North Korea denies removing propaganda loudspeakers – DW – 08/14/2025
Kim Jong Un's sister denied claims North Korea had removed some of its loudspeakers along its border with the South, saying Seoul is wrong to think of renewed dialogue between the two countries.
"We have never removed loudspeakers installed in the border area and are not willing to remove them," Kim Yo Jong said on Thursday.
Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's powerful sibling, repeated previous North Korean statements that Pyongyang has no interest in reviving negotiations with the US and South Korea.
She said an upcoming military drill planned between the two countries at the end of August is proof of their hostility towards North Korea, also blaming the government in Seoul for misleading the public.
North Korea has traditionally always condemned such joint drills, saying they serve as preparation for invasion into its territory. The country often uses such exercises to show off its military strength through military demonstrations and tests to advance its nuclear program.
On Thursday, South Korea said it stood by its assessment that North Korea had begun dismantling border loudspeakers. A South Korean military spokesperson said caution was needed when interpreting official statements from Pyongyang.
Last weekend, South Korea's army said it had detected some of the speakers in the North being removed after the South took a similar measure regarding the loudspeakers used for K-pop and news reports in a bid to ease tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang.
In response to the North's alleged removal of the speakers, liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung voiced hopes of "reopening dialogue and communications" between the two rivalled countries.
The North's response, however, was a cold shoulder.
"We have clarified on several occasions that we have no will to improve relations with the (South)," Kim said, adding that this position will become "fixed" in North Korea's constitution in the future.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Kim also ruled out conveying a message to the US through Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump.
"Why should we send a message to the US side?" she said.
The two Koreas are technically still at war with each other due to the 1950-53 war between them ending with an armistice rather than a peace agreement.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
19 minutes ago
- Int'l Business Times
Europeans Try To Stay On The Board After Ukraine Summit
For European leaders, the absence of a Ukraine deal at the summit between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump has at least one upside: They have not yet been completely sidelined in a key strategic moment for the Continent's future. "It's good news that there was no deal, for both Ukraine and the Europeans," said Alberto Alemanno, a European law professor at the HEC university in Paris. He noted a serious risk that "a new European security map" would be drawn up while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and Europe's leaders watched from the sidelines. Europe found itself shut out of the summit in Alaska, and tried to weigh in ahead of the meeting with a flurry of calls and urgent meetings between leaders ahead of time. On Saturday, the French presidency said the leaders of Britain, France and Germany would host a video call Sunday for their so-called "coalition of the willing" to discuss steps towards peace in Ukraine. The meeting would come a day before Zelensky travels to Washington for talks with Trump -- five months after the Ukrainian leader was ambushed with a televised scolding during his previous Oval Office visit. European leaders also proposed a three-way summit between Zelensky, Putin and Trump. But it remains unlikely that Russia, hit by 18 rounds of European sanctions since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, is ready for any thaw in its glacial relations with the bloc. Putin made his stance clear on Friday, warning Ukraine and European countries to "not create any obstacles" and not "make attempts to disrupt this emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigues". "Clearly, what Vladimir Putin's intention is, is to keep Europeans out and Americans in," said James Nixey, a specialist in Russian foreign policy. After a debriefing with Trump and with Zelensky on Saturday, European leaders held their own video call on their next steps. Moscow "cannot have a veto" on Ukraine joining the European Union or NATO, they said in a statement signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Macron later called for increased pressure on Russia until "a solid and durable peace" had been achieved. But since the beginning of the war, European leaders "have never engaged with Putin", said Alemanno. "And all of a sudden they have to do so, without knowing exactly what are the terms of engagement," he said. "So they're a bit stuck." The risk is all the greater since Trump has clearly indicated in recent weeks that he is ready to walk away from the war, despite his campaign promise to end it within "24 hours". "Each morning when I wake up, my first thought is that we have to re-arm ourselves even faster," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the Jyllands-Posten newspaper on Saturday.
Int'l Business Times
4 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
In High-stakes Summit, Trump, Not Putin, Budges
Donald Trump wanted to go bold -- a high-pomp, high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin to test whether the Russian leader would compromise on the Ukraine war. In the end, it looks like it was Trump, not Putin, who budged. Putin, visibly delighted as he stepped foot in the West for the first time since ordering the 2022 invasion, made no apparent concession at the talks at an Alaska air base. In a brief joint media appearance with Trump, who unusually took no questions, Putin again spoke of addressing the "root causes" of the Ukraine war and warned Kyiv and Europeans against disrupting "emerging progress" with the United States, the top defender of Ukraine under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden. Trump, who bills himself as a master negotiator, acknowledged there was "no deal" but said there were "very few" areas of disagreement, although he was vague on what they were. But posting hours later on his Truth Social account, Trump said he wanted Russia and Ukraine to "go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war" and not a ceasefire. Trump's own administration had been pushing a ceasefire for months, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signing on after intense pressure from Trump. Putin had repeatedly rejected truce offers and kept up attacks on Ukraine, seeking to maximize battlefield advantage. Trump had vowed to be firm with Putin after wide criticism of the US president's cowed appearance before him at a 2018 summit in Helsinki. But Putin again found ways to flatter and trigger Trump, who in his second term constantly speaks unprompted about his many grievances. Putin told Trump before the cameras that there would have been no war -- which Putin himself launched -- if Trump were president in 2022 rather than Biden, a frequent Trump talking point. Trump bemoaned the effect on ties with Putin of what he again called the "hoax" of the findings by US intelligence that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help him. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity after the summit, Trump said that "one of the most interesting things" Putin told him was about... the US voting system. Trump said approvingly that Putin -- who has held power in Russia since 2000 and was declared the winner of elections last year with 88 percent of the vote -- told him of the risks of mail-in ballots and said of Trump's 2020 loss to Biden, "You won that election by so much." US election authorities and experts have found no evidence of wide-scale fraud from mail-in ballots in the 2020 election, which Trump, uniquely in US history, refused to concede. Trump's Democratic rivals voiced outrage that the summit secured no breakthrough and said it only served to normalize Putin, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. "By quite literally rolling out the red carpet, Trump has legitimized Russia's aggression and whitewashed Putin's war crimes. It's shameful," said Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Experts said it was too early to write off the summit completely, as much is not known about what was discussed behind closed doors. Trump will meet Zelensky on Monday at the White House. Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, which backs US restraint, said that Trump's critics have been proven wrong in saying he would "give Ukraine to Putin or force Kyiv to accept surrender." "His focus has been and remains getting Putin to the negotiating table. Mr. Trump deserves credit rather than condemnation for his efforts so far," she said. But Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said an initial read was that "Putin scored a victory by showing up, and Trump's limited words and tense demeanor left Putin to control the narrative." "For a man so attached to showmanship, Trump unusually allowed Putin to be the star of what should have been the Trump show," she said.
DW
5 hours ago
- DW
Brazil announces $5.5 bn package to counter Trump's tariffs – DW – 08/14/2025
Brazilian President Lula da Silva said the move is supposed to "create new things" out of the crisis caused by Donald Trump's tariffs. But Lula also said his country is still ready to negotiate. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced a plan on Wednesday to support exporters who have been hit by high tariffs of up to 50% imposed by US President Donald Trump on several products from the country. The plan provides credit of 20 billion reais ($5.5 billion; €4.7 billion) to support the embattled exporters. Other measures in the plan include postponing tax charges for businesses affected by the tariffs, while also incentivizing Brazilians to buy locally produced goods that would have otherwise been exported to the US. "We cannot be scared, nervous and anxious when there is a crisis," Lula said. "A crisis is for us to create new things." Lula also said Trump has no good reasons for hitting Brazil with high tariffs. While the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on many countries around the world, Brazil was ultimately singled out with some of the highest levies of up to 50%. Trump said the additional tariffs were a reaction to the legal situation of his ally, the far-right populist former president, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is currently under house arrest over allegations that he plotted a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Lula did not hold back on the grounds for the tariffs, saying every time the US decides to "fight with someone," they paint their rivals as the devil. "Now they want to talk about human rights in Brazil… We have to look at what happens in the country that is accusing Brazil," Lula added, hinting at Trump's domestic policies. The US president had cited "human rights abuses" by the left-wing government in support of his ally Bolsonaro. Lula responded to the claims, saying Brazil's judiciary is independent, with the country's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad saying Brazil is being "sanctioned for being more democratic than its aggressor." The Brazilian leader has so far refrained from imposing higher tariffs on American imports, saying he is not interested in "worsening our relations with the US." "We like to negotiate," Lula said. "We don't want conflict. I don't want conflict with Uruguay, Venezuela, or even the US. The only thing we need to demand is that our sovereignty is untouchable, and that no one should have any say in what we should do."
