Category: WORLD

Sejong, Dec 23 (IANS) South Korea’s Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on Monday declined to comment on an ongoing investigation over the martial law debacle amid the main opposition Democratic Party’s (DP) move to potentially impeach acting President Han Duck-soo.

On Sunday, the DP vowed to hold Han accountable if he fails to promulgate special counsel bills targeting President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee by Tuesday.

“We are doing our utmost under acting President Han Duck-soo’s leadership to ensure stable management of the country’s international credibility,” Choi told reporters.

Choi, who doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, is next in line to assume the role of acting president should Han be impeached by the DP.

Speculation over Choi’s potential new role has grown, as Han was recently named one of nine individuals questioned by police over their attendance at a Cabinet meeting held shortly before Yoon declared martial law on December 3. Han is currently being investigated as a suspect in the case, Yonhap news agency reported.

When pressed repeatedly about the controversial Cabinet meeting on December 3, Choi refrained from providing details, stating that he had been questioned as a witness in the investigation.

“This is a matter for the investigative authorities (to answer),” the minister said.

Earlier in the day, South Korea’s police analysed President Yoon Suk Yeol’s personal phone records after securing them as part of their investigation into his botched declaration of martial law earlier this month, officials said.

The police special investigation team handling the case is checking the records for conversations with individuals allegedly involved in the imposition of martial law on December 3 after obtaining them through a warrant.

Police are also working to obtain a secure phone used by Yoon and its records from the Presidential Security Service.

Separately, police have acquired a document Yoon handed to Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok during a Cabinet meeting that took place shortly before the martial law declaration.

The document reportedly outlines measures to cut off operational expenses for the National Assembly and to form a budget for the legislature under martial law.

–IANS

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Washington, Dec 23 (IANS) Millions of residents and visitors in southeast Australia have been warned to brace for catastrophic bushfire conditions over the Christmas period.

Authorities on Monday declared a total fire ban for greater Sydney and northern regions of the state of New South Wales (NSW) due to the threat posed by high temperatures and strong winds, reports Xinhua news agency.

It comes ahead of a period of forecast extreme danger across Australia’s southeast.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has forecasted that temperatures in Sydney, Melbourne in the southeastern state of Victoria and Adelaide in South Australia will exceed 35 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and Saturday.

In Victoria and South Australia, authorities have warned that conditions on Thursday will pose a catastrophic bushfire threat, with strong winds expected to make it more challenging to contain fires.

Dozens of bushfires are already burning across the three states, which together account for 62 per cent of the Australian population, including a fire in the Grampians National Park in western Victoria that has triggered evacuation warnings for several towns.

As of Monday, the fire has burnt through 41,000 hectares of land in the seven days since it was ignited by lightning.

Emergency warnings for communities in and around the national park were downgraded on Monday due to favourable weather conditions and light rain, but authorities have warned the situation could change at any time.

State Response Controller Garry Cook said on Monday that firefighters were conducting controlled backburning operations ahead of Boxing Day to protect nearby towns and reduce the fuel load in the area.

Firefighting crews across Australia’s east coast have been deployed to aid local personnel.

Anyone travelling through Victoria over the Christmas period has been advised to keep up to date with local emergency warnings and monitor conditions.

–IANS

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Seoul, Dec 23 (IANS) Special counsel bills against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law bid and allegations surrounding First Lady Kim Keon Hee are unlikely to be reviewed during a Cabinet meeting this week despite pressure for them to quickly be put into effect, an official said on Monday.

On Sunday, the main opposition Democratic Party urged acting President Han Duck-soo to promulgate the bills mandating special probes into Yoon’s botched martial law declaration on December 3 and allegations against First Lady Kim Keon Hee at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, vowing to hold him responsible if he fails to do so.

“It is an issue that should be decided by listening to various opinions based on the Constitution, the law and the country’s future within the given deadline,” a key official at Han’s office told Yonhap News Agency by phone.

Han has until January 1 to decide whether to promulgate the bills or demand parliamentary reconsideration of them.

“Realistically, it is difficult to be included as an agenda item for the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday,” the official said.

The National Assembly passed the two opposition-led bills on December 12 in the aftermath of Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law.

Han has until January 1 to either veto or promulgate them, and the bills currently appear to be included as agenda items during a regular Cabinet meeting on December 31.

The special counsel bill against Yoon is designed to investigate insurrection charges related to his declaration of martial law.

The bill on the First Lady calls for investigating a wide range of allegations, including her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scheme and interference in election nominations through a power broker.

It is the fourth version of the bill targeting the first lady following a similar proposal vetoed by Yoon last month. The government has been critical of the bills against the first lady, noting they have “unconstitutional” elements.

Regarding the special counsel bill on Yoon, the ruling People Power Party has called for Han to veto it, describing it as “clearly unconstitutional.”

A senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office said the fate of the two bills will likely depend on whether the ruling and opposition parties negotiate a way to rid them of “unconstitutional” elements.

Han will meet the leadership of the rival parties on Thursday for the first session of a consultative body between the two parties and the government.

–IANS

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Washington, Dec 23 (IANS) US President-elect Donald Trump suggested that he may allow TikTok to continue operations in the United States.

At an event hosted by the conservative organisation Turning Point USA in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday, Trump said that the popular video-sharing app may have helped reach some key voters in the presidential election and expressed the possibility of keeping TikTok around “for a little while.”

“We did go on TikTok, and we had a great response. We had billions and billions of views,” said the president-elect, adding that he was shown a chart highlighting the views his campaign had received on the app.

On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court agreed to review a request from TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to block a law that would require the sale of the popular video-sharing app by January 19 or face a ban on national security grounds, reports Xinhua news agency.

The nation’s top court is set to hear arguments on January 10 regarding whether the law unconstitutionally limits freedom of speech, in breach of the First Amendment.

The court’s ruling was issued two days after TikTok’s petition for an injunction against the law. TikTok argued that the potential ban would shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration and “silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.”

In April, US President Joe Biden enacted the law that gives ByteDance only 270 days to sell TikTok, citing unfounded national security concerns. If the company fails to comply, the law will require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms.

In May, TikTok sued the US government to block the potential ban, which has drawn widespread criticism.

In early December, the US Court of Appeals in Washington dismissed TikTok’s claim that the ban was unconstitutional.

–IANS

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Seoul, Dec 23 (IANS) South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul held a video meeting on Monday with the chiefs of South Korea’s diplomatic missions in the United States and emphasised the need for greater outreach to the host nation, the foreign ministry said.

Ambassador Cho Hyun-dong and the consul generals from New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Honolulu and Houston attended the meeting held amid concerns about a potential leadership vacuum in diplomacy following the National Assembly’s impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this month, Yonhap news agency reported.

Cho praised the mission heads for their outreach efforts to various sectors in the US to stably manage bilateral relations and urged them to further enhance these efforts, the ministry said.

He also emphasised the need to mobilise all available resources to address diplomatic needs and meet public expectations.

The discussion also covered strategies for addressing high-profile issues in the US and ways to cooperate with Congress, state governments and state assemblies, as well as academic and economic circles, the ministry noted.

A senior diplomat will visit the US and Japan this week to discuss cooperation between the three countries and North Korea-related issues, Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Earlier the ministry informed that first Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun will embark on the five-day trip that will first take him to Washington for talks with his US counterpart on bilateral ties, and trilateral cooperation with Japan, and North Korea.

The trip comes after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment on December 14 over his short-lived imposition of martial law, which has raised concerns over Seoul’s policy coordination with Washington and Tokyo, especially with the incoming US administration of Donald Trump, set to take office next month.

Under Yoon, South Korea has sought to deepen trilateral security cooperation with the US and Japan amid evolving nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea.

–IANS

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Sydney, Dec 23 (IANS) An Australian man has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty offences after 98 kangaroos were found dead north of Sydney.

Police found the kangaroos dead on federal government-owned land in the town of Singleton, about 140 km north of Sydney in the east coast state of New South Wales (NSW), along with ammunition and two cartridges on October 8, reports Xinhua news agency.

In a statement issued on Monday, NSW Police said that a 43-year-old man has been charged with six crimes over the incident following an investigation.

The man was arrested during a raid on a property in Williamtown, almost 70 km east of Singleton, on Friday.

While executing a search warrant, NSW Police said that officers found and seized three firearms. A number of firearms were also seized from a second property in the area.

The man has been charged with six offences — Committing an act of aggravated cruelty upon an animal, discharging a firearm upon/over a Commonwealth prohibited area, trespassing onto commonwealth land, not keeping a firearm safely – not pistol/prohibited firearm, harm or attempt to harm a protected animal, and holder of Category A or B licence not have approved storage.

“Police have since seized a number of firearms from a second Hunter region property. A Firearms Suspension Notice has been issued.

The man was granted strict conditional bail to appear before Raymond Terrace Local Court on Monday, January 13, 2025,” NSW Police said in a statement.

Kangaroos are protected native animals in every Australian state and territory.

Anyone found guilty of harming a protected animal in NSW faces a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment for each offence.

–IANS

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Seoul, Dec 23 (IANS) North Korea appears to be preparing to deploy additional troops and military equipment to Russia, possibly including suicide drones, in support of Moscow’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s military said on Monday.

According to the South’s spy agency, the assessment came as North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine, with the number of casualties estimated to be around 1,100, Yonhap news agency reported.

“A comprehensive assessment of multiple intelligence shows that North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops (in Russia), while currently supplying 240-millimetre rocket launchers and 170 mm self-propelled artillery,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

“There are also some signs of (the North) moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones, first unveiled during Kim Jong-un’s on-site inspection in November,” the JCS said, attributing the move to the North’s efforts to gain practical warfare experience and modernise its conventional weapons system.

Last month, the North’s state media reported that Kim observed an on-site test of various types of suicide attack drones and called for the full-scale production of the weapons that are increasingly becoming important in modern warfare due to their cost-effectiveness.

The military is monitoring the situation following signs that the North has expressed its intent to provide loitering munitions to Russia, a JCS official told reporters, without providing further details.

The JCS said no specific signs of provocation have been detected from the North, adding that the country is focusing on expanding its military cooperation with Russia and stably managing its domestic environment ahead of a key year-end plenary party meeting.

The military, however, did not rule out the possibility of the North staging a surprise military provocation timed around the major political event, such as launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) tipped with a hypersonic warhead.

In April, North Korea said it successfully launched a new IRBM tipped with a hypersonic warhead, a claim that Seoul assessed as “unsuccessful,” although it acknowledged that Pyongyang appears to have made some progress in its hypersonic weapons program.

Going forward, the JCS projected the North to continue with “grey zone” provocations next year, such as launching trash-carrying balloons and carrying out GPS jamming attacks.

“As the North has to concentrate on supporting Russia next year, it is likely to feel burdened by (the possibility of) causing military tension or conflicts that could lead to the creation of a new war front,” the JCS said.

“But the need for cooperation on information sharing with the US as well as establishing a firm readiness posture is vital as there is also the possibility of the North attempting various provocations, such as an intercontinental ballistic missile launch or a nuclear test to enhance its bargaining power against the US”

The JCS also noted that the North’s construction activities to reinforce border security are still underway, unveiling photos of North Korean troops testing electric barbed-wire fences with what appeared to be goats.

Since April, the North has mobilised thousands of soldiers to reinforce roads and install anti-tank barriers.

–IANS

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Panama City, Dec 23 (IANS) Panamanian scholars depicted as “ridiculous” US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to take back the Panama Canal.

Trump on Saturday wrote on his Truth Social platform that the Panama Canal plays a “critical role” in the US economy and national security. He demanded Panama reduce fees on the canal or return it to US control, reports Xinhua news agency.

“It is ridiculous,” said Jones Cooper, a professor at the University of Panama. Panama is the rightful owner of the canal, and the United States has no legal basis to reclaim it, he added, noting that the United States profited significantly during its occupation while Panama gained little in return.

Julio Yao, a Panamanian international relations scholar, called Trump’s comment the latest example of the American “big stick” policy. He emphasised that the Panama Canal must not be returned to the United States.

According to the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed in 1977 by the then-Panamanian President Omar Torrijos and then-US President Jimmy Carter, Panamanians recovered their sovereignty over the canal on December 31, 1999.

Earlier on Sunday, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said that the canal will “continue to be in Panamanian hands” after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to retake it.

Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama and “will remain so,” and “the sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable,” Mulino said in a social media video post.

Trump on Saturday called the Panama Canal “a VITAL National Asset for the United States,” threatening to retake the canal, citing “exorbitant prices” on US ships.

Mulino said he hopes to maintain a “respectful” relationship with the next US government. He also pointed out that security issues such as illegal migration, drug trafficking, terrorism, and organised crime should be a priority in the two countries’ bilateral agenda.

He also recalled the Torrijos-Carter Treaties and added that it established the permanent neutrality of the Panama Canal, “guaranteeing its open and safe operation for all nations. (…) any position to the contrary is invalid.”

“(The tariffs) are established based on an open hearing, considering market conditions, international competition, operating costs and the maintenance and modernisation needs of the interoceanic waterway,” said Mulino.

“The Canal will continue to be in Panamanian hands as an inalienable patrimony of our nation and guaranteeing its use for the peaceful and uninterrupted transit of ships of all nations,” said the Panamanian president.

–IANS

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Sydney, Dec 23 (IANS) A police manhunt is underway for two people after a woman was shot dead in Australia’s state of Queensland.

The Queensland Police said in a statement on Sunday that they were called to a Railway Parade address at Caboolture, a town about 45 km north of Brisbane, at around 12.10 a.m. on Sunday, where they located the woman unconscious and unresponsive. She was declared dead later, reports Xinhua news agency.

Initial investigations indicate the 23-year-old woman was assaulted by two males and sustained a gunshot wound outside the Railway Parade property.

Detectives believe this is not a random attack and have launched a homicide investigation.

A spree of shooting incidents has occurred in different parts of the nation this month, raising safety concerns.

Earlier on December 20, one man died, and two more were injured after a shooting in Melbourne, the capital city of Australia’s state of Victoria.

Police officers were called to a property in Campbellfield, 15 km north of central Melbourne, at 10:10 p.m. local time following reports a man had been shot.

Upon arrival at the scene, officers found a 60-year-old man suffering from significant and life-threatening injuries.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Victoria Police said in a statement that two men, aged 22 and 20, are under police guard in hospital.

The statement said that the two men came to police attention after being dropped off at the hospital with injuries and that they would be interviewed in relation to the shooting.

“At this stage, it is believed the incident was targeted, and the people involved are known to one another,” police said.

In another shooting incident on December 12, two teenagers were arrested after police believe they are linked to a crash, car fire and shooting in western Sydney.

Police in Australia’s state of New South Wales said in a statement that officers responded to reports of gunshots fired at a barbershop in Mount Druitt, about 40 kilometres west of central Sydney, at about 2:20 a.m. local time.

Upon arrival, police found several bullet holes in the shop’s window.

The shooting was reported shortly after officers arrested two 17-year-old teens at the site of a crashed vehicle in a neighbouring suburb.

The vehicle, which police said was stolen, had failed to comply with a police order to stop, triggering a pursuit that ended with the crash. The two teens were uninjured and arrested on the scene.

–IANS

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Moscow, Dec 23 (IANS) Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was on a working visit in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The meeting was planned several days ago, and the two leaders held talks in a one-on-one meeting, Peskov said during an interview with Pavel Zarubin, a journalist of Russia’s state TV and radio company VGTRK, on Sunday, adding that the two sides were expected to discuss international issues and the transit of Russian gas, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, according to Fico, the meeting was a reaction to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said Thursday at a European Union summit in Brussels that he was against any transit of gas through Ukraine to Slovakia.

Putin confirmed Russia’s readiness to continue supplying gas to the West and to Slovakia, the Slovak prime minister said, adding that it is practically impossible after January 1, 2025, when the current contract expires, given the attitude of Zelensky.

Top EU officials were informed about the trip and its purpose on Friday, Fico said.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has confirmed that his country will halt the transit of Russian gas through its territory starting January 1, 2025.

The resumption of gas transit would be only possible at the request of the European Commission and if Ukraine transports non-Russian gas, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Friday, citing Shmyhal.

Notably, Ukraine used to be a key transit route for Russian gas supplies to Europe.

Slovakia is dependent on gas passing through Ukraine and Fico has criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for refusing to extend the contract, which expires at the end of the year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, shown in a video posted on Zarubin’s account on the Telegram messaging app, said the discussions were sure to focus on gas transit and the current international situation.

The Slovak government office could not be immediately reached for comment and did not immediately reply to emailed questions. Ukraine has repeatedly said it would not extend the transit deal with Russia nearly 34 months into a war between the neighbours.

Slovakia, which has a long-term contract with Russian giant Gazprom, has been trying to keep receiving gas through Ukraine, saying buying elsewhere would cost it 220 million euros ($229 million) more in transit expenses.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv will not extend its five-year gas transportation deal with Russia, which expires at the end of 2024. The move has raised concern for Slovakia, which has a long-term contract with Russian energy giant Gazprom.

–IANS

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