Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pushed back against the tougher U.S. line on North Korea, reiterating his country’s view that the only way to rein in its reclusive neighbor is through talks. Wang spoke at a briefing in Beijing with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who in Seoul on Friday refused to rule out a preemptive strike against Pyongyang if the threat from its weapons program was deemed severe enough.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday the escalating threat from North Korea’s nuclear program showed a clear need for a “new approach”, although he stopped short of detailing what steps the Trump administration would pursue. Tillerson was speaking at a news conference following talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, the start of his first trip to Asia as secretary of state. It was the first time Tillerson, a former oil executive with no prior diplomatic experience, had taken questions from the media since coming into office in early February.
The historic ouster of President Park Geun-hye on Friday means that South Korea will hold elections within 60 days to elect a new leader. That will come as a relief for South Koreans, exhausted by months of scandal and impeachment proceedings, but it should also assuage U.S. policymakers. In the three months since Park was suspended over corruption allegations, plunging the country into limbo, the regime in North Korea has launched five ballistic missiles and a volley of threats. Add to that China’s anger anger over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system to South Korea and uncertainty about the change in administration in Washington, and the lack of leadership in South Korea could hardly have come at a more sensitive time.
The United Nations will assist to smoothen the process of bringing out two of its staff, who are Malaysian citizens, from North Korea. A UN source in New York told Bernama that the two women, who are in their 30s, were contacted as soon as the travel ban notice on Malaysians in North Korea issued by Pyongyang was reported by the international media. Both are safe. They are not officers or staff of the Malaysian Embassy.“They are our staff (UN) who were sent to North Korea to attend a course related to the World Food Programme (WFP)”, the source said.
North Korea has fired four ballistic missiles, with at least three landing in Japanese-controlled waters, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has told his parliament. “North Korea today fired four ballistic missiles almost simultaneously, and they flew some 1,000 kilometers”, Abe said on March 6. He said three of them landed in the sea area of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The South Korean military said that ‘several missiles’ were fired into the Sea of Japan. It said South Korea and the United States were analyzing flight data to ascertain further details
Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia’s foreign minister says the government has expelled North Korea’s ambassador for criticising the investigation into the killing of the North Korean leader’s estranged half brother. Foreign Minister AnifahAman said in a statement that a notice was sent to the North Korean Embassy on Saturday saying Ambassador Kang Chol had to leave the country within 48 hours. Anifah said that earlier in the week, Malaysia demanded that North Korea apologise for criticising the investigation into the February 13 killing of Kim Jong- Nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport.
Due to a number of limitations the THAAD missile defense system doesn’t directly pose a major risk to Russia and China. However, Moscow and Beijing still see a potential threat, which does not come from the missiles but the system’s radars that would allow U.S. to monitor launches of Russian and Chinese intercontinental missiles. Despite the U.S. and South Korea repeatedly claiming that THAAD poses no threats to China or Russia, and is being deployed to defend the South from North Korean missile launches, Moscow and Beijing still harbor serious concerns about the deployment.
It is in Kuala Lumpur’s “Little India” neighborhood, behind an unmarked door on the second floor of a rundown building, where a military equipment company called Glocom says it has its office. Glocom is a front company run by North Korean intelligence agents that sells battlefield radio equipment in violation of United Nations sanctions, according to a United Nations report submitted to the Security Council seen by Reuters. Reuters found that Glocom advertises over 30 radio systems for “military and paramilitary” organizations on its Malaysian website, glocom.com.my.
SEOUL–In response to the heightened threat from North Korea, the United States and South Korea will conduct large-scale joint military exercises for the second consecutive year this spring, rather than biennially. The decision comes in the face of a combative North Korea, which has been engaged in nuclear and missile development programs, several U.S. and South Korean military sources said on Feb. 25. The joint military drills have been held annually in the spring to coordinate their operations, including dispatch of U.S. troops for reinforcements. In even-numbered years, landing operations, a key component of the joint drill, have been conducted on a large-scale basis, while they have been run on a smaller basis in odd-numbered years.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) — Four North Korean suspects in the murder of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fled Malaysia on the day he was attacked at Kuala Lumpur airport and apparently killed by a fast-acting poison, police said on Sunday. A North Korean man, a Vietnamese woman and an Indonesian women have been arrested already in connection with the assassination of Kim Jong Nam last Monday, which has triggered a diplomatic spat between Malaysia and Pyongyang.