WASHINGTON: The US has a plan that would lead to the dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in a year, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Sunday, although US intelligence reported signs that Pyongyang doesn’t intend to fully give up its arsenal.
John Bolton said top US diplomat Mike Pompeo will be discussing that plan with North Korea in the near future. Bolton added that it would be to the North’s advantage to cooperate to see sanctions lifted quickly and aid from South Korea and Japan start to flow.
Bolton’s remarks on CBS’ “Face the Nation” appeared to be the first time the Trump administration had publicly suggested a timeline for North Korea to fulfill the commitment leader Kim Jong Un made at a summit with President Donald Trump last month for the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.
Despite Trump’s rosy post-summit declaration that the North no longer poses a nuclear threat, Washington and Pyongyang have yet to negotiate the terms under which it would relinquish the weapons that it developed over decades to deter the US.
Doubts over North Korea’s intentions have deepened amid reports that it is continuing to produce fissile material for weapons.
The Washington Post on Saturday cited unnamed US intelligence officials as concluding that North Korea does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpile. Evidence collected since the June 12 summit in Singapore points to preparations to deceive the US about the number of nuclear warheads in North Korea’s arsenal as well as the existence of undisclosed facilities used to make fissile material for nuclear bombs, according to the report.
It said the findings support a new, previously undisclosed Defense Intelligence Agency estimate that North Korea is unlikely to denuclearize. Some aspects of the new intelligence were reported Friday by NBC News.
A US official told The Associated Press that the Post’s report was accurate and that the assessment reflected the consistent view across US government agencies for the past several weeks. The official was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and requested anonymity.
Bolton on Sunday declined to comment on intelligence matters.
He said the administration was well aware of North Korea’s track record over the decades in dragging out negotiations with the US to continue weapons development.
“We have developed a program. I’m sure that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be discussing this with the North Koreans in the near future about really how to dismantle all of their WMD and ballistic missile programs in a year,” Bolton said. “If they have the strategic decision already made to do that, and they’re cooperative, we can move very quickly,” he added.
He said the one-year program the US is proposing would cover all of the North’s chemical and biological weapons, nuclear programs and ballistic missiles.
Even if North Korea is willing to cooperate, dismantling its secretive weapons of mass destruction programs, believed to encompass dozens of sites, will be tough. Stanford University academics, including nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker, a leading expert on the North’s nuclear program, have proposed a 10-year roadmap for that task; others say it could take less time.
Pompeo has already visited Pyongyang twice since April to meet with Kim — the first time when he was still director of the CIA — and there are discussions about a possible third trip to North Korea late next week but such a visit has not yet been confirmed.
Trump reiterated in an interview broadcast Sunday that he thinks Kim is serious about denuclearization.
“I made a deal with him. I shook hands with him. I really believe he means it,” the president said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.”
Trump defended his decision to suspend “war games” with close ally South Korea — a significant concession to North Korea, which so far has suspended nuclear and missile tests and destroyed tunnels at its nuclear test site but not taken further concrete steps to denuclearize.
“Now we’re saving a lot of money,” Trump said of the cancelation of large-scale military drills that involve flights of US bombers from the Pacific US territory of Guam.
“So we gave nothing. What we are going to give is good things in the future. And by the way I really believe North Korea has a tremendous future. I got along really well with Chairman Kim. We had a great chemistry,” Trump added.
Pressure will now be on Pompeo to make progress in negotiations with North Korea to turn the summit declaration into concrete action. He spoke with the foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea in recent days about the situation with the North, according to the State Department, which has declined to comment on any upcoming travel.
Pompeo postponed plans to meet with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and their counterparts from India on July 6, citing unavoidable circumstances, which has fueled speculation he will make a third trip to Pyongyang.
US plans for dismantling North Korea’s nuclear arsenal may face resistance
US plans for dismantling North Korea’s nuclear arsenal may face resistance
- Doubts over North Korea’s intentions have deepened amid reports that it is continuing to produce fissile material for weapons
- US President Donald Trump reiterated in an interview broadcast Sunday that he thought Kim Jong Un was serious about denuclearization
WHO appeals for $1.5 billion to tackle ‘unprecedented’ global health crisis
“WHO is seeking $1.5 billion to support our life-saving work for the emergencies,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
GENEVA: The World Health Organization appealed Thursday for $1.5 billion for emergency operations this year, warning that conflict, climate change, epidemics and displacement had converged to create an “unprecedented global health crisis.”
The UN health agency estimated that health crises would leave 305 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance this year.
“WHO is seeking $1.5 billion to support our life-saving work for the emergencies we know about and to react swiftly to new crises,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he launched the appeal.
The agency’s emergency request, which was for the same amount as last year’s ask, outlined the critical priorities and resources needed to address 42 ongoing health emergencies.
“Conflicts, outbreaks, climate-related disasters and other health emergencies are no longer isolated or occasional — they are relentless, overlapping and intensifying,” Tedros said in a statement.
He pointed to the emergency health assistance provided in conflict zones ranging from the occupied Palestinian territories to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan, as well as its work conducting vaccination campaigns, treating malnutrition and helping control outbreaks of diseases like cholera.
“Without adequate and sustainable funding, we face the impossible task of deciding who will receive care and who will not this year,” Tedros said at Thursday’s event.
“Your support helps to ensure that WHO remains a lifeline, bridging the gap between sickness and health, despair and hope, life and death for millions of people worldwide.”
Dozens of migrants may have drowned in attempt to cross to Spain, NGO says
- Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had left Mauritania
- Forty-four of those presumed to have drowned were from Pakistan, Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X
MADRID: As many as 50 migrants, many of them Pakistanis, may have drowned in the latest deadly wreck involving people trying to make the crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.
Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had left Mauritania on Jan. 2 with 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, on board, the group said.
Forty-four of those presumed to have drowned were from Pakistan, Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X.
“They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them,” she said.
The boat capsized off the coast of the disputed region of Western Sahara and several of the survivors, which included some Pakistanis, were taken to a camp near the port of Dakhla, Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a post on X.
Pakistan said the boat was carrying 80 passengers.
Asked about what warnings it had received from NGOs regarding a missing boat, Spain’s maritime rescue service said it had learned on Jan. 10 about a vessel that had left Nouakchott in Mauritania and was experiencing problems but it could not confirm if it was the same boat.
The service said it had carried out air searches without success and had warned nearby ships.
Walking Borders said it had alerted authorities from all countries involved six days ago about the missing boat. Alarm Phone, an NGO that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, also said it had alerted Spain’s maritime rescue service on Jan. 12 about a boat in distress.
A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, most while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary islands, according to Walking Borders.
Citing the Walking Borders’ post on X, the Canary Islands’ regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims of the latest wreck and urged Spain and Europe to act to prevent further tragedies.
“The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa,” Clavijo said on X. “They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama.”
Albania approves luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner’s company
- The committee said the project complied with legislation on strategic investment
- Last year, Kushner announced plans to build a tourist resort in Zvernec in southern Albania
TIRANA: Albania’s government has granted strategic investor status to a company linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to build a luxury resort on an uninhabited Mediterranean island that was once a military outpost.
The Balkan country’s Strategic Investment Committee, headed by Prime Minister Edi Rama, on Dec. 30 accepted a proposal by Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC for the 45-hectare project on the small island of Sazan, involving a planned investment of 1.4 billion euros ($1.4 billion).
In the written decision, seen by Reuters on Thursday, the committee said the project complied with legislation on strategic investment and on the number of jobs required by the legislation, saying it would employ an estimated 1,000 people.
Under the law, the granting of strategic investment status allows companies to implement an investment project that is deemed strategic as part of a strategic sector of the economy such as tourism.
“The form of the state’s participation in this investment will be realized through the establishment of a joint legal entity,” the committee said, adding that it would include the state-run Albanian Investment Corporation.
Reuters could not immediately reach Atlantic Incubation Partners for comment.
Last year, Kushner announced plans to build a tourist resort in Zvernec in southern Albania as part of a wider investment by his Affinity Partners in the Balkans that also includes the project on Sazan, off the Albanian coast, and a project in a former army headquarters in the Serbian capital Belgrade.
Kushner, who served as a top aide to Trump during his father-in-law’s first term as US president, set up the investment firm in 2021. Trump is due to be inaugurated for a second term on Tuesday.
The projects could boost local economies by enticing visitors, but the company faces opposition from critics who say they will harm the environment or, in the case of Belgrade, threaten sites of cultural significance.
Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s party holds talks with government ahead of ruling in graft case
- The verdict in the graft case due on Friday is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety
- The case is linked to the Al-Qadir Trust that Khan and his wife set up while he was in office
ISLAMABAD: The party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday held formal reconciliatory talks with the government, aimed at cooling political instability in the 241-million South Asian nation, both sides said.
The talks come a day ahead of a crucial court ruling in a land corruption case against the 72-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician.
The verdict in the graft case due on Friday is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety, involving possible bribes of land in return for a 190-million-British-pound favor to a real estate tycoon.
The case is linked to the Al-Qadir Trust that Khan and his wife set up while he was in office. Prosecutors say it was a front for Khan to receive land as a bribe from a real estate developer. Khan’s party says the land was not for personal gain but was a spiritual educational institution.
Khan’s removal from office in 2022 stoked the instability, which has worsened with his party leading violent protests to urge his release, and threatens an economic recovery under a $7 billion IMF bailout.
“We have presented our demands to the government,” Khan’s aide Omar Ayub, who is leading his side in the talks, told reporters. The government agreed to party leaders’ meeting with Khan in jail, which should be done without any monitoring, he said.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s demands mainly include setting up two judicial commissions to probe into the events which led to his arrest in August 2023, and the violent protest rallies, including one on May 9, 2023, when his supporters rampaged through military offices and installations.
Speaker of the parliament Ayaz Sadiq who is facilitating both the parties said he had received the PTI’s list of demands.
“We will respond to the demands within seven working days,” said Iran Siddique, lead negotiator from the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Novo Nordisk, other companies meet Danish prime minister following Trump’s Greenland threat
- Frederiksen summoned business leaders after speaking on Wednesday with US President-elect Donald Trump
- The Danish leader said Trump had not retracted his threats of economic coercion during the 45-minute phone conversation
COPENHAGEN: The CEO of obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk and heads of other Danish companies met on Thursday with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to discuss preparations for a possible trade conflict with the United States over Greenland.
Frederiksen summoned business leaders after speaking on Wednesday with US President-elect Donald Trump, who last week refused to rule out military or economic action to take control of Greenland, which is strategically important to Washington.
Trump has suggested he would impose tariffs on Danish goods if it resists his offer to buy the vast Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
The Danish leader said Trump had not retracted his threats of economic coercion during the 45-minute phone conversation, in which she told him it was up to Greenland to decide its future and offered to do more to strengthen security in the Arctic.
“We don’t want to have any kind of conflict with the Americans in the trade area, but of course we are working with the companies, with the business organizations and with our European colleagues,” Frederiksen told journalists.
She said she had informed Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede ahead of the phone call with Trump, and that she had also spoken to Egede right afterwards.
“We’re not preparing for specific things we don’t know yet, but it has been hinted at from the US side that there may unfortunately be a situation where we work less together than we do today,” she added.
DISCUSSIONS WITH BUSINESS LEADERS
Frederiksen said she had emphasized in her conversation with Trump that Danish companies contribute to growth and jobs in the United States and that the EU and the US have a common interest in increased trade.
The CEO of Danish obesity and diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, will participate in the meeting, the company said on Thursday.
Novo, which competes with US drugmaker Eli Lilly in the fast-growing weight-loss drug market, makes the main active ingredient — semaglutide — in its popular obesity and diabetes injections Wegovy and Ozempic in Denmark, and exports it to the United States.
In the first nine months of 2024, Novo’s US sales totalled 115 billion Danish crowns ($15.86 billion), of which obesity drug Wegovy accounted for 31.1 billion.
Other participants in the meeting include CEOs of jewelry maker Pandora, toymaker Lego, brewer Carlsberg , wind turbine maker Vestas and offshore wind farm developer Orsted, the companies said.
Shipping group Maersk said its executives were traveling and would not participate.
