SEOUL, South Korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to wage a tougher epidemic prevention campaign in “our style” after he turned down some foreign COVID-19 vaccines offered via the UN-backed immunization program.
During a Politburo meeting Thursday, Kim said officials must “bear in mind that tightening epidemic prevention is the task of paramount importance which must not be loosened even a moment,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.
While stressing the need for material and technical means of virus prevention and increasing health workers’ qualifications, Kim also called for “further rounding off our style epidemic prevention system,” KCNA said.
Kim previously called for North Koreans to brace for prolonged COVID-19 restrictions, indicating the nation’s borders would stay closed despite worsening economic and food conditions. Since the start of the pandemic, North Korea has used tough quarantines and border closures to prevent outbreaks, though its claim to be entirely virus-free is widely doubted.
On Tuesday, UNICEF, which procures and delivers vaccines on behalf of the COVAX distribution program, said North Korea proposed its allotment of about 3 million Sinovac shots be sent to severely affected countries instead. North Korea was also slated to receive AstraZeneca shots through COVAX, but their delivery has been delayed.
According to UNICEF, North Korea’s health ministry still said it would continue to communicate with COVAX over future vaccines.
Some exports believe North Korea may want other vaccines, while questioning the effectiveness of Sinovac and the rare blood clots seen in some recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The previously allocated 1.9 million AstraZeneca doses would be enough to vaccinate 950,000 people — only about 7.3 percent of the North’s 26 million people — meaning North Korea would still need much more quantities of vaccine to inoculate its population.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, said North Korea is likely angling to receive more effective jabs from COVAX and then strategically allocate them domestically.
“Pyongyang appears to have issues with COVAX involving legal responsibility and distribution reporting requirements. So it might procure vaccines from China to deliver to border regions and soldiers while allocating COVAX shots to less sensitive populations,” Easley said.
“The Kim regime likely wants the most safe and effective vaccine for the elite, but administering Pfizer would require upgraded cold chain capability in Pyongyang and at least discreet discussions with the United States. The (Johnson & Johnson) option could also be useful to North Korea given that vaccine’s portability and one-shot regimen,” he said.
In a recent UN report on the North’s human rights situation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked North Korea to “take all necessary measures, including through international cooperation and assistance, to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines for all persons, without discrimination.”
He also asked North Korea to form a plan to enable diplomats and aid workers to return to the North and revive humanitarian aid distribution systems as soon as possible in conjunction with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
After their meeting in Seoul last month, Sung Kim, the top US diplomat on North Korea affairs, and his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk told reporters that they discussed humanitarian cooperation with North Korea in providing anti-virus resources, sanitation and safe water.
Kim orders tougher virus steps after N. Korea shuns vaccines
https://arab.news/jndf4
Kim orders tougher virus steps after N. Korea shuns vaccines
- Kim previously called for North Koreans to brace for prolonged COVID-19 restrictions, indicating the nation’s borders would stay closed despite worsening economic and food conditions
New campaign against Israel-linked brands gains ground in India
- First BDS-focused rally took place in the country last month
- Campaigners say Indians join when they realize Palestinians are under colonial occupation
New Delhi: There were only a handful of students at the first BDS India rally last month, but the movement is now gaining ground across the country as more people are willing to join efforts to boycott products and companies linked to Israel.
While many grassroots groups have been organizing in India to protest Israel’s deadly onslaught on Gaza that began in October 2023, it is only recently that the efforts began to focus on advancing the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.
The first such protest took place in Hyderabad on April 5 and similar rallies and public awareness meetings have since been held in 10 other Indian cities.
“For the last two months, we have been actively promoting the BDS movement in India ... we have been going to different neighborhoods, campuses, working-class areas and we are seeing that the common masses are very receptive,” Sreeja Dontireddy, BDS India coordinator, told Arab News on Wednesday.
“We began with maybe five to 10 people in each city or team. Now that number has definitely grown to much more than that, to around 20-25. And different people come to different campaigns. The teams are constantly growing because more and more people are volunteering to be part of the campaign.”
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is a global campaign launched in 2005 to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinian rights.
It calls for the boycott of Israeli goods and institutions, divestment from companies complicit in violations of Palestinian rights, as well as sanctions against the Israeli state. BDS is inspired by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and its goal is to end the occupation of Palestinian land and uphold the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homeland.
Support for Palestine has always been an important part of India’s foreign policy even before Indian independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Many years before the establishment of Israel, Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s freedom movement, had opposed a Jewish nation-state in Palestine, deeming it inhumane and wrong.
But a change in the Indian government’s stance has been visible over the past few years. During Israel’s deadly campaign in Gaza, India has even supplied it with weapons.
“Our country’s government might directly or indirectly support Israel, but that doesn’t mean that the people of India also must do so ... when we explain to them that this is a liberation struggle and Palestine is fighting for its independence, they are very receptive,” Dontireddy said.
“The people of Palestine are relentlessly fighting with whatever means they have. And this is a source of inspiration and awe for all of us. And it is our duty to stand by them. And BDS offers something operative to do in that instance, and it allows us also to create a tangible effect that will affect and injure the sort of hegemony that Israel enjoys.”
BDS India activists have been raising awareness about companies and products that have links to Israel. They approach people individually, in local neighborhoods, share their product lists with shopkeepers and have some of them place boycott-related stickers and materials on their displays.
They also organize rallies in front of international outlets featured on global boycott lists.
“People are clearly angry about what is happening in Palestine. They really want to do something,” said Swapnaja Limkar, a member of the BDS India movement in Pune.
“Initially, there were like 10 people. After a month or so, we have about 200 people in every protest. We have organized some boycott protests outside Starbucks, outside Domino’s Pizza, and are campaigning every day. We have gathered around 200 people who are in support of Palestine in Pune right now.”
The most recent BDS India protests took place on May 10 in front of Domino’s outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Patna and Vijayawada.
“Not only physically, but also on social media, people have shown presence as well as support in larger numbers,” said Akriti Chaudhary from BDS India in Delhi.
“The movement has been growing steadily, and more and more people are joining the campaign ... we have suffered 200 years of colonialism. No one can understand better than us what it means. That’s why the Palestinian issue resonates with us, and we need to stand with the people of Palestine in this hour of crisis, as they face an existential threat from Zionist Israel.”
Kremlin blasts potential EU deployment of French nuclear bombers
- Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, possesses about 4,000 warheads and views France’s nuclear deterrence as a potential threat to its national security
- The French president floated the idea during a TV appearance on Tuesday
MOSCOW: The possible deployment of French nuclear bombers across the EU will not enhance security on the continent, the Kremlin said Wednesday, after French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to discuss the issue.
“The proliferation of nuclear weapons on the European continent is something that will not add security, predictability, or stability to the European continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The French president floated the idea during a TV appearance on Tuesday, comparing it to the United States’s nuclear umbrella policy that guarantees Washington would reciprocate if its allies come under nuclear attack.
“The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkiye,” Macron told TF1 television.
“We are ready to open this discussion. I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come.”
France is the EU’s only nuclear-armed nation.
Amid Russia’s offensive on Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s calls on Europe to take more of the burden for its own defense, discussion is growing over extending Paris’s nuclear deterrent to the rest of the 27-member bloc.
Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, possesses about 4,000 warheads and views France’s nuclear deterrence as a potential threat to its national security.
“At present, the entire system of strategic stability and security is in a deplorable state for obvious reasons,” Peskov added.
Amid his offensive on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has several times threatened nuclear escalation, drawing rebukes from the West over “reckless” rhetoric.
‘Albania belongs in EU,’ von der Leyen tells re-elected PM Rama
- EU and French leaders congratulated Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama Wednesday after his party’s electoral victory
BRUSSELS: EU and French leaders congratulated Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama Wednesday after his party’s electoral victory, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailing his “great progress toward our Union.”
“Let’s keep working closely together on EU reforms. Albania belongs in the EU!” von der Leyen said on X. French President Emmanuel Macron also hailed Rama’s win, writing on X: “France will always stand alongside Albania on its European path.”
Germany arrests three Ukrainians over Russian sabotage plot
- The accused allegedly aimed to send packages from Germany containing explosive devices to recipients in Ukraine
- Germany has been on high alert for sabotage plots directed from Moscow
FRANKFURT: German prosecutors said Wednesday they had arrested three Ukrainians accused of plotting sabotage attacks on goods transports for Russia, amid soaring tensions between Moscow and Berlin.
The suspects, detained in Germany and Switzerland, had told individuals “believed to be acting on behalf of Russian state authorities” that they were ready “to commit arson and explosive attacks on goods transport in Germany,” federal prosecutors said.
The accused allegedly aimed to send packages from Germany containing explosive devices to recipients in Ukraine, which would go off as they were being transported, they said.
Germany has been on high alert for sabotage plots directed from Moscow since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to a rapid deterioration in ties.
In a speech to parliament Wednesday, new Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused Russia of targeting Germany and other European countries with acts ranging from cyberattacks, espionage and sabotage to disinformation, poison attacks and murders.
Such acts were “overwhelmingly the work of the Russian government and its helpers,” he said, accusing Moscow of “attempts at division and destabilization.”
In the latest case Wednesday, one of the suspects, partially identified as Vladyslav T., posted two test packages in Cologne at the end of March, which contained GPS trackers, prosecutors said.
The order to send them was given by Yevhen B., who provided the contents from the packages via the third suspect, Daniil B.
The suspects, arrested between Friday last week and Tuesday, are “strongly suspected” of acting as foreign agents for the purpose of carrying out sabotage, prosecutors said.
They are also accused of plotting to commit arson and cause explosions.
Vladyslav T. and Daniil B., arrested in the German cities of Cologne and Konstanz, respectively, have been remanded in custody.
Yevhen B. was detained in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, and is due to appear before a judge after being transferred to Germany.
Moscow-Berlin relations have been in the deep freeze since Russia invaded Ukraine and the West imposed a barrage of punishing sanctions.
Germany, Kyiv’s second-biggest military back after the United States, has been shaken by a string of alleged sabotage and espionage cases linked to Russia.
In a case separate from Wednesday’s arrests, media recently reported that European intelligence services believed that Russia was behind a plot to plant explosive devices on cargo planes.
Several people reportedly implicated in the operation, which saw parcels explode at two DHL depots last July, were thought to be low-level operatives hired by Moscow.
In other cases of alleged Russian interference, a former German intelligence officer stands accused of handing sensitive information to Moscow while Berlin has blamed Moscow for being behind a cyberattack on members of the center-left SPD party.
Russia has denied being behind such actions.
Merz has vowed to keep up Germany’s support for Ukraine, insisting that: “There must be no doubt where we stand: namely... on the side of this attacked country.”
France says to expel Algerian diplomats in tit-for-tat move
PARIS: France will expel Algerian diplomats in response to plans by Algiers to send more French officials home, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Wednesday, as relations between the countries deteriorate.
Barrot told the BFMTV broadcaster that he would summon Algeria’s charge d’affaires to inform him of the decision that he said was “perfectly proportionate at this point” to the Algerian move, which he called “unjustified and unjustifiable.”
