Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It’s a day for looking back at 2009. Patrick Chappatte takes us to North Korea and Afghanistan.
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© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Year-end in Afghanistan
Year-end in North Korea
Warships from South and North Korea have reportedly fired at each other, media from both countries are reporting. The cause of the incident, which the BBC says is the third exchange of fire in a decade, differs according to the two sides. South Korea claims the North’s ship crossed a disputed water boundary, while the North reports that one of its patrol boats that was checking on an unidentified object in its own waters was chased by a warship from the South. Tensions between the two have increased in recent months, largely over North Korea’s nuclear programme and missile tests.
Links to other sites: BBC, Bloomberg, Sindh Today
North and South Korea navy ships have exchanged fire along the countries’ disputed Western maritime border. The Northern vessel was reportedly hit by gunfire, and one North Korean was killed, and three injured, after it crossed a demaracation line Tuesday, 10 November, say several reports in Seoul, South Korea. CNN, Los Angeles Times.
Colombia may make a complaint to the United Nations and the Organization of American States, following Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ call Sunday, 8 November for his country to prepare for war, and prepare the people for war. Chavez has been irritated by Colombia’s newly signed bases agreement with the USA, which will allow a US military presence in Colombia. Chavez says that this is a preparation for an invasion of Venezuela. CNN, Reuters India.
China says it has executed nine people involved in the deadly rioting in Urumqi, in China’s Xinjiang province last July. The US urged China to ensure that detentions and judicial processes be handled “in a transparent manner”, according to US State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly. AFP, New York Times
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland will lead efforts to backup a major conference that opens 29 November in Colombia, the Cartagena summit on a mine-free world. The conference marks the 10th anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty entering into force and provides the opportunity for its second review conference to assess progress and how well the convention is being respected.
North and South Korea will hold talks this week on preventing flooding along their common border and on family reunions, despite signs that North Korea will test more missiles. The news comes a day after the North fired five short-range KN-02 surface-to-surface test missiles 12 October. The government in Seoul condemned the launches, saying they violated several UN Security Council resolutions.
North Korea agreed last week to resume six-party talks to resolve the question of the North’s illegal nuclear programme if Washington DC agrees to bilateral talks first.
The need for talks between the two Koreas became more urgent after North Korea opened a dam 6 September and released millions of tonnes of water which swept away six people south of the border. BBC, Romandie News
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is reported by North Korean media to have told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao his country is willing to return to 6-party talks. First, however, progress must be made in bilateral talks with the US, according to media reports. The US says it wants North Korea to agree to a complete denuclearization on the penninsula. The Chinese leader has just rreturned to Beijing after a three-day visit to North Korea. The six-party talks broke down earlier in 2009.
Links to other sites: BBC video showing celebrations of 60 years of ties with China, NPR, Xinhua
North Korea says it is in the “final stages of uranium enrichment” and that extracted plutonium from spent fuel rods is “being weaponized”. Both technologies are steps in making a bomb. Experts outside the country believe Pyongyang may have enough plutonium to make about eight bombs.
In a letter to the UN Security Council the North says it is ready for dialogue, but that “if some permanent members of the UN Security Council wish to put sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue.” International sanctions have been tightened on the North, and North Korean ships have been trailed at sea and challenged. Recent overtures by the Pyongyang government have largely been ignored: two US journalists were released and a North Korean delegation was sent to the lying-in-state of deceased South Korean former President Kim Dae-jung. The US is trying to get North Korea to return to stalled six-party talks with South Korea, Russia, China and Japan to discuss its nuclear programme. BBC, CNN, Reuters
Two senior North Korean diplomats at the United Nations in New York were on their way 18 August to the US state of New Mexico for a two-day visit with Governor Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the UN in New York. Richardson is well known to the North Korean government and visited the country several times, most recently in 2007 when he obtained the return of the remains of US military personnel killed during the 1950s Korean war. The visit to New Mexico stokes speculation that North Korea is positioning itself to restart diplomatic talks about its illicit nuclear programme in the Six-party talks.
North Korea has also expressed a desire to send a delegation to the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung, who died 18 August. Kim was instrumental in improving relations between the two countries earlier this decade and made an historic visit to the country in 2000. BBC, CNN,
North Korea has once again opened some areas to South Korean tourists, agreed to help reunite families and to provide access again to an industrial park, in the continuing dance between rapprochement and keeping a distance. South Korea remained wary, saying the agreements were on a civil and not at a government level. The news came on Monday, just a day before the death in Seoul of Kim Dae-jung, 85, former president of the South who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his efforts to create better ties between the two countries. JoongAng Daily, Reuters
Two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were freed from prison in North Korea and flew home to Los Angeles with former US President Bill Clinton late 4 August. The two women were jailed in March for illegally entering the country. They were released on orders from Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s leader, to show the country’s “humanitarian and peace-loving policy” after Clinton went to North Korea on an unannounced visit 3 August. The families told US media they were “overjoyed.” North Korean sources said Clinton and Kim had wide-ranging talks and that Clinton brought a personal message from US President Barack Obama. The White House denied this and repeated that Clinton’s visit was purely a personal one. Nevertheless, the chartered plane carrying them home landed at a military base in Japan with no comment from the military about how long they would be there. BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal
Former US President Bill Clinton arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea to broker the release of two US journalists imprisoned there since March. He was met at the airport by Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and by the vice-foreign minister, Kim Kwe Gwan, who is also North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator. The two women journalists were sentenced in June to 12 years’ hard labour for illegally entering North Korea from China. Their employer, Current TV, was launched by Clinton’s former vice-president, Al Gore. BBC, CNN, NZZ (Ger)
Two days of talks billed as a “strategic and economic dialogue” between China and the US concluded Tuesday 28 July in Washington DC, with nothing concrete but with broad agreement on ways to combat the world recession and on climate change. The two say they are now closer on a variety of issues, among them US strategic concerns on Iranian and North Korean nuclear ambitions. On the economic front, the Chinese government worries about the value of its massive holdings of US treasury debt, given huge US budget deficits and the resulting danger of inflation, and very low US savings. The US wants China to increase domestic spending to reduce its reliance on the export market, and to show flexibility on its exchange rate. Both remain committed to open trade and say they vowed to resist protectionism. US President Obama has called for a concerted effort to reduce carbon emissions, but developing economies like China hesitate because they fear this will cramp their growth. BBC, CNN, Le Temps (Fre), NZZ (Ger)
The Financial Times has learned that Italy has blocked the sale of two luxury yachts for an estimated $17.8 million because it suspected they were for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The sale would have broken international sanctions against the country. Financial Times
International media are picking up speculation by South Korean television, based on what it says sources have told it, that the North’s leader, Kim-Jong Il, has pancreatic cancer that is putting his life in danger. The information is unconfirmed but is causing concern because of the instability that could be provoked in the North if he dies without a successor clearly in place. Swiss-educated younger son Kim Jong-un is rumoured to be in line to succeed him, but North Korea has not made an announcement to this effect, notes the Guardian, UK.
North Korea is coming under suspicion as the culprit in a series of major cyber attacks that began 4 July on South Korean banks and government web sites, as well as US sites, but some analysts question this and point instead to industrial spying or prankster hackers, Reuters reports, noting that “the attacks saturated target websites with access requests generated by malicious software planted on personal computers. This has overwhelmed some targeted sites and slowed server response to legitimate traffic.” AP, Time magazine
North Korea continues to defy world opinion, launching two more short-range missiles from its east coast, according to South Korean media reports. In May 2009 the UN began sanctions against the country after it launched long-range missiles despite warnings not to do so. BBC
The North Korean government announced it would enrich uranium and weaponize its plutonium stocks in a defiant response to the UN Security Council’s resolution to impose stricter sanctions on the country. The sanctions include a ban on arms purchase from North Korea, with which it finances its nuclear program, and searches of its ships at sea. The United States is considering applying greater restrictions on North Korea’s access to the international financial system. FT, BBC, CNN
The families of two US journalists sentenced to 12 years’ hard labour in North Korea for illegally entering the country have asked the North Korean government to free them, saying that the three months they had spent in jail with little contact with the outside world was punishment enough.
Their plight has complicated an escalation in the confrontations between the hermetic country and the the West. North Korea detonated a nuclear device and tested missiles recently, adding to tensions in the region. The two women were arrested under circumstances that remain murky while they were reporting on Koreans fleeing their country to China. BBC, SF Gate
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch and sources) – Aging and probably ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il surprised the world by reportedly naming his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, 26, as the new leader of North Korea, according to South Korean media, who cite the South’s spy agency. Kim Jong Un spent much of his youth at the International School of Bern in Switzerland where he was learned English, French and German, and he was known to be shy, a fan of basketball and action sports. Even if the rumours of his succession are true, it could be years before he steps into the job.
Ed. note: Swiss news magazine and GL partner l’Hebdo 19 March 2009 carried a lengthy feature on the boy known in Bern as Chol Pak: Kim Jong Il.
North Korea has declared the end to its truce with South Korea, but the UN Command says the armistice is still in place, reports, the BBC, as the international community continues to press the North to stop testing nuclear missiles. US and South Korean troops have been put on a high level of alert in the wake of the North’s announcement and are reportedly increasing surveillance operations. The truce ended the Korean War in the 1950s. The United Nations Security Council is debating a response to North Korea’s nuclear activities.
Late Monday the United Nations Security Council agreed to take steps to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear missile test, while US President Barack Obama and his counterparts in Japan and South Korea talked by telephone to ensure a coordinated response to the tests. The BBC reports North Korean leaders as saying, on their state television, “It is clear that nothing has changed in the US hostile policy against DPRK [North Korea]… even under the new US administration,” and that the government criticized recent US moves to relocate its fighter jets. Reuters says North Korea is ready to fire more test missiles. Unusually, North Korea’s allies, China and Russia, both condemned the nuclear tests. Reuters, Xinhua, Moscow Times, Voice of America
North Korea announced Monday 25 May that it had conducted a new nuclear test, prompting a stream of reactions from other countries. United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the situation. Reuters
Two American reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, will face trial in North Korea on charges of illegal entry and perpetrating hostile acts against the communist state. The reporters were arrested five weeks ago at the Chinese border after reporting on North Korean refugees living in China. North Korea is likely to use the trial as political leverage against the United States, according to the International Herald Tribune.
North Korea officially says it launched a satellite that is now “circling the earth transmitting revolutionary songs,” reports Reuters, but it has few believers, with the US, South Korea and Japan – over which the long-range rocket was launched – expressing outrage at the North’s behaviour, saying the launch appears to have been a ballistic missile test. The United Nations Security Council is meeting Sunday afternoon to discuss the launch but China and Russia, who have in the past supported North Korea, are calling for calm and restraint. The BBC refers to the activity as a failed launch, with the satellite not going into orbit and the US claiming payloads fell into the Pacific.
North Korea has missed its first of several options in the space of a week to launch a missile. The launch, which it has said would be of a communications satellite, has worried several Western nations and Japan, who suspect it could be a nuclear missile test. South Korean media report that weather conditions were not the best for a launch, says the BBC.
