
N. Korea to hold plenary session of parliamentary next month
The standing committee of the Supreme People's Assembly decided the previous day to convene a parliamentary session Sept. 20, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
The KCNA reported the upcoming session will address a grain management act, the review and adoption of an intellectual property rights act, and the implementation of a city management act, without providing further details on the agenda.
A key point of attention for the meeting is whether the session will also address a constitutional revision.
During a parliamentary session in January last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered a constitutional revision to describe South Korea as "the primary hostile state" and "unchanging primary foe," though no official report of the revision has been released so far.
Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of Kim, again referred to a constitutional revision, saying earlier this month that South Korea should be permanently described as the "most hostile threat" in national law. (Yonhap)
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Korea Herald
12 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Trump administration imposes new sanctions on four ICC judges, prosecutors
US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, as Washington ramped up its pressure on the war tribunal over its targeting of Israeli leaders and a past decision to investigate US officials. In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the court "a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare" against the US and Israel. The move drew ire from France and the UN. Paris urged Washington to withdraw the sanctions, while the ICC said it deplored the designations, calling them "a flagrant attack" against the independence of an impartial judicial institution. Washington designated Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, and Kimberly Prost of Canada, according to the US. Treasury and State Department. All officials have been involved in cases linked to Israel and the United States. "United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC's politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach," Rubio said. "I urge countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to resist the claims of this bankrupt institution." The second round of sanctions comes less than three months after the administration took the unprecedented step of slapping sanctions on four separate ICC judges. The escalation will likely impede the functioning of the court and the prosecutor's office as they deal with major cases, including war crime allegations against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict. In March 2020, prosecutors opened an investigation in Afghanistan that included looking into possible crimes by US troops, but since 2021, it has deprioritized the role of the US and focused on alleged crimes committed by the Afghan government and the Taliban forces. The ICC, which was established in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the UN Security Council. Although the ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in its 125 member countries, some nations, including the US, China, Russia, and Israel, do not recognize its authority. It has high-profile war crimes investigations under way into the Israel-Hamas conflict, as well as in Sudan, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Venezuela. Both France and the UN said the judges' work is crucial for international justice. "Their role is essential in the fight against impunity," a statement from the French Foreign Ministry said. The US sanctions undermine the foundation of international justice, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, adding, "The (US) decision imposes severe impediments on the functioning of the office of the prosecutor." Netanyahu's office issued a statement welcoming the US sanctions. The designations freeze any US assets the individuals may have and essentially cut them off from the US financial system. Guillou is an ICC judge who presided over a pre-trial panel that issued the arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Khan and Niang are the court's two deputy prosecutors. Canadian Judge Kimberly Prost served on an ICC appeals chamber that, in March 2020, unanimously authorized the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan since 2003, including examining the role of US service members. The Trump administration's dislike of the court goes back to his first term. In 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the court's work on Afghanistan. Countering Rubio's call to other countries to oppose the ICC, the court urged member states to stand in solidarity. "The Court calls upon States Parties and all those who share the values of humanity and the rule of law to provide firm and consistent support to the Court and its work carried out in the sole interest of victims of international crimes," it said. (Reuters)


Korea Herald
13 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Israel approves major West Bank settlement project
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel approved a major settlement project on Wednesday in an area of the occupied West Bank that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state. Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12-square-kilometer parcel known as E1 just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years amid international opposition. The latest announcement also drew condemnation, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying the settlement would effectively cleave the West Bank in two and pose an "existential threat" to a contiguous Palestinian state. Last week, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed plans to build around 3,400 homes on the ultra-sensitive tract of land, which lies between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. "I am pleased to announce that just a short while ago, the civil administration approved the planning for the construction of the E1 neighborhood," the mayor of Maale Adumim, Guy Yifrach, said in a statement on Wednesday. All of Israel's settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority slammed the latest move. "This undermines the chances of implementing the two-state solution, establishing a Palestinian state on the ground, and fragments its geographic and demographic unity," the PA's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It added the move would entrench "division of the occupied West Bank into isolated areas and cantons that are disconnected from one another, turning them into something akin to real prisons, where movement is only possible through Israeli checkpoints and under the terror of armed settler militias." Israel heavily restricts the movement of West Bank Palestinians, who must obtain permits from authorities to travel through checkpoints to cross into east Jerusalem or Israel. Guterres repeated a call for Israel to "immediately halt all settlement activity", warning that the E1 project would be "an existential threat to the two-State solution," his spokesperson said. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy also rejected the plans, saying it would "divide a Palestinian state in two (and) mark a flagrant breach of international law." Jordan's King Abdullah II denounced the project as well, adding that "the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace". Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war. Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 971 Palestinians in the West Bank, including many militants, according to Health Ministry figures. Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures. Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Ir Amim, an Israeli nongovernmental organization focusing on Jerusalem within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, condemned the greenlighting of the E1 project. "Today's approval demonstrates how determined Israel is in pursuing what Minister Smotrich has described as a strategic programme to bury the possibility of a Palestinian state and to effectively annex the West Bank," he said. "This is a conscious Israeli choice to implement an apartheid regime," he added, calling on the international community to take urgent and effective measures against the move. Far-right Israeli ministers have in recent months openly called for Israel's annexation of the territory. Israeli nongovernmental organization Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, said last week that infrastructure work in E1 could begin within a few months, and housing construction within about a year. Excluding east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as about 500,000 Israeli settlers.


Korea Herald
15 hours ago
- Korea Herald
N. Korea's Kim hails ground commanders of troops deployed in Russia's war on Ukraine
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has met with ground commanders of the North's troops deployed to the front-line Kursk region and "highly appreciated" their role in aiding Russia's war on Ukraine, the North's state media reported Thursday. The meeting with commanding officers of the Korean People's Army's overseas operation unit took place Wednesday, as they returned home to attend a commendation ceremony, the Korean Central News Agency said. Kim received a briefing on the military activities of North Korean forces abroad and "highly appreciated their feats of leading the combat units of our armed forces, which participated in the operations to liberate the Kursk Region of the Russian Federation, to victory," according to the KCNA report. Kim said North Korea has assigned them to carry out the "most important duty" and conveyed "warm militant encouragement" to all commanders and combatants on the mission, the KCNA said. The news agency also quoted Kim as saying: "Our army has fully demonstrated its unique qualities. Such a result has cemented its appellation and reputation as the most powerful army in the world. "Our army is now doing what it ought to do and what needs to be done. It will do so in the future, too," he also said. KCNA photos showed high-ranking officials of the military's General Staff at the meeting, including vice chief Ri Chang-ho, who were reported to have been deployed to the Russia-Ukraine war in its early stages. The report said the first commendation awarding ceremony for service members who served in the overseas mission is scheduled to take place. (Yonhap)