NORTH KOREA
Summer camp reopens
After some on-the-spot guidance from the nation’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and a major face-lift, the Songdowon International Children’s Camp reopened yesterday for this year’s flock of foreign campers — more than 300 young children and teenagers from Russia, China, Vietnam, Ireland and Tanzania. The campers spend the eight days cooking, swimming, boating and mingling with their North Korean peers. Though heavily subsidized by the government, the camp — plus a tour of Pyongyang — costs about US$270 per foreign child. The camp, which has been operating for nearly 30 years, was originally intended mainly to deepen relations with friendly countries in the communist or non-aligned world, but officials say they are willing to accept youth from anywhere — even the US. The camp gives the participants an opportunity to see a country that remains a mystery to most outsiders, and Pyongyang a chance to show off the best it can offer — sleeping in air-conditioned rooms with TVs and video games is a luxury most North Korean children cannot normally experience.
SOUTH KOREA
Two soldiers commit suicide
The military yesterday confirmed the apparent suicides of two army privates, raising fresh questions over the deployment of young conscripts in frontline units after a deadly shooting spree last month. The two soldiers, identified by their surnames, Shin and Park, were both found hanged in their barracks on Sunday in separate locations near the heavily militarized border with North Korea, an army spokesman said. Both men, who were in their early 20s, had been placed on a list of soldiers requiring special monitoring due to concerns over their mental stability. The army spokesman said an investigation was under way in both cases. The suicides followed an incident on June 21 in which a 22-year-old sergeant surnamed Lim opened fire on members of his own unit at a border guard post, killing five and wounding seven. Lim later told interrogators that he had snapped because he felt humiliated by the other soldiers, who mocked him and drew cartoons depicting him as SpongeBob SquarePants.
NORTH KOREA
UN sanctions arms ship
The UN imposed sanctions on the shipping company that operates a ship seized by Panama in July last year for carrying undeclared military equipment from Cuba, ordering all countries to freeze its assets. The UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions on the country announced late on Monday that it had added Ocean Maritime Management Co, which is headquartered in Pyongyang and operates the vessel Chong Chon Gang, to its sanctions blacklist. Panamanian authorities stopped the Chong Chon Gang as it tried to enter the Panama Canal because they suspected it was transporting drugs. Instead, they found two Cuban fighter jets in perfect condition, missiles and live munitions beneath its cargo of sugar.
INDIA
Driver kills sleeping pilgrims
A speeding truck driver yesterday ran over and killed at least 12 Hindu pilgrims who were sleeping on the side of a busy road in the northeast, police said. Four women were among the victims, while another 18 were injured in the pre-dawn accident on a national highway in the Aurangabad District of Bihar State. Upendra Kumar Sharma, superintendent of police for Aurangabad, said more than 50 pilgrims were resting for the night after visiting a temple in neighboring Jharkhand State when the truck driver lost control.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of