South Korea made its first concrete move yesterday to enforce sanctions over the North's nuclear test, saying it will ban Northern officials who fall under a UN travel restriction.
The South's Unification Ministry also urged the North to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear program, and rejected Pyongyang's warning that sanctions could cause a breakdown in inter-Korean relations.
"If North Korea is concerned about the future of Korean people, it should not aggravate the situation any more [and] return immediately to the six-party talks," a Unification Ministry statement said.
The statement affirmed Seoul's commitment to comply with the UN resolution that imposed sanctions on the North.
Also yesterday, a South Korean Defense Ministry report said the North is believed to have extracted up to 50kg of plutonium -- enough for up to seven nuclear weapons.
The communist nation is also working to make a small, lightweight nuclear warhead that can be carried by ballistic missile, according to the report released by opposition lawmaker Song Young-sun.
The North could also drop nuclear bombs with its Russian-made planes, the report said.
A UN resolution, passed in response to the North's nuclear test, seeks to ban the country's weapons trade.
The UN sanctions also mandate intercepting ships believed to be carrying suspect material.
The resolution calls for all member countries to state how they plan to implement sanctions on the North within 30 days of its Oct. 14 adoption.
In announcing the travel ban on North Korean officials, Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok said Seoul will also control transactions and remittances related to inter-Korean trade and investment with Northern officials, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.
It was unclear how tough the South will be in enforcing the restrictions. Seoul had been hesitant to take strong measures to support the sanctions, mindful of Pyongyang's massive armed forces poised at the border, its family and cultural ties with the North, and its wish to expand economic relations with its neighbor.
Still, Seoul's decision on sanctions is certain to be welcomed in Washington, where US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday urged South Korea to show "a strong commitment" to the sanctions endorsed by the UN after the North's Oct. 9 nuclear blast.
On Wednesday, Pyongyang warned that any move by the South to impose trade, travel and financial sanctions would be seen as a "declaration of confrontation" that would elicit "corresponding measures" from the North. It also said the sanctions could cause a breakdown in inter-Korean relations.
In a sign of a South Korean public backlash against the government's reconciliation policy with the North, the ruling party suffered a humiliating by-election defeat on Wednesday, losing in races for two parliament seats and other local posts, according to results released yesterday.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS