North Korea offered to send its chief nuclear negotiator to next week’s inauguration of US president-elect Barack Obama, but Washington has responded coolly, South Korean news reports said yesterday.
The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, quoting a Seoul government source, said the communist state may be trying to assess whether its traditional enemy’s policy will change under Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20.
The hardline North, which has been locked in nuclear disarmament talks for years, refrained from its customary criticism of the US in a policy-setting New Year message.
“The North, through its United Nations mission office in New York, conveyed the message that it can send Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan as a representative to the inauguration ceremony,” the source told JoongAng.
The message was delivered to the Obama transition team via a non-profit US organization, The Korea Society, the source said.
“I’ve heard negative opinions far outpaced the positive views,” the source added, referring to the response from the Obama team. “Pyongyang may be trying to test the political waters in the Obama administration by watching Washington’s response.”
Yonhap news agency, citing a diplomatic source, said the North’s proposal had been turned down because of US skepticism.
Both JoongAng and Yonhap said the new administration would be unlikely to invite a Pyongyang envoy until it has mapped out its policy on North Korea.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he could not confirm the reports. But he noted that only resident ambassadors, and not special foreign envoys, are normally invited to US inaugurations.
The US has since 2003 been involved in six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.
The latest round — involving the US, the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan — ended fruitlessly in Beijing last month. No agreement was reached on ways to verify the secretive nation’s declaration of its atomic programs.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
RSS