SEOUL: North Korea has “responded” to efforts by the United Nations Command to discuss American soldier Travis King, who ran across the border into North Korea last month and is believed to be detained by Pyongyang, the Command said on Thursday.
The US-led multinational force, which oversees the Korean War truce, said in a statement that Pyongyang’s military “has responded to the United Nations Command with regards to Private King.”
“In order not to interfere with our efforts to get him home, we will not go into details at this time,” it added.
The latest announcement comes more than a week after the UN Command said it had started a conversation with the North over the soldier.
After a drunken pub fight, an incident with police and a stay in South Korean jail, Private Second Class King was being taken to the airport last month to fly back to Texas.
But instead of traveling to Fort Bliss for disciplinary hearings, King snuck away, joined a Demilitarized Zone sightseeing trip and slipped over the border.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a treaty, and most of the border between them is heavily fortified.
But at the JSA, the frontier is marked only by a low concrete divider and is relatively easy to cross, despite the presence of soldiers on both sides.
Pyongyang has a long history of detaining Americans and using them as bargaining chips in bilateral negotiations.
The latest incident comes as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points ever, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for increased weapons development, including of tactical nuclear warheads.
But Thursday’s development “reads as a sign of North’s willingness to negotiate,” Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, said.
“They basically want some progress toward normalization with the US, in order to offset the disproportionally high dependency on the Chinese economy.
“So, a goodwill gesture may happen — although it is far from sure for now.”
Beijing is North Korea’s most important ally and economic benefactor.
Washington continues to enforce stringent sanctions against North Korea as a means of addressing the ongoing concerns surrounding their nuclear weapons program.
Pyongyang last week held a dramatic military parade featuring its new attack drones and nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, with leader Kim flanked by visiting Russian and Chinese officials.
North Korea ‘responds’ to UN outreach on American soldier Travis King
https://arab.news/72ta5
North Korea ‘responds’ to UN outreach on American soldier Travis King
- Latest announcement comes more than a week after the UN Command said it had started a conversation with the Pyongyang over the soldier
Filipino Muslim students host iftars in Manila universities to foster unity, strengthen bonds
- ‘University Tour Iftar’ started in 2023 to unite young Filipino Muslims during Ramadan
- Muslims make up around 10 percent of Philippines’ 120 million population
Manila: As they seek to strengthen the bonds within the Philippines’ minority Muslim community, a group of students are bringing iftar to various universities in Manila during Ramadan to promote meaningful connections among young Muslims and their Catholic peers.
In the Catholic-majority Philippines, Muslims make up about 10 percent of its 120 million population, living mostly on the island of Mindanao and in the Sulu archipelago in the country’s south, as well as in Manila.
Throughout Ramadan, which began on March 2 this year, Filipino Muslim students who make up the Students Association for Islamic Affairs, Inc., or SAIA, have been running the “University Tour Iftar” initiative to unite young Muslims in the Philippine capital and build deeper connections with non-Muslim youths.
“This is where Muslim students around Metro Manila gather and break our fast together, as we get to know each other and strengthen our bonds,” SAIA President Alinaid Angcob II told Arab News.
SAIA was established in 2009 by Muslim students and young professionals from universities in Manila with the mission of uniting the youths in their community and inspiring them to excel in their careers.
Since it was first launched during Ramadan in 2023, SAIA’s iftar events have become gatherings of some 30 to 50 people. This year, the iftars have so far been held at various universities in Manila, including the University of Makati, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the Philippine Normal University.
“We always tend to have a friendly atmosphere and unity among us, even with our differences in cultures,” Angcob said.
During the iftar event, before they close the fasting day with hearty meals, Angcob and his team also organize discussions on fasting and the importance of Ramadan. They welcome non-Muslims as a way to raise more awareness about Islam and increase interfaith bonds.
“One of our organization’s biggest missions is to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood, sisterhood among Muslim students and professionals here in Metro Manila. So, we thought that one of the ways we could achieve that unity and brotherhood is through a salo-salo (shared meal),” Jaffar Malic, SAIA external vice president, told Arab News.
Dates are always part of the fast-breaking meals, though the group tries to add regional specialties, like Maranao-style rice noodles, so that non-Muslims can learn about the variety of food, customs and traditions in the Filipino Muslim community.
They get support from Muslim-owned businesses in Manila and donations from friends to run the iftar program.
“Many businesses especially here in Metro Manila that are Muslim-owned are very willing to support our cause because they can see that we have this drive to help and unite the Muslim students here in Metro Manila. There are also non-Muslims, like some of them are my friends, who give donations,” Malic said.
“Even though the food is simple, sharing it goes a long way. It creates an opportunity for dialogue and for non-Muslims to experience what it’s like to be part of our community.”
For him, being a part of SAIA and participating in the iftar program gave him “a sense of belonging” as a Muslim in the Philippines.
“It’s like finding a community that understands you for who you are and what you believe in without compromising,” he said. “It’s a really big deal for all of us, especially since we are here in Metro Manila, which is a place that’s dominated by non-Muslims.”
The initiative has also received positive feedback from non-Muslims who participate.
“We can really see that they start to develop curiosity and the desire to know more about Islam especially since most of them have Muslim friends, and they want to know the perspectives and understand the experiences of their Muslim friends,” Malic said. “It’s really more than just a meal.”
Lenon, a student at the Philippine Normal University who went with two other non-Muslims, was among those who attended the iftar to support his Muslim friend.
“We agreed to come, hoping to learn something about our friend’s religion so we can connect with him better,” Lenon said.
The discussions were a source of better understanding of Ramadan for the non-Muslim attendees, like Janelle.
“I learned that fasting is not just about food; it’s also about discipline and the strength of faith,” she said.
Philippine Senate launching probe of Duterte’s ICC arrest
- The probe was initiated by Senator Imee Marcos, sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
- Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila airport on March 11 and flown to the Netherlands just hours later
MANILA: The Philippine Senate said Monday it will conduct a formal probe of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and swift handover last week to the International Criminal Court, which is to try him for alleged crimes against humanity.
The 79-year-old, the first Asian former head of state charged by the ICC, stands accused of the crime against humanity of murder over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups have said killed thousands.
The probe was initiated by Senator Imee Marcos, sister of President Ferdinand Marcos but a close friend of Duterte’s eldest daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.
The two families have had a spectacular falling out since Marcos teamed with Duterte to win an election landslide in 2022. The latter has since been impeached on charges that include an alleged assassination plot against the president.
“As chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, I am calling for an urgent investigation into the arrest of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, an issue that has deeply divided the nation,” Imee Marcos said in a statement Monday.
“It is imperative to establish whether due process was followed and to ensure that his legal rights were not just upheld but protected,” she said, adding: “Our sovereignty and legal processes must remain paramount.”
Duterte was arrested at Manila airport on March 11 after a brief trip to Hong Kong and flown to the Netherlands just hours later where he was turned over to the ICC.
The Senate has set a public hearing for Thursday and invited top police and other government officials to give evidence.
Imee Marcos has tracked a course largely independent from her brother on many issues, though she is running for re-election under the administration’s ticket in the May 12 midterm elections.
Hours after Duterte’s arrest, Imee Marcos warned at a news conference that it could “only lead to trouble.”
Separately, a veteran international lawyer with ICC experience has been tapped to join the former president’s defense team.
Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli national, has previously represented clients at The Hague including former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and Aisha Qaddafi, daughter of the deceased Libyan dictator.
“The president (has) already appointed Nicholas Kaufman as his lawyer,” Vice President Duterte confirmed at a press briefing outside the Hague, according to a transcript made public Sunday by her office.
“We had a meeting with him yesterday, and then we will have a meeting in person when he arrives this weekend,” she told reporters after her father’s Friday appearance.
In an email to AFP, Kaufman said he was “honored to have been asked to assist former President Duterte in composing his defense team in which my future role is yet to be precisely determined.”
“Indeed, I look forward to denouncing the State-sponsored abduction of the former President to a case in The Hague devoid of jurisdiction.”
Georgia court slaps fresh 4.5-year prison term on jailed ex-leader Saakashvili: lawyer
- Saakashvili and rights groups have denounced his prosecution as politically motivated
Tbilisi: A Georgian court on Monday sentenced ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili to four and a half years behind bars for illegally crossing the border, bringing the pro-Western politician’s total sentence to 12.5 years.
Saakashvili, 57, was sentenced in absentia in 2018 to six years in prison for abuse of office and, last week, he received a nine-year sentence for misspending public funds.
He began serving the term in 2021, when he returned to the country from exile.
On Monday, Saakashvili was sentenced to “four years and six months in prison for illegally crossing Georgia’s border” when he covertly returned from exile in Ukraine, lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili told AFP.
“Taking into account the combination of sentences, Mikheil Saakashvili’s overall prison term is set at 12 years and six months,” said Judge Mikheil Jinjolia.
Saakashvili and rights groups have denounced his prosecution as politically motivated.
He is being held in a civilian hospital, where he was transferred in 2022 after staging a 50-day hunger strike to protest over his detention.
The European Parliament has called for his immediate release, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded that Saakashvili, a Ukrainian national since 2019, be transferred to Kyiv.
Zelensky — who appointed Saakashvili as his top adviser to oversee reforms — accused Russia of “killing” Saakashvili “at the hands of the Georgian authorities.”
The European Union and the United States have urged Georgia to ensure that Saakashvili is provided medical treatment and that his rights are protected.
Council of Europe rights watchdog has branded him a “political prisoner,” while Amnesty International has called his treatment an “apparent political revenge.”
Mount Fuji hikers to be charged $27 on all trails
- A record influx of foreign tourists to Japan has sparked alarm about overcrowding on the nation’s highest mountain
- Thanks in part to the new restrictions, the number of climbers who tackled Mount Fuji declined to 204,316 last year, from 221,322 in 2023
TOKYO: Hikers attempting any of Mount Fuji’s four main trails will be charged an entry fee of 4,000 yen ($27) from this summer, after local authorities passed a bill on Monday.
A record influx of foreign tourists to Japan has sparked alarm about overcrowding on the nation’s highest mountain, a once-peaceful pilgrimage site.
Last year, Yamanashi region – home to Mount Fuji – introduced a 2,000 yen ($14) entry fee plus an optional donation for the active volcano’s most popular hiking route, the Yoshida Trail.
A cap on daily entries and online reservations were also brought in on that trail by officials concerned about safety and environmental damage on Fuji’s majestic slopes.
The Yoshida Trail fee will be doubled for this year’s July-September climbing season, while neighboring Shizuoka region passed a bill on Monday to also charge 4,000 yen for its three trails, which were previously free.
Thanks in part to the new restrictions, the number of climbers who tackled Mount Fuji declined to 204,316 last year, from 221,322 in 2023, environment ministry data shows.
Although climber numbers continue to be eclipsed by pre-pandemic levels, “200,000 hikers is still huge,” Natsuko Sodeyama, a Shizuoka prefecture official, told AFP.
“There is no other mountain in Japan that attracts that many people in the span of just over two months. So some restrictions are necessary to ensure their safety.”
Mount Fuji is covered in snow for most of the year, but during the summer hiking season many trudge up its steep, rocky slopes through the night to see the sunrise.
The symmetrical mountain has been immortalized in countless artworks, including Hokusai’s “Great Wave.” It last erupted around 300 years ago.
Bangladesh’s Yunus to visit China this month
- The Nobel Peace laureate took charge of Bangladesh last August after the ouster of premier Sheikh Hasina
- Yunus is slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during the March 26-29 visit
DHAKA: Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus will travel to Beijing on a diplomatic goodwill visit this month as frosty relations with neighboring India spur his caretaker administration to court new friends.
The Nobel Peace laureate took charge of Bangladesh last August after the ouster of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India after a student-led uprising.
India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government and her ouster sent cross-border relations into a tailspin.
That has prompted the caretaker government helmed by Yunus to seek greater ties with Beijing, New Delhi’s chief rival for power and influence in the Asian subcontinent.
“Bangladesh aims to elevate this bilateral relationship to new heights,” Yunus’s media secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters on Sunday in a briefing on next week’s visit.
“They will discuss a wide range of issues concerning both countries.”
Yunus is slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during the March 26-29 visit.
He will also receive an honorary doctorate from Peking University and meet several Chinese firms to explore investment opportunities.
“Bangladesh aspires to become a manufacturing hub and is keen to partner with China in this endeavor,” Alam said.
Diplomatic talks are also expected to touch on Bangladesh’s immense population of Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a violent military crackdown in neighboring Myanmar in 2017.
China has acted as mediator between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the past to broker the repatriation of the persecuted minority, although efforts stalled because of Myanmar’s unwillingness to have them returned.
Interim Bangladeshi foreign minister Touhid Hossain visited China in January in what was his first official trip abroad.
China’s ambassador in Dhaka, Yao Wen, said last month that Beijing “firmly supports Bangladesh in upholding its national independence, sovereignty, and dignity.”
