SEOUL: Talks with North Korea should not be for political show but contribute to establishing peace, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday, speaking at a wide-ranging press conference to mark his first 100 days in office.
Yoon repeated his willingness to provide phased economic aid to North Korea if it ended nuclear weapons development and began denuclearization, noting that he had called for a dialogue with Pyongyang since his campaign.
“Any dialogue between the leaders of the South and North, or negotiations between main working-level officials, should not be a political show, but should contribute to establishing substantive peace on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia,” he said.
The comments were an apparent criticism of a series of summits involving his predecessor Moon Jae-in, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and then-US President Donald Trump.
Despite those meetings, denuclearization talks stalled in 2019 and North Korea has said it will not trade away its self-defense, though it has called for an end to sanctions. It has been observed preparing for a possible nuclear test, which would be its first since 2017.
South Korea was not in a position to guarantee the North’s security if it gave up its nuclear weapons, but Seoul did not want a forced change in the status quo in the North, Yoon said.
The North’s recent missile tests and nuclear development has revived debate over whether the South should pursue its own nuclear weapons. Yoon said that he was committed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and working with the United States to boost its “extended deterrence” for South Korea.
“The NPT should not be abandoned and I will adhere to that until the end,” he said.
South Korea president says any talks with Pyongyang should be more than show
https://arab.news/br3j2
South Korea president says any talks with Pyongyang should be more than show
- Yoon Suk-yeol repeats his willingness to provide phased economic aid to North Korea
Indonesia to buy Indian-Russian missile system for coastal defense
- BrahMos missile is one of world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles
- Indonesian government has been working to upgrade its aging military hardware
JAKARTA: Indonesia has agreed to purchase a supersonic missile system from a Russian-Indian company to strengthen security on its coastline, the Ministry of Defense confirmed on Tuesday.
The BrahMos missile is one of the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles. It can reach speeds of Mach 2.8, or nearly three times the speed of sound, and be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.
It was developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between the Indian military research and development agency DRDO and Russian weapons manufacturer NPO Mashinostroyeniya.
“Indonesia has partnered with India to strengthen our defense technology and industry,” Rico Ricardo Sirait, spokesperson for the Indonesian Defense Ministry, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“This includes (the procurement of) the BrahMos missile system to beef up our coastal defense, as part of efforts to modernize our weaponry.”
He declined to disclose more information about the deal.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic state with around 18,000 islands and over 7.9 million sq. km of sea, is the latest Southeast Asian nation to acquire the weapons.
In 2022, the Philippines closed a $374 million deal to acquire three BrahMos anti-ship missile batteries, while Vietnam has reportedly been in talks to purchase the weapons system.
Jakarta has been working to upgrade the country’s aging military hardware in recent years, setting aside big budgets for defense spending.
In January, three Rafale fighter jets arrived in Pekanbaru, Riau, from France, marking the first batch of deliveries of a multi-billion-dollar defense deal between the two countries. The next batch is expected to reach Indonesia later this year.
Last year, Indonesia and Turkiye signed a number of defense deals, including an agreement to set up a jointly operated drone factory and the purchase of KAAN fighter jets.
