SEOUL: Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed North Korea on Tuesday for “firmly supporting” Moscow’s war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defense ties between the two nuclear-armed countries.
Putin is scheduled to touch down on Tuesday night for his first trip to the isolated nation in 24 years, with a confrontation between North and South Korean troops on their shared border highlighting regional security tensions.
Huge banners with a smiling photograph of the Russian leader reading “we ardently welcome President Putin!” were hung from lamp-posts across Pyongyang alongside Russian flags, images in Russian state media showed.
Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the West isolating Putin internationally.
The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with much-needed arms, including ballistic missiles to use in Ukraine.
The North has denied giving Russia military hardware but, ahead of his trip, Putin thanked Kim Jong Un’s government for helping the war effort.
“We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,” Putin wrote in an article published by Pyongyang’s state media on Tuesday.
Russia and the North are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership,” Putin wrote.
Both countries are under rafts of UN sanctions — Pyongyang since 2006 over banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin praised North Korea for “defending their interests very effectively despite the US economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades.”
He also hailed Moscow and Pyongyang for “maintaining the common line and stand at the UN.”
North Korea said the visit showed bilateral ties “are getting stronger day by day,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported, and would “give fresh vitality to the development of the good-neighborly cooperative relations between the two countries.”
North Korea has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd.”
However, it did thank Russia for using its UN veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.
The United States voiced “concern” on Monday about the trip because of the security implications for South Korea as well as Ukraine.
The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict and the border dividing them is one of the most heavily fortified in the world.
“We know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets (and) there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Highlighting those security concerns, South Korea said its troops fired at soldiers from the North who briefly crossed the border on Tuesday then retreated.
The South’s military said it believed the North Korean soldiers accidentally crossed as they were fortifying the border, but said some of them were wounded after detonating land mines.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Putin’s trip showed how he was “dependent” on authoritarian leaders.
“Their closest friends and the biggest supporters of the Russian war effort — war of aggression — (are) North Korea, Iran and China,” Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the international community to counter “the lonely bromance” between Putin and Kim by increasing arms supplies to Kyiv.
“The best way to respond to it is to continue strengthening the diplomatic coalition for just and lasting peace in Ukraine and delivering more Patriots and ammunition to Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
North Korea is eager for high-end military technology to advance its nuclear, missile, satellite and nuclear-powered submarine programs, according to experts.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders would possibly sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” to outline cooperation on “security issues,” state-run Russian news agencies reported.
North Korea could promise “to provide Russia with continuing supplies of artillery, guided rockets for multiple rocket launchers, and short-range missiles to support Russia’s operations in Ukraine,” Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at RAND Corporation, told Yonhap.
In return, it will want “Russia to provide a variety of advanced technologies,” he said, plus “a substantial flow of Russian oil and food products along with hard currency payments.”
Vladimir Putin hails North Korea’s support for Ukraine war ahead of Pyongyang visit
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Vladimir Putin hails North Korea’s support for Ukraine war ahead of Pyongyang visit
- Russian leader scheduled to touch down on Tuesday night for his first trip to the isolated nation in 24 years
- Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II
Trump and Zelensky make nice after tensions over Ukraine war
- Zelensky later said he presented Ukraine's "Victory Plan" to Trump and "we thoroughly reviewed the situation in Ukraine and the consequences of the war for our people”
- The Ukrainian leader ehad met Trump’s election rival Kamala Harris, as well as President Joe Biden, on Thursday in Washington and both pledged their support for Ukraine
NEW YORK: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky held high-stakes talks Friday following several attacks by the White House hopeful on the Ukrainian president as the looming American election raises questions over long-term US support for ally Kyiv in its war with Russia.
Foreign policy hawks have voiced fears that a second Trump term would spell disaster for Ukraine’s defense, as the Republican has repeatedly defended Russia’s President Vladimir Putin while voicing skepticism over US funding for Kyiv.
Zelensky had met Trump’s election rival Kamala Harris, as well as President Joe Biden, on Thursday in Washington and both pledged their support for Ukraine.
Trump — who this week accused Zelensky of refusing to “make a deal” to end the conflict — vowed to bring peace if he wins a second term in office as the two men addressed reporters after their tete-a-tete at Trump Tower in New York.
“It’s a shame but this is a war that should have never happened and we’ll get it solved. It is a complicated puzzle,” Trump said. “Too many people dead. Too many beautiful cities.”
Before the meeting, which lasted less than an hour, the former US president had hailed his alliance with Zelensky but added: “I also have a very good relationship — as you know — with President Putin.”
Zelensky responded that the pair shared a “common view that the war in Ukraine has to be stopped” and that it is imperative that Ukraine prevail.
Later in a post on X, Zelensky described the meeting as “very productive.”
“I presented him our Victory Plan, and we thoroughly reviewed the situation in Ukraine and the consequences of the war for our people,” Zelensky wrote. “Many details were discussed. I am grateful for this meeting. A just peace is needed.”
The meeting initially looked like it would be scrapped after Zelensky told The New Yorker magazine that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war” and that his running mate J.D. Vance is “too radical.”
The interview was published amid outcry over the Ukrainian leader’s trip to Pennsylvania, a critical US election battleground, with Democratic politicians to thank US workers for manufacturing ammunition that is helping Kyiv’s war effort against Moscow.
House Republicans have launched investigations into the trip, suggesting it amounted to election interference, and calling for Ukraine’s ambassador in Washington to be fired.
Trump, who refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to defeat Russia during his debate with Harris earlier this month, hit back at Zelensky at a campaign rally Wednesday in North Carolina, berating him as “a man who refuses to make a deal” for peace.
Zelensky is in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, and has been looking to shore up support for his country’s war effort as it struggles on the battlefield in the third year of Moscow’s invasion.
The Ukrainian leader presented a so-called “victory” plan to Biden and Harris at the White House on Thursday, with Biden announcing a new military aid package worth nearly $8 billion for Kyiv.
Standing with Zelensky at her side, Harris did not mention Trump by name but said there were “some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory.”
Zelensky said Friday that his talks in the United States went “exactly as needed.”
“The Victory Plan has been presented to America, and we explained each point in detail. Now, our teams will work to implement every step and decision,” he wrote on social media.
However, the row with Trump underscored how November’s US election could upend the support that Ukraine receives from its biggest backer.
Trump has echoed many of Putin’s talking points, saying at a rally earlier this week that Ukraine could not beat Russia, highlighting its 1812 defeat of Napoleon but ignoring more recent military defeats.
When Trump was president, he asked Zelensky for potentially damaging political material on Biden ahead of the 2020 election while withholding vital military aid that had already been approved by Congress — leading to the first of his two impeachments.
But the Republican had maintained good relations with Zelensky, pleased that the Ukrainian defended him over his conduct. Trump spent much of the impromptu news conference reminding reporters of Zelensky’s support.
French pay tribute to student murdered in Paris
- The killing of 19-year-old student has led to fresh demands to crack down on illegal immigration
VERSAILLES, France: Nearly 3,000 people on Friday attended the funeral of a Paris student who was raped and murdered in a case that has inflamed a French debate on migration after a Moroccan was named as the suspected attacker.
The killing of the 19-year-old, named only as Philippine, whose body was found half-buried in a park in western Paris, has led to fresh demands to crack down on illegal immigration.
A 22-year-old Moroccan arrested in Geneva has been named as the suspected attacker.
Mourners packed Saint-Louis Cathedral in Versailles outside Paris for the funeral, with many waiting outside as the student’s wooden coffin was carried in.
“I thought it was important to come here to reflect and pay my respects,” said one 15-year-old girl, clutching a bouquet of white and purple flowers.
FASTFACT
A 22-year-old Moroccan arrested in Geneva has been named as the suspected attacker.
The girl’s mother, Anouck B., said many people were affected by the tragedy. “It was important to come and support the whole family,” she said.
The Moroccan suspect is expected to be extradited to France. French authorities say he had been previously convicted of rape and been the subject of an expulsion order.
On Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron, speaking on a visit to Montreal, called Philippine’s murder “a heinous and atrocious crime” and added that “we need to protect the public better.”
The conservative interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, has vowed to change immigration rules after the murder.
The student’s body was found in the Bois de Boulogne Park, not far from Paris-Dauphine University in the affluent 16th district.
According to prosecutors, the suspect was convicted in 2021 of a rape committed in 2019 when he was a minor.
He was released in June, served his sentence, and placed in an administrative detention center.
In early September, a judge freed him on condition he reported regularly to the authorities.
Since the murder, conservative and far-right politicians have urged harsh measures, saying deportation orders are not enforced properly.
“How many tragedies will France endure before our leaders react?” Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right National Rally, said on the X social media platform.
However, some rights groups and left-wingers said the focus should not be on immigration but rather “feminicide.”
“Misogyny kills. Let’s not have the wrong debate,” said the women’s rights group CIDFF.
Iranian operatives charged in the US with hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign
- Three accused hackers were employed by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Justice Department said
- Trump campaign said on Aug. 10 it had been hacked, Iranian actors stole sensitive internal documents
WASHINGTON: The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Friday against three Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organizations.
The three accused hackers were employed by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and their operation also targeted a broad swath of targets, including government officials, members of the media and non-governmental organizations, the Justice Department said.
The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. Multiple major news organizations that said they were leaked confidential information from inside the Trump campaign, including Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post, declined to publish it.
US intelligence officials subsequently linked Iran to a hack of the Trump campaign and to an attempted breach of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign. They said the hack-and-dump operation was meant to sow discord, exploit divisions within American society and potentially influence the outcome of elections that Iran perceives to be “particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests.”
Last week, officials also revealed that the Iranians in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails containing excerpts of the hacked information to people associated with the Biden campaign. None of the recipients replied. The Harris campaign said the emails resembled spam or a phishing attempt and condemned the outreach to the Iranians as “unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.”
The indictment comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran as Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel escalate attacks against each other, raising concerns about the prospect of an all-out war, and as US officials say they continue to track physical threats by Iran against a number of officials including Trump.
US charges British man over ‘hack-to-trade’ scheme
- The US Department of Justice will seek the extradition of Robert Westbrook, 39, of London, to face securities fraud, wire fraud and five computer fraud charges
- Westbrook was arrested this week in the United Kingdom, and also faces related US Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges
WASHINGTON: A British man has been arrested and charged by US authorities with hacking into the computers of five companies to obtain details about their expected earnings and making $3.75 million of illegal profit by trading before results were released.
The US Department of Justice will seek the extradition of Robert Westbrook, 39, of London, to face securities fraud, wire fraud and five computer fraud charges contained in a criminal indictment made public on Friday.
Westbrook was arrested this week in the United Kingdom, and also faces related US Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges. His lawyer could not immediately be identified.
The companies were not identified by name in court papers filed in federal court in Newark, New Jersey.
Financial and stock price details in the SEC complaint suggest the companies are food container maker Tupperware, general contractor Tutor Perini, software provider Guidewire Software, gas station operator Murphy USA and telecommunications equipment maker Lumentum Holdings.
Authorities said Westbrook’s “hack-to-trade” scheme involved gaining access to executives’ email accounts between January 2019 and May 2020, and using material nonpublic information to buy stocks and options prior to at least 14 earnings announcements.
On several occasions, Westbrook allegedly implemented rules to have content from executives’ email accounts automatically forwarded to his own accounts.
Jorge Tenreiro, acting chief of the SEC’s crypto assets and cyber unit, called Westbrook’s activity a “sophisticated international hacking,” including the use of anonymous email accounts, VPN services, and bitcoin to conceal wrongdoing.
None of the five companies was accused of wrongdoing.
The securities fraud and wire fraud counts each carry a maximum 20-year prison term, while each computer fraud count carries a maximum five-year term.
Iranian operatives charged in the US with hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign
- US intelligence officials subsequently linked Iran to a hack of the Trump campaign and to an attempted breach of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign
- The indictment comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran
WASHINGTON: The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Friday against three Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organizations.
The three accused hackers were employed by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and their operation also targeted a broad swath of targets, including government officials, members of the media and non-governmental organizations, the Justice Department said.
The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. Multiple major news organizations that said they were leaked confidential information from inside the Trump campaign, including Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post, declined to publish it.
US intelligence officials subsequently linked Iran to a hack of the Trump campaign and to an attempted breach of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign. They said the hack-and-dump operation was meant to sow discord, exploit divisions within American society and potentially influence the outcome of elections that Iran perceives to be “particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests.”
Last week, officials also revealed that the Iranians in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails containing excerpts of the hacked information to people associated with the Biden campaign. None of the recipients replied. The Harris campaign said the emails resembled spam or a phishing attempt and condemned the outreach to the Iranians as “unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.”
The indictment comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran as Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel escalate attacks against each other, raising concerns about the prospect of an all-out war, and as US officials say they continue to track physical threats by Iran against a number of officials including Trump.
