SEOUL, South Korea: A surprise visit by President Donald Trump to the heavily fortified Korean demilitarized zone was thwarted by bad weather Wednesday. The aborted trip came a day after Trump modulated his aggressive rhetoric and urged North Korea to come to the negotiating table.
Trump had been scheduled to make the unannounced early-morning trip to the DMZ amid heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
Marine One left Seoul at daybreak and flew most of the way to the DMZ — but was forced to turn back due to poor weather conditions. Weather reports from near the heavily fortified border showed misting conditions and visibility below one mile. Pilots could not see the other helicopters in the air, according to White House officials.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was disappointed he couldn’t make the trip. “I think he’s pretty frustrated,” she told reporters traveling with the president. She said the military and the US Secret Service had deemed that landing would not be safe.
Trump had been scheduled to make the visit with South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who traveled separately and landed about a 20-minute drive from the DMZ.
A White House official had earlier ruled out the DMZ trip for Trump, claiming the president didn’t have time on his schedule and that DMZ visits have become “a little bit of a cliché.”
But Sanders said the visit had been planned well before Trump’s departure for Asia. The trip was kept secret, Sanders said, for security reasons.
Trump was scheduled to address the South Korean National Assembly before closing out his two-day visit to the nation and moving on to his next stop in Beijing.
Visiting the border that has separated the North and South for 64 years has become something of a ritual for US presidents trying to demonstrate their resolve against North Korea’s ever-escalating aggression. Every American president since Ronald Reagan, save for George H.W. Bush, has made the trip, peering across the barren north through binoculars, hearing broadcast propaganda, and reaffirming their commitment to standing with the South.
The attempted visit was scheduled for a day after Trump made a striking shift in tone for a president, who for months has issued increasingly dire threats to answer any hostile North Korean action with “fire and fury.” In a recent speech at the United Nations, Trump said he would “totally destroy” the nation, if necessary, and has derided Kim as “little Rocket Man.”
But on Tuesday, his first day on the Korean Peninsula as president, Trump said he’d seen “a lot of progress” in dealing with Pyongyang, though he stopped short of saying whether he wanted direct diplomatic talks.
“It makes sense for North Korea to come to the table and make a deal that is good for the people of North Korea and for the world,” Trump said at a news conference with Moon. “I do see certain movement.” He also sounded an optimistic note on disagreements with the North, saying confidently, if vaguely: “Ultimately, it’ll all work out.”
Ever the showman, Trump had teased that he had a surprise in store, saying at a Tuesday evening banquet that he had an “exciting day” planned — “for many reasons that people will find out.” He did not elaborate on what turned out to be the aborted trip to the DMZ.
North Korea has fired off more than a dozen missiles this year but none in nearly two months. Analysts caution against reading too much into the pause.
There’s no public sign of any diplomatic progress between Washington and Pyongyang. US officials say the back channel between the State Department and the North Korean mission at the United Nations in New York remains intact, but contacts have not been substantive other than achieving the release of American college student Otto Warmbier in June. He died days after his repatriation to the US
Still, Trump’s conciliatory comments would be welcome in South Korea, where both the government and the wider population have been unnerved by the president’s threats against the North.
Trump did note the United States’ military options, mentioning that three aircraft carrier groups and a nuclear submarine had been deployed to the region. But he added that “we hope to God we never have to use” the arsenal. And he accused Kim of “threatening millions and millions of lives, so needlessly.”
Moon, who has been eager to solidify a friendship with Trump, said he hoped the president’s visit would be a turning point in the standoff with North Korea.
Visiting the wooded, craggy terrain inside the DMZ is like going back in time to 1953. In July of that year, the Korean War armistice agreement was signed at Panmunjom, the so-called “truce village” bisected by a marker that is the official dividing line between the North and South.
Trump aborts surprise visit to DMZ due to bad weather
Trump aborts surprise visit to DMZ due to bad weather
At APEC, China’s Xi warns of growing ‘unilateralism’
Xi was in Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, and is due to hold talks with his US counterpart Joe Biden on Saturday.
“In a written speech addressing APEC CEO Summit 2024, Xi also warned of the spreading unilateralism and protectionism, and cautioned that the fragmentation of the world economy is increasing,” Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
In the wide-ranging speech, Xi said the world had “entered a new period of turbulence and transformation,” Xinhua reported.
In that context, he called for global industrial and supply chains to be kept “stable and smooth.”
US President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office in January, has promised a raft of protectionist trade policies, including 60 percent import tariffs targeting China, with whom he engaged in a trade war during his last term in office.
The Republican has once again signaled a confrontational approach to Beijing for his second term.
Xi said any attempts to reduce global economic interdependence was “nothing but backpedaling,” comments potentially aimed at Trump’s proposed policies on the campaign trail.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has been reeling from headwinds on several fronts, with growth struggling to recover since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Beijing is pushing for an official national growth target this year of around five percent, a goal most economists believe it will narrowly miss.
But recent weeks have seen officials announce their most aggressive measures in years in a bid to breathe fresh life into the economy.
In Lima, Xi vowed to meet the GDP growth target, and to pursue economic liberalization policies that would “open its (China’s) door even wider to the world.”
Muslims who voted for Trump upset by his pro-Israel cabinet picks
- Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe
- Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota said Trump’s staffing plans were not surprising, but had proven even more extreme that he had feared
WASHINGTON: US Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon have been deeply disappointed by his Cabinet picks, they tell Reuters.
“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his Secretary of State pick and others,” said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.
Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe.
Trump picked Republican senator Marco Rubio, a staunch supporter of Israel for Secretary of State. Rubio said earlier this year he would not call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he believed Israel should destroy “every element” of Hamas. “These people are vicious animals,” he added.
Trump also nominated Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and staunch pro-Israel conservative who backs Israeli occupation of the West Bank and has called a two state solution in Palestine “unworkable,” as the next ambassador to Israel.
He has picked Republican Representative Elize Stefanik, who called the UN a “cesspool of antisemitism” for its condemnation of deaths in Gaza, to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations.
Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), said Muslim voters had hoped Trump would choose Cabinet officials who work toward peace, and there was no sign of that.
“We are very disappointed,” he said. “It seems like this administration has been packed entirely with neoconservatives and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the on the side of President Trump, to the pro-peace and anti-war movement.”
Nazarko said the community would continue pressing to make its voices heard after rallying votes to help Trump win. “At least we’re on the map.”
Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and co-founder of the Abandon Harris campaign, which endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein, said Trump’s staffing plans were not surprising, but had proven even more extreme that he had feared.
“It’s like he’s going on Zionist overdrive,” he said. “We were always extremely skeptical...Obviously we’re still waiting to see where the administration will go, but it does look like our community has been played.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Several Muslim and Arab supporters of Trump said they hoped Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, would play a key role after he led months of outreach to Muslim and Arab American communities, and was even introduced as a potential next secretary of state at events.
Another key Trump ally, Massad Boulos, the Lebanese father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders.
Both promised Arab American and Muslim voters that Trump was a candidate for peace who would act swiftly to end the wars in the Middle East and beyond. Neither was immediately reachable.
Trump made several visits to cities with large Arab American and Muslim populations, include a stop in Dearborn, a majority Arab city, where he said he loved Muslims, and Pittsburgh, where he called Muslims for Trump “a beautiful movement. They want peace. They want stability.”
Rola Makki, the Lebanese American, Muslim vice chair for outreach of the Michigan Republican Party, shrugged off the criticism.
“I don’t think everyone’s going to be happy with every appointment Trump makes, but the outcome is what matters,” she said. “I do know that Trump wants peace, and what people need to realize is that there’s 50,000 dead Palestinians and 3,000 dead Lebanese, and that’s happened during the current administration.”
Trump promises to end wars with a ‘strong military’
- “We’re going to work on the Middle East and we’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop,” Trump added
PALM BEACH, United States: US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday promised a “strong military,” as he repeated his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump, who campaigned on an “America First” foreign policy, has said previously that he wanted to strike a deal between Kyiv and Moscow, without giving details, and end bloodshed in the Middle East.
“We have to get back to a great country with low taxes and a strong military. We’re going to fix our military, we did once and now we’re going to have to do it again,” he said Thursday at a gala organized by the America First Policy Institute at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
“We’re going to work on the Middle East and we’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop,” Trump added.
He also criticized the “big chunk” of US spending on Afghanistan, from where American troops withdrew in 2021 after two decades of fighting an insurgency by the Taliban, which returned to power that year.
Trump’s re-election has the potential to upend the almost three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, throwing into question Washington’s multibillion-dollar support for Kyiv, which is crucial to its defense.
The Republican said on the campaign trail that he could end the fighting within hours and has indicated he would talk directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has not said how he intends to strike a peace deal on Ukraine or what terms he would propose.
Ukraine slams Scholz after first call with Putin in two years
- “This is exactly what Putin has been wanting for a long time: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation,” Zelensky said
- Scholz spoke with Zelensky before and after the call with Putin, the chancellor’s spokesman said, but the early warning failed to quell Kyiv’s concerns.
BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday accused Germany’s Olaf Scholz of playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the chancellor spoke by phone to the Kremlin chief for the first time in almost two years.
In the call, Scholz “condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw troops,” the chancellor’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.
The German leader “urged Russia to show willingness to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace,” Hebestreit added in a statement.
The Kremlin confirmed the call between Scholz and Putin, which it said was held at the invitation of the German side.
Putin had a “detailed and frank exchange of views over the situation in Ukraine” with Scholz, the Kremlin said.
Putin told the German leader that any agreement to end the war in Ukraine “should take into account the security interests of the Russian Federation,” the Kremlin added.
An accord should “proceed from the new territorial realities and, most importantly, address the root causes of the conflict.”
Russia has demanded Ukraine surrender four regions as a precondition for talks, which Kyiv has rejected.
Ukraine responded angrily to Berlin reviving its lines of communication with Moscow. The call had opened a “Pandora’s Box,” Zelensky said.
“This is exactly what Putin has been wanting for a long time: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation,” Zelensky said.
Scholz spoke with Zelensky before and after the call with Putin, the chancellor’s spokesman said, but the early warning failed to quell Kyiv’s concerns.
“What is needed are concrete, strong actions that will force him to peace, not persuasion and attempts at appeasement, which he sees as a sign of weakness and uses to his advantage,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
As well as Ukraine, Scholz also notified the countries of the so-called Quad, which includes France, the United States and Britain, a source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said.
The chancellor’s message to Putin was not “coordinated” between the allies but the French side expected to be informed on the contents, the source said.
During the hour-long call, Scholz “condemned in particular Russian air strikes against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” a German government source said.
Scholz “made it clear that sending North Korean soldiers to Russia for combat missions against Ukraine would lead to a serious escalation and expansion of the conflict,” the source said.
The German and Russian leaders “agreed to remain in contact,” while Berlin would keep its allies updated, the source added.
Scholz will have an opportunity for discussions at a meeting of G20 leaders in Brazil next week, from which Putin will be notably absent.
Putin has spoken to few NATO and Western leaders since 2022, when the EU and the US imposed massive sanctions on Russia for launching its shock Ukraine offensive.
His last known phone call with the leader of a major Western country was his previous conversation with Scholz in December 2022.
Almost 1,000 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine is bracing for what could be the most difficult winter of the war so far.
Much of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian bombardments and Kyiv’s troops are increasingly on the back foot.
Germany has been one of Ukraine’s biggest military supporters, second only to the United States in the aid it has sent to Kyiv.
But the election of Donald Trump, who has criticized aid to Ukraine, as the next US president, has called into question Washington’s continued support.
Trump said on the campaign trail that he could end the fighting within hours and has indicated he would talk directly with Putin.
The Kremlin has denied reports that Putin and the president-elect of the United States recently discussed the Ukraine conflict by phone.
Scholz, who did speak with Trump following his election win, told the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Friday that the incoming US leader had a “more nuanced” position on the conflict than was commonly assumed.
Following the Putin-Scholz call, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had been updated by the German leader on the discussion.
Tusk was “satisfied” that Scholz had “reiterated the Polish position: ‘Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’,” he said on social media platform X.
Croatian health minister arrested and sacked over alleged graft
- Beros’ lawyer Laura Valkovic told local media that he denied any criminal responsibility
- The prime minister’s comments came after Croatia’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) said it was conducting several arrests
SARAJEVO: Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros was sacked on Friday after being arrested on suspicion of corruption, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
Beros’ lawyer Laura Valkovic told local media that he denied any criminal responsibility. The health ministry declined to comment.
The prime minister’s comments came after Croatia’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) said it was conducting several arrests.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office also said it had initiated an investigation against eight people, including Beros and the directors of two hospitals in Zagreb, over alleged bribery, abuse of authority and money laundering.
Croatia’s State Attorney Ivan Turudic, whose office works closely with USKOK, said there were two parallel investigations into the alleged crimes and that EPPO has not informed his office nor USKOK about its investigation.
Turudic said Beros was accused of trade of influence. He said two other individuals had been arrested and one legal entity would be investigated on suspicion of the criminal act of receiving a bribe.
The people detained will be brought before an investigative judge who will decide on any pre-trial detention, Turudic told a news conference.
The EPPO said that a criminal group seeking to secure financing for the sale of medical robotic devices in several hospitals was suspected of giving bribes to officials to try to win contracts for projects, including EU funded ones.
“What is obvious is that this is about criminal acts of corruption,” Plenkovic said. “On behalf of the government, I want to say that agencies authorized for criminal persecution should investigate everything.”
