The US on Saturday slammed as an “implicit threat” an offer by North Korea to temporarily suspend its future nuclear tests if Washington cancels military drills with South Korea.
Pyongyang was “inappropriately” linking routine military exercises between Washington and Seoul to the possibility of a nuclear test, US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
“A new nuclear test would be a clear violation of North Korea’s obligations under multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” Psaki told reporters traveling with US Secretary of State John Kerry to India during a stopover in Munich.
North Korea’s proposal was passed to the US through a “relevant channel” on Friday, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Saturday.
The message called on Washington to help ease tensions on the Korean peninsula by suspending all of this year’s joint military exercises in South Korea “and its vicinity.”
If Washington requires talks to clarify Pyongyang’s new proposal, North Korea “is ready to sit with the US anytime,” the agency said.
However, Psaki said the statement, which “inappropriately links routine US-ROK [Republic of South Korea] exercises to the possibility of a nuclear test by North Korea is an implicit threat.”
“We call on the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to immediately cease all threats, reduce tensions, and take the necessary steps toward denuclearization needed to resume credible negotiations,” Psaki added.
The US, which has close to 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea, conducts a series of joint military exercises with the key Asian ally every year.
Psaki said the exercises were “transparent, defense-oriented, and have been carried out regularly and openly for [about] 40 years.”
However, the drills are regularly condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for an invasion,.
The exercises habitually raise tensions between the two Koreas, who remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War concluded with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.
Describing the US-South Korean military drills as the “root cause” of tensions on the peninsula, KCNA said their continuation precluded any possibility of dialogue or detente.
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests — the last in February 2013 — and recently threatened a fourth in response to a UN resolution condemning its human rights record.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique