A self-proclaimed "anti-American" group is threatening terrorist attacks against eight US allies by the end of the month, including South Korea, Japan, Australia and the Philippines, a South Korean official said yesterday.
The group, called the "Yello-Red Overseas Organization," warned in a one-page letter sent to the South Korean Embassy in Thailand that it will launch the attacks through April 30, embassy spokesman Ryoo Jung-young said by telephone.
The group described itself as "anti-American" and threatened to attack diplomatic compounds, airlines and public transportation systems in eight countries that are US allies or have plans to send troops to Iraq. They are: South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, Kuwait and Pakistan.
PHOTO: AP
Ryoo said it was the first time South Korean authorities had heard of the group and were investigating the threat's credibility. The embassy notified South Korea's Foreign Ministry, the Thai government and police, he said.
The letter was received Wednesday and Thai police said they were stepping up security around the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok. It has about 50 employees.
"We can't neglect this kind of situation," said Thai police Colonel Kasipong Kingsakklang.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry in Seoul said it had not notified other nations on the list but that it had confirmed that the Pakistan Embassy in Bangkok had also received a similar letter, an official said on condition of anonymity. South Korean diplomatic missions worldwide were alerted to the threat.
The country's National Police Agency could not immediately comment on whether it had stepped up precautions in South Korea.
South Korea plans to send some 3,000 more troops to Iraq, which would make it the biggest coalition partner behind the US and Britain.
The deployment, pledged earlier this year for the northern Iraq oil town of Kirkuk, was put on hold amid concerns it would involve combat operations in violation of a parliamentary mandate for peacekeeping.
Seoul is now considering two other towns in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq, Sulaimaniyah and Irbil. No timeframe for the new deployment has been announced.
The dispatch was originally scheduled as early as this month, but officials say it will be pushed back as the military picks a new site and prepares for the new mission.
Last week, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said mounting violence in Iraq has prompted her government to study whether to withdraw its nearly 100 troops from the Mideast nation, although she later said the troops would stay.
Thailand has expressed similar concerns over its 445 noncombat troops in Iraq.
Japan and Australia, which also have troops in Iraq, have pledged to keep them there.
Kuwait, a close US ally in the Gulf region, was used by American-led forces last year as a staging ground to invade Iraq.
Singapore has a special facility for US aircraft carriers and has been a strong supporter of efforts to fight terrorist groups in the region.
Pakistan has no troops in Iraq but has backed the US-led war on the former Taliban regime and al-Qaeda militants in neighboring Afghanistan.
In January, the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok received a threatening letter from a group called "Anti-Korean Interest Agency."
The letter, which made no mention of the war in Iraq, threatened attacks on South Korean diplomatic missions and businesses in Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and other Asian countries.
No attacks were made.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS