The two Koreas yesterday extended their first direct talks in 10 months for an additional day as South Korea tried to convince the communist North to return to the nuclear bargaining table.
The North was clearly resisting any commitment. Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo, head of the South's delegation, told reporters that Pyongyang's delegation was listening to his entreaties without comment. South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting an unidentified Seoul official, said the North did not want any mention of the nuclear issue in a joint final statement.
Concern over North Korea's nuclear program intensified last week when Pyongyang said it had taken a step that could lead to harvesting weapons-grade plutonium. US officials warned of unspecified action if the North conducts a nuclear test, with Japan saying it would respond by seeking UN sanctions. North Korea has indicated it would view sanctions as a declaration of war.
"As the North Korean nuclear issue is at a crucial phase, the resumption of six-party talks is very important for peace on the Korean Peninsula," South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told a news conference yesterday, referring to negotiations involving the US, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas.
Talks between the two Koreas were to have ended Tuesday. But the delegations remained at the North Korean border village of Kaesong overnight, then met briefly yesterday morning before announcing they would hold more talks today.
The reclusive, impoverished North -- which often uses brinksmanship to wring aid from the West -- had sought food and 453,592 tonnes of fertilizer, but South Korea linked that to Pyongyang rejoining talks on its worrisome nuclear weapons program.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
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A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
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