North Korea has likely sent two US journalists detained by border guards last week to the capital Pyongyang for questioning, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.
The US State Department has expressed concern over the fate of the two women, who are believed to have been taken into custody while filming near the Tumen river, an escape route for those fleeing the communist state.
Confirmation by North Korea’s state media on Saturday of their detention showed the central government was directly involved in their case, Yonhap said, quoting an unnamed source in China.
“Given the significance of the case, it is very likely that the two US journalists have been sent to Pyongyang for questioning directly by the North’s security and military agencies,” the source told Yonhap.
The North may use the case “politically,” it added. Government officials in Seoul could not confirm the Yonhap report.
North Korea on Saturday confirmed that it had detained the duo for “illegally intruding into the territory” of the communist country on March 17.
The official Korean Central News Agency said in a terse dispatch: “A competent organ is now investigating the case,” giving no further details of the whereabouts of the Americans.
Diplomatic sources said Washington and Pyongyang were in talks over the release of the two, identified as Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling (凌志美), a Taiwanese-American, who both work for Current TV in California.
Ling’s family emigrated from Taiwan to the US several years ago and now lives in Los Angeles.
Ling’s sister, Lisa Ling (凌志慧), a former co-host of the American TV talk show The View and is now a correspondent for National Geographic Channel’s Explorer.
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS