Un envoy expressed willingness to ease tensions, says n. korea

SEOUL: The UN political affairs chief expressed willingness to ease tension on the Korean peninsula during a visit to North Korea this week, state media said on Saturday, amid a rising war of words over the North’s missile and nuclear programs. North Korea also said in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency that the UN envoy acknowledged the negative impact of sanctions on humanitarian aid to North Korea. Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level UN official to visit North Korea since 2012, did not speak to reporters upon arriving back from Pyongyang at Beijing airport on Saturday morning. “The United Nations expressed concerns over the heightened situation on the Korean peninsula and expressed willingness to work on easing tensions on the Korean peninsula in accordance with the UN Charter which is based on international peace and security,” KCNA said. Speaking at an academic forum, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the situation on the Korean peninsula had entered a vicious circle of shows of strength and confrontation, and the outlook was not optimistic, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “But at the same time it can be seen that hopes for peace have yet to extinguished. The prospects for negotiations still exist, and the option of resorting to force cannot be accepted,” Wang was quoted as saying. The US Supreme Court on Friday granted a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to block the release of documents concerning his decision to end a program that shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of young adults dubbed “Dreamers” brought into the country illegally as children.

The nine-member, conservative-majority court, acting despite objections from its four liberal justices, put on hold an order by US District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco for the administra-