
- On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil took to Telegram to accuse the three governments of “support for extremist groups” and “interference in the country’s internal affairs”
CARACAS: Venezuela on Tuesday announced restrictions on French, Italian and Dutch diplomats on its soil, citing their governments’ “hostile” response to Nicolas Maduro’s presidential inauguration, widely rejected as a power grab.
In a move branded an “escalation” by the Dutch government, the foreign ministry announced it would limit the number of accredited diplomats to three for each of the countries.
Those remaining would also need “written authorization... to travel more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Plaza Bolivar” in the capital Caracas.
Maduro, 62, is embroiled in a standoff with the West and several Latin American countries over his disputed claim to have won another six year-term in July 28 elections he is widely accused of stealing.
The United States, European Union, G7 and several democratic neighbors have refused to recognize his reelection, and France, Italy and the Netherlands last week loudly condemned Maduro’s administration.
On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil took to Telegram to accuse the three governments of “support for extremist groups” and “interference in the country’s internal affairs.”
Within 48 hours, he said, the embassies must each reduce to three their number of accredited diplomats.
Due to the new travel restrictions, any trip outside the capital will now require a government permit. The international airport, Simon Bolivar, which serves Caracas, is 23 kilometers from the Plaza Bolivar.
“Venezuela demands respect for sovereignty and self-determination... especially from those subordinated to the directives of Washington,” wrote Gil.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp replied that this “escalation” by Maduro “will make dialogue all the more complicated.”
In a statement to AFP, he added there would “certainly be a response.”
The opposition says its tally of results from the July vote showed a clear victory for its candidate, 75-year-old Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who went into exile in Spain in September after first taking refuge at the Dutch embassy.
Venezuela’s CNE electoral council, loyal to the regime, had announced victory for Maduro within hours of polls closing. It never provided a detailed vote breakdown.
In a sign of Maduro’s isolation, only two prominent regional leaders — Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaraguan ex-guerrilla Daniel Ortega — attended his inauguration. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his congratulations and China’s Xi Jinping sent a special envoy.
Washington and London promptly issued a bevy of sanctions on Maduro’s regime for staging what the opposition called a coup.
Critics denounced a fresh crackdown on opponents and critics in the lead-up to Friday’s swearing-in ceremony, with several activists and opposition figures detained.
More than 2,400 people were arrested, 28 killed and about 200 injured in protests that erupted after Maduro disputed claim to election victory.
He has since maintained a fragile peace with the help of the security forces and paramilitary “colectivos” — armed civilian volunteers accused of quelling protest through a reign of neighborhood terror.
French President Emmanuel Macron last week insisted “the will of the Venezuelan people must be respected” in a call with Gonzalez Urrutia, recognized by several countries as the legitimate president-elect.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced “another unacceptable act of repression by the Maduro regime” after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was briefly detained at an anti-Maduro rally on the eve of his inauguration.
And Veldkamp, writing on X, had expressed deep “respect” for Machado and voiced concern about the “increased violent rhetoric of the Maduro regime and reports of recent arrests.”
In office since 2013, the former bus driver and trade unionist has clung to power through a mix of populism and repression, even as the United States imposed punishing sanctions on the key oil sector and the economy imploded.
