SEOUL: President Joe Biden’s special envoy for North Korea said Monday he hopes to see a positive reaction from the North soon on US offers for talks after the North Korean leader ordered officials to prepare for both dialogue and confrontation.
Sung Kim, Biden’s special representative for North Korea, is in Seoul to speak with South Korean and Japanese officials about the United States’ stalled diplomacy with the North over its nuclear program and US-led sanctions.
The trilateral talks followed a North Korean political conference last week where leader Kim Jong Un called for stronger efforts to improve his nation’s economy, further battered last year by pandemic border closures and now facing worsening food shortages.
The US envoy Sung Kim said the allies took note of the North Korean leader’s comments and are hoping the North will respond positively to the proposal of a meeting.
“We continue to hope that the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach and our offer to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions,” Kim said during his meeting with South Korean and Japanese nuclear envoys, Noh Kyu-duk and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively. He was referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the officials from the three countries reaffirmed a coordinated approach toward North Korea and shared commitment to work toward a quick resumption of dialogue.
North Korea’s economic setbacks followed the collapse of Kim Jong Un’s ambitious summitry with then-President Donald Trump in 2019, when the Americans rejected the North Koreans’ demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of their nuclear capabilities.
Kim Jong Un in recent political speeches has threatened to bolster his nuclear deterrent and claimed that the fate of diplomacy and bilateral relations depends on whether Washington abandons what he calls hostile policies.
US officials have suggested Biden would take the middle ground between Trump’s direct dealings with Kim and President Barack Obama’s policy of “strategic patience.” But some experts say the North likely must take concrete steps toward denuclearization before the Biden administration would ease any sanctions.
South Korea, which is eager for inter-Korean engagement, has expressed optimism about a quick resumption of diplomacy.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry said Kim’s comments during a ruling party meeting last week, where he said he expected both dialogue and confrontation with the United States, demonstrated a flexibility toward diplomacy.
But others saw Kim’s comments as merely a reiteration of Pyongyang’s wait-and-see stance of insisting Washington budge and offer concessions first.
While Kim urged officials to boost agricultural production and brace for prolonged COVID-19 restrictions, none of the decisions reported after the party meeting seemed directly related to facilitating talks with the United States.
While displaying an openness to talks, the Biden administration has provided little detail about its policy on North Korea beyond a long-term principle of taking a “calibrated and practical approach” on diplomacy while simultaneously upholding sanctions against the country.
Thae Yong Ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected and was elected a South Korean lawmaker, posted on Facebook that Kim’s comments at the party meeting seemed tailored to mirror what the Biden administration has said about the North.
“Advocates of engagement see Kim Jong Un’s recent mention of dialogue as a sign North Korea is opening the door for talks, but Pyongyang has not yet expressed a willingness for working-level negotiations on denuclearization,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
He said the North may return to negotiations only after demonstrating its strength with post-pandemic economic recovery and provocative military tests, which could possibly come later this summer when the United States and South Korea usually hold their combined military exercises. The allies describe the drills as defensive in nature, but the North claims they are invasion rehearsals.
US envoy hopes North Korea responds positively on offered talks
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US envoy hopes North Korea responds positively on offered talks
- United States’ diplomacy with North Korea stalled over its nuclear program and US-led sanctions
At least 22 Somalis dead after boats capsize off Madagascar, official says
MOGADISHU/ANTANANARIVO: At least 22 Somali citizens died when two migrant boats capsized off the coast of Madagascar over the weekend, Somalia’s Information Minister Daud Aweis said.
Madagascar’s Port, Maritime, and River Authority (APMF) said the boats had set sail from Somalia for the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Nov. 2, a journey of several hundred kilometers.
On Saturday, the port authority reported that local fishermen discovered the first boat drifting on Friday near Nosy Iranja. They rescued 25 people, including 10 men and 15 women, but seven occupants died, the authority said.
A second boat carrying 38 people arrived at Madagascar’s Port du Cratère, according to APMF. The maritime authority did not disclose a death toll for the second boat but confirmed the rescue of 23 people.
Somali Information Minister Aweis, citing information from his counterparts in Madagascar, confirmed the total death toll at 22.
“They were about 70 Somalis, 22 of them died. One boat was carrying 38 people and the other boat was carrying 32 people,” Aweis said on state-owned television late on Sunday.
In recent decades thousands of people have attempted to make the crossing to Mayotte, which has a higher standard of living and access to the French welfare system.
Mayotte is officially part of France, although Comoros claims it.
Aweis said Somalia will investigate where the boats sailed from, terming those who organized the trip as criminals involved in illicit immigration.
“This is also a message of warning to those who want to immigrate illegally before they go and die in such manner. It is unfortunate people still go despite danger,” he added.
In early November, at least 25 people died off Comoros islands after traffickers capsized their boat.
Charlotte airport workers plan to strike during busy Thanksgiving travel week
- Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage in North Carolina
- Workers say they previously raised the alarm about their growing inability to afford basic necessities, including food and housing
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: Service workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport plan to go on strike during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to protest what they say are unlivable wages.
Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage in North Carolina, which is set to begin Monday at 5 a.m.
Officials with Service Employees International Union announced the impending strike in a statement early Monday, saying the workers would demand “an end to poverty wages and respect on the job during the holiday travel season.”
ABM and Prospect Airport Services contract with American Airlines to provide services including cleaning airplane interiors, removing trash and escorting passengers in wheelchairs.
Workers say they previously raised the alarm about their growing inability to afford basic necessities, including food and housing. They described living paycheck to paycheck, unable to cover expenses like car repairs while performing jobs that keep countless planes running on schedule.
“We’re on strike today because this is our last resort. We can’t keep living like this,” ABM cabin cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said in a statement. “We’re taking action because our families can’t survive.”
Several hundred workers were expected to walk off the job and continue the work stoppage throughout Monday.
Most of them earn between $12.50 and $19 an hour, which is well below the living wage for a single person with no children in the Charlotte area, union officials said.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport officials have said this holiday travel season is expected to be the busiest on record, with an estimated 1.02 million passengers departing the airport between last Thursday and the Monday after Thanksgiving.
In addition to walking off the job, striking workers plan to hold an 11 a.m. rally and a 1 p.m. “Strikesgiving” lunch “in place of the Thanksgiving meal that many of the workers won’t be able to afford later this week,” union officials said.
“Airport service workers make holiday travel possible by keeping airports safe, clean, and running,” the union said. “Despite their critical role in the profits that major corporations enjoy, many airport service workers must work two to three jobs to make ends meet.”
ABM said it would take steps to minimize disruptions from any demonstrations.
“At ABM, we appreciate the hard work our team members put in every day to support our clients and help keep spaces clean and people healthy,” the company said in a statement last week.
Prospect Airport Services said last week that the company recognizes the seriousness of the potential for a strike during the busy holiday travel season.
UK travel disrupted as Storm Bert fallout continues
- There were more 200 flood warnings and flood alerts in place across England and Wales
There were more 200 flood warnings and flood alerts in place across England and Wales, while trains from London to the southwest were canceled and rail services in central England were severely disrupted.
“Do not attempt to travel on any route today,” Great Western Railway, whose trains connect London to Bristol and Cornwall, said on X.
Amongst those killed during the storm include a dog walker who in North Wales, and a man who died when a tree hit his car in southern England.
Major roads in Northamptonshire and Bristol were closed, while fallen trees on rail lines cut off services between London and Stansted Airport, Britain’s fourth busiest hub.
The disruption comes after Storm Bert hit Britain late on Friday, bringing snow, rain and strong winds.
The Met Office kept a warning for strong winds in place for northern Scotland on Monday and said the storm would clear from that part of the country early on Tuesday.
DHL cargo plane crashes into a house in Lithuania, killing at least 1
- The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a “DHL cargo plane
VILNIUS: A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house Monday morning near the Lithuanian capital, killing at least one person.
Lithuanian’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said two people had been taken to the hospital after the crash, and one was later pronounced dead. LRT said the aircraft smashed into a two-story home near the airport.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a “DHL cargo plane flying from Leipzig, Germany, to Vilnius Airport.”
It posted on the social platform X that city services including a fire truck were on site.
DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The DHL aircraft was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. The carrier could not be immediately reached.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that’s not unusual for cargo flights.
The UN chief and pope call for nations to end the use of antipersonnel land mines
- In remarks sent to a conference in Cambodia to review progress on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty
- The treaty was signed in 1997 and went into force in 1999, but nearly three dozen countries have not acceded to it
PHNOM PENH: The UN head, Pope Francis and others called Monday for nations to end the production and use of land mines, even as their deployment globally grows.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a message to delegates at the fifth review of the International Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, that 25 years after it went into force some parties had renewed the use of antipersonnel mines and some are falling behind in their commitments to destroy the weapons.
“I call on states parties to meet their obligations and ensure compliance to the convention, while addressing humanitarian and developmental impacts through financial and technical support,” Guterres said at the opening of the conference in Cambodia.
“I also encourage all states that have not yet acceded to the convention to join the 164 that have done so. A world without anti-personnel mines is not just possible. It is within reach.”
In a statement read on behalf of Pope Francis, his deputy Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that antipersonnel land mines and victim-activated explosive devices continue to be used. Even after many years of hostilities, “these treacherous devices continue to cause terrible suffering to civilians, especially children.”
“Pope Francis urges all states that have not yet done so to accede to the convention, and in the meantime to cease immediately the production and use of land mines,” he said.
The treaty was signed in 1997 and went into force in 1999, but nearly three dozen countries have not acceded to it, including some key current and past producers and users of land mines such as the United States, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea and Russia.
In a report released last week by Landmine Monitor, the international watchdog said land mines were still actively being used in 2023 and 2024 by Russia, Myanmar, Iran and North Korea. It added that non-state armed groups in at least five places — Colombia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Gaza Strip — had used mines as well, and there were claims of their use in more than a half dozen countries in or bordering the Sahel region of Africa.
At least 5,757 people were killed and wounded by land mines and unexploded ordnance last year, primarily civilians of whom a third were children, Landmine Monitor reported.
Landmine Monitor said Russia had been using antipersonnel mines “extensively” in Ukraine, and just a week ago, the US, which has been providing Ukraine with anti-tank mines throughout the war, announced it would start providing Kyiv with antipersonnel mines as well to try and stall Russian progress on the battlefield.
“Antipersonnel mines represent a clear and present danger for civilians,” Guterres said in his statement. “Even after fighting stops, these horrifying and indiscriminate weapons can remain, trapping generations of people in fear.”
He praised Cambodia for its massive demining efforts and for sharing its experience with others and contributing to UN peacekeeping missions.
Cambodia was one of the world’s most mine-affected countries after three decades of war and disorder that ended in 1998, with some 4 million to 6 million mines or unexploded munitions littering the country.
Its efforts to rid the country of mines has been enormous, and Landmine Monitor said Cambodia and Croatia accounted for 75 percent of all land cleared of mines in 2023, with more than 200 square kilometers (80 square miles).
Prime Minister Hun Manet joined the calls for more nations to join the Mine Ban Treaty, and thanked the international community for supporting Cambodia’s mine clearance efforts. He said they have reduced land mine casualties from more than 4,300 in 1996 to fewer than 100 annually over the last decade.
“Cambodia has turned its tragic history into a powerful lesson for the world, advocating against the use of anti-personnel mines and highlighting their long-term consequences,” he said.
