TOKYO: The United States, Japan and South Korea are sending a clear message with their coordination on policy toward North Korea, a senior US official said on Wednesday, despite some recent friction between the two Asian allies.
“That close coordination sends a very critical message to North Korea in that we are together and shoulder-to-shoulder in our approach to this policy,” US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters after meeting the vice foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea.
The three-way talks were held in Tokyo despite frayed relations between Japan and South Korea, largely a result of recriminations by both sides stemming from Japan’s intervention in Korea before and during World War Two.
A new chapter of the historic dispute that blew up in 2019 hit trade between the neighbors and threatened to undermine their cooperation on security in the face of a common threat from North Korea and its nuclear and missile programs.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in recently decided not to visit the Tokyo Olympics, which open on Friday, for what would have been his first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Japan’s vice foreign minister, Takeo Mori, said the trilateral cooperation with the United States was crucial for the denuclearization of North Korea.
“North Korea’s next move is unpredictable,” Mori said.
North Korea has rebuffed US entreaties for diplomacy since US President Joe Biden took over from Donald Trump, who had three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, raising hopes for some sort of breakthrough.
Little concrete progress came as Kim refused to give up his nuclear weapons, but he did impose a freeze on testing them.
Choi Jung Kun, South Korea’s vice foreign minister, described the North Korea nuclear issue as “a long game” that needed patience.
Sherman said the United States was “ready to engage with North Korea and they know that.”
“We hope they will respond positively, but as my colleagues have said, we must exercise some patience, perhaps not too much, but some,” Sherman said.
Sherman did not refer directly to the recent tension between Japan and South Korea. Mori said that issue was not discussed at the trilateral meeting.
US, Japan, South Korea three-way talks send clear message to North Korea — US diplomat
https://arab.news/8atjt
US, Japan, South Korea three-way talks send clear message to North Korea — US diplomat
- The three-way talks held in Tokyo despite frayed relations between Japan and South Korea
China says fishing vessel hijacked off Somalia ‘freed’
- Somalia has for years been blighted by piracy, which peaked in 2011, when the UN says more than 160 attacks were recorded off the Somali coast
MOGADISHU: A Chinese-owned fishing vessel hijacked off the Somali coast in November has been set free with its 18-member crew, the Chinese Embassy in Somalia said Monday.
The embassy said in a statement posted on X that the crew was rescued Monday following “the unremitting efforts of the Chinese government.” “The Chinese side strongly condemns this vicious action which threatened the safety of the crew and international navigation security, and will continue to firmly safeguard the lawful rights of Chinese citizens and enterprises overseas,” the statement said.
HIGHLIGHTS
• The ship and its crew were hijacked in late November and taken to Xaafuun district in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
• The pirates who took the ship later demanded a ransom of $10 million. It was not immediately clear if the money was paid.
The ship and its crew were hijacked in late November and taken to Xaafuun district in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, a territory in Somalia’s northeast. The pirates who took the ship later demanded a ransom of $10 million.
It was not immediately clear if the money was paid.
“The Chinese side maintained close consultation and coordination” with federal authorities in Somalia as well as the regional government of Puntland in efforts to rescue the ship and its crew, the embassy statement said.
The hijacking underscored the persistent challenges of maritime security in Somalia’s waters. Somalia has for years been blighted by piracy, which peaked in 2011, when the UN says more than 160 attacks were recorded off the Somali coast.
Incidents have declined drastically since then, however, largely due to the presence of American and allied navies in international waters.
Tropical storm barrels toward Mozambique after leaving 3 dead in Madagascar
- Mayotte’s prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said the red alert — imposed since Saturday — would remain in place at least until nightfall
MAMOUDZOU: Tropical storm Dikeledi barreled toward Mozambique on Monday after leaving three dead in Madagascar and triggering floods in the French territory of Mayotte, less than a month after the cyclone-battered region was hit by Chido.
It had hit Madagascar’s northern tip as a cyclone Saturday, whipping up strong winds and torrential rains.
The storm left at least three dead, according to the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management on Sunday.
By Sunday, Dikeledi had weakened into a severe tropical storm, passing Mayotte — France’s poorest department — by about 100 kilometers at its closest point.
Mayotte’s prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said the red alert — imposed since Saturday — would remain in place at least until nightfall.
“We have a territory that is very fragile so I decided to keep this red alert,” Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on Mayotte, said on television.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Diekledi came as the region was still reeling from the deadly Cyclone Chido. It left at least 39 dead in Mayotte, injuring more than 5,600, and causing colossal damage.
• When Chido made landfall in the southeast African country of Mozambique in December, it inflicted a more punishing toll — killing at least 120 people and injuring more than 900.
“We still have extremely strong winds and rainfall that is just as strong.”
However, no casualties have been reported from the storm, he said.
Diekledi came as the region was still reeling from the deadly Cyclone Chido.
It left at least 39 dead in Mayotte, injuring more than 5,600, and causing colossal damage.
When Chido made landfall in the southeast African country of Mozambique in December, it inflicted a more punishing toll — killing at least 120 people and injuring more than 900.
By Monday, Dikeledi was 150 kilometers off the coast of Mozambique, according to French weather administration Meteo-France.
It is expected to intensify over the warm waters of the Mozambique Channel to reach “the stage of an intense or very intense tropical cyclone,” Meteo-France said.
Despite the storm’s passage, heavy rains were still expected in Mayotte, Floriane Ben Hassen of Mayotte’s meteorological center said on television, recommending “great caution in all coastal villages ... around these high tide peaks.”
About a dozen houses in the south and the center of the archipelago had been washed away, according to local emergency services Sunday, while several villages had been inundated, including Mbouini, on the southern coast.
“We’re traumatized by everything that happened here. We’ve already been traumatized Chido, and now we’re at a loss for words,” Massa, a resident of Mbouini said.
“We’re only in the middle of the rainy season, so we don’t know what’s going to happen between now and February or March,” she said.
Due to the red alert — which banned all travel except for rescue services and other authorized personnel — Mayotte’s inhabitants have been confined to their homes since Saturday until further notice.
But in the capital Mamoudzou, some residents ventured out Sunday onto the streets, a few taking advantage of the rain to wash their vehicles. In nearby Pamanzi, residents braved the red alert to shore up their roofs weakened by the rain.
More than 4,000 people have been mobilized in Mayotte, including members of the police and the military, while France’s overseas territory minister said that 80 accommodation centers were set up to host 14,500 people.
As Dikeledi approaches Mozambique, its Nampula region “should experience very degraded conditions,” Meteo-France said, warning of torrential rainfall and “very destructive winds,” as well as dangerous sea conditions.
Cyclones usually develop in the Indian Ocean from November to March. This year, surface water temperatures are close to 30 degrees Celsius in the area, which provides more intensity to storms, a global warming phenomenon also observed in the North Atlantic and the Pacific.
Pakistani security forces kill 27 insurgents during raid in Balochistan
- The operation in southwestern Pakistan was conducted in Kachhi, a district in Balochistan province, the military said in a statement
QUETTA: Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout on Monday, killing 27 insurgents, the military said.
The operation in southwestern Pakistan was conducted in Kachhi, a district in Balochistan province, the military said in a statement. Security forces were acting on intelligence.
The slain “terrorists were involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as innocent civilians,” and were being sought by law enforcement agencies, the statement said.
It provided no further details about the slain men, but small Baloch separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban have a strong presence in Balochistan, which is the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, mainly on security forces.
The separatists are demanding independence from the central government.
UK’s Starmer urged to fire minister hit by Bangladesh graft probe
- Siddiq, 42, has been dogged by claims about her links to Hasina, who fled Bangladesh last August
- Hasina, 77, has defied extradition requests to face Bangladeshi charges including mass murder
LONDON: Britain’s Keir Starmer faced fresh pressure Monday to sack his anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, as Bangladesh’s graft watchdog filed new cases against her and her aunt, the country’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina.
Siddiq, 42, has been dogged by claims about her links to Hasina, who fled Bangladesh last August after a student-led uprising against her decades-long, increasingly authoritarian tenure as prime minister.
Hasina, 77, has defied extradition requests to face Bangladeshi charges including mass murder.
On Monday, Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission announced she and family members including Siddiq were subject to another graft probe, this time over an alleged land grab of lucrative plots in a suburb of the capital Dhaka.
Family members including Siddiq had already emerged as named targets of the commission’s investigation into accusations of embezzlement of $5 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant.
Bangladeshi money laundering investigators have since ordered the country’s big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to Siddiq as part of the probe.
Earlier this month, the UK minister referred herself to Starmer’s standards adviser, following the flurry of allegations, which also included that she lived in properties linked to her aunt’s Awami League party.
Siddiq has insisted that she has done nothing wrong.
Asked Monday whether her position in the UK government remained tenable, senior British minister Pat McFadden told Sky News she had “done the right thing” with the self-referral.
He insisted the standards adviser had the powers to “carry out investigations into allegations like this.”
“That is what he is doing, and that is the right way to deal with this,” McFadden said.
However, following further accusations in British newspapers over the weekend, UK opposition politicians want Siddiq fired.
“I think it’s untenable for her to carry out her role,” the Conservatives’ finance spokesman Mel Stride told Times Radio on Sunday.
The party’s business spokesman Andrew Griffith sought to focus the spotlight on Starmer, arguing Monday it was “about the tone at the top.”
“Remember he called himself ‘Mr Rules’, ‘Mr Integrity’,” he told LBC News, referring to Starmer’s pitch to voters before last year’s general election that he represented a break with years of Tory scandals.
Siddiq is an MP for a north London constituency whose ministerial job is part of the finance ministry and responsible for the UK’s financial services sector as well as anti-corruption measures.
Over the weekend, a Sunday Times investigation revealed details about the claims that she spent years living in a London flat bought by an offshore company connected to two Bangladeshi businessmen.
The flat was eventually transferred as a gift to a Bangladeshi lawyer with links to Hasina, her family and her ousted government, according to the newspaper.
It also reported Siddiq and her family were given or used several other London properties bought by members or associates of the Awami League party.
Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize-winning microfinance pioneer who heads a caretaker government, demanded a detailed probe in light of the allegations.
He told the newspaper the properties could be linked to wider corruption claims against Hasina’s toppled government, which he said amounted to the “plain robbery” of billions of dollars from Bangladesh’s coffers.
India’s Modi opens strategic tunnel to disputed frontier with China
- New tunnel is part of a $932 million infrastructure project linking Kashmir with Ladakh
- Last March, Modi also inaugurated a tunnel in disputed northeastern border state
NEW DELHI: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated on Monday a strategic Himalayan road tunnel that would give year-round accessibility to areas along the contested border with China.
The Sonamarg tunnel is part of a $932 million infrastructure project that helps connect Indian-administered Kashmir with Ladakh, a high-altitude, cold desert region nestled between India, Pakistan and China that has been the subject of territorial disputes for decades.
As the 6.4-km-long passage, also known as Z-Morh, stretches beneath a treacherous mountain pass cut off by snow for four to six months a year, it is expected to increase mobility in the region and allow rapid deployment of military supplies.
“With the opening of the tunnel here, connectivity will significantly improve and tourism will see a major boost in Jammu and Kashmir,” Modi said at the opening ceremony in Sonamarg.
The massive infrastructure project also includes a series of bridges, high mountain roads and a second tunnel — expected for completion in 2026 — of about 14 km that will bypass the challenging Zojila pass and connect Sonamarg with Ladakh.
“The inauguration of the tunnel ensures uninterrupted supply chains for military essentials, safeguarding lives by mitigating avalanche-related risks,” Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Jairam Gadkari said.
India’s new tunnel opened amid an ongoing border dispute with China, which came to a head in 2020 following deadly clashes on their de facto Himalayan border known as the Line of Actual Control.
The conflict led the two countries to deploy thousands of troops to the area, as both sides stopped patrolling several points on the border in Ladakh to avoid new confrontations.
Last October, New Delhi and Beijing reached a deal to resolve the military stand-off after multiple high-level meetings aimed at resolving the conflict.
“India has been trying to reinforce its border network so that it is able to provide logistics support for the army and in the process also help civilians,” Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba from the political science department at the University of Kashmir told Arab News.
He said the tunnel is significant for its security and defense aspect and how it is improving connectivity to tourist spots like Sonamarg.
“(The tunnel) gives all-weather connectivity to the Ladakh region … which is a strategically significant region because of the continuous tension with China.”
India and China have been unable to agree on their 3,500-km border since they fought a war in 1962.
Last March, Modi inaugurated the Sela tunnel in the northeastern border state of Arunachal Pradesh, which the government has said will strengthen strategic capabilities along the LAC.