12 dead in Indonesia ferry accident, says official
At least a dozen people, including two children, died on Tuesday after a ferry ran aground off the coast of Indonesia, officials said, as rescuers raced to save more than 125 other passengers thought to be aboard the vessel. The deadly incident comes the same day authorities officially called off the search for more than 160 people still missing after another ferry sank on a popular tourist lake in Sumatra two weeks ago. AFP
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo will leave for North Korea on Thursday, seeking agreement on a plan for the country’s denuclearisation, despite mounting doubts about Pyongyang’s willingness to abandon a weapons programme that threatens the United States and its allies.
In announcing Pompeo’s travel plans on Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the US was “continuing to make progress” in talks with North Korea. She declined to confirm or deny recent media reports of intelligence assessments saying North Korea has been expanding its weapons capabilities.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that talks with North Korea were “going well”, tweeting that Pyongyang has conducted “no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months.”
“All of Asia is thrilled. Only the Opposition Party, which includes the Fake News, is complaining. If not for me, we would now be at War with North Korea!” he tweeted.
The state department said that Pompeo would head on Saturday from Pyongyang to Tokyo, where he would discuss North Korean denuclearisation with Japanese and South Korean leaders.
It will be Pompeo’s first visit to North Korea since the June 12 summit in Singapore between Trump and Kim Jong Un, at which the North Korean leader agreed to “work toward denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.”
The joint summit statement, however, gave no details on how or when Pyongyang might give up its weapons. US officials have since been trying to flesh out details to produce an agreement that might live up to Trump’s portrayal of the outcome.
The announcement about Pompeo’s trip to North Korea comes days after he called external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to inform her about the US decision to postpone the July 6 India-US 2+2 dialogue in Washington. The US had cited “unavoidable reasons” for the sudden postponement.
The US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, who was in India last week, had clarified that the postponement of the dialogue had “nothing to do” with the bilateral ties.
ANOTHER TRUMP-KIM SUMMIT IN SEPTEMBER?
Trump is looking to hold a second meeting with Kim in September, a media report said.
According to Axios, officials were so optimistic about making progress with Kim that they hope to hold the second summit in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, which is scheduled to take place from September 18 to 30.
The officials told the website that Kim would have to show progress for the US to agree to the meeting, with the possibility of using the meeting as an incentive to deliver on North Korea’s commitment to denuclearisation.
But experts say there is no proof North Korea’s halt of nuclear and missile tests means it will take concrete steps to give up such weapons. They also say the US has an unrealistic approach to North Korea’s denuclearisation.