by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, Social Round-up, World
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, shakes hands with Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North Korea’s agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs, as Kim Yo Jong, right, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, stand during a meeting at the presidential house in Seoul on Saturday.
Seoul : North Korea’s rather reclusive leader Kim Jong-un has asked South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang at the “earliest date” possible for what will be a third inter-Korean summit.
The invitation was delivered on Saturday at a landmark meeting between Moon and the North Korean leader’s sister Kim Yo-jong in the Presidential Palace in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.
Kim Yo-jong and the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, made up the most senior delegation from Pyongyang o visit the South since the Korean War in the 1950s.
Kim Yo-jong invited Moon to visit “at the early date possible”, a spokesman for South Korea’s Presidential Palace said.
Moon apparently cited the conditions necessary for an inter-Korean summit. “Let us make it happen by creating the necessary conditions in the future,” he was quoted as saying.
The South Korean President also stressed the need for the Communist North to resume its dialogue with the US. “An early resumption of dialogue between the US and the North is needed also for the development of the South-North Korean relationship,” he said, according to his spokesman.
The figures from the two Koreas shared kimchi (Korean pickled cabbage) and soju rice liquor, and spoke for three hours. Moon’s spokesman said the meeting at the Blue House was held in a “friendly” mood.
Other members of the North Korean delegation present at Saturday’s meeting included Ri Son Gwon — who led the first sit-down talks at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) earlier this year, and Choe Hwi.
South Korean participants included senior officials Jeong Eui-yong, Jo Myong-gyoon and Im Jong-suk — the chief Presidential Secretary.
The meeting followed a brief encounter between the two parties at the Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday, in which Moon twice shook hands with Yo-jong.
However, the apparent thaw was not reflected in Washington. US Vice-President Mike Pence, sitting a few seats away in the same Opening Ceremony VIP booth, looked stony faced as the scene unfolded.
Pence, who is leading the US delegation to the Olympics, briefly encountered Kim Yong-nam at the Games but the two tried to avoid directly facing each other.
He has accused Pyongyang of using the event for its own ends. “We will not allow North Korean propaganda to hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games,” he said in Japan earlier this week.
Later on Saturday, Moon and Kim Yong-nam will attend the first ice hockey match played by teams from both the sides, according to reports.
It was not immediately reported whether the North Korean leader’s sister would attend the evening match against Switzerland.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Kim Jong-un
Seoul : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has lauded his country’s nuclear weapons programme as the best way to defend its sovereignty and counter threats from the US.
Speaking to the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang on Saturday, Kim Jong-un said “nuclear weapons of North Korea are a precious fruition borne by its people’s bloody struggle for defending the destiny and sovereignty of the country from the protracted nuclear threats of the US imperialists”, Efe reported citing state news agency KCNA.
Kim, also the chairman of the WPK, said Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, which has led to multiple missile tests this year as well as the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, was “safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and northeast Asia”.
He added his country’s nuclear ambitions have provided the foundations for strong economic development, despite sanctions imposed by the “US imperialists and their vassal forces” to force North Korea into abandoning its weapons programme.
During the plenary session, which is held at least once a year, the North Korean leader’s younger sister Kim Yo-jong was elected to the party’s politburo, a sign of her rising importance and clout within the North Korean regime.
Choe Ryong-hae, a close aide of the leader, joined the party’s Central Military Commission, while Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho was appointed to the central committee’s politburo, according to the state agency.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Pyongyang : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected a hydrogen bomb being loaded into a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after the country claimed that it has succeeded in making a “more developed nuke”, state-media reported on Sunday.
Kim made the inspection during a visit to the country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
However the agency did not disclose when the visit was made, reports CNN.
“The hydrogen bomb, the explosive power of which is adjustable from 10 kilotonne to hundreds kilotonne, is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on strategic goals,” KCNA reported.
Electromagnetic pulse is an intense wave of electrical energy generated by the detonation of a nuclear weapon.
“Scientists further upgraded its technical performance at a higher ultra-modern level on the basis of precious successes made in the first hydrogen bomb test,” the agency added.
In January 2016, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which Pyongyang claimed to be a successful trial of a hydrogen bomb, reports Yonhap News Agency.
North Korea has carried out five nuclear tests since 2006, including two last year.
Pyongyang boasted about its nuclear missile programme in Sunday’s report, saying it has the know-how and materials to make as many weapons as it wants.
“All components of the hydrogen bomb were 100 per cent homemade and all the processes ranging from the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials to precision processing of components and their assembling were indigenously developed, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants,” CNN quoted the KCNA report as saying.
The Kim Jong-un regime has also unveiled photos indicating that it may be developing a new submarine-launched, solid-fuel missile, called the Pukguksong-3 and a Hwasong-13 ICBM.
Sunday’s development comes amid heightened tensions after North Korea tested two ICBMs in July.
Analysts said the ICBM tests could put much of the US mainland within range, including Los Angeles and Chicago.
US President Donald Trump earlier warned North Korea of “fire and fury”. In response, Pyongyang threatened to fire a salvo of missiles into waters near the American territory of Guam though it held off on the plan later.
—IANS
