An opposition party delegation was taking a message from the South Korean government to the North yesterday to try to improve relations that soured after Pyongyang threatened to halt border crossings.
The Democratic Labor Party group was traveling to North Korea via China, said Jun Kwon-hee, a party leadership aide.
Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho met opposition leader Kang Ki-kap on Thursday and asked him to tell Pyongyang that Seoul has not turned away from deals reached at two bilateral summits and that it is ready to discuss how to implement them, Jun said.
North Korea has accused South Korea’s new conservative government of ignoring accords reached at the 2000 and last year summits — under which the North was promised a shipbuilding factory, and rail and raid improvements — and has stepped up rhetoric against the South.
The North’s military said on Wednesday it would “restrict and cut off” cross-border routes from Dec. 1. The ban could force the closure of dozens of South Korean factories operating at a joint industrial park in the North’s border city of Kaesong — a symbolic rejection of South Korean efforts since 2000 to foster reconciliation through commerce.
South Korea’s government said it urged the North not to stop development of the lucrative industrial zone.
The Kaesong complex, where South Korean factories employ some 35,000 North Koreans, has been a key source of currency for the impoverished North.
In the message from Seoul to Pyongyang, Hong also promised the government would “make strong efforts to stop” activists from sending leaflets critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il across the border attached to balloons, Jun said.
The North — which is very sensitive to outside criticism of its leader — has accused the South of violating a 2004 pact prohibiting cross-border propaganda, and has warned of military confrontation if the leaflets keep arriving.
South Korea’s government has said there are no legal grounds for prosecuting those who send the leaflets, citing freedom of expression.
Relations between North and South Korea have soured since President Lee Myung-bak, a pro-US conservative, took office in February, pledging to get tough with the North.
Ties deteriorated further in July when a North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist visiting Diamond Mountain, another joint project in the North. Seoul since has banned tours to the popular resort.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
DIPLOMATIC THAW: The Canadian prime minister’s China visit and improved Beijing-Ottawa ties raised lawyer Zhang Dongshuo’s hopes for a positive outcome in the retrial China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing. Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo (張東碩), yesterday confirmed China’s Supreme People’s Court struck down the sentence. Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived following the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟). That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory. In January
A sign hanging from a rusty ice-green shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia reads: “Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area.” On opposite sides of the makeshift barricade, fronted by coils of barbed wire, Cambodians lamented their lost homes and livelihoods as Thailand’s military showed off its gains. Thai forces took control of several patches of disputed land along the border during fighting last year, which could amount to several square kilometers in total. Cambodian Kim Ren said her house in Chouk Chey used to stand on what is now the Thai
NEW RULES: There would be fewer school days, four-day workweeks, and a reduction in transportation services as the country battles a crisis exacerbated by US pressure The Cuban government on Friday announced emergency measures to address a crippling energy crisis worsened by US sanctions, including the adoption of a four-day work week for state-owned companies and fuel sale restrictions. Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga blamed Washington for the crisis, telling Cuban television the government would “implement a series of decisions, first and foremost to guarantee the vitality of our country and essential services, without giving up on development.” “Fuel will be used to protect essential services for the population and indispensable economic activities,” he said. Among the new measures are the reduction of the working week in
RSS