South Korea viewing plans to improve ties with North Korea
Koo Byung-sam, a spokesperson for the ministry that handles inter-Korea affairs, refused to comment on a 'particular issue.'
But, Koo said he understood individual tours were not in violation of international sanctions.
Tourism is one of a narrow range of cash sources for North Korea that are not targeted under United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has pledged to improve strained relations with Pyongyang that have reached their worst level in years.
In a bid to ease tensions, Lee suspended anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and ordered a halt to leaflet campaigns criticising the North's leaders by anti-Pyongyang activists.
The president has said he will discuss further plans with top security officials to resume dialogue with North Korea that is technically at war with the South.
North Korea recently opened a beach resort in the city of Wonsan, a flagship project driven by leader Kim Jong Un to promote tourism.
But, the tourist area is temporarily not accepting foreign visitors, according to a July 16 note by DPR Korea Tour, a website operated by North Korea's National Tourism Administration.
North Korea first needs to open the area to the outside world, the Unification Ministry spokesperson said, asked if South Koreans could travel to Wonsan.
South Korea once ran tours to North Korea's Mount Kumgang area, but suspended them in 2008, when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
EU and Japan agree to work together to promote free trade and economic security
Leaders of the European Union and Japan launched an alliance Wednesday aimed at boosting economic cooperation, defending free trade, and countering unfair trade practices as the two sides face growing challenges from the US and China. The agreement followed a meeting among European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. It comes just as Tokyo and Washington reached a new trade deal, which places 15 percent tariffs on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the US, down from an initial 25 percent. The leaders agreed to launch a competitiveness alliance aimed at stepping up trade, economic security, and cooperation in innovation, energy, and other areas, according to a joint statement released by the EU. The leaders also supported a stable and predictable, rules-based, free, and fair economic order and reaffirmed the importance of Japan-EU cooperation to uphold a multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, as well as with other multilateral cooperation efforts. The EU and Japan also agreed to strengthen defense industry cooperation and to start talks on an information security agreement. Japan and the EU have been stepping up their security and defense cooperation amid growing global tensions and conflicts, including Russia's war on Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, and increasingly assertive China's military activity in Asia, recognizing that challenges in Europe and the Indo-Pacific are inseparable.
Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
UK data leak highlights West's flawed Afghanistan project
The reverberations of the Western forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 keep on being felt in many nations, years after Taliban turned the page on 20 years of failed attempts by the US, UK, NATO and others to democratize the country. The recently exposed leak of data about thousands of Afghans who had worked with British forces presents several unanswered questions, as well as billions of pounds in costs. Then there is the vetting process that remains less than comprehensive, to say the least, and open to abuse, especially as the Taliban have repeatedly claimed that they have not pursued or targeted those who cooperated with the pro-Western regime in Kabul or its many Western allies. So, is it possible that the Afghans have been overexaggerating the level of threat to their safety for other reasons? Or has the West again been a victim of its oversensitivity to the protection of human rights, freedom of expression and women and other minorities from potential abuse by regimes such as the Taliban? In less than a month's time, on Aug. 15, it will be four years since Kabul fell back into the hands of the Taliban. The US-led Western troops' pullout, negotiated by the first Trump administration and executed by the Biden administration, ended up being one of the most chaotic and humiliating withdrawals since American troops pulled out of Vietnam. Whatever the reasons behind the speedy collapse of the pro-Western government in Kabul, it showed once more that the Western efforts to supplant democracy and nation-building were flawed from the beginning. The story for the UK of repatriating Afghans who had worked with its forces began then and continued under different Conservative governments. But the 2022 data leak did not come to public attention until a high court judge this month lifted a gagging order that was put in place in 2023, when the breach first came to light. In brief, the story goes back to February 2022, when the personal data related to nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to be repatriated to the UK after the Taliban seized power was leaked. The Conservative government under Rishi Sunak first learned of the breach in August 2023, when some of the details appeared on Facebook. A special resettlement scheme was set up at speed and more than 4,500 Afghans have since arrived in the UK. But the existence of the leak and subsequent relocations were kept secret after the government obtained a superinjunction banning their disclosure. This was because the data contained the names, contact details and family information of people who had cooperated with the UK and could potentially be at risk of reprisals from the Taliban. The secret scheme, known as the Afghan Response Route, has already cost the UK £400 million ($541 million). And it is expected to cost a similar amount again, if not more, if the UK is to honor its pledge that 600 more Afghan soldiers and 1,800 of their relatives who are still in Afghanistan will be moved to Britain. More dangerously, the leak also revealed the details of more than 100 British officials, including members of the special forces and the intelligence services. The data leak was a catastrophe and it exposed vulnerable Afghans, adding to the risk they faced. The government's decision to try to protect them was right. But it is also fair to question how those risks were assessed and whether the secrecy and lack of public scrutiny improved the situation for those involved. The Taliban's swift takeover of the country surprised the Western powers for sure, but it did not come as a total surprise for a majority of Afghans. Throughout their country's history, they have been capable of sensing the winds of change and maneuvering themselves to lean as necessary. Amid the hasty evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked for the Western powers, not all of them were necessarily in imminent danger, but many also saw an opportunity to live outside Afghanistan. The existence of the leak was kept secret after the government obtained a superinjunction banning its disclosure. Mohamed Chebaro The question that has remained unanswered since 2021 is whether there was a genuine case for repatriation or if it was pure opportunism and freeloading. And though human rights groups routinely speak of threats to some people who dwelled in the public sphere, from security to education and women's rights, the dangers faced by those asking for asylum and evacuation remain unclear. Afghanistan is no different to any other nation that has frequently suffered internal strife and wars between its various ethnic and religious constituents. The rush to leave the country as the Western troops withdrew was a natural reflex for humans fearing the worst or sensing an opportune moment to change their lives. As a reporter who covered various parts of the Afghan story, it was possible to notice a trait of Afghans holding the stick from the middle and never burning their bridges with any clan that could be a foe. If anything, the UK data leak highlighted how a poorly-thought-out intervention and poorly executed state-building project, followed by a poorly orchestrated withdrawal, caused damage to the West's standing and reputation. Such poor efforts at the craft of state-building were especially likely to fail in a uniquely tribal and linguistically and ethnically diverse country such as Afghanistan.
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Zahir Jaffer files petition for Pakistan top court to overturn death sentence for Noor Mukadam murder
ISLAMABAD: Zahir Zakir Jaffer, the man convicted of one of Pakistan's most harrowing femicide cases, has filed a review petition at the Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence for the 2021 beheading of Noor Mukadam. In the petition, filed under Article 188 of the Constitution and seen by Arab News on Wednesday, Jaffer argues that the May 2024 judgment upholding his death sentence contains 'mistakes floating on the surface of the record.' He alleges that the court failed to consider material facts and due process violations that, if reviewed, would prove his innocence. The petition argues that widespread social media coverage had fueled public hostility toward Jaffer during the investigation, trial, and appeals process, undermining his right to a fair trial. It also cites a ruling from another case to suggest that procedural errors occurred because the case was handled in haste. 'The impugned judgment may very graciously be reviewed, recalled and set aside,' the petition states, 'and the petitioner may very graciously be acquitted of the charges or in the alternate, may be ordered to be re-tried afresh.' The Supreme Court had previously declared the evidence against Jaffer 'overwhelming' and found no merit in his insanity defense. But in this final legal challenge, Jaffer's lawyers argue the case involved 'misreading and non-reading of material evidence,' and claim that he was denied a fair trial. Jaffer, a dual Pakistani-American citizen from a wealthy business family, was convicted of torturing and beheading Mukadam, the daughter of a former ambassador, at his Islamabad home in July 2021. The murder triggered national outrage, women-led protests, and rare scrutiny of elite impunity in Pakistan's legal system Jaffer was sentenced to death in February 2022 and lost appeals in the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court. In its May ruling, the apex court said Jaffer had confined Mukadam for two days, ignored her pleas, and 'beheaded her in a gruesome manner.' 'All the evidence pointed squarely to the petitioner,' the justices wrote, citing testimony from guards, digital records, and Mukadam's attempts to flee the house. The scope of review petitions in Pakistan is extremely narrow and restricted to identifying legal errors, not reassessing facts. Unless the Supreme Court admits the review, Jaffer's last option will be a clemency request to the President of Pakistan, which the Mukadam family has vowed to challenge.
