SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday offered “audacious” economic assistance to North Korea if it abandons its nuclear weapons program while avoiding harsh criticism of the North days after it threatened “deadly” retaliation over the COVID-19 outbreak it blames on the South.
In a speech celebrating the end of Japan’s colonization of the Korean Peninsula, Yoon also called for better ties with Japan, calling the two countries partners in navigating challenges to freedom and saying their shared values will help them overcome historical grievances linked to Japan’s brutal colonial rule before the end of World War II.
Yoon’s televised speech on the liberation holiday came days after North Korea claimed a widely disputed victory over COVID-19 but also blamed Seoul for the outbreak. The North insists leaflets and other objects flown across the border by activists spread the virus, an unscientific claim Seoul describes as “ridiculous.”
North Korea has a history of dialing up pressure on the South when it doesn’t get what it wants from the United States, and there are concerns that North Korea’s threat portends a provocation, which could possibly be a nuclear or major missile test or even border skirmishes. Some experts say the North may stir up tensions around joint military exercises the United States and South Korea start next week.
Yoon, a conservative who took office in May, said North Korea’s denuclearization would be key for peace in the region and the world. If North Korea halts its nuclear weapons development and genuinely commits to a process of denuclearization, the South will respond with huge economic rewards that would be provided in phases, Yoon said.
Yoon’s proposal wasn’t meaningfully different from previous South Korean offers that have already been rejected by North Korea, which has been accelerating its efforts to expand its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program leader Kim Jong Un sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.
“We will implement a large-scale program to provide food, providing assistance for establishing infrastructure for the production, transmission and distribution of electrical power, and carry out projects to modernize ports and airports to facilitate trade,” Yoon said.
“We will also help improve North Korea’s agricultural production, provide assistance to modernize its hospitals and medical infrastructure, and carry out initiatives to allow for international investment and financial support,” he added, insisting that such programs would “significantly” improve North Korean lives.
Inter-Korean ties have deteriorated amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, which derailed in early 2019 over disagreements in exchanging a release of crippling US-led sanctions against the North and the North’s disarmament steps.
North Korea has ramped up its testing activity in 2022, launching more than 30 ballistic missiles so far, including its first demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017.
Experts say Kim is intent on exploiting a favorable environment to push forward his weapons program, with the UN Security Council divided and effectively paralyzed over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
North Korea’s unusually fast pace in weapons demonstrations also underscore brinkmanship aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and negotiating badly economic benefits and security concessions from a position of strength, experts say.
The US and South Korean governments have also said the North is gearing up to conduct its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a nuclear warhead designed for its ICBMs.
Seoul offers Pyongyang ‘audacious’ economic benefits for denuclearization
https://arab.news/zg78h
Seoul offers Pyongyang ‘audacious’ economic benefits for denuclearization
- North Korea has a history of dialing up pressure on the South when it doesn’t get what it wants from the US
Sri Lanka joins Global South-North dialogue through Riyadh WEF meeting
- Foreign Minister Ali Sabry was among the special meeting’s speakers
- He represented the Global South perspective at the invitation of Saudi FM
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is trying to position itself in the dialogue between the Global South and North, its foreign minister said, following the World Economic Forum’s special meeting on global collaboration organized by Saudi Arabia.
The WEF’s Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development convened 1,000 global leaders arriving in Riyadh from 92 countries on April 28-29 to find actionable, collaborative and sustainable solutions to shared challenges.
The meeting saw a focus on the Global South, or countries, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere and largely in Africa, Asia and Latin America, which until recently have often been described as developing or less developed.
Sri Lanka FM Ali Sabry represented the Global South perspective at the forum’s session titled “North to South, East to West: Rebuilding Trust” alongside his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
“It was a great opportunity for me to showcase Sri Lanka and the challenges that countries in the Global South face, and also to position Sri Lanka as an important player, particularly in the Global South in shaping the future … for collaboration, peace and stability, rather than confrontation,” he told Arab News.
The minister was in Riyadh at the invitation of Prince Faisal, with whom he also held a meeting.
“We look forward to elevating the partnership,” Sabry said.
“We intend to sign the investment protection agreement that would probably pave the way for the inflow of investment into Sri Lanka.”
He also met other Saudi leaders during his visit to explore further cooperation possibilities.
The Kingdom has expanded ties with the South Asian island nation since last year, agreeing to broaden political consultation and launching a new employment scheme aimed at boosting Sri Lanka’s manpower exports.
Colombo has since sought Saudi assistance in developing several of its key sectors, including tourism and agriculture.
Saudi Hajj minister in Jakarta as Indonesia prepares record number of pilgrims
- 241,000 Indonesian pilgrims are set to perform the Hajj this year
- Saudi minister will launch tourism exhibit in Jakarta on Wednesday
JAKARTA: Saudi Arabia’s Hajj and Umrah Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah held meetings in Jakarta on Tuesday to coordinate pilgrimage preparations as Indonesia is going to send its largest-ever Hajj contingent this year.
The Kingdom has approved the 2024 quota of 241,000 Indonesian pilgrims, an increase of 20,000 from last year.
Al-Rabiah held discussions with Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas on ways to streamline Hajj services for the Asian nation’s pilgrims.
“I just had a long and productive meeting and discussion with my brother, the Indonesian religious affairs minister, which was focused on giving the best services and ease for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims from Indonesia,” Al-Rabiah said during a press conference.
“The Saudi government has revitalized historical and Islamic sites in Makkah and Madinah, and other sites related to pilgrimage and the journey of Prophet Muhammad … and we invite all pilgrims to come and visit these sites.”
Indonesia’s higher quota will help shorten the wait for some pilgrims by a few years, which is especially important for the elderly in the Southeast Asian nation. Many in the country wait up to 45 years for their turn, according to official estimates.
Qoumas said his interactions with Al-Rabiah had been meaningful.
“Maybe we can consider Indonesia as having received a special treatment from the Saudi government, as we are welcoming a big delegation led directly by the Saudi Hajj and Umrah minister, who are here to ensure that Indonesian Hajj pilgrims this year will get the best services from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Qoumas said.
“As a representative of the Indonesian government, we feel very grateful and thankful.”
Al-Rabiah is scheduled to inaugurate on Wednesday a Saudi Tourism Authority event showcasing the variety of travel destinations the Kingdom has to offer as it aims to attract more international visitors under Vision 2030.
Germany failing to protect Muslims from hate: Human Rights Watch
- Government ‘lacks understanding’ of racism targeting Muslim communities
- 2023 marked ‘frighteningly new high’ for hate incidents: German NGO chief
LONDON:Germany is failing to protect Muslims from growing racism amid a “lack of understanding” about the issue, Human Rights Watch has warned.
The country has yet to implement a working definition of anti-Muslim racism and frequently fails to record data on race-hate incidents, the organization said on Tuesday.
A key failing of the German government concerns its “lack of understanding that Muslims experience racism and not simply faith-based hostility,” said Almaz Teffera, a HRW researcher on racism in Europe.
“Without a clear understanding of anti-Muslim hate and discrimination in Germany, and strong data on incidents and community outreach, a response by the German authorities will be ineffective.”
Germany recorded 610 “anti-Islamic” crimes in 2022, but from the start of 2023 to September that year, the number had climbed to 686.
There are fears that the figure has further surged since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict last October.
Germany’s Interior Ministry told HRW that it could not provide data on anti-Muslim crimes from October 2023 to the year-end.
However, civil society groups in the country recorded a spike in reported incidents, leading Germany’s federal commissioner for anti-racism, Reem Alabali-Radovan, to join an EU-wide expression of concern about the rise in hate.
The Alliance Against Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate, a German NGO network, documented “an average of three anti-Muslim incidents a day” last November.
The network’s chief, Rima Hanano, told HRW that “2023 marked a frighteningly new high for anti-Muslim incidents.”
Though the network collects its own internal data on the frequency of hate incidents, the German government “has yet to develop an infrastructure for countrywide monitoring and data collection,” HRW said.
The government has also classified hate incidents against Muslims as “anti-Islamic” since 2017, removing nuances surrounding the ethnic identities of victims, HRW added.
A three-year study commissioned by the government and published last year recommended that authorities “no longer dissociate anti-Muslim hate from racism,” but instead “recognize their connection.”
However, the Interior Ministry has failed to carry out the report’s recommendations, HRW said, adding: “Any focus on anti-Muslim hate and discrimination that fails to include racism or acknowledge the intersectional nature of such hostility will be unable to capture the full picture or inform effective policy responses.”
Muslim communities in Germany are a “group with a diversity of ethnicities” rather than a “monolithic religious group,” said Teffera.
“Germany should invest in protecting Muslims and all other minority communities in Germany because it is an investment in protecting all of German society.”
A gunman kills 6 worshippers inside a Shiite mosque in western Afghanistan, the Taliban say
ISLAMABAD: A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan, opening fire and killing six people as they were praying, a Taliban official said Tuesday.
Local media reports and a former president of Afghanistan said the mosque was targeted because it was a place of worship for the country’s Shiite Muslim minority.
The attack happened on Monday night in the district of Guzara in Herat province, said Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry. He said in a post on the social media platform X that an investigation was underway.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded another worshipper while the attacker fled. Local media reported that the mosque's imam was among those killed.
“I strongly condemn the attack on the Imam Zaman Mosque,” former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on X. “I consider this terrorist act against all religious and human standards.”
The United Nation Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also condemned the attack, which it said killed and wounded at least seven people, including a child. It called for urgent accountability for perpetrators and protection measures for Shitte communities.
The Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan is a major Taliban rival and frequently targets schools, hospitals, mosques and Shiite areas throughout the country.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, during the last weeks of the chaotic departure of U.S. and NATO troops from the country after 20 years of war.
Despite initial promises of a more moderate stance, the Taliban gradually reimposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah, as they did during their previous rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Russia says United States is being hypocritical over ICC and Israel
- US President Joe Biden said last year that the ICC decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin was justified
MOSCOW: Russia said on Tuesday that the United States was being hypocritical by opposing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation of Israel but supporting the court’s warrant for the arrest of President Vladimir Putin.
The ICC — which can charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — is investigating Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack and Israel’s devastating military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, now in its seventh month.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday the United States did not support the ICC’s investigation of Israel and did not believe that the court had jurisdiction.
US President Joe Biden said last year that the ICC decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin was justified. The United States has shared details of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the ICC.
Russia says the warrant against Putin is a meaningless attempt by the West to soil Russia’s reputation and denies war crimes in Ukraine. Ukraine says Russia committed war crimes. Russia says the West has ignored Ukraine’s crimes, a charge denied by Kyiv.
“Washington fully supported, if not stimulated, the issuance of ICC warrants against the Russian leadership,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a post on Telegram.
But “the American political system does not recognize the legitimacy of this structure in relation to itself and its satellites,” Zakharova said, adding that such a position was intellectually “absurd.”
The Kremlin has called the issuing of the warrant against Putin outrageous and legally void, as Russia is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC.
Israel is not a member of the ICC, while the Palestinian territories were admitted as a member state in 2015.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that any ICC decisions would not affect Israel’s actions but would set a dangerous precedent.
Israeli officials are worried that the court could issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and other top officials for alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, Israeli media have reported.
They said the ICC is also considering arrest warrants for leaders from Hamas.
