SEOUL: North and South Korea held high-level talks Friday to discuss their ongoing efforts to improve ties ahead of a landmark meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
The North-South discussions were originally scheduled for earlier this month but were abruptly called off by Pyongyang in response to a joint US-South Korea air force drill.
But a day after “Max Thunder” ended May 25, the North’s leader had a surprise summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border truce village of Panmunjom — their second, following a historic first meeting in April.
“We will discuss ways to implement expediently and smoothly agreements reached by the two leaders,” the South’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told journalists before leaving for Panmunjom for the talks.
He said the delegation would also try “to create positive atmosphere for a US-North Korea summit.”
Also, on the agenda are talks about how to relink cross-border railways and roads, and fielding a joint team for the Jakarta Asian Games in August.
The two Koreas formed the first-ever unified Korean Olympic team when they fielded a joint women’s ice hockey squad during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
The current rapprochement on the peninsula was triggered by the games, to which the North sent athletes, cheerleaders, and his sister as an envoy.
The high-level meeting comes as a flurry of diplomacy is under way to lay the groundwork for a historic summit between Kim and Trump.
Kim’s right-hand man, Kim Yong Chol, is set to deliver a personal letter from Kim to Trump following talks in New York with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which made what the US diplomat called “real progress” toward the planned June 12 summit in Singapore.
Simultaneously, Kim met Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pyongyang and said the North’s “will for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula still remains unchanged and consistent and fixed,” the state-run KCNA news agency said.
Koreas hold high-level talks ahead of Trump-Kim summit
Koreas hold high-level talks ahead of Trump-Kim summit
Palestine Action hunger strikers launch legal action against UK govt
- They accuse authorities of abandoning prison safety policies
- Several of the imprisoned activists have been hospitalized
LONDON: Hunger strikers from Palestine Action in the UK have launched legal action against the government, accusing it of abandoning the policy framework for prison safety, The Independent reported.
A pre-action letter was sent to Justice Secretary David Lammy by a legal firm representing the activists.
It came as several imprisoned members of the banned organization — including one who has refused food for 51 days — were hospitalized due to their deteriorating health while on hunger strike.
They say they have sent several letters to Lammy, who is also deputy prime minister, but have received no response.
He was urged in the latest letter to respond within 24 hours as the issue is a “matter of urgency.”
The letter added: “Our clients’ health continues to deteriorate, such that the risk of their dying increases every day.”
An “urgent meeting” is needed “with the proposed defendant to discuss the deterioration of our clients’ health and to discuss attempts to resolve the situation,” it said.
Seven of the Palestine Action prisoners have been admitted to hospital since the hunger strike was launched on Nov. 2, including 30-year-old Amu Gib and Kamran Ahmed, 28.
They are being held in prisons across the country. Two members of the group have been forced to end their hunger strike due to health conditions: Jon Cink, 25, ended on day 41, while 22-year-old Umer Khalid finished on day 13.
Gib, now on day 51, was hospitalized last week and reportedly needs a wheelchair due to health concerns.
Dr. James Smith, an emergency physician, warned journalists last Thursday that some of the imprisoned activists “are dying” and need specialized medical care.
In a letter signed by more than 800 doctors, Smith said the hunger strikers were at “very high risk of serious complications, including organ failure, irreversible neurological damage, cardiac arrhythmias and death.”
The strikers are demanding that Palestine Action, which is classified as a terrorist organization, be de-proscribed.
They are also urging the government to shut down defense companies with ties to Israel, among other demands.
In response to the latest letter, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We strongly refute these claims. We want these prisoners to accept support and get better, and we will not create perverse incentives that would encourage more people to put themselves at risk through hunger strikes.”
