SEOUL: South Korea will seek discussions on resuming reunions of separated families at this week’s inter-Korean talks, Seoul’s top delegate said Monday, as the North trumpeted the importance of achieving reunification.
The two Koreas agreed last week to hold their first official dialogue in more than two years and will meet Tuesday at the border truce village of Panmunjom.
The talks will largely focus on the North’s participation in next month’s Winter Olympics in the South, but the two sides are also expected to bring up their own issues of interest.
“We will prepare for discussions on the issue of separated families and ways to ease military tensions,” Unification Minister Cho Myoung-Gyon told reporters, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty, the two Koreas remain technically at war.
Tensions soared last year as the North made rapid progress on its banned weapons programs, launching ballistic missiles it said are capable of reaching the US and carrying out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful.
Their tentative rapprochement comes after North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un warned in his New Year speech that he had a nuclear button on his desk — but also said Pyongyang could send a team to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Seoul responded with an offer of talks, and last week the hotline between the neighbors was restored after being suspended for almost two years.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the North’s participation in Pyeongchang would strengthen the Games’ profile as “a peace Olympics,” Yonhap reported, and could lead to further progress.
Later Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had “extended the deadline” for North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics.
On Saturday, North Korea Olympic body member Chang Ung said the isolated state was “likely to participate” in the Games from Feb. 9-25, Kyodo news agency reported.
Talks between the two Koreas hosted by IOC President Thomas Bach will take place at the Olympic movement’s Swiss headquarters on Tuesday.
North Korea’s state media has stopped condemning the South and instead called for “independent reunification” without relying on other countries such as the US.
“The master of improved inter-Korean relations is not the outsiders but the Korean nation itself,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said at the weekend.
“The flunkeyism and idea of dependence on outside forces are the venom which makes the nation slavish and spiritless,” it added.
Seoul seeks to put family reunions on North Korea talks agenda
Seoul seeks to put family reunions on North Korea talks agenda
Britain needs ‘AI stress tests’ for financial services, lawmakers say
- Lawmakers urge AI-specific stress tests for financial firms
LONDON: Britain’s financial watchdogs are not doing enough to stop artificial intelligence from harming consumers or destabilising markets, a cross-party group of lawmakers said on Tuesday, urging regulators to move away from what it called a “wait and see” approach.
In a report on AI in financial services, the Treasury Committee said the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England should start running AI-specific stress tests to help firms prepare for market shocks triggered by automated systems.
The committee also called on the FCA to publish detailed guidance by the end of 2026 on how consumer protection rules apply to AI, and on the extent to which senior managers should be expected to understand the systems they oversee.
“Based on the evidence I’ve seen, I do not feel confident that our financial system is prepared if there was a major AI-related incident and that is worrying,” committee chair Meg Hillier said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY CARRIES ‘SIGNIFICANT RISKS’
A race among banks to adopt agentic AI, which unlike generative AI can make decisions and take autonomous action, runs new risks for retail customers, the FCA told Reuters late last year.
About three-quarters of UK financial firms now use AI. Companies are deploying the technology across core functions, from processing insurance claims to performing credit assessments.
While the report acknowledged the benefits of AI, it warned the technology also carried “significant risks” including opaque credit decisions, the potential exclusion of vulnerable consumers through algorithmic tailoring, fraud, and the spread of unregulated financial advice through AI chatbots.
Experts contributing to the report also highlighted threats to financial stability, pointing to the reliance on a small group of US tech giants for AI and cloud services. Some also noted that AI-driven trading systems may amplify herding behavior in markets, risking a financial crisis in a worst-case scenario.
An FCA spokesperson said the regulator welcomed the focus on AI and would review the report. The regulator has previously indicated it does not favor AI-specific rules due to the pace of technological change.
The BoE did not respond to a request for comment.
Hillier told Reuters that increasingly sophisticated forms of generative AI were influencing financial decisions. “If something has gone wrong in the system, that could have a very big impact on the consumer,” she said.
Separately, Britain’s finance ministry appointed Starling Bank CIO Harriet Rees and Lloyds Banking Group ‘s Rohit Dhawan as “AI Champions” to help steer AI adoption in financial services.
