Japan starts deploying Osprey fleet at a new base to beef up southwestern defense
The first of the fleet of 17 Ospreys safely arrived at its new home base of Camp Saga, Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force said Wednesday.
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Washington Post
25 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim rejects South Korea's appeasement overture
SEOUL, South Korea — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed an appeasement overture by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that North Korea has no interests in talks with South Korea no matter what proposal its rival offers. Kim Yo Jong's comments suggest again that North Korea, now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia, has no intentions of returning to diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime soon. But experts said North Korea could change its course if it thinks it cannot maintain the same booming ties with Russia when the Russia-Ukraine war nears an end.
Associated Press
25 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim rejects South Korea's appeasement overture
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed an appeasement overture by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that North Korea has no interests in talks with South Korea no matter what proposal its rival offers. Kim Yo Jong's comments suggest again that North Korea, now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia, has no intentions of returning to diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime soon. But experts said North Korea could change its course if it thinks it cannot maintain the same booming ties with Russia when the Russia-Ukraine war nears an end. 'We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed with' South Korea, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. It's North Korea's first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June. In an effort to improve badly frayed ties with North Korea, Lee's government has halted anti-Pyongyang frontline loudspeaker broadcasts, taken steps to ban activists from flying balloons with propaganda leaflets across the border and repatriated North Koreans who were drifted south in wooden boats months earlier. Kim Yo Jong called such steps 'sincere efforts' by Lee's government to develop ties. But she said the Lee government won't be much different from its predecessors, citing what it calls 'their blind trust' to the alliance with the U.S. and attempt to 'stand in confrontation' with North Korea. She mentioned August's annual South Korea-U.S. military drills in August, which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea has been shunning talks with South Korea and the U.S. since leader Kim Jong Un's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions. North Korea has since focused on building more powerful nuclear weapons targeting its rivals. North Korea now prioritizes cooperation with Russia by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine, likely in return for economic and military assistance. South Korea, the U.S. and others say Russia may give North Korea sensitive technologies that can enhance its nuclear and missile programs. Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly boasted of his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and expressed intent to resume diplomacy with him. But North Korea hasn't publicly responded to Trump's overture. In early 2024, Kim Jong Un ordered the rewriting of the constitution to remove the long-running state goal of a peaceful Korean unification and cement South Korea as an 'invariable principal enemy.' That caught many foreign experts by surprise because it was seen as eliminating the idea of shared statehood between the war-divided Koreas and breaking away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of peacefully achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms. Many experts say Kim likely aims to guard against South Korean cultural influence and bolster his family's dynastic rule. Others say Kim wants legal room to use his nuclear weapons against South Korea by making it as a foreign enemy state, not a partner for potential unification which shares a sense of national homogeneity.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
North Korea says South Korea's overtures 'great miscalculation'
By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea has no interest in any policy or proposals for reconciliation from South Korea, the powerful sister of its leader Kim Jong Un said on Monday in the first response to South Korean liberal President Lee Jae Myung's peace overtures. Kim Yo Jong, who is a senior North Korean ruling party official and is believed to speak for the country's leader, said Lee's pledge of commitment to South Korea-U.S. security alliance shows he is no different from his hostile predecessor. "If South Korea expects to reverse all the consequences of (its actions) with a few sentimental words, there could be no greater miscalculation than that," Kim said in comments carried by official KCNA news agency. Lee, who took office on June 4 after winning a snap election called after the removal of hardline conservative Yoon Suk Yeol over a failed attempt at martial law, has vowed to improve ties with Pyongyang that had reached the worst level in years. As gestures aimed at easing tensions, Lee suspended loudspeaker broadcasts blasting anti-North propaganda across the border and banned the flying of leaflets by activists that had angered Pyongyang. Kim, the North Korean official, said those moves are merely a reversal of ill-intentioned activities by South Korea that should never have been initiated in the first place. "In other words, it's not even something worth our assessment," she said. "We again make clear the official position that whatever policy is established in Seoul or proposal is made, we are not interested, and we will not be sitting down with South Korea and there is nothing to discuss." There has been cautious optimism in the South that the North may respond positively and may even show willingness to re-engage in dialogue, particularly after Pyongyang also shut off its loudspeakers, a move Lee said was quicker than expected. Still, Lee, whose government is in the midst of tough negotiations with Washington to avert punishing tariffs that President Donald Trump has threatened against a string of major trading partners, has said U.S. alliance is the pillar of South Korea's diplomacy. "Through efforts in the areas of politics, economic security and culture, we will strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance that was sealed in blood," Lee said in remarks commemorating the anniversary of the Korean War armistice on Sunday. North Korea also marked the anniversary which it calls victory day with events including a parade in Pyongyang, although state media reports indicated it was at a relatively lesser scale compared to some previous years. The two Koreas, the United States and China, which are the main belligerents in the 1950-53 Korean War, have not signed a peace treaty. Solve the daily Crossword
