South Korea acknowledged yesterday that relations with North Korea would be difficult after the communist nation's missile tests, but said excessive international sanctions against Pyongyang wouldn't help resolve the impasse.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok said yesterday it was "very regrettable" that the North has suspended family reunions and asserted Seoul's right to refuse aid.
"South Korea's decision to suspend aid is not to join sanctions, but it was an independent judgment as North Korea aggravated the situation by not taking into account South Korea's concerns and position," Lee told reporters.
Lee reaffirmed that aid to the impoverished North won't be resumed until the current situation on the peninsula improves, acknowledging that "South-North relations will be difficult for a while."
The family reunions between relatives divided by the Korean War had been a key element of reconciliation efforts since the first-and-only summit between leaders of the North and South in 2000, bringing together more than 16,300 Koreans.
North Korea told the South Korean company spearheading business in the country to pull out workers by today from a construction site on a permanent reunion center at the North's Diamond Mountain resort, site of a tourism venture that foreign tourists can freely visit.
Hyundai Asan Corp said yesterday that some 130 workers were at the site.
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The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
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
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
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