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Russia and China to solve North Korea crisis

in ASIA/POLITICS by

Russia and China are set to strengthen cooperation to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday after a meeting of Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou. The diplomats “shared views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. Both sides emphasized that Russia and China need to strengthen cooperation in order to de-escalate tensions and find a solution to the whole range of problems the subregion is facing on the basis of jointly drafted peace initiatives”, says the statement posted on the ministry’s website. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula again flared up in late November when Pyongyang carried out a new missile launch after a 75-day pause. Pyongyang claimed that this missile was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and the entire territory of the US was within its range. The UN Security Council adopted unilaterally tougher sanctions against North Korea.

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South Korea and North Korea to hold working-level talks on January 15

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North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold working-level talks at the Tongil Pavilion on the North Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom on January 15. South Korea had also said that it is seeking to form a combined women’s hockey team with the North. The North Korea’s International Olympics Committee (IOC) official said the committee is considering the proposal, while the two sides will also have talks hosted by IOC on Jan. 20. This is the third round of bilateral talks between the two Koreas, signalling a further thaw in their strained relations. Officials from North and South earlier this week said they had agreed to hold negotiations to resolve problems and avert accidental conflict, after their first official dialogue in more than two years amid high tension over the North’s weapons program.

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North Korea: US open for talks with North Korea

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U.S. President Donald Trump told Moon Jae-in, the leader of South Korea, that the United States is open to talks with North Korea “at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances”, the White House said today. The two leaders have then stressed “the importance of continuing the maximum pressure campaign against North Korea”. U.S. also asked yesterday South Korea to ensure that North Korean participation in Winter Olympics does not violate the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council over North Korea’s unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

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North Korea: the challenge of turning inter-Korean thaw into longer-term detente

in ASIA/TECHNOLOGY by

The peaceful climate in which yesterday’s meeting between South and North Korea took place quickly evaporate when the North’s chief negotiator threatened to walk out after the South Korean side raised the question Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes. “We had started in a good spirit but this came to an icky mood”, North Korea’s lead delegate Ri Son Gwon complained in closing remarks. Ri also said he would not discuss North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme with the South because its nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles are aimed “thoroughly” at the United States, not at its “brethren” in the South. This reaction shows how, although talks yielded agreements to hold military talks and facilitate North Korea’s participation in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, turning this loosening of tensions into a longer-term detente will be very difficult. North Korea in fact does not intend to negotiate its nuclear arsenal while on the other side Washington insist that complete denuclearisation is the only acceptable outcome.

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Trump is about to put his mark on the US nuclear arsenal

in AMERICAS/ENERGY/POLITICS by

The Pentagon is putting the finishing touches on the first comprehensive review of US nuclear forces in nearly eight years. It’s shaping up as President Donald Trump’s signature nuclear weapons initiative in the face of a growing North Korean nuclear threat. The review, which may allow Trump to put his mark on the nuclear inventory for decades to come, could lead to more than $1 trillion in spending over nearly 30 years. There have been three such reviews since the end of the Cold War, the most recent in 2010 under President Barack Obama.

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 Russia, China Must ‘Work Together’ to Avoid DPRK ‘Time Bomb’ Say, Experts

in EUROPE/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

Beijing government advisors observe that the risk of war on the Korean peninsula is at its highest point in decades. Senior government advisers and military officers warned Beijing on Saturday that the escalation of the war of words between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un indicates that China must remain on high alert for war on the Korean peninsula, as the risk of conflict has never been greater. “North Korea is a time bomb”, detailed China’s executive-level State Council cabinet advisor Shi Yinhong during a Beijing conference on the Korean crisis. “We can only delay the explosion, hoping that by delaying it, a time will come to remove the detonator”, said Shi, a Renmin University international relations professor, cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Chinese government advisor Shi agreed with Tillerson’s observation, noting that any hope for peace cannot rest with Kim and Trump, and pointing out that China and Russia must work together to convince Pyongyang and its adversaries in the west to stand down from their aggressive military footing.

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Lavrov, Tillerson Discuss Syria, Ukraine, N Korea, Recruitment of Journalists

in ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

The two cabinet-level officials met during the summit of Foreign Ministers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), one of the few organizations that both the US and Russia are members of. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry press release, the two officials discussed the next steps in resolving Syria’s civil conflict through establishing a negotiation process that would incorporate all of the Syrian political powers. The negotiations can go on at various sites, including the Geneva conference on Syria and the upcoming Syrian National Dialogue Congress that will take place in Sochi. Addressing Ukraine, Lavrov once again stated that the Minsk accord of February 2015 has no alternatives and must be fulfilled. He insisted that it is Kiev that has to implement the points of the agreement. Lavrov and Tillerson found some common ground regarding North Korea, agreeing that Pyongyang must strictly abide by UN Security Council resolutions. Meanwhile, Sergey Lavrov underscored that the escalation of tensions brought about by aggressive US rhetoric and military preparations in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula is unacceptable.

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 Trump Promises ‘Major Sanctions’ in Response to North Korea ICBM Test

in AMERICAS/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

U.S. President Donald Trump says “major sanctions” will be imposed on North Korea, after Pyongyang tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts say is likely capable of hitting anywhere in the U.S. mainland. In a tweet Wednesday, Trump said he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the “provocative actions” of North Korea. He again vowed that the “situation will be handled,” but did not elaborate. “President Trump underscored the determination of the United States to defend ourselves and our allies from the growing threat posed by the North Korean regime,” the White House said in a statement on the call with Xi. The readout also said Trump “emphasized the need for China to use all available levers to convince North Korea to end its provocations and return to the path of denuclearization.”
North Korea on Wednesday said it tested a Hwasong-15 missile “tipped with a super-large heavy warhead which is capable of striking the whole mainland of the U.S.”

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Russian diplomat warns an apocalyptic outcome of North Korean crisis

in PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

A Russian deputy foreign minister has said that the current nuclear-missile crisis on the Korean Peninsula could end in an “apocalyptic scenario” and called upon direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang to prevent that outcome. “To my regret, I have to say that there is an apocalyptic scenario for the development of events in this region. I hope that the regional community will have enough common sense to prevent this scenario from becoming a reality,” Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Monday at a session of the Valdai discussion club in Seoul, South Korea. He also called upon senior officials in South Korea and the United States “to exhale” and start talks with North Korea over increasing tensions. “Since September 15, Pyongyang has not conducted any test launches. If the restraint that Pyongyang has been demonstrating over the past two months was met with proportionate response steps on the part of the United States and its allies, it would be possible to start the second stage of our roadmap plan and start direct talks between the United States and North Korea,” he said.

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 Body found on Japanese island believed to be North Korean man

in ASIA/PRESS RELEASE/REGIONS by

Japan’s coastguard found the body of a male and parts of a wooden boat suspected to be from North Korea on the coast of one of Japan’s outlying islands on Saturday, an official said. The coastguard made the discovery around 6.30am on Saturday on Sado island, which is off the coast of Japan’s northwestern prefecture of Niigata, a coastguard official said, declining to give his name. The guard also found a pack of cigarettes written in Korean and other personal belongings with Korean written on them near the body, the official said. Last week, the coastguard rescued three North Korean men on a capsized boat in the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, who said they were fishermen and were later sent home on a North Korean vessel. A North Korean soldier dramatically defected to South Korea last week after being shot and wounded by his country’s military as he dashed across the heavily guarded demilitarised zone between the two countries.

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