South Korea
US, Japan, South Korea meet in Hawaii to discuss North Korea
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Japanese and South Korean counterparts Saturday in Hawaii to discuss the threat posed by nuclear-armed North Korea after Pyongyang began the year with a series of missile tests.
Blinken said at a news conference after the meeting that North Korea was “in a phase of provocation” and the three countries condemned the recent missile launches.
“We are absolutely united in our approach, in our determination,” Blinken said after his talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong.
The three released a joint statement calling on North Korea to engage in dialogue and cease its “unlawful activities.” They said they had no hostile intent toward North Korea and were open to meeting Pyongyang without preconditions.
Some experts say North Korea is using the weapon’s tests to put pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to resume long-stalled nuclear negotiations as the pandemic puts further strain on an economy already battered by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions.
Also read: North Korea urges South to stop mediating between North, US
The Biden administration has offered North Korea open-ended talks but has shown no willingness to ease the sanctions without meaningful cuts to the country’s nuclear program.
North Korea has rebuffed U.S. offers to resume diplomacy, saying it won’t return to talks unless Washington drops what it says are hostile polices. The North bristles at both the sanctions and regular military exercises the U.S. holds with South Korea.
The tests also have a technical component, allowing North Korea to hone its weapons arsenal. One of the missiles recently tested — the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile — is capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam. It was the longest-distance weapon the North has tested since 2017.
North Korea appears to be pausing its tests during the Winter Olympics in China, its most important ally and economic lifeline. But analysts believe North Korea will dramatically increase its weapons testing after the Olympics.
The recent tests have rattled Pyongyang’s neighbors in South Korea and Japan. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who helped set up the historic talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019, said last month that the tests were a violation UN Security Council resolutions and urged the North to cease “actions that create tensions and pressure.”
The Security Council initially imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006. It made them tougher in response to further nuclear tests and the country’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
China and Russia, citing the North’s economic difficulties, have called for lifting sanctions like those banning seafood exports and prohibitions on its citizens working overseas and sending home their earnings.
Blinken arrived in Hawaii from Fiji, where he met with Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and other Pacific leaders to talk about regional issues, especially the existential risk posed by climate change. It was the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to Fiji since 1985.
He started his Pacific tour in Australia, where he met his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan. The four nations form the “Quad,” a bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that was created to counter China’s regional influence.
Hayashi and Chung held a separate bilateral meeting Saturday for about 40 minutes before seeing Blinken. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said they reaffirmed the importance of cooperating together and with the United States to respond to North Korea and to achieve regional stability.
The ministry said they also “frankly” exchanged views on ongoing disputes between the two countries, including wartime Korean laborers and sexual abuse of Korean women forced into sexual servitude by Japan’s imperial army.
Blinken also met separately with Chung. He met Hayashi earlier this week in Australia.
Coming soon: Window on Korea at IUB
After Dhaka University, the South Korean government has decided to set up a Korea-devoted section in the library of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB).
The 'Window on Korea (WOK)' will be installed at IUB this year through the National Library of Korea, the South Korean Embassy in Dhaka has said in a press release.
This programme is aimed at increasing the understanding and interest of IUB students in Korean culture and history through a wide range of books and study materials related to Korea, according to the release.
Also read: Bangladesh, S Korea ink MoU on scientific, technological cooperation
Under this programme, the National Library of Korea will fund the purchase of facility equipment such as computers, chairs, desk and signboard as well as books and materials related to Korea from 1,500 to 3000 volumes in the first year and 200 volumes yearly during the next five years.
Dhaka University installed the Korea Corner at its central library in 2013 with support from Korea Foundation (KF).
In addition to the Window on Korea, IUB is expected to host a King Sejong Institute, a Korean language education programme, this year with the support of King Sejong Institute Foundation of Korea.
Also read: Korea resumes taking Bangladeshi expatriate workers
North Korea fires 2 suspected missiles in 6th launch in 2022
North Korea on Thursday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of weapons launches this month, South Korea’s military said.
Experts say North Korea’s unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores an intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled negotiations aimed at exchanging a release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North’s denuclearization steps.
The renewed pressure comes as the pandemic further shakes the North’s economy, which was already battered by crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and decades of mismanagement by its own government.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapons, which were likely short-range, were launched five minutes apart from the eastern coastal town of Hamhung and flew 190 kilometers (118 miles) on an apogee of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) before landing at sea.
Read: US hits NKorean officials with sanctions after missile test
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who described North Korea’s repeated missile firings as “extremely regrettable,” but said there has so far been no reports of damage to vessel and aircraft around the Japanese coast.
Senior South Korean security and military officials gathered for an emergency National Security Council meeting where they expressed strong regret over the North’s continuing launches and urged Pyongyang to recommit to dialogue, Seoul’s presidential office said.
The North also last week issued a veiled threat to resume the testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland, which leader Kim Jong Un suspended in 2018 while initiating diplomacy with the United States.
Kim’s high-stakes summitry with then-President Donald Trump derailed in 2019 after the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
Some experts say North Korea could dramatically escalate weapons demonstrations after the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4 in China, the North’s main ally and economic lifeline.
They say Pyongyang’s leadership likely feels it could use a dramatic provocation to move the needle with the Biden administration, which has been preoccupied with bigger adversaries including China and Russia.
The Biden administration has offered open-ended talks but showed no willingness to ease sanctions unless Kim takes real steps to abandon the nuclear weapons and missiles he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.
The North has been ramping up its testing activity since last fall, demonstrating various missiles and delivery systems apparently designed to overwhelm missile defense systems in the region.
Experts say Kim is trying to apply more pressure on rivals Washington and Seoul to accept it as a nuclear power in hopes of winning relief from economic sanctions and convert the diplomacy with Washington into mutual arms-reduction negotiations.
Thursday’s launch came two days after South Korea’s military detected the North flight-testing two suspected cruise missile at an unspecified inland area.
Read: N. Korea fires 2 suspected missiles in 4th launch this year
North Korea opened 2022 with a pair of test-firings of a purported hypersonic missile, which Kim described as an asset that would remarkably bolster his nuclear “war deterrent.”
The North also this month test-fired two different types of short-range ballistic missiles it has developed since 2019 that are designed to be maneuverable and fly at low altitudes, which experts say potentially improve their chances of evading and defeating missile defense systems.
In a ruling party meeting attended by Kim last week, the North accused the Biden administration of hostility and threats and said it will consider “all temporally-suspended activities” it had paused during its diplomacy with the Trump administration, in an apparent threat to resume testing of nuclear explosives and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry had earlier warned of “stronger and certain reaction” after the Biden administration imposed fresh sanctions following the North’s second hypersonic test on Jan. 11.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the country’s missile programs, while the State Department ordered sanctions against another North Korean, a Russian man and a Russian company for their broader support of North Korea’s weapons activities.
However, Washington’s efforts to seek new U.N. Security Council sanctions against the five North Koreans sanctioned by the Treasury Department were blocked last week by China and Russia, which have called for the U.N. to end key sanctions against the North, citing its economic difficulties.
“Despite efforts to strengthen sanctions, Washington’s responses to North Korean launches this month are nowhere near its reaction to Pyongyang’s provocations in 2017,” when the North staged an unusually provocative run in nuclear and ICBM tests, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“U.S. policy has become more measured and coordinated but is still inadequate for changing North Korean behavior. The Biden administration has other priorities, ranging from pandemic recovery at home to confronting Russia over Ukraine, Iran regarding its nuclear program, and China across the board,” he said.
Despite international concerns over its weapons activity, North Korea will still get to chair a U.N. disarmament forum during a one-month presidency between May 30 to June 24, according to a U.N. statement.
The U.N. Conference on Disarmament, which has 65 member states and focuses on nuclear disarmament issues, says the conference’s presidency rotates among member states.
U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based activist group, called for the U.S. and European ambassadors to walk out of the conference during North Korea’s presidency, saying that the country threatens to attack other U.N. member states with missiles and commits atrocities against its own people.
Bangladesh reaffirms commitment to global peace
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has reaffirmed Bangladesh’s enduring commitment to global peace. “Our unwavering commitment to global peace is our greatest pledge at the Peacekeeping Ministerial,” he said while addressing the 2021 Seoul Peacekeeping Ministerial (UNPKM) hosted by South Korea.
Read: Dhaka Declaration: Democracy, good governance, rule of law critical for peace, stability Speaking at a session titled “Sustaining Peace” as a keynote speaker, the Foreign Minister reflected on the contributions made by Bangladesh peacekeepers in maintaining global peace and security. “Our female peacekeepers have emerged as a symbol of hope and security for women and girls who suffer disproportionately during wars and conflicts,” the Foreign Minister added. He also highlighted Bangladesh’s leadership role in advancing a culture of peace and also in mainstreaming women in peace and security agenda through the adoption of the landmark resolution 1325. The Foreign Minister underscored the need for ensuring a nationally owned and inclusive peace-building process for realizing peace-building and sustaining peace agenda in conflict-affected countries. He emphasized programmatic funding for sustaining peace in peacekeeping missions.
Read:Let’s dream of a better world, FM Momen tells peace conference Welcoming Seoul initiative in technology and medical capacity building in peacekeeping, Dr. Momen highlighted that Covid-19 challenges reinforced the importance of medical capacity building in peacekeeping missions for the enhancement of the safety and security of the peacekeepers. At the meeting, Bangladesh pledged, among others, to provide 02Aero medical evacuation team, air transportation unit, aviation security unit, 01 Francophone Formed Police Unit. The two-day conference focused on solidifying global partnership for peace with concrete commitments by member states.
South Korea sets pandemic high with 4,000 new virus cases
New coronavirus infections in South Korea exceeded 4,000 in a day for the first time since the start of the pandemic as a delta-driven spread continues to rattle the country after it eased social distancing in recent weeks to improve its economy.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said most of the new 4,116 cases reported Wednesday came from the capital Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan region, where an increase in hospitalizations has created fears about possible shortages in intensive care units.
Read: US to require vaccines for all border crossers in January
The country’s death toll is now 3,363 after 35 virus patients died in the past 24 hours. The 586 patients who are in serious or critical conditions also marked a new high.
South Korea is the latest country to see infections and hospitalizations rise after loosening social distancing measures amid high vaccination rates. Cases are also climbing in the United States ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, while Austria entered a major lockdown on Monday as a virus wave spreads across Europe.
Officials in South Korea eased social distancing rules starting this month and fully reopened schools on Monday in what they describe as first steps toward restoring some pre-pandemic normalcy. In allowing larger social gatherings and longer indoor dining hours at restaurants, officials had hoped that improving vaccination rates would keep hospitalizations and deaths down even if the virus continues to spread.
But health workers are now wrestling with a rise in serious cases and fatalities among older people who rejected vaccines or whose immunities have waned after getting injected early in the vaccine rollout that began in February.
“The rise in serious cases has been considerably higher than what we had expected,” Health Ministry official Son Youngrae said in a briefing. Son said officials are closely monitoring the situation and may announce steps to re-impose stronger social distancing measures in coming weeks if the spread continues to worsen.
Read: Covaxin cleared by UK, relief for Indian students, tourists
According to KDCA data, most of the virus patients who died in recent weeks were in their 60s or older, and the majority of them were not fully vaccinated or vaccinated at all. Son said there has also been a rise in breakthrough infections among older people who received two shots, showing how the delta variant is reducing the effectiveness of vaccines.
Officials are now scrambling to speed up the administration of booster shots and create plans to share hospital capacities between the greater Seoul area and other regions with smaller outbreaks to prevent hospital systems from being overwhelmed.
Son said the government has issued administrative orders to hospitals in the capital region to designate hundreds of more beds for virus patients. He said more than 83% of the region’s ICUs designated for COVID-19 treatment are currently occupied.
South Korea to resume entry of Bangladeshi expatriate workers: Envoy
The government of the Republic of Korea has recently decided to resume the entry of Bangladeshi expatriate workers to the country which has been suspended since June last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun informed the decision to Expatriate’s Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed during his meeting with the Minister at his office on Tuesday.
Ambassador Lee also requested the Bangladesh Government to take necessary steps to ensure that no COVID-19 positive case is found among the Bangladesh expatriate workers coming to Korea by taking necessary preventive measures before, during and after their travel and their full vaccination.
Also read: Bangladesh an attractive investment destination: Korean envoy
Minister Imran, expressing deep appreciation to the decision of the Korean Government, assured of full cooperation with the Korean authorities for a smooth and successful resumption of Bangladesh expatriate workers’ entry and re-entry to Korea.
Army Chief General Shafiuddin off to S Korea
Chief of Bangladesh Army General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed left Dhaka on Sunday night for South Korea on a five-day official visit.
He is leading a five-member team of Bangladesh Armed Forces, according to an ISPR press release.
During the visit, the Bangladesh Army Chief will meet the South Korean Minister of National Defence, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Army Staff and the Air Force, and other senior military officials.
Read:Army chief leaves Dhaka on 3-day tour to India
General Shafiuddin will also discuss bilateral military relations between the two countries.
The Army Chief is scheduled to return home on October 23.
S Korea for diversifying areas of cooperation, elevating ties with Bangladesh
South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun has reaffirmed his commitment to take the bilateral ties with his host country to new heights and diversify the areas of cooperation through more engagement with the business communities in Chattogram.
Stressing that the two countries have a great potential to further develop mutually beneficial economic ties, Lee said the first round table meeting in Chattogram, the gate to Bangladesh, would be another step forward towards this.
The meeting on Korea-Bangladesh economic relations was held in Chattogram's World Trade Center Sunday. It was organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in cooperation with the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and the Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KBCCI).
Lee made a presentation on Korea-Bangladesh relations focusing on trade and investment.
Read: S Korean companies to be interested in Bangladesh’s nuclear energy sector: Envoy
He also asked for the support of the CCCI for the Korean business community in Chattogram, mentioning the necessity of listening to the current investors to attract more Korean companies.
North Korea's Kim seeks better ties with South, but slams US
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to restore stalled communication lines with South Korea in coming days while shrugging off U.S. offers for dialogue as “cunning ways” to conceal its hostility against the North, state media reported Thursday.
Kim’s statement is an apparent effort to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington as he wants South Korea to help him win relief from crippling U.S.-led economic sanctions and other concessions. Pyongyang this month has offered conditional talks with Seoul alongside its first missile firings in six months and stepped-up criticism of the United States.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency closed meeting on Thursday at the request of the United States, United Kingdom and France on North Korea’s recent tests.
During a speech at his country’s rubber-stamp parliament on Wednesday, Kim said the restoration in early October of cross-border hotlines — which have been largely dormant for more than a year — would realize the Korean people’s wishes for a peace between the two Koreas, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Read:North Korea says hypersonic missile made 1st test flight
Kim still accused South Korea of being “bent on begging external support and cooperation while clamoring for international cooperation in servitude to the U.S.,” rather than committing to resolving the matters independently between the Koreas.
Kim repeated his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong’s calls for Seoul to abandon “double-dealing attitude” and “hostile viewpoint” over the North’s missile tests and other developments, saying the fate of inter-Korean ties is at a critical juncture. Some experts say North Korea is pressuring South Korea to tone down its criticism of its ballistic missile tests, which are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions, as part of its quest to receive an international recognition as a nuclear power.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry responded that it’ll prepare for the restoration of the hotlines that it said is needed to discuss and resolve many pending issues. It said the “stable operation” of the channels is expected because their restoration was directly instructed by Kim Jong Un.
On the United States, Kim Jong Un dismissed repeated U.S. offers to resume talks without preconditions, calling them an attempt to hide America’s “hostile policy” and “military threats” that he said remain unchanged.
The Biden administration “is touting ‘diplomatic engagement’ and ‘dialogue without preconditions’ but it is no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts and an extension of the hostile policy pursued by the successive U.S. administrations,” Kim said.
Read: North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile into sea
He added: “The U.S. remains utterly unchanged in posing military threats and pursuing hostile policy toward (North Korea) but employs more cunning ways and methods in doing so.”
North Korea has long called U.S.-led economic sanctions on it and regular military drills between Washington and Seoul as proof of U.S. hostility on his country. Kim Jong Un has said he would bolster his nuclear arsenal and not resume nuclear diplomacy with Washington unless such U.S. hostility is withdrawn.
U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed hopes to sit down for talks with North Korea “anywhere and at any time,” but have maintained they will continue sanctions until the North takes concrete steps toward denuclearization. The diplomacy has been stalled for 2 ½ years due to disagreements over easing the U.S.-led sanctions in return for limited denuclearization steps.
North Korea’s ongoing outreach to Seoul came after South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who seeks progress in his appeasement policy on North Korea before he ends his five-year term next May, proposed a symbolic peace declaration during his U.N. speech last week.
“Kim Jong Un will likely continue to use South Korea to move the Biden administration in its favor," Kwak Gil Sup, head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs, wrote on Facebook. “He'll make more outright attempts to wedge South Korea and the U.S. apart. It's a highly sophisticated strategy to make the best use of the impatience of the (Moon) government preoccupied with producing progress in its peace process on the Korean Peninsula.”
Prior to the launch Tuesday of what North Korea said was a hypersonic missile, it also this month launched a newly developed cruise missile and a ballistic missile from a train. Both cruise and ballistic weapons could carry nuclear bombs to attack targets in South Korea and Japan, where a total of 80,000 American troops are stationed.
Read: Seoul: North Korea fires 2 ballistic missiles off east coast
Kim said that “a spur has been given to ... developing a powerful new weapon system capable of thoroughly containing the military moves of the hostile forces.”
Kim Jong Un maintains a moratorium on testing a longer-range missile capable of reaching the American homeland, an indication he wants to keep alive chances for future diplomacy with the U.S.
After nearly 10 years in power, Kim Jong Un has said North Korea is facing its worst-ever crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S.-led sanctions and natural disasters. In his parliament speech, he claimed progress in economic recovery projects but urged stronger efforts to fulfill objectives set earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Kim’s sister was elected as a member of the State Affairs Commission led by her brother during this week’s Supreme People’s Assembly session, KCNA reported. The appointment of Kim Yo Jong, who already is a senior ruling party official who handles Pyongyang’s relations with Seoul, is another sign Kim is solidifying his family’s rule in the face of the difficulties.
North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile into sea
North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea early Tuesday, Seoul and Tokyo officials said, in the latest in a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang that raised questions about the sincerity of its recent offer for talks with South Korea.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said “an unidentified projectile” fired from an inland location flew toward North Korea’s eastern sea Tuesday morning. It said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analyzing details of the launch.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said North Korea fired “what could be a ballistic missile” and his government stepped up vigilance and surveillance as it analyzed details of the launch.
Read:Seoul: North Korea fires 2 ballistic missiles off east coast
Tests of ballistic and cruise missiles earlier this month were North Korea’s first such launches in six months and displayed its ability to attack targets in South Korea and Japan, both key U.S. allies where a total of 80,000 American troops are stationed.
But last Friday and Saturday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, reached out to Seoul, saying her country was open to resuming talks and reconciliatory steps if conditions are met. Some experts said North Korea wants South Korea to work to win it relief from U.S.-led sanctions.
South Korea has called her statement “meaningful” but urged North Korea to restore communication channels before any talks between the rivals can be arranged.
The communication lines have remained largely dormant for about 15 months, so restoring them and accepting Seoul’s calls on them could be a yardstick to asses how serious the North is about its offer for conditional talks.
Read: North Korea says it tested new long-range cruise missiles
As the North conducted its third round of weapons launches on Tuesday, North Korean Ambassador Kim Song used his speech on the last day of the U.N. General Assembly to justify his country’s development of a “war deterrent” to defend against U.S. threats.
“The possible outbreak of a new war on the Korean Peninsula is contained not because of the U.S.’s mercy on the DPRK, it is because our state is growing a reliable deterrent that can control the hostile forces in an attempted military invasion,” Kim said.
The North’s latest outreach came as a response to South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s renewed calls for a declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War in a bid to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula. Seoul officials describe such a declaration as a “political” and “symbolic” step because a peace treaty is needed to be signed to formally end the Korean War, which ended with an armistice, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war.
Read: In Seoul center, N Korean defectors find solace with locals
The three-year conflict pitted South Korea and U.S.-led U.N. forces against North Korea and China, killed 1 million to 2 million people. In his speech at the U.N. last week, Moon proposed the end-of-the-war declaration be signed among the two Koreas, the U.S. and China.
A U.S.-led diplomatic effort aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons in return for economic and political benefits has been stalled 2½ years. U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed hopes for further talks but have also made it clear the long-term sanctions imposed on North Korea will stay in place until the North takes concrete steps toward denuclearization.
While North Korea has tested short-range weapons and vowed to continue building its nuclear arsenal, Kim Jong Un has maintained a moratorium on testing longer-range weapons capable of reaching the American homeland, an indication he wants to keep the chances for future diplomacy with the U.S. alive.