North Korea has rejected a proposed trip by a UN envoy next month amid rising tensions over a possible missile test by Pyongyang, a news report said yesterday.
Yonhap news agency, quoting an unnamed US diplomatic source, said UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe had proposed a visit early next month.
“Saying that it is not an appropriate time, North Korea has virtually rejected the offer,” the source was quoted as saying.
The North’s planned long-range Taepodong missile test might be one of the reasons for rejecting the visit, the source said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, has sought to send an envoy to assess the situation on the peninsula, Yonhap said.
North Korea could be ready to test-fire an intermediate range ballistic missile by the end of the month, defense analysis group Jane’s said on Friday.
Experts at Jane’s Defence Weekly said satellite imagery taken on Wednesday indicated that Pyongyang was preparing to either launch a Taepodong-2 missile or a Paektusan-2 space launch vehicle.
Preparations included activation or installation of telemetry equipment and radars, the arrival of numerous trucks and support vehicles, a rise in activity at the engine test stand, and launch pad and umbilical tower maintenance.
The magazine also said that support facilities for the engine test stand were being expanded.
Tensions have risen since the North canceled all peace accords with South Korea, including one recognizing the Yellow Sea border as an interim frontier.
The area saw deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002.
Seoul’s defense chief warned on Friday that his troops would target North Korean launch sites if his navy ships came under missile attack in the Yellow Sea.
The North’s military announced on Thursday that it was “fully ready” for war with South Korea.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has rolled back his predecessors’ policy of largely unconditional aid and engagement with the North.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in