Kim Jong-un's sister slams South Korean peace overtures
Kim Yo-jong, who is a senior official in the North's ruling Workers' Party, also said a change made to the plan for annual joint military drills by South Korea and the United States was a "futile" move that does not change the allies' hostile intent.
Kim Yo-jong, who officials and analysts believe speaks for her brother, has in recent weeks rebuffed moves taken by South Korea's new liberal government aimed at easing tension between the two Koreas.
"I am confident that Seoul's policy towards the DPRK remains unchanged and can never change," she was quoted as saying by KCNA official news agency. DPRK is short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
South Korea's military has said it detected moves by the North's military to dismantle some propaganda loudspeakers directed at the South, following similar moves by the South.
There has been cautious optimism in the South that the North may be responding positively to a policy by President Lee Jae-myung to engage Pyongyang after a period of cross-border tension and even show willingness to return to dialogue.
Kim Yo-jong also said North Korea would not be sitting down with the United States for dialogue, saying reports raising the possibilities of such a development were "false suppositions".
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Mercury
2 hours ago
- Mercury
Map shows Australia's new place in the world after bold call on Palestine
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News. A striking map shows Australia's new place in the world after Anthony Albanese made the call to join nearly 150 countries in recognising Palestinian statehood. Australia will formally recognise Palestine when the United Nations General Assembly meets in New York next month. The move is seen as symbolic because Palestinians are living under military occupation and do not have control over their territory or settled borders. The country will join a majority of UN member states – 147 out of 193 – which already recognise Palestine, including most countries in Asia, South America and Africa. In all, those nations make up 75 per cent of the countries in the world. Historically, Western countries have held back from recognising Palestine – but reports of a new Israeli military push in Gaza and famine among Palestinians, coupled with domestic pressure on leaders like Mr Albanese, have resulted in a surge of support. It began when France announced it would recognise Palestine at the UN meeting – the first G7 country to do so. The UK, Canada, and now Australia have followed suit. But there remain some key holdouts. The United States, Israel's biggest ally, does not recognise Palestine and has vetoed past attempts by the Palestinian Authority to join the UN, arguing statehood should come about through negotiations with Israel. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week blasted the gesture by Australia and other Western countries as 'largely meaningless'. 'It's symbolic, and they're doing it primarily for one reason, and that is their internal politics, their domestic politics,' Mr Rubio said. 'The truth of the matter is that the future of that region is not going to be decided by some UN resolution. 'It's not going to be decided by some press release by a prime minister or a president from some country. It's going to be decided on the ground.' Anthony Albanese's announcement on Monday was welcomed by some, but it has also received criticism from both sides of the current conflict. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman Mr Albanese's announcement on Monday was welcomed by some, but it has also received criticism from both sides of the current conflict. Jewish leaders argue it lends legitimacy to terrorist group Hamas, while pro-Palestinian voices claim it does not go far enough and Australia should cut all ties with Israel. Middle East analyst Professor Amin Saikal said the recognition of Palestine 'in itself is not necessarily going to make much of a difference on the ground, because the Palestinian territories are still occupied'. 'It is a symbolic act, basically to send a very, very strong message to the Israeli leadership,' Professor Saikal told 'There are ways of enforcing the recognition of the state of Palestine with some practical measures, otherwise it will remain hollow.' Disturbing reports from Gaza and domestic pressure have led to a surge in support for Palestine from Western countries. Picture: NewsWire/Valeriu Campan The practical steps might include boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Prof Saikal said public opinion was increasingly siding with Palestinians in the conflict. 'Now I think it is very widely recognised what Israel is engaging in is a genocide – this is not just journalists or politicians saying it, it's been confirmed by two humanitarian organisations within Israel,' he said. '(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has remained completely defiant of calls for a ceasefire and more humanitarian aid in Gaza.' He said as the conflict dragged on, pressure might build on Donald Trump to change his stance. 'Although Trump is absolutely committed to Israel and it's very unlikely he will cut off arms supply, at the same time public opinion is very much turning against Israel,' Prof Saikal said. 'With Trump his base is very important. If this sort of criticism increases, he may finally decide that look, it's no longer in the interests of the US to continue the level of support for Israel.' Professor Amin Saikal said the gesture would remain hollow if it wasn't backed by practical measures. Picture: Supplied Across the ditch, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said this week that the government would make a decision on Palestinian statehood next month. That places New Zealand in the diminishing group of countries that have yet to recognise Palestine, including G7 members Germany, Japan and Italy. 'This is an opportunity to deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine in a way that isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all,' Mr Albanese said on Monday. He said the decision was made after he received assurances from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas would play no role in any future state. The Palestinian Authority controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in 2007. Originally published as Map shows Australia's new place in the world after bold call on Palestine
The Age
8 hours ago
- The Age
Israel pounds Gaza City, killing 123 Palestinians in 24 hours
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Sydney Morning Herald
11 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The good, bad and potentially ugly of the Trump-Putin Alaska rendezvous
So what might happen? The good Trump likes to take the meeting. That's his attitude in business as in politics: get face-to-face with the big fish and see where things go. He even did so with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in his first term. He is incredulous when people criticise him for cultivating a relationship with Putin. Of course, he talks to the Russian leader, he says. What can you achieve if no one's talking? Even so, the US president, not known for understatement, has played down expectations for the encounter. He calls it a 'feel-out meeting', which will set the scene for a second summit with Zelensky in attendance. But first, he wants to gauge where Putin's at. Loading 'That suggests to me that they're recognising, maybe, they've bitten off more than they want to chew,' said John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine under George W. Bush, now senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Centre. He believes the summit is a misstep – not ipso facto, but because of the rhetoric in the lead-up. But it 'need not be a disaster', Herbst said. 'To me, the summit at best will show Trump going no further than he [already] is in accommodating Putin.' The bad There is a question, however, over who gains what out of this event. Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed it was Putin's idea to meet now, though Trump has long been open to the idea. Meeting at the US Elmendorf Air Force Base – a convenient halfway point between Moscow and Washington – has been seen by some as a Putin concession to Trump. But Herbst said the location 'also does something which Putin likes, which is: it demonstrates that he is not a war criminal in the United States'. As does the image of the Russian leader shaking hands with an American president for the first time since 2021. Nothing that comes of the meeting can bind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; he can simply say no to the suggested 'land swapping' Trump has foreshadowed. But that risks Trump washing his hands of the matter, saying 'I tried' and withdrawing US military support. Herbst said it was a step backwards after Trump spent the past two months increasing pressure on Putin over a ceasefire and agreeing to further arms for Ukraine. 'In 24 hours, Trump went from ramping up pressure on Russia to agreeing on a summit to agreeing – against his own preference – that the summit would be a bilateral, as opposed to a summit that includes Zelensky,' he said. 'All the talk around the summit and its possible results focuses on concessions that Ukraine would be required to make. There is no reference to what Russia must do, what concessions Russia must accept to have a ceasefire.' The ugly Trump has been known to echo Russian talking points on Ukraine. In February, he criticised Zelensky for not holding elections (martial law was declared after Putin's invasion), and wrongly claimed the Ukrainian leader had a 4 per cent approval rating. He has a tendency to value what he has most recently heard. There is every chance he will be endeared to some of Putin's propaganda, especially on claims about rightful territory. 'If Trump leaves there and starts to pressure Zelensky on land, that's going to be a problem,' says Herbst. 'If we hear more that Zelensky started the war, then you know that he's swallowed the line from Putin and is heading fully in that unhappy direction. I think that's possible, but not likely.' Others are more cynical. Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia under Barack Obama, said it was unusual and dangerous to go into a high-level meeting with no idea of the outcome. 'Summits without results hurt American national interests,' he said on X. 'If Trump gets nothing out of Alaska, he will look weak. That's never in America's national interests.'
