SEOUL: North Korea sent some 600 balloons carrying trash into South Korea overnight, Seoul said on Sunday, in Pyongyang’s latest move to rile its rival neighbor.
The balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across the capital from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. (1100 GMT on Saturday to 0100 GMT on Sunday), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
It said the military was monitoring the starting point and conducting aerial reconnaissance to track down and collect the balloons, which have large bags of trash suspended beneath them.
North Korea on Wednesday sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement across the heavily fortified border as what it called “gifts of sincerity.” Seoul responded angrily, calling the move base and dangerous.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said during a meeting with US Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore on Sunday that the balloons violated the armistice agreement, according to South Korea’s military.
The two reaffirmed a coordinated response to any North Korean threats and provocations based on the South Korea-US alliance’s combined defense posture, it added.
Emergency alerts were issued in North Gyeongsang and Gangwon provinces and some parts of Seoul on Sunday, urging people not to come into contact with the balloons and to alert police.
South Korea’s National Security Council standing committee will meet on Sunday afternoon to discuss whether to resume blasting loudspeakers at North Korea in response to the trash balloons, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the presidential office.
South Korea stopped blaring propaganda across the border in 2018 after a rare summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea sends 600 more trash balloons over border, South says
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North Korea sends 600 more trash balloons over border, South says
- Balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across Seoul overnight
- Military monitoring the starting point and conducting aerial reconnaissance to track down and collect the balloons
China says it will never accept ‘unfounded accusations’ at NATO summit
BEIJING: China will never accept the “unfounded accusations” made against it at the NATO Summit this week, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said to his Dutch counterpart over a phone call, his ministry said.
Wang said China is willing to maintain contact with NATO on “an equal footing” and conduct exchanges on the basis of mutual respect, asking the military alliance not to interfere with its internal affairs.
About relations with the Netherlands, Wang said China is willing to establish close ties with the new Dutch government and carry out all-round dialogue.
He added that China believed the Netherlands will encourage the European Union to look at China objectively and rationally, and play a constructive role in maintaining healthy and stable development of China-EU relations.
Australia charges couple over Russian spying
SYDNEY: Australian police announced Friday they had charged a married couple with espionage, accusing them of trying to pass information to Russia.
The 40-year-old woman was working as an “information systems technician” in the Australian defense force, federal police commissioner Reece Kershaw told a news conference. Both of those charged were said to hold Russian passports.
France will support Ukraine ‘as long as necessary’: Macron
WASHINGTON: France will continue to support Ukraine “as long as necessary,” President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday after a NATO summit.
Macron, asked by reporters about his meetings with Joe Biden, also said the embattled US president appeared “in charge” and on top of matters.
‘Hardly anything’ will deter Israel’s Gaza war: S.Africa judge on ICJ case
UNITED NATIONS: A leading South African judge said on Thursday that “hardly anything” will deter Israel’s Gaza offensive, but Pretoria’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice remains vital to highlight the dire situation.
South Africa’s case brought in December 2023 alleges that Israel’s Gaza offensive, launched in retaliation for an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. Israel has strongly denied the accusation.
In an interview with AFP, Nambitha Dambuza, a judge of appeal in the Supreme Court of South Africa, lamented that Israel faces few constraints in prosecuting its war.
“The cause of the state concerned, Israel, is so deep and they’re convinced they’re in the right and they know there’s hardly anything that’s going to happen if they continue with their conduct,” Dambuza said.
“Accountability can be a choice among states and I’m not saying all states are the same. Some are more sensitive to pressure, and they might adjust their conduct accordingly, but others will not,” added Dambuza who was in New York for the UN’s High Level Political Forum.
South Africa’s case, which Spain said last month it would join along with several Latin American nations, has resulted in several rulings against Israel.
Last month the ICJ ordered Israel to ensure “unimpeded access” to UN-mandated investigators to look into allegations of genocide.
In a ruling on January 26, the ICJ also ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza.
South Africa has gone to the ICJ several times arguing that the dire humanitarian situation means the court should issue further fresh emergency measures.
On May 24, the court ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah and keep open the key border crossing there for unhindered humanitarian aid.
It also called for the unconditional release of hostages taken by Palestinian militant group Hamas during its October 7 assault that sparked the war.
While ICJ rulings are legally binding, the court has no concrete means to enforce them. Dambuza said that even bringing the case publicized the situation and drew attention to the alleged violations.
“It did bring pressure,” she said. “Although the process didn’t result in any tangible relief... putting these issues out in the public, society gets to see justice — or attempts at justice.”
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 38,345 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Turning to ecological problems, Dambuza, chair of the Africa Judicial Network on Environmental Law, called for an international environmental court to be set up.
She also said traditional courts, which are run by community leaders and are common in rural South Africa, had an important role to play in adjudicating environmental disputes globally.
US missiles in Germany signal Cold War, Kremlin says
MOSCOW: The United States’ plan to periodically station long-range missiles in Germany will lead to Cold War-style confrontation between Russia and the West, the Kremlin said Thursday.
The White House announced the decision on Wednesday during a NATO summit in Washington, arguing the stationing of long-range weapons including Tomahawk cruise missiles in Europe acts as a deterrent.
“We are taking steady steps toward the Cold War,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.
“All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning,” he said.
He added Washington’s decision gave Russia “a reason to pull together” and “fulfil all the goals” of its military campaign in Ukraine.
NATO countries spearheaded by the United States have bolstered their defenses in Europe in the wake of Russia’s 2022 offensive against neighboring Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the planned deployment of the US weapons in his country, calling the move a “necessary and important decision at the right time.”
