SEOUL, South Korea: A North Korean diplomat who served as the country’s acting ambassador to Kuwait has defected to South Korea, according to South Korean lawmakers who were briefed by Seoul’s spy agency.
Ha Tae-keung, a conservative opposition lawmaker and an executive secretary of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, said Tuesday he was told by officials from the National Intelligence Service that the diplomat arrived in South Korea in September 2019 with his wife and at least one child.
That would make him one of the most senior North Koreans to defect in recent years. North Korea, which touts itself as a socialist paradise, is extremely sensitive about defections, especially among its elite, and has sometimes insisted that they are South Korean or American plots to undermine its government.
Ha said he was told that the diplomat, who changed his name to Ryu Hyun-woo after arriving in the South, had escaped through a South Korean diplomatic mission but that spy officials didn’t specify where. Ha said spy officials didn’t provide specific details as to why Ryu decided to defect.
The office of Kim Byung-kee, a lawmaker of the ruling liberal party and the intelligence committee’s other executive secretary, said he was also told that Ryu was now living in South Korea. Kim’s aides didn’t elaborate further.
The NIS and South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, didn’t independently confirm Ryu’s defection when reached by The Associated Press.
Kuwait’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A mobile phone number once associated with the North Korean Embassy there rang unanswered Tuesday.
North Korean state media has yet to comment on Ryu’s situation.
The North has been known to maintain silence about such defections — such as the 2018 defection of its former acting ambassador to Italy — in part to avoid highlighting the vulnerabilities of its government.
North Korea has long used its diplomats to develop money-making sources abroad and experts have said it’s possible that diplomats who defected may have struggled to meet financial demands from authorities at home.
The North’s long-mismanaged economy has been devastated by US-led sanctions over its nuclear program, which strengthened significantly in 2016 and 2017 amid a provocative run in nuclear and weapons tests.
The North Korean Embassy in Kuwait City serves as its only diplomatic outpost in the Gulf region. Pyongyang once had thousands of laborers working in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE before the United Nations stepped up its sanctions over North Korean labor exports, which had been an important source of foreign income for Pyongyang.
In its most-recent letter to the United Nations in March 2020, Kuwait said it had stopped issuing work permits for North Koreans and expelled those working in the country. The UAE said it expelled all North Korean laborers by late December 2019. Oman and Qatar haven’t provided updates since 2019 and 2018 respectively.
In September 2017, the Kuwaiti government expelled North Korea’s ambassador and four other diplomats following Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests. Ryu reportedly stepped in as acting ambassador after that.
It appears Ryu fled months after North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, Jo Song Gil, vanished with his wife in late 2018. Ha and other lawmakers told reporters last year that they learned Jo was living in South Korea under government protection after arriving in July 2019.
Jo was possibly the highest-level North Korean official to defect to the South since the 1997 arrival of a senior ruling Workers’ Party official who once tutored leader Kim Jong Un’s father, late leader Kim Jong Il.
Tae Young Ho, formerly a minister at the North Korean Embassy in London who defected to the South in 2016 and was elected as a lawmaker representing Ha’s party last year, said in a Facebook post that Ryu’s defection would shock members of the North Korean ruling elite because he appears to be the son-in-law of Jon Il Chun, who once oversaw a ruling party bureau that handled the Kim family’s secret moneymaking operations. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify Tae’s claim.
More than 33,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have said they were escaping from harsh political suppression and poverty, while elites like Tae have expressed resentment about the country’s dynastic leadership.
Tae has said he decided to flee because he didn’t want his children to live “miserable” lives in North Korea and that he was disappointed with Kim Jong Un, who he said terrorized North Korean elites with executions and purges while consolidating power and aggressively pursued nuclear weapons.
North Korea has called Tae “human scum” and accused him of embezzling government money and committing other crimes without presenting specific evidence.
North Korean diplomat defects to South Korea
https://arab.news/894ee
North Korean diplomat defects to South Korea
- One of the most senior North Koreans to defect in recent years
- More than 33,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War
Four dead, dozens injured in Russia drone strikes on Kharkiv
- The attack late Thursday targeted residential and office buildings in Kharkiv
- Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes them to agree to a ceasefire
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes them to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of costly fighting.
The attack late Thursday targeted residential and office buildings in Kharkiv, causing several blazes, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram.
“Russian drones attacked one of the districts of Kharkiv. As a result of strikes at residential buildings and an administrative building, four fires broke out,” the emergency service said.
The city’s mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram that as of Friday morning, “unfortunately, there are already four dead,” with a fourth body “unearthed from under the rubble” in addition to three earlier fatalities.
Ukraine’s state emergency service and Oleg Synegubov, governor of the wider Kharkiv region, said 35 people were wounded in the attack, while Terekhov put the figure at 32.
Six other people were injured in the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kyiv, according to local authorities who blamed Moscow.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Sergiy Lysak said on Telegram that 13 drones had been “destroyed” in the region.
“Due to the massive drone attack, there is damage in Dnipro and its suburbs,” he said.
One killed in Russia
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Friday that air defense alert systems intercepted and destroyed 107 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 34 over the Kursk region and 30 over the Oryol region.
An attack by Ukrainian drones in a village in the Bryansk region killed one and left another injured, governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said in a Telegram post on Friday.
“As a result of the attack by Ukrainian drones, two residents of the village received shrapnel wounds. Unfortunately, one man died,” he wrote.
The attacks came as Russia’s top economic negotiator visited Washington for talks on improving ties.
Trump is pushing for warmer relations with Moscow, reaching out to President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials in the hope of brokering a ceasefire in the three-year Ukraine war.
Washington had said last month that both Kyiv and Moscow agreed separately to “develop measures for implementing” a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure.
But attacks have continued and both sides have complained to the United States about strikes hitting their energy sites.
Kyiv called on Washington to strengthen sanctions on Moscow for “violating” agreements made at talks in Saudi Arabia last month.
South Korea court ousts impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol
- Millions of Koreans watched the court hand down its verdict live on television
- Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days
SEOUL: South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday unanimously upheld President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his disastrous martial law declaration, stripping him of office and triggering fresh elections after months of political turmoil.
Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested on insurrection charges as part of a separate criminal case.
Millions of Koreans watched the court hand down its verdict live on television, with the country’s main messaging app KakaoTalk saying that some users were experiencing delays due to a sudden surge in traffic.
“Given the serious negative impact and far-reaching consequences of the respondent’s constitutional violations... (We) dismiss respondent President Yoon Suk Yeol,” acting court President Moon Hyung-bae said while delivering the ruling.
Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days. Authorities will announce a date in the coming days.
The decision was unanimous, and the judges have been given additional security protection by police. Outside the court, AFP reporters heard Yoon supporters shouting death threats.
Yoon’s actions “violate the core principles of the rule of law and democratic governance,” the judges said in their ruling.
Sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree “violated the political neutrality of the armed forces.”
He deployed troops for “political purposes,” the judges said.
“In the end, the respondent’s unconstitutional and illegal acts are a betrayal of the people’s trust and constitute a serious violation of the law that cannot be tolerated,” the judges ruled.
Opposition party lawmakers clapped their hands as the verdict was announced, calling it “historic,” while lawmakers from Yoon’s party filed out of the courtroom.
Yoon is the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.
After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, while public unrest swelled.
Police raised the alert to the highest possible level Friday. Officers encircled the courthouse with a ring of vehicles and stationed special operations teams in the vicinity.
Anti-Yoon protesters gathered outdoors to watch a live broadcast of the verdict, cheering at many of the lines and holding hands. When Yoon’s removal was announced, they erupted into wild cheers, with some bursting into tears.
“When the dismissal was finally declared, the cheers were so loud it felt like the rally was being swept away,” Kim Min-ji, a 25-year-old anti-Yoon protester, said.
“We cried tears and shouted that we, the citizens, had won!”
Yoon, who defended his attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces,” still commands the backing of extreme supporters.
Outside his residence, his supporters shouted and swore, with some bursting into tears as the verdict was announced.
This year, at least two staunch Yoon supporters have died after self-immolating in protest of the controversial leader’s impeachment.
A police official said that one person had been arrested in the vicinity of the court, with others trying to destroy police buses with batons.
Embassies — including the American, French, Russian and Chinese — have warned citizens to avoid mass gatherings in connection with Friday’s verdict.
The decision shows “first and foremost the resilience of South Korean democracy,” Byunghwan Son, professor at George Mason University, said.
“The very fact that the system did not collapse suggests that the Korean democracy can survive even the worst challenge against it — a coup attempt.”
South Korea has spent the four months since the martial law declaration without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in — only for him to be later reinstated by a court ruling.
The leadership vacuum came during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.
This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies.
Since December, South Korea has been “partially paralyzed — it has been without a legitimate president and has been challenged by natural disasters and the political disaster called Trump,” Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said.
Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid.
Acting president Han Duck-soo will remain at the helm until the new elections are held.
Rubio tries to reassure wary allies of US commitment to NATO as Trump sends mixed signals
- “President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” the top US diplomat tells NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels
- America's allies needed Rubio's reassurance as US firepower ensures that NATO’s ability to deter Russia is credible
BRUSSELS: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration’s new envoy to NATO are seeking to reassure wary members of the US commitment to the alliance.
Rubio on Thursday decried “hysteria and hyperbole” in the media about US President Donald Trump’s intentions, despite persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant.
Rubio and newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker are in Brussels for a meeting of alliance foreign ministers at which many are hoping Rubio will shed light on US security plans in Europe.
“The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio told reporters as he greeted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte before the meeting began. “And some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted.”
“President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” Rubio said. “We’re going to remain in NATO.”
“We want NATO to be stronger, we want NATO to be more visible and the only way NATO can get stronger, more visible is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability,” he said.
Whitaker said in a statement that “under President Trump’s leadership, NATO will be stronger and more effective than ever before, and I believe that a robust NATO can continue to serve as a bedrock of peace and prosperity.” But he added: “NATO’s vitality rests on every ally doing their fair share.”
Concerns about US commitment to allies
Despite those words, European allies and Canada are deeply concerned by Trump’s readiness to draw closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sees NATO as a threat as the US tries to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, as well as his rhetorical attacks and insults against allies like Canada and Denmark.
Rubio and Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen met on the sidelines of the meeting. They didn’t respond to a shouted question about Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark which Trump has his eye on, but they smiled and shook hands in front of US and Danish flags.
Trump’s imposition of new global tariffs, which will affect allies, have also added to the uncertainty and unease.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot warned that NATO’s unity is “being tested by the decisions taken and announced yesterday (Wednesday) by President Trump.”
Asked about concerns among European allies about a possible US troop drawdown and the importance of getting clear messages from the Trump administration, Rutte said: “These issues are not new. There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe.”
Indeed, the Trump administration hasn’t made its NATO allies aware any plans that it might have. But several European countries are convinced that US troops and equipment will be withdrawn, and they want to find out from Rubio how many and when so they can fill any security gaps.
“We need to preempt a rapid retreat, but we’ve had nothing precise from the US yet,” a senior NATO diplomat said before the meeting, briefing reporters on his country’s expectations on condition that he not be named.
In Washington, the chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee criticized “mid-level” leadership at the Pentagon for what he branded as a misguided plan to “reduce drastically” the number of US troops based in Europe. The US Defense Department hasn’t made public any such proposal.
“They’ve been working to pursue a US retreat from Europe and they’ve often been doing so without coordinating with the secretary of defense,” US Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said at a hearing with US European Command and US Africa Command military leadership.
It wasn’t immediately clear what “mid-level bureaucrats” Wicker was talking about.
Rutte’s dilemma
NATO’s secretary-general is in a bind. European allies and Canada have tasked him with keeping the United States firmly in NATO. Around 100,000 US troops are stationed in Europe along with the Navy’s 6th Fleet and nuclear warheads. US firepower ensures that NATO’s ability to deter Russia is credible.
This means he can’t openly criticize Trump, who is commander in chief of the United States, NATO’s biggest and best-equipped armed forces.
What is clear is that US allies must ramp up defense spending even more than they already have since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, so that they can defend Europe with less American help and keep Ukraine’s armed forces in the fight.
“The US expects European allies to take more responsibility for their own security,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said, which means that “European NATO countries rapidly have to strengthen the European pillar of NATO and have to increase their defense spending.”
Since US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned last month that American security priorities lie elsewhere — in Asia and on the United States’ own borders — the Europeans have waited to learn how big a military drawdown in Europe could be and how fast it may happen.
In Europe and Canada, governments are working on “burden shifting” plans to take over more of the load, while trying to ensure that no security vacuum is created if US troops and equipment are withdrawn from the continent.
Trump defiant as tariffs send world markets into panic
- Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting, “It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing”
- “Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” says commerce chief amid howls of protest even from some Republicans
WASHINGTON: Wall Street led a global markets bloodbath Thursday as countries around the world reeled from President Donald Trump’s trade war, while the White House insisted the US economy will emerge victorious.
The S&P 500 dropped 4.8 percent in its biggest loss since 2020. The tech-rich Nasdaq plummeted 6.0 percent and the Dow Jones 4.0 percent.
Shock waves also tore through markets in Asia and Europe in the wake of Trump’s Wednesday announcement, while foreign leaders signaled readiness to negotiate but also threatened counter-tariffs.
Trump slapped 10 percent import duties on all nations and far higher levies on imports from dozens of specific countries — including top trade partners China and the European Union.
Separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars also went into effect and Canada swiftly responded with a similar levy on US imports.
Stellantis — the owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat — paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.
Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting to reporters as he left for a weekend at his Florida golf resorts, that stocks will “boom.”
The 78-year-old president says he wants to make the United States free from reliance on foreign manufacturers, in a massive economic reshaping that he likened to a medical procedure.
“It’s what is expected,” he said of the market reaction. “The patient was very sick. The economy had a lot of problems.”
“It went through an operation. It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing.”
Trump ‘knows what he’s doing’
Amid howls of protest abroad and from even some of Trump’s Republicans, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged patience.
“Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” he said on CNN. “You’ve got to trust Donald Trump in the White House.”
But China demanded that the tariffs be immediately canceled and vowed countermeasures, while France and Germany warned that the EU could hit back at US tech firms.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified.”
The 27-nation EU and other countries also sought to negotiate as they refrained from immediate retaliation.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for “frank discussion on the substance with the Americans.”
Beijing said it was “maintaining communication” with Washington over trade issues, and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic planned to speak with US counterparts on Friday.
However, Brazil’s president vowed to take “all appropriate measures.”
Gold — a safe-haven investment — hit a new record price, oil fell and the dollar slumped against other major currencies.
The head of the World Trade Organization, which helps manage global trading, warned the upheaval may lead to contraction of “one percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year.”
’You can’t fight the US’
Trump is brushing off warnings about triggering a global economic slowdown and politically damaging price rises at home.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell broke ranks with Trump, slamming tariffs as “bad policy.”
“Preserving the long-term prosperity of American industry and workers requires working with our allies, not against them,” he said.
It remains unclear to what extent Trump is using the tariffs shock to engage in negotiations on trade deals — or whether he really intends to try to force all competitors to play by US rules.
He said he would negotiate “as long as they are giving something that is good.”
But earlier, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN that the president made it clear that “this is not a negotiation.”
And Lutnick also struck a hard line, saying, “You can’t really fight with the United States.”
“You’re going to lose. We are the sumo wrestler of this world.”
Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly.”
That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.
The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan.
For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including on another key ally, Britain, which will come into effect on Saturday while the higher duties will kick in on April 9.
‘Frightening’: US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash
- Trump has unveiled a sweeping 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners, set to take effect on Saturday
- The list covers about 60 partners including the European Union, China, India and Japan
WASHINGTON: From European wines to industrial tools, global tariffs launched by US President Donald Trump this week promise to sweep through the world’s biggest economy, impacting everyone from restaurant owners to industrial manufacturers.
For Brett Gitter, who makes his quality control instruments in China-based factories, Trump’s planned tariff hike on goods from the country marks a further price surge to potentially startling levels for customers.
“I add a surcharge at the bottom of every invoice to cover the expense of the tariff,” he told AFP.
“The bottom of the invoice now is going to say 54 percent,” he added, referring to a new rate hitting Chinese imports starting next Wednesday.
All of this stacks on an existing 25 percent rate Chinese imports already faced before Trump returned to the presidency, he said, although he tried to absorb some of the earlier duties.
“That’s a lot,” he added. “That’s going to alarm people.”
This week, Trump unveiled a sweeping 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners, set to take effect on Saturday.
He declared that foreign trade practices have caused a “national emergency,” imposing levies to boost his country’s position.
Additionally, “worst offenders” that have large trade imbalances with the United States will face even higher rates come April 9.
The list covers about 60 partners including the European Union, China, India and Japan.
Gitter said his customers, who are American manufacturers too, will have to decide if they want to foot the higher bill.
“Other countries that have similar types of product have added tariffs too,” he said.
“Where does my product made in China fit, and how bad does it take a hit compared to other competitors?“
Andrew Fortgang, who runs three restaurants and a wine shop in Oregon, worries about Trump’s additional 20 percent tariff on European Union imports — specifically, wine.
The rate is also taking effect April 9.
“Probably 25 percent of our revenue is from imported wine,” he told AFP, noting that the steep tariff will bite.
For these sales to vanish would be “really frightening,” he said.
Beyond that, “everything from oil, to mustards, cheeses, and meats, they are just not fungible, they are not made here,” Fortgang said. “It’s going to add up.”
While he expects he would be forced to pass on some costs to consumers by hiking menu prices, high inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic have weighed on customers.
“You’ll kind of reach a tipping point,” he said, “on how much you can raise prices.”
US Wine Trade Alliance president Ben Aneff called the plan “a disaster for small businesses.”
“Restaurants really rely on large margins in order to effectively subsidize the rest of their business,” he said, adding that consumers will likely see higher prices.
“We import about $4.5 billion worth of (wine) from the EU and US businesses make almost $25 billion from those imports. There is no plug for that hole,” he told AFP.
Others in the food and beverages sector have already been hit by Trump’s multiple waves of tariffs.
Bill Butcher, a craft brewer in Virginia, earlier saw a shortage of glass bottles for his beers when metals tariffs took effect in March — as industry giants pivoted away from aluminum cans to avoid added costs.
Now, he awaits suppliers’ verdict on how much the incoming tariffs on European goods will add to costs for the grains and hops needed in his brews.
“It’s just a lot of uncertainty and chaos in our supply chain,” he said.
Gitter, whose business is based in New Jersey, has tried “many times” to relocate production to the United States.
“There’s a lack of infrastructure in the US to support what we do,” he said.
The printed circuit boards used in his instruments, for example, require chips made in East Asia.
Will Thomas, whose company transforms coils of steel into metal products, added: “We import from necessity, not desire.”
While he is not hard hit by Trump’s partner-based tariffs this week, earlier 25 percent duties on steel and aluminum imports have eaten away at his profits.
“I’m hoping this is not another nail in the coffin for foreign supply,” Thomas said.
“I would just like the leaders of the countries to be able to sit down and work things out.”
