SEOUL: North Korea has “responded” to efforts by the United Nations Command to discuss American soldier Travis King, who ran across the border into North Korea last month and is believed to be detained by Pyongyang, the Command said on Thursday.
The US-led multinational force, which oversees the Korean War truce, said in a statement that Pyongyang’s military “has responded to the United Nations Command with regards to Private King.”
“In order not to interfere with our efforts to get him home, we will not go into details at this time,” it added.
The latest announcement comes more than a week after the UN Command said it had started a conversation with the North over the soldier.
After a drunken pub fight, an incident with police and a stay in South Korean jail, Private Second Class King was being taken to the airport last month to fly back to Texas.
But instead of traveling to Fort Bliss for disciplinary hearings, King snuck away, joined a Demilitarized Zone sightseeing trip and slipped over the border.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a treaty, and most of the border between them is heavily fortified.
But at the JSA, the frontier is marked only by a low concrete divider and is relatively easy to cross, despite the presence of soldiers on both sides.
Pyongyang has a long history of detaining Americans and using them as bargaining chips in bilateral negotiations.
The latest incident comes as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points ever, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for increased weapons development, including of tactical nuclear warheads.
But Thursday’s development “reads as a sign of North’s willingness to negotiate,” Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, said.
“They basically want some progress toward normalization with the US, in order to offset the disproportionally high dependency on the Chinese economy.
“So, a goodwill gesture may happen — although it is far from sure for now.”
Beijing is North Korea’s most important ally and economic benefactor.
Washington continues to enforce stringent sanctions against North Korea as a means of addressing the ongoing concerns surrounding their nuclear weapons program.
Pyongyang last week held a dramatic military parade featuring its new attack drones and nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, with leader Kim flanked by visiting Russian and Chinese officials.
North Korea ‘responds’ to UN outreach on American soldier Travis King
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North Korea ‘responds’ to UN outreach on American soldier Travis King
- Latest announcement comes more than a week after the UN Command said it had started a conversation with the Pyongyang over the soldier
Malaysia agrees on terms for restarting MH370 wreckage search
- The decision will enable commencement of seabed search operations in a new location estimated to cover 15,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has agreed to terms and conditions of an agreement with exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search for the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, its transport minister said on Wednesday. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014 in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.
The decision will enable commencement of seabed search operations in a new location estimated to cover 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) in the southern Indian Ocean, based on a “no find, no fee” principle, Minister Loke Siew Fook said.
Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million if the wreckage is successfully located, he said.
“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the MH370 passengers,” Loke said in a statement. The government in December said it had agreed in principle with Ocean Infinity’s proposal to resume the hunt for MH370. The firm had conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018 but failed on two attempts.
Those followed an underwater search by Malaysia, Australia and China in a 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane. A ship that will look for the missing plane was deployed to its Indian Ocean search zone late last month, ship tracking data showed, even though a deal had yet to be signed with the government.
It was not immediately clear how long the search contract with Ocean Infinity would be. Loke had previously said it would cover an 18-month period.
Pope Francis no longer using ventilation, confirmed as improving, Vatican says
- “The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are confirmed to be improving,” said the latest detailed medical update
- The pope’s doctors believe his infection is under control, the Vatican press office said
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is no longer using mechanical ventilation for help breathing at night and his doctors believe he will continue to improve, the Vatican said on Wednesday, in the latest positive update as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia.
Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for nearly five weeks for a severe respiratory infection that has required evolving treatment.
“The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are confirmed to be improving,” said the latest detailed medical update on his condition.
The pope had been using non-invasive mechanical ventilation overnight during his hospital stay, which involves placing a mask over the face to help push air into the lungs.
Such ventilation had been “suspended,” the statement said. But it said the pope is still receiving oxygen via a small hose under his nose.
The pope’s doctors believe his infection is under control, the Vatican press office said shortly after the release of the latest statement. The pope does not have a fever and his blood tests are normal, it said.
The pope has been described as being in a stable or improving condition for two weeks, but the Vatican has not yet given a timeframe for his discharge, saying his recovery is going slowly.
Francis is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
He has been receiving both respiratory physiotherapy to help with his breathing and physical therapy to help with his mobility. He has used a wheelchair in recent years due to knee and back pain.
Doctors not involved in Francis’ care said the pope is likely to face a long, fraught road to recovery, given his age and other medical conditions.
US envoy predicts Ukraine ceasefire in ‘couple of weeks’
- Discussions on a possible deal to end Russia-Ukraine war will begin Monday in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said
- “Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace,” Zelensky wrote
WASHINGTON: US envoy Steve Witkoff said technical discussions on a possible deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war will begin Monday in Saudi Arabia, predicting a ceasefire agreement could come as soon as “a couple of weeks.”
“I believe on Monday we actually have the technical teams going” to the Kingdom, Witkoff told Bloomberg Television early Wednesday as he expressed confidence in ongoing negotiations following a telephone call the previous day between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“They agreed on a pathway to some ceasefire conditions... and to a full-on ceasefire that will be negotiated over the coming days. I actually think in a couple of weeks we’re going to get to it,” he said.
Witkoff, who is also Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, did not provide details on the upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia. But he said it was time “for the technical teams to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, and everybody is committed to that process.”
Asked by Bloomberg about the prospect of a possible meeting in the Kingdom between Trump and Putin, Witkoff said “my best bet would be it’s likely to happen.” He offered no timeline.
Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Wednesday also expressed confidence about enacting steps to bring the fighting to an end.
“I spoke today with my Russian counterpart Yuri Ushakov about President Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine,” Waltz posted on X.
“We agreed our technical teams would meet in Riyadh in the coming days to focus on implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after his call with Trump on Wednesday, said that officials from Ukraine and the US could meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days for a second round of peace talks.
“Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace,” Zelensky wrote on X.
Russia toughens sentence against French banker who left country
- Delpal was sentenced alongside his business partner, US investor Michael Calvey, both of whom vehemently denied the charges
- The case shocked Russia’s business community and triggered an outflow of foreign capital from Russia
MOSCOW: A Moscow court has toughened an embezzlement conviction against a French banker who left the country years earlier, converting his initial suspended sentence to jail time, Russian state media reported Wednesday.
Philippe Delpal, a former senior executive at the Baring Vostok investment group, received a four-and-a-half year suspended sentence in 2021 for allegedly swindling funds from Vostochny Bank — partly owned at the time by a businessman linked to Vladimir Putin.
Delpal was sentenced alongside his business partner, US investor Michael Calvey, both of whom vehemently denied the charges.
The case shocked Russia’s business community and triggered an outflow of foreign capital from Russia.
The latest move, while likely to have little impact, comes as relations between Moscow and Paris plummet to new lows as the Kremlin shifts blame for the three-year Ukraine conflict from the United States to Europe.
Both Calvey and Delpal left Russia once the travel restrictions in their suspended sentences were lifted.
Moscow’s Tverskoy Court on Wednesday replaced Delpal’s initial suspended sentence “with a real one” following a petition from Russia’s federal prison service, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported.
Delpal, who spent six months in jail before he was put under house arrest, received the suspended sentence in 2021.
Five Russian associates who said they were innocent also received suspended sentences of between three-and-a-half years to five years.
A Moscow court later reduced Delpal’s sentence from four-and-a-half years to three-and-a-half-years.
UK teen who planned school massacre jailed for minimum 49 years
- “You wanted to be known posthumously as the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century,” judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said
- The noisy struggle alerted neighbors, who called the police
LONDON: A UK teenager who killed three family members and planned to outdo notorious US massacres to become “the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century” was on Wednesday jailed for a minimum of 49 years.
Nicholas Prosper, 18 at the time of the killings, used a shotgun to kill his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, sister Giselle, 13, and brother Kyle, 16, who also received more than 100 knife wounds, at their home in Luton, southern England, in September 2024.
“Your ambition was notoriety. You wanted to be known posthumously as the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century,” judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said on Wednesday as she sentenced the now 19-year-old Prosper.
Prosper told police upon his arrest of his “Friday the 13th” plan to kill four-year-old pupils and two teachers at a nearby primary school, and then himself.
He said his aim was to conduct an attack more deadly than the US Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech massacres, but the plan was interrupted when his mother woke up before he could kill his family in their sleep.
The noisy struggle alerted neighbors, who called the police.
“You explicitly sought to emulate and outdo Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old American who shot dead 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut in 2012,” the judge said.
“You aimed for 34 deaths, one more than the deadliest school shooting of recent times in the United States of America, at Virginia Tech in 2007,” she added.
Prosper, who experts said showed symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), was handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 49 years. Taking into account the time already served, he will serve a minimum of 48 years and 177 days.
