Libya has demanded economic benefits worth US$1 billion from South Korea in return for settling a diplomatic row sparked by spying accusations against Seoul, reports said yesterday.
It has threatened to restrict South Korean businesses unless its demands are met, the JoongAng daily said.
Tripoli has demanded that Seoul carry out apparently unpaid civil engineering work to the value of US$1 billion, the paper said.
South Korean firms are currently working on civil engineering contracts worth more than US$9 billion in Libya, the International Contractors Association of Korea said.
Yesterday’s Seoul Sinmun newspaper reported that Libya wants Seoul to build a 1,000km highway for free as a “fine” — work that would normally cost US$1 billion.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has denied the reports, and said they would hinder diplomatic efforts to end the rift.
“No demand or request has been made,” a ministry spokesman said yesterday.
The row became public after Libya expelled a South Korean intelligence official in June for allegedly trying to collect information on Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, his family and leading bureaucrats.
It also suspended operations at its de facto embassy in Seoul, forcing South Korean businessmen to go overseas to seek visas for Libya. Relations have also been strained over the arrest of a South Korean Christian pastor in Libya and by media coverage of the country.
The US$1 billion demand was made to a South Korean delegation that held talks in Tripoli last month to try to settle the row, JoongAng daily said. In addition, Libya wanted a list of contacts the intelligence official had made in the country, the paper said.
The English-language Tripoli Post said on its Web site this week that South Korea was under pressure to make a written apology for espionage operations, along with other unspecified demands.
‘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
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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