North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said yesterday that the communist nation could return to international nuclear disarmament talks as early as next month -- ending its year-long boycott -- if it can reach an agreement with the US.
"If it is certain that the United States is respecting the North as a partner, North Korea could come to the six-party talks as early as July, but it has to be further negotiated with the United States,'' Kim was quoted as saying by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who met the North Korean leader yesterday in Pyongyang.
The North has boycotted six-nation nuclear talks for nearly a year, citing "hostile" US policies. The arms negotiations include China, Japan, Russia, the US and the two Koreas.
"North Korea has never given up or refused the six-party talks," Chung quoted Kim as saying.
Kim added that a 1992 declaration between the two Koreas calling for denuclearization of the peninsula remained valid.
Chung was the first top South Korean official to see the reclusive Kim in more than three years. He was leading a South Korean government delegation that has been in Pyongyang since Tuesday for anniversary celebrations of a landmark summit between Kim and former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung in June 2000 -- the first and only such talks between leaders of the Koreas that remain technically at war.
During yesterday's meeting, Kim and Chung agreed on the need to resume military talks between the two sides. They also said family reunions between relatives separated by the heavily fortified inter-Korean border -- which have been stalled for 11 months -- would be continued on Aug. 15 at North Korea's Diamond Mountain tourist resort.
North Korea will also send a government delegation to the Aug. 15 celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS