Foreign News
North Korea Warns Of Nuclear Response If South Provokes It
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — For the second time this week, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated South Korea for touting its supposed preemptive strike capabilities against the North, saying her country’s nuclear forces would annihilate the South’s conventional forces if provoked.
In a statement carried Tuesday by North Korea’s state media, Kim Yo Jong called South Korea Defense Minister Suh Wook’s recent comments about preemptive strikes a “fantastic daydream” and the “hysteria of a lunatic.”
She stressed that North Korea doesn’t want another war on the Korean Peninsula but warned it would retaliate with its nuclear forces if the South opts for preemptive strikes or other attacks, which would leave the South’s military “little short of total destruction and ruin.”
North Korea has repeatedly stated it would preemptively use its nuclear weapons when threatened by rivals as it accelerated its development of nuclear bombs and missiles, which Kim Jong Un sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.
In another statement directed toward Suh on Sunday, Kim Yo Jong called him a “scum-like guy” and warning that the South may face a “serious threat” because of his comments.
Her statements come amid tensions over North Korea’s accelerating weapons tests this year, including its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 on March 24, as her brother revives nuclear brinkmanship aimed at pressuring Washington to accept the North as a nuclear power and remove crippling sanctions.
Some experts say the North may up the ante in the coming months, possibly test-flying missiles over Japan or resuming nuclear explosive tests, as it tries to get a response from the Biden administration, which is distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an intensifying rivalry with China.
The renewed tensions have been a major setback for outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a dovish liberal who had staked his presidential term on his ambitions for inter-Korean rapprochement.
During a visit to the country’s strategic missile command last week, Suh said South Korea has the ability and readiness to launch precision strikes on North Korea if it detects the North intends to fire missiles at South Korea.
Seoul has long maintained such a preemptive attack strategy to cope with North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats, but it was highly unusual for a Moon administration official to publicly discuss it.
“In case (South Korea) opts for military confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty … a dreadful attack will be launched and the (South Korean) army will have to face a miserable fate little short of total destruction and ruin,” Kim said in her latest statement.
South Korea’s government didn’t immediately respond to her comments. Seoul had issued a low-key response following Kim’s earlier comments on Sunday, urging Pyongyang to refrain from further raising tensions and return to dialogue.
Moon met Kim Jong Un three times in 2018 and lobbied hard to help set up his Kim’s first summit with then-President Donald Trump in June that year.
But the diplomacy derailed after the second Kim-Trump meeting in 2019 where the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a limited surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
Kim has since vowed to bolster his nuclear forces and sped up weapons development despite limited resources and pandemic-related difficulties. North Korea has also severed all inter-Korean cooperation while expressing anger over U.S.-South Korea military exercises and Seoul’s inability to wrest concessions from Washington on its behalf.
Before its resumption of long-range testing last month, the North had spent the much of the past three years expanding its arsenal of nuclear-capable short-range missiles threatening South Korea.
Experts say those missiles, which could potentially be armed with “tactical” battlefield nuclear weapons, communicate the North’s threat to use smaller nuclear arms even during conventional warfare to overcome the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the U.S. The U.S. stations about 28,500 soldiers in the South to deter North Korean aggression.
Moon’s term ends in May, when he will be replaced by conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, who could possibly take a harder line on Pyongyang.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Biden’s special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, plans to meet his Chinese counterpart in Washington to discuss the North’s growing threat. China, Pyongyang’s major ally and economic lifeline, has repeatedly called for the easing of U.N. Security Council sanctions against the North, citing the economic toll on civilians. ___ AP writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Foreign News
Kemi Badenoch Pledges To Ban Doctors’ Strikes If Conservative Party Takes Power In The UK
Leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has vowed that doctors’ strikes will be banned under a Conservative government.
The Tory party leader today announced she would amend the law to bar the protests as she insisted the British Medical Association (BMA) is ‘out of control’.
It comes following 11 strikes in the past 18 months, which Ms Badenoch said had resulted in patients dying.
Her comments were made on GB News amid the ongoing five-day series of strikes by resident doctors in support of a pay claim.
Urging Sir Keir Starmer to take similar action, Ms Badenoch said: ‘The BMA has become militant, these strikes are going too far, and it is time for action.
‘Doctors do incredibly important work. Medicine is a vocation – not just a job. That is why in government we offered a fair deal that supported doctors, but protected taxpayers too.
‘These strikes will have a significant economic effect, but they will also mean cancelled operations, worry for families of the sick, and suffering for those who are unwell. We know that previous strike action by doctors even led to some patients losing their lives.
‘That is why Conservatives are stepping in, and setting out common sense proposals to protect patients, and the public finances. And we are making an offer in the national interest – we will work with the Government to face down the BMA to help protect patients and the NHS.’
Police, the military, and prison officers are banned from taking strike action under the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act in the UK. The Conservatives would amend this to include doctors.
Foreign News
Saudi Arabia’s ‘Sleeping Prince’ Dies After 20 Years in Coma Following London Car Crash
A Saudi prince who spent more than two decades in a coma after a car crash in London has died at the age of 36.
Prince Al-Waleed bin Khalid Al-Saud suffered severe brain injuries and internal bleeding in the horrific accident when he was just 15 years old in 2005.
He was dubbed the ‘Sleeping Prince’ and was kept on a ventilator in hospital but never regained full consciousness.
Prince Al-Waleed was the eldest son of Prince Khaled bin Talal Al Saud, who announced his death in a heartbreaking post on X today.
He said: ‘O reassured soul, Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], And enter among My [righteous] servants, And enter My Paradise.
‘With hearts believing in Allah will and decree, and with deep sorrow and sadness, we mourn our beloved son: Prince Al-Waleed bin Khaled bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may Allah have mercy on him, who passed away today.’
Prince Al-Waleed was studying at a military college in London when he was involved in the devastating car crash.
After the accident, he was hospitalised at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh where he remained in a coma.
Prince Al-Waleed’s father, who is the brother of business tycoon Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, never gave up hope his son would one day make a full recovery.
He remained involved in the prince’s care and opposed withdrawing life support.
Clips shared on social media in 2020 showed Prince Al-Waleed lifting his fingers as a woman greets him.
‘Hi, Didi hello, hello let me see, hi,’ she says as the prince wiggles his fingers in response.
She then asked if the prince could do ‘one more, one more, higher, higher’ and he could be seen lifting his whole hand off the bed momentarily.
However, despite the signs he could be recovering Prince Al-Waleed remained in a critical condition.
Funeral prayers for the prince will be held tomorrow at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview released on Monday that Israel, which last month fought a 12-day war with Iran, had attempted to assassinate him.
“They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Pezeshkian told US media figure Tucker Carlson in response to a question on whether he believed Israel had tried to kill him.
“It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was in a meeting… they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting,” he said according to a translation of his remarks from Persian, in apparent reference to an alleged assassination attempt during the recent war.
On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
The Israeli attacks took place days before Tehran and Washington were set to meet for a new round of nuclear talks which began on April 12.
More than 900 people were killed in Iran during the conflict, according to the judiciary.
The Israeli attacks drew waves of retaliatory drone and missile fire, killing 28 people in Israel, according to authorities.
The 12-day war between Iran and Israel saw it, along with the United States, launching strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
During the interview with Carlson, Pezeshkian said his country has “no problem” restarting nuclear talks, provided that trust can be reestablished between the two countries.
“We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations,” the Iranian president said.
“There is a condition … for restarting the talks. How are we going to trust the United States again? We re-entered the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us.”
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