SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has described South Korea as a foreign and hostile nation, state media KCNA reported on Friday with photos showing Kim and high-ranking military personnel at a command post poring over a map labelled “Seoul.”
The report comes a day after KCNA said North Korea amended its constitution to designate South Korea a “hostile state” and dropped unification of the two countries as a goal.
Kim has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year, accusing Seoul of colluding with Washington to seek the collapse of his regime.
The reclusive state blasted road and rail links with South Korea this week. Those actions underscored “not only the physical closure but also the end of the evil relationship with Seoul,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Seoul has said that if North Korea were to inflict harm upon the safety of its people, “that day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
Kim made the remarks while inspecting the headquarters of the 2nd Corps of North Korean army on Thursday, KCNA said. During the visit, he also said the changed nature of the South Korea-US alliance, and their different, more developed military maneuvers highlight the importance of a stronger North Korean nuclear deterrent.
“Kim is trying to mentally fortify the frontline soldiers with his comments” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“This ‘two hostile countries’ rhetoric is, in the end, Kim Jong Un’s survival strategy … Don’t interfere, live separately as a hostile country. It’s a path (North Korea) has never gone before, and no one can be sure about its success.”
On Sunday, South Korea will begin annual large-scale military exercises called Hoguk to improve operational performance, the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls South Korea a foreign, hostile country
https://arab.news/56jte
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls South Korea a foreign, hostile country
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year
- The reclusive state blasted road and rail links with South Korea this week
US charges Indian agent over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist
- Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering
- Yadav is the second Indian man to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
WASHINGTON: An Indian intelligence official has been indicted for his role in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in the United States, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering, the department said.
Yadav is the second Indian national to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who lives in New York.
Nikhil Gupta, 53, pleaded not guilty in June to involvement in the assassination plot after being extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic.
Pannun is affiliated with a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a large Sikh population.
Pannun, in a statement on X, denounced the alleged assassination plot as a “blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism” and a “threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”
The Justice Department accused Yadav of directing the plot and said he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to hire a hitman to carry out the murder.
Gupta allegedly contacted an individual he believed to be a criminal associate to hire a hitman. The individual was in fact a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on US soil,” Anne Milgram, the DEA chief, said in a statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens.”
According to the Justice Department, Yadav was employed by the Indian government’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The United States said Wednesday it had been informed by India that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.
“They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “We are satisfied with the cooperation.”
The action by New Delhi represented a sharp contrast to its defiant approach to similar charges from Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday accused India of violating his country’s sovereignty.
Canada has separately alleged that India arranged a plot on its soil that ended in the killing last year of a Sikh separatist, who was a naturalized Canadian citizen, outside a Vancouver temple.
Unlike the United States, Canada has highlighted its concerns publicly and at the highest level, with Trudeau criticizing India’s actions.
Canada and India on Monday expelled each other’s ambassadors as Ottawa said that the Indian campaign went further than previously reported.
India has rejected Canada’s charges and alleged a domestic political motive by Trudeau.
Canada has the largest Sikh community outside of India, concentrated in suburban areas that are critical in national elections.
Nigerians sacrifice cars as cost of living crisis worsens
- The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023
- In the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high
LAGOS: Nigeria’s economic crisis and soaring petrol prices forced Bolaji Emmanuel to give up his driver and his Honda Pilot utility vehicle, as he struggles with spiking living costs.
Emmanuel is not alone. Many in Africa’s most populous country are abandoning their cars as the costs strain disposable income.
The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023.
“I parked it at my son’s house. I use public transport now,” Emmanuel, a 72-year-old retired health worker, said. “It is not convenient, but it is what the economy demands.”
Since coming to power, Tinubu has ended a costly fuel subsidy and freed up the naira currency, in reforms that government officials and analysts say will revive the economy and attract investors.
But in the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high.
A liter of petrol sold for around 195 naira just before Tinubu took office. The price rose to at least 998 naira ($0.61) per liter in Lagos and 1,030 naira in the capital, Abuja, at the beginning of October. It can go for as much as 1,300 naira elsewhere.
Inflation reached an almost three-decade high of 34.19 percent in June. It has since slowed to 32.7 percent in September.
The slump in purchasing power is piling more hardship on locals, with more than 40 percent of the population living in poverty, according to the World Bank. That figure is expected to rise in 2024 and 2025, before it stabilizes in 2026.
The Nigerian middle class, which made up about 20 percent of the population in 2020, now readily sacrifices the comfort of private cars for survival.
Car dealers in Lagos and Abuja said that they had seen more and more people trading their fuel-guzzling cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for more efficient vehicles to cut costs.
“People are actually selling their big cars these days,” Maji Abubakar, a car dealer in Abuja, said. “The problem is that even if you put them on the market, there isn’t much demand for them.”
“It has been more than a year since I sold a car with an eight-cylinder engine, and the major reason is the price of petrol,” he added.
With fewer cars on the road, even the notorious Lagos traffic, known as “go-slow,” has thinned out.
Elijah Bello, a tech entrepreneur in the southern state of Ogun, has looked for a buyer for his Lexus RX 350 SUV for months.
He has since bought a smaller, energy-saving Toyota Corolla to replace it.
The trend, which began last year, “will intensify” and “we will see fewer cars on the roads,” said Bunmi Bailey, head of research at SBM Intelligence risk consultancy.
Bailey can fill his small car for 55,000 naira. “I can use it for two weeks for my normal home-to-work movement,” he said, while his larger car consumes 110,000 naira worth of petrol in just eight days.
The market for new cars has dropped by 10 to 14 percent in the last year, said Kunle Jaiyesinmi, deputy director at the Lagos-based CFAO Group, which specializes in automobile distribution.
“An SUV that sold for 40 to 45 million naira ($24,000 to $27,000) about two years ago, for now, if you want to negotiate the price, you see that it is within the range of 95 or 100 million ($57,000 to $60,000),” Jaiyesinmi said.
But unyielding inflation and high exchange rates are steering more middle-class people away from used Japanese- and American-brand cars, toward increasingly popular Chinese-made ones.
Some are turning to bicycles, despite the lack of appropriate infrastructure in cities like Lagos, where car crashes are common.
“Sure, we notice (a rise in) cycling... for months since the fuel hike,” said Femi Thomas, head of FT Cycle Care, a Lagos-based organization that promotes cycle use.
Food delivery platform Glovo said it had recorded a growing interest in bicycle deliveries among its riders.
About 20 percent of orders are delivered by bike, Chidera Akwuba, the group’s public relations manager in Nigeria, said.
India foreign minister’s Pakistan visit a ‘good beginning’, Nawaz Sharif says
- Indian envoy was in Pakistan for a meeting of governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was among nearly a dozen leaders participating in the gathering in Islamabad
MUMBAI: The visit of India’s foreign minister to Pakistan earlier this week was a “good beginning” that could lead to a thaw in relations between the two rivals, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying by Indian media on Friday.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was in Pakistan on Tuesday and Wednesday for a meeting of governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with the capital city under tight lockdown.
“This is how talks move forward. Talks should not stop,” Sharif, the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N), and the brother of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told a group of visiting Indian journalists, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
Jaishankar was among nearly a dozen leaders participating in the gathering in Islamabad, nearly a decade since an Indian foreign minister has visited amid frosty relations between the two nuclear powers.
Jaishankar and his counterpart Ishaq Dar had an “informal interaction,” an official in Pakistani foreign ministry said on Thursday, but New Delhi denied that any sort of meeting had taken place.
“We had made it very clear that this particular visit is for SCO head of government meeting. Other than that, there were some pleasantries exchanged on the sidelines of the meeting,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday.
“We have lost the last 75 years and it is important we don’t lose the next 75 years,” Sharif was quoted as saying in the Times of India newspaper.
Indonesia ramps up security ahead of Prabowo’s inauguration
- Roughly 100,000 personnel in Jakarta will include snipers and anti-riot units and will stay in place until Wednesday
- Security personnel have been placed in key areas such as the parliamentary building where the inauguration takes place
Former General Prabowo will be sworn in as Indonesia’s president on Sunday with Vice President-elect, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of outgoing president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, also taking office.
The roughly 100,000 personnel in Jakarta will include snipers and anti-riot units and will stay in place until Wednesday, said military chief Agus Subianto.
During previous important events in Jakarta, security personnel have been placed in key areas such as the parliamentary building where the inauguration takes place, the presidential palace and Jakarta’s main roads.
On Friday, at least two thousand military personnel were taking part in security drills at Jakarta’s National Monument complex, with dozens of military light tactical vehicles on the ground.
“We need to be alert about possible threats before, during and after the inauguration,” said Agus.
The security forces are expected to escort 36 state leaders who will attend the inauguration, Agus said, without giving further details.
The Indonesian Air Force will also deploy four F-16 jets to guard aircraft carrying foreign dignitaries attending the inauguration, state news agency Antara reported.
Hundreds of people are expected to gather in Jakarta’s streets to welcome Prabowo as the new president and give a farewell to Jokowi, said police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo.
A glance at Ukraine’s plan aimed at nudging Russia into talks to end the war
- Zelensky outlined the plan to Ukraine’s Parliament on Wednesday without disclosing confidential elements that have been presented in private to key allies, including the US
KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has partially revealed his five-point plan aimed at prompting Russia to end the war through negotiations. A key element would be a formal invitation into NATO, which Western backers have been reluctant to consider until after the war ends.
Zelensky outlined the plan to Ukraine’s Parliament on Wednesday without disclosing confidential elements that have been presented in private to key allies, including the United States.
Here’s what we know:
Invitation to NATO
The plan’s first section involves formally inviting Ukraine to join NATO in the near future.
While this doesn’t mean Ukraine would become a member until after the war ends, it would signal a “testament of determination” and demonstrate how Western partners view Ukraine within the “security architecture,” Zelensky said.
“For decades, Russia has exploited the geopolitical uncertainty in Europe, particularly the fact that Ukraine is not a NATO member,” Zelensky said. “This has tempted Russia to encroach upon our security.”
He described the invitation to join NATO as “truly fundamental for peace” in Ukraine.
NATO partners have been reluctant to invite Ukraine to join while the war is ongoing, and Zelensky’s request for an invitation puts the military alliance in a difficult position.
Since the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022, the alliance has faced challenges in finding ways to bring Ukraine closer without formally extending an invitation.
At their summit in Washington in July, NATO’s 32 members declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership. But any decision on offering to start membership talks is not likely before the next summit in the Netherlands in June.
Defense
The second section, entitled defense, focuses on strengthening Ukraine’s capability to reclaim territory and “to bring the war back to the Russian territory.”
It includes the continuation of military operations in Russia with the aim of strengthening Ukraine’s ability to repel Russian forces from occupied territories in Ukraine.
It also would involve enhancing air defense and jointly intercepting Russian missiles and drones with neighboring countries along the international border. Ukraine wants to expand the use of Ukrainian drones and missiles, and lift restrictions on using Western-supplied weapons for long-range strikes against military infrastructure inside Russia.
Ukraine also seeks greater access to a broader range of intelligence from allies and real-time satellite data. This section of the plan has confidential elements accessible only to allies with the “relevant assistance potential,” Zelensky said.
He said Ukraine has been providing its partners “with a clear justification of what its goals are, how they intend to achieve them, and how much this will reduce Russia’s ability to continue the war.”
Western partners have been wary of Ukraine using donated weapons in anything but a defensive capacity, for fear of being drawn into the conflict.
Ukraine has long been lobbying for the US to drop its restrictions on using long-range Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia, but the Biden administration’s red line remained unchanged even after Zelensky’s recent visit to Washington, D.C.
Deterrence
In the deterrence section of the plan, Ukraine calls for deploying “a comprehensive non-nuclear deterrence package on its territory that would be sufficient to protect the country from any military threat posed by Russia.”
Zelensky did not elaborate on the details of such a non-nuclear deterrence, but he said it would be used against specific Russian military targets, meaning that Russia would “face the loss of its war machine.”
He said this capability would limit Russia’s options for continuing its aggression and prod it into engaging in a fair diplomatic process to resolve the war.
Classified elements of this section have been shared with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany, he said. Other countries capable of contributing also would be briefed, Zelensky said.
Economy
The fourth section focuses on developing Ukraine’s strategic economic potential and strengthening sanctions against Russia.
Zelensky highlighted that Ukraine is rich in natural resources, including critically important metals “worth trillions of US dollars,” such as uranium, titanium, lithium, graphite, etc.
“Ukraine’s deposits of critical resources, combined with its globally significant potential in energy and food production, are among Russia’s key objectives in this war,” he said. But it also “represents our opportunity for growth.”
The economic component of the plan also includes a confidential addendum shared only with selected partners, he said.
“Ukraine offers … a special agreement for the joint protection of Ukraine’s critical resources, shared investment, and use of its economic potential,” he said. “This, too, is peace through strength — economic strength.”
Post-war period
The fifth section is geared toward the post-war period. Zelensky stated that Ukraine will have a big army of experienced military personnel after the war.
“These are our soldiers — warriors who will possess real experience in modern warfare, successful use of Western weaponry, and extensive interaction with NATO forces,” he said. “This Ukrainian experience should be used to strengthen the alliance’s defense and ensure security in Europe. It’s a worthy mission for our heroes.”
He also mentioned that, with partners’ approval, Ukrainian units could replace certain US military contingents stationed in Europe.
