SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would use nuclear weapons “without hesitation” if attacked by the South and ally the United States, state media reported Friday.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, with Seoul this week staging a military parade where it showcased its bunker-busting “monster” missile and President Yoon Suk Yeol warned Kim that using nukes would mean the end of his regime.
Pyongyang has also been bombarding the South with balloons carrying bags of trash, and a fresh flurry was seen floating over Seoul early Friday by AFP reporters. Seoul’s military confirmed it had detected the balloon launches overnight.
If an enemy’s forces were “encroaching upon the sovereignty” of the North, Pyongyang would “use without hesitation all the offensive forces it has possessed, including nuclear weapons,” Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Images in state media showed Kim, clad in his customary leather jacket, speaking at a training event for special operations forces.
There, he slammed Yoon for his “end of regime” comments and “clamoring” about his country’s alliance with the United States.
Seoul, which does not have nuclear weapons of its own, is covered by the US nuclear umbrella, and Washington has stationed tens of thousands of troops in the country since the Korean war ended in 1953 without a peace treaty.
Kim said it was Seoul and Washington who were “destroying regional security and peace,” KCNA reported, while branding South Korea’s leader “an abnormal man.”
On Tuesday, fighter jets flew over downtown Seoul and tanks rolled through the streets, as South Korea displayed for the first time its largest ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is capable of destroying underground bunkers.
An American B-1B heavy bomber also staged a flyover of the ceremony early Tuesday, flanked by F-15K jets.
Washington periodically deploys nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula, underscoring its protection of the South from Pyongyang’s growing threats.
At the event marking South Korea’s Armed Forces Day, Yoon said that if the North “attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the US and Republic of Korea alliance.”
“That day will be the end of the North Korean regime,” he added.
North Korea is expected to scrap a landmark inter-Korean agreement signed in 1991 at a parliamentary meeting next week, Seoul’s unification ministry said Wednesday, as part of Kim’s drive to officially define the South as an enemy state.
Earlier this year, Kim called to remove unification-related clauses from the constitution, while abolishing agencies dedicated to improving ties with the South.
Last month, the North also disclosed images of a uranium enrichment facility for the first time, showing leader Kim touring the site as he called for more centrifuges to boost the country’s nuclear arsenal.
South Korea’s spy agency later said the unprecedented disclosure was “directed at the US” and that North Korea was believed capable of producing a double-digit number of nuclear weapons.
Last week, a lawmaker told reporters that the National Intelligence Service had warned the North might carry out another nuclear test — its seventh — after the US elections in November.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un threatens to use nukes if attacked
https://arab.news/6e8wb
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un threatens to use nukes if attacked
- Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades
- Washington periodically deploys nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula
Trump says Epstein ‘stole’ young women from Mar-a-Lago spa, including Virginia Giuffre
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women who worked for the spa at Mar-a-Lago, the latest evolution in his description of how their highly scrutinized relationship ended years ago.
One of the women, he acknowledged, was Virginia Giuffre, who was among Epstein’s most well-known sex trafficking accusers.
Trump’s comments expanded on remarks he had made a day earlier, when he said he had banned Epstein from his private club in Florida two decades ago because his one-time friend “stole people that worked for me.” At the time, he did not make clear who those workers were.
The Republican president has faced an outcry over his administration’s refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of transparency, a rare example of strain within Trump’s tightly controlled political coalition. Trump has attempted to tamp down questions about the case, expressing annoyance that people are still talking about it six years after Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial, even though some of his own allies have promoted conspiracy theories about it.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend, was recently interviewed inside a Florida courthouse by the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, though officials have not publicly disclosed what she said. Her lawyers said Tuesday that she’s willing to answer more questions from Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony.
Aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland, Trump said he was upset that Epstein was “taking people who worked for me.” The women, he said, were “taken out of the spa, hired by him — in other words, gone.”
“I said, listen, we don’t want you taking our people,” Trump said. When it happened again, Trump said he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.
Asked if Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein, he demurred but then said “he stole her.”
The White House originally said Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was acting like a “creep.”
Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. She claimed that Maxwell spotted her working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, when she was a teenager, and hired her as Epstein’s masseuse, which led to sexual abuse.
Although Giuffre’s allegations did not become part of criminal prosecutions against Epstein, she is central to conspiracy theories about the case. She accused Epstein of pressuring her into having sex with powerful men.
Maxwell, who has denied Giuffre’s allegations, is serving a 20-year-prison sentence in a Florida federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls.
A spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, which requested the interview with Maxwell, said the panel would not consider granting the immunity she requested.
The potential interview is part of a frenzied, renewed interest in the Epstein saga following the Justice Department’s July statement that it would not be releasing any additional records from the investigation, an abrupt announcement that stunned online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump’s political base who had been hoping to find proof of a government coverup.
Since then, the Trump administration has sought to present itself as promoting transparency, with the department urging courts to unseal grand jury transcripts from the sex-trafficking investigations. A judge in Florida last week rejected the request, though a similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewing Maxwell over the course of two days at a Florida courthouse last week.
In a letter Tuesday, Maxwell’s attorneys said that though their initial instinct was for Maxwell to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, they are open to having her cooperate provided that lawmakers satisfy their request for immunity and other conditions.
But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright.
“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” a spokesperson said.
Separately, Maxwell’s attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial. They also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in public,” is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to make it.
“She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,” they said.
US citizen child repatriated from Syrian camp: State Dept
- “Approximately 30,000 individuals from more than 70 countries remain in two displaced person camps in northeast Syria, the majority of whom are children under the age of 12; they deserve a chance at life outside the camps,” the statement said
WASHINGTON: An American citizen child has been repatriated from a camp in northeast Syria for “unification” with family, the US State Department said Tuesday.
The child was described as “unaccompanied” in a State Department statement, which did not identify the camp the minor had been retrieved from, their age, or what family they would be unified with.
Since the defeat of the Daesh militant group, Kurdish forces have controlled several camps and prisons in northeastern Syria, where tens of thousands of people displaced by conflict or suspected of links to the terrorist organization live.
The release has “given this child, who has known nothing of life outside of the camps, a future free from the influence and dangers of Daesh terrorism,” the State Department said.
“Approximately 30,000 individuals from more than 70 countries remain in two displaced person camps in northeast Syria, the majority of whom are children under the age of 12; they deserve a chance at life outside the camps,” the statement said.
The State Department called on other countries to “repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for their nationals. The same goes for former Daesh fighters held in detention centers in northeast Syria.”
For years, the Kurds have called for countries to repatriate their nationals, but most have only allowed limited returns, citing security concerns.
Kurdish leaders announced in February that they would work to empty the camps of displaced Syrians and Iraqis by the end of 2025, in coordination with the United Nations.
Syria is led by a coalition of Islamists who overthrew President Bashar Assad in December, taking power after more than 13 years of devastating civil war.
Israel accuses UK of turning ‘blind eye’ to terrorism over possible recognition of Palestinian state
Israel accuses UK of turning ‘blind eye’ to terrorism over possible recognition of Palestinian state
- No ‘token recognition’ will change the fact ‘there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces, and then there are those who turn a blind eye,’ says Israeli envoy
- British PM Keir Starmer says UK will recognize Palestinian statehood unless Israel ends war and ‘appalling situation’ in Gaza, and commits to achieving a 2-state solution
DUBAI: In response to a three-day international conference at the UN headquarters in New York on a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and an announcement earlier in the day by UK authorities that they are considering official recognition of Palestinian statehood, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said on Tuesday: “Israel has already agreed many times to a ceasefire.”
In a message posted on social media platform X, he added that no “token recognition” or UN resolution would “change the basic fact that there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces, and then there are those who turn a blind eye to them” or pursue appeasement.
He added that Israel would not waver after the “Hamas atrocities” of Oct. 7, 2023, and would do “whatever is necessary to bring home the hostages and defeat Hamas.”
His comments came hours after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the UK would officially recognize the State of Palestine during the UN’s General Assembly in September, unless Israel takes action.
He said: “So today, as part of this process towards peace, I can confirm the UK will recognize the State of Palestine, by the United Nations General Assembly in September, unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.”
Starmer also demanded that Hamas release all hostages, agree to a ceasefire, accept that it will play no part in governing Gaza, and commit to disarmament.
Speaking on the second day of the conference in New York, which was co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, the UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, said that it was “with the hand of history on our shoulders” that the British government “intends to recognize the State of Palestine when the UN General Assembly gathers in September … unless the Israeli government acts to end the appalling situation in Gaza, ends its military campaign, and commits to a long, sustainable peace based on a two-state solution.”
French President Emmanuel Macron previously stated that France will officially recognize the State of Palestine during the upcoming General Assembly.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected Starmer’s demands. It accused the UK of rewarding Hamas and harming “efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages” by “following the French move and internal political pressures.”
Israeli authorities continue to reject any form of Palestinian statehood. On Monday, Danon said the UN conference “does not promote a solution but rather deepens the illusion.”
‘Israel’s drip-feeding of aid has horrified the world,’ UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy tells Saudi-French peace summit at UN
- Outbreak of famine in Gaza heaps pressure on world leaders to demand immediate ceasefire, aid access, and the two-state solution
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer joins France in pledging to recognize Palestinian statehood unless Israel commits to lasting peace
DUBAI/LONDON: A declaration of famine in Gaza has shocked world leaders and intensified calls for immediate action. On Tuesday, a UN-backed food security monitor confirmed that large areas of the enclave are now experiencing full-scale famine, prompting outrage at the international conference on Palestine.
The grim update was followed by a major diplomatic shift when the UK announced it would recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September — unless Israel halts its military campaign and commits to a viable two-state solution before then.
“The devastation in Gaza is heartbreaking. Children are starving, and Israel’s drip feeding of aid has horrified the world,” said David Lammy, the UK foreign minister. “It is a historical injustice which continues to unfold.
“It is with the hand of history on our shoulders that His Majesty’s government, therefore, intends to recognize the State of Palestine when the UN General Assembly gathers in September … unless the Israeli government acts to end the appalling situation in Gaza, ends its military campaign, and commits to a long sustainable peace based on a two-state solution.”
The UK’s statement, foreshadowed by the Palestinian prime minister on Monday and mirrored shortly after by San Marino, reflects mounting frustration over Israel’s conduct in both Gaza and the West Bank.
That shift became starker on Tuesday after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative, a UN-backed monitor, declared that famine had spread across large swaths of Gaza. The declaration comes despite recent Israeli-announced efforts to increase aid deliveries, including airdrops and a temporary pause in military operations.
“The worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip,” the IPC said. “Immediate, unimpeded” humanitarian access into Gaza was the only way to stop rapidly rising “starvation and death,” it added.
In a press briefing shortly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer reaffirmed the UK’s position, Lammy added that the world was “deeply offended by children being shot and killed as they reach out for aid.”
“The time has come for a ceasefire. The time has come to see those hostages released, and the time has come to abate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
But Prime Minister Starmer’s own statement was aimed squarely at Israel, showing just how swiftly sentiment has changed among Western countries about how to end the war.
Britain followed in the steps of France, which announced last week that it would recognize an independent Palestinian state at the General Assembly in September.
“The situation is simply intolerable,” Starmer said. “I am particularly concerned that the very idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many years.”
Gaza’s health authorities say the death toll has surpassed 60,000 — a figure that other humanitarian organizations believe is likely an underestimate.
Representatives from several countries in the Middle East stressed the need for urgent and immediate action.
The UAE’s minister of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar, said on Tuesday: “After 21 months since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, it is time to move from mere attempts to contain the conflict to addressing its root causes.”
Echoing similar concerns, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya said: “We are witnessing a tragic humanitarian situation that no living conscience can accept.”
Yemen’s Foreign Minister Shaya Mohsin Zindani also emphasized the severity of the crisis, saying it underscores “our shared responsibility to safeguard human dignity and the fundamental rights to life, liberty, and security for all peoples of the region.”
Despite Israel’s announcement on Sunday of a limited military pause in parts of the enclave, UN officials and Palestinians on the ground report that conditions remain dire. Desperate crowds continue to intercept and unload aid trucks before they reach their destinations amid deep mistrust in the official distribution channels and sheer desperation.
Delegates at the conference have repeatedly called on Israel to fully lift restrictions on aid entering Gaza. The demand for peace and aid access echoed throughout Tuesday’s plenary session and dominated discussions in the corridors of the UN headquarters.
“The war must end… the humanitarian crisis and starvation must end. This cycle of violence and destruction must stop,” said Ronald Ozzy Lamola, South Africa’s minister for international relations and cooperation.
Gaza has teetered on the edge of famine for nearly two years, with Israel accused of tightly controlling aid and “drip-feeding” supplies into the Strip. Now, the IPC says increasingly severe blockades have pushed the crisis beyond the brink.
While formal famine declarations are rare — requiring data that access restrictions have made nearly impossible to collect — many say no official confirmation is needed to grasp the scale of suffering.
“Gaza has become a land of walking corpses,” said Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda. “Hundreds of people have been killed while they were on their way to find food and water.”
The challenge of engaging Israel, not only to increase aid access but to find a diplomatic resolution, has been a recurring theme during the New York conference. On Monday, Jordan’s representative said that if there is a party “preventing us from moving forward, then it is about time the world took action against that party.”
“The continued military aggression and a disregard for humanitarian and legal principles represents an inability of the international community to perform its duties, and it encourages impunity,” said Kuwaiti FM Al-Yahya, calling for “immediate and effective” action against Israel.
In a rare break with Israel, US President Donald Trump — speaking during a visit to Scotland — acknowledged that “real starvation” is spreading in Gaza. He urged Israel to allow “every ounce of food” in and said its government bears “a lot of responsibility” for the crisis.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously dismissed such claims as a “bold-faced lie.”
The US and Israel are among the few countries boycotting the three-day event, with Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon dismissing it as “unproductive” and “disconnected from reality.”
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce called the gathering “a publicity stunt that comes in the middle of delicate diplomatic efforts.”
In response, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot pushed back against Washington’s framing of the Abraham Accords as a substitute for Palestinian statehood. “We do not share those reservations,” he said. “The logic of normalization cannot be stopped — but it must be anchored in a comprehensive peace effort. We believe the US will, in time, return to that logic.”
Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, said: “We continue to have faith in President Trump’s ability to help deliver — not just an end to the war, but a long-term resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Meanwhile, Israeli officials have signaled growing resistance to the two-state framework. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar dismissed the conference’s premise outright, claiming a Palestinian state would, at this stage, become a “Hamas state.”
“Israel will not be the Czechoslovakia of the 21st century,” he added, referencing the peaceful 1993 split between the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Sa’ar declined to comment on whether Israel plans to annex parts of Gaza, calling it an “internal discussion.” But according to Haaretz, Netanyahu is expected to present a formal annexation plan to his security cabinet if Hamas does not agree to a ceasefire. The plan, reportedly endorsed by the Trump administration, is seen as an attempt to shore up support from far-right coalition partners.
Such a move would come just days after the Knesset voted 71-13 in favor of annexing the West Bank — a symbolic step that raised further doubts over the potential for a Palestinian state.
The implementation of a two-state solution is key to “achieving security, stability, and prosperity for all peoples of the region,” said Prince Faisal in his opening remarks on Monday.
On Tuesday, he urged participating states to adopt the conference’s final outcome document, which outlines proposals across humanitarian, legal, and security pillars to guarantee peace and mutual recognition.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa was more direct: Israel’s intentions to annex Palestine and weaken its government are clear; hence, the international community must move beyond “condemnation and denunciation” to forcing “Israel to cease its annexation practices settlement.”
Crete protesters try to block arrival of Israeli tourists
- Protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying “Stop the genocide” as the Israeli cruise ship approached
ATHENS: Greek police used tear gas and made arrests as some 300 people tried to block an Israeli cruise ship on the island of Crete, the latest in a series of protests targeting the vessel.
The protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying “Stop the genocide” as the Crown Iris approached, according to images on the public broadcaster ERT.
The images also showed police using tear gas to disperse the crowd, allowing several hundred passengers to board buses on the island.
“I had a sore throat from the tear gas and had to leave the demonstration,” Elena Toutoudaki, a teacher in her fifties, told AFP.
Three people were arrested before being released, according to a local police source.
Protesters have targeted the Crown Iris, with around 600 mostly Israelis on board, in other Greek islands.
On Monday, protesters scuffled with police who made eight arrests as it docked in Rhodes, media reports said, while last week 200 people protested in Syros as the ship approached.
Police had insisted passengers could disembark on Syros, but the Times of Israel reported that the ship’s owners decided to skip the island.
Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Mihalis Chryssohoidis subsequently said anyone who “prevents a citizen of a third country from visiting our country will be prosecuted under the anti-racism law.”
Numerous demonstrations against the Israeli war on Gaza have taken place in Athens and other cities across Greece.
