Marshall Islands officials said they are ready to resume talks with the US this week on renewing a long-standing economic and security deal, provided Washington addresses grievances stemming from the testing of nuclear weapons on the Pacific archipelago more than 70 years ago.
The US detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958, and the health and environmental impacts are still felt on the islands and atolls that lie between Hawaii and the Philippines.
US special envoy Joseph Yun is scheduled to land in the capital, Majuro, tomorrow to resume negotiations on extending the 20-year Compact of Free Association, part of which expires next year.
Photo: AFP
Marshall Islands negotiators first want the US to pay more of the compensation awarded by the international Nuclear Claims Tribunal, totaling more than US$3 billion, of which about US$270 million has been paid so far.
Officials in Majuro broke off talks in September to renew the compact, a key international agreement between the US, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.
The Marshall Islands said it would also be ready to resume talks with Yun if Washington tackled health and environmental issues stemming from its nuclear testing.
“We are ready to sign [a compact extension] tomorrow, once the key issues are addressed,” Marshall Islands Parliament Speaker Kenneth Kedi said.
“We need to come up with a dignified solution,” he said.
Kedi represents Rongelap Atoll, which is still affected by nuclear testing. He was encouraged by an agreement signed in late September by US President Joe Biden and Pacific island leaders, including Marshall Islands President David Kabua, that included references to the US commitment to addressing its nuclear past.
However, until that happens, “it casts a question mark on all the promises Washington has made,” Kedi said.
“If we can’t resolve issues from our past, how will it be going forward with other issues?” he said.
Thousands of Marshall Islanders were engulfed in a radioactive fallout cloud following the 1954 Castle Bravo nuclear test by the US military, and many subsequently experienced health problems.
Tonnes of contaminated debris from the testing was dumped in a crater on the Enewetak Atoll and capped with concrete that has since cracked, sparking health concerns.
Hundreds of islanders from the Marshall’s Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap and Utrik atolls have also had to relocate due to nuclear contamination. Many are still unable to return home.
A study issued by the US National Cancer Institute in 2004 estimated that about 530 cancer cases had been caused by the nuclear testing.
“As Bikinians, we’ve done enough for the United States,” said Alson Kelen, chairman of the Marshall Islands’ National Nuclear Commission, who believes the US should pay the full amount of the compensation awarded.
“We’re not asking to be rich. We’re asking for funding to solve our nuclear problems ... really the funds are to mitigate and address the problems of our health, relocations and nuclear cleanups,” Kelen said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS