WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Tuesday accused North Korea of torturing a captive US student “beyond belief,” spurning pleas from allies and foes in east Asia to tone down his warlike rhetoric.
For the first time, Trump publicly accused Pyongyang of abusing the late 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, an allegation likely to heighten tensions between the two nuclear powers.
Last June the Ohio native was sent home in a coma after more than a year in prison in North Korea. He died a few days later.
Aides say Trump was personally shocked and angered by Warmbier’s death, and that the government suspects mistreatment.
But the US president had stopped short of publicly accusing the regime of torture, a move that would raise expectations of a tough response, raise tensions and could complicate any future releases.
Since June, the US and North Korea have traded military moves and bombastic insults in a stand-off over Kim Jong-Un’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.
After seeing Warmbier’s parents on television Tuesday morning, Trump cast previous concerns aside.
“Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea,” he said in an early morning tweet.
The missive came just hours after South Korea — whose densely-populated capital Seoul is located just 35 miles from the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean peninsula — asked its US ally to take the heat out of the situation.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha visited Washington to warn it was imperative to “prevent further escalation of tensions or any kind of accidental military clashes which can quickly go out of control.”
Similarly, China, the North’s neighbor and only major ally, warned Tuesday that any conflict would have “no winners.”
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said rhetorical sparring “will only increase the risk of confrontation and reduce the room for policy maneuver.”
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, visiting India, stressed that Washington wants a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis.
“We maintain the capability to deter North Korea’s most dangerous threats but also to back up our diplomats in a manner that keeps this as long as possible in the diplomatic realm,” he said in New Delhi after talks with his Indian counterpart.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un traded barbs in the wake of the North’s sixth nuclear bomb and multiple missile tests.
Pyongyang says it needs the weapons to defend itself against the threat of a US invasion.
Alarm over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs dominated the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, amid fears the heated rhetoric could accidentally trigger a war.
In his UN address last week, Trump delivered the blunt threat to “totally destroy” North Korea if provoked, deriding leader Kim Jong-un as “Rocket Man.”
Kim hit back with a personal attack of his own, branding Trump “mentally deranged” and a “dotard” and warning he would “pay dearly.”
The North’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho on Monday called a press conference to hit back at a US bomber mission near the North’s coastline and a slew of bombastic warnings from the American president.
Taking umbrage at Trump’s weekend tweet that North Korea’s leadership “won’t be around much longer” if it keeps up its threats, Ri told reporters the international community hoped that a “war of words” would “not turn into real actions.”
“However, last weekend, Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer,” said Ri, who attended this year’s UN General Assembly session. “He declared a war on our country.”
The White House said Ri’s interpretation of Trump’s saber-rattling as “absurd.”
Fears of a clash were sharpened after US bombers flew off the coast of North Korea on Saturday — going further north of the demilitarized zone than any US aircraft has flown this century.
“Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to take counter-measures including the right to shoot down US strategic bombers even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country,” Ri said.
“The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
A Pentagon spokesman stressed the bombers flew in international airspace and had every right to do so.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that while Pyongyang did not appear to have picked up the presence of the US warplanes over the weekend, it had since bolstered its coastal defenses.
“North Korea relocated its warplanes and strengthened defenses along the east coast,” said Lee Cheol-Woo, the chief of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee.
Trump ignores pleas to calm North Korea tensions
Trump ignores pleas to calm North Korea tensions
At least 2 dead and 12 missing after a fishing boat sinks off South Korea’s Jeju island
- Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead
- 27 crew members were on the 129-tonne boat, which left Jeju’s Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel
Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead after being brought to shore. The other 13 did not sustain life-threatening injuries, said Kim Han-na, an official at Jeju’s coast guard.
She said 27 crew members – 16 South Korean nationals and 11 foreigners – were on the 129-tonne boat, which left Jeju’s Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel. The coast guard received a distress signal at around 4:30 a.m. Friday from a nearby fishing vessel that conducted rescue efforts as the boat sank 24 kilometers northwest of the island.
At least 11 vessels and nine aircraft from South Korea’s coast guard, police, fire service and military were deployed as of Friday morning to search for survivors. They were being assisted by 13 civilian vessels.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for officials to mobilize all available resources to find and rescue the missing crew members, his office said.
South Korea holds missile drill after North Korea launches
The nuclear-armed North had test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as well as a number of short-range ballistic missiles in separate drills over the last two weeks.
South Korea’s military command said its live-fire exercise was aimed at demonstrating its “strong resolve to firmly respond to any North Korean provocation.”
It also underlined its “capability and readiness for precision strikes against the enemy’s origin of provocation,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.
A Hyunmoo surface-to-surface short-range missile was sent into the West Sea in the exercise, the military command said.
South Korea started domestic production of short-range ballistic missiles in the 1970s to counter the threats posed by North Korea.
Hyunmoo are a series of missiles which are key to the country’s so-called ‘Kill Chain’ preemptive strike system, which allows Seoul to launch a preemptive attack if there are signs of imminent North Korean attack.
In early October, the country displayed for the first time its largest ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is capable of destroying underground bunkers.
Last Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill involving a US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 jets, in response to the North’s ICBM launch.
Such joint drills infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of the country’s leader and a key spokesperson, called the US-South Korea-Japan exercises an “action-based explanation of the most hostile and dangerous aggressive nature of the enemy toward our Republic.”
The drill was an “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building up the nuclear forces we have opted for and put into practice,” she added.
Taiwan coast guard offers rewards for spotting foreign ships
- Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China, in waters around the island, as it seeks the public’s help with monitoring “abnormal” activity.
China regularly deploys fighter jets, navy ships and coast guard vessels around Taiwan to press its claims of sovereignty over the island, which Taipei’s government rejects.
Taiwan is massively outgunned by China, which has refused to renounce the use of force to bring the island under its control.
“The Coast Guard’s manpower is limited but the people power at sea is unlimited,” Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement announcing the rewards.
The coast guard called on people, including fishers, to “stay vigilant to abnormal maritime activities” to help counter the growing “threats from the sea” and “all kinds of grey zone harassment tactics” — actions that fall short of an act of war.
People who reported homicide, piracy, arson and kidnapping to the coast guard could receive up to NT$200,000 ($6,200), while reports of Chinese “stowaways” would be rewarded with NT$50,000, and NT$10,000 for other foreign stowaways.
Verified reports to the coast guard about foreign and Chinese military ships and other vessels would be rewarded with NT$3,000.
China maintains a near-daily presence of naval vessels and warplanes around the island.
Chinese coast guard ships have also been spotted around Taiwan’s outlying islands, at times briefly entering its restricted waters.
A series of incidents involving boats from both sides have fueled tensions across the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and China.
A Taiwanese court in September sentenced a former Chinese naval captain to eight months in prison for illegally entering the island by boat.
Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India as court told 1988 ban order untraceable
- India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous
- Salman Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988
NEW DELHI: India’s three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie’s controversial ‘The Satanic Verses’ book has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.
The India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous. The Delhi High Court was hearing a 2019 case challenging the import ban of the book in India.
According to a Nov. 5 court order, India’s government told the Delhi High Court that the import ban order “was untraceable and, therefore could not be produced.”
As a result, the court said it had “no other option except to presume that no such notification exists.”
“The ban has been lifted as of Nov. 5 because there is no notification,” Uddyam Mukherjee, lawyer for petitioner Sandipan Khan, said.
India’s interior and finance ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khan’s plea said he approached the court after being told at bookstores that the novel could not be sold or imported in India and then when he searched, he could not find the official import ban order on the government websites.
Even in court the government has been unable to produce the order, he said.
“None of the respondents could produce the said notification ... in fact the purported author of the said notification has also shown his helplessness in producing a copy,” the Nov. 5 order noted, referring to the customs department official who drafted the order.
Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988, as some Muslims saw passages about Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous.
It sparked violent demonstrations and book burnings across the Muslim world, including in India, which has the world’s third largest Muslim population.
In 1989, Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie, sending the Booker Prize-winning author into hiding for six years.
In August 2022, about 33 years after the fatwa, Rushdie was stabbed on stage during a lecture in New York, which left him blind in one eye and affected the use of one of his hands.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match
- Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam
- Netanyahu directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there
AMSTERDAM: Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League soccer match between their team and Ajax outside the Dutch team’s home stadium in Amsterdam on Thursday night, media and officials said.
The clashes reportedly erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who had feared that clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli soccer club.
Details of the incidents remained unclear, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the details of “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam, his office said on Friday.
He directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there, it added in a statement.
Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotel rooms following the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.
“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered anti-Semitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu also called his Dutch counterpart about them.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, Saar told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call on Friday.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also condemned the violence in a post on the social media platform X.
There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries from the clashes outside the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, the city’s main arena and Ajax’s home stadium. Ajax won the Europa League match 5-0 after leading 3-0 at halftime.
