China, US agree aim of ‘denuclearization’
S. Koreans rally against THAAD
BEIJING, June 24, (Agencies): China and the United States agreed that efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula should be “complete, verifiable and irreversible”, Chinese state media said on Saturday, reporting the results of high level talks in Washington this week.
“Both sides reaffirm that they will strive for the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” a consensus document released by the official Xinhua news agency said.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said on Thursday that the United States pressed China to ramp up economic and political pressure on North Korea, during his meeting with top Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs.
China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui met Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis during the talks. Yang later met with US President Donald Trump in the White House, where they also discussed North Korea, Xinhua reported.
The consensus document also highlighted the need to fully and strictly hold to UN Security Council resolutions and push for dialogue and negotiation, which has long been China’s position on the issue.
Military-to-military exchanges should also be upgraded and mechanisms of notification established in order to cut the risks of “judgement errors” between the Chinese and US militaries, the statement also said.
Chinese state media described the talks, the first of their kind with the Trump administration, as an upgrade in dialogue mechanisms between China and the United States, following on from President Xi Jiping’s meeting with Trump in Florida in April.
Xi and Trump are next expected to meet again in Hamburg during the G20 Summit next month.
A day last week’s talks, President Donald Trump said China’s efforts to use its leverage with North Korea had failed, raising fresh doubts about his administration’s strategy for countering the threat from North Korea.
The death of American university student Otto Warmbier earlier this week, after his release from 17 months of imprisonment in Pyongyang, further complicated Trump’s approach to North Korea.
China, North Korea’s main trading partner, has been accused of not fully enforcing existing UN sanctions on its neighbour, and has resisted some tougher measures.
Washington has considered further “secondary sanctions” against Chinese banks and other firms doing business with North Korea, which China opposes.
Tillerson
S. Koreans protest US THAAD:
Thousands of protesters marched near the US embassy in Seoul on Saturday, accusing President Donald Trump of “forcing” South Korea to deploy a controversial American missile defence system opposed by China.
The protest came as South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-In heads to Washington next week for his first summit with Trump amid soaring tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Around 4,000 people participated in the demonstration, the largest since South Korea and the United States agreed to deploy the system, known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD).
Protesters carried placards that read: “Trump stop forcing (South Korea) to deploy THAAD” and “No THAAD, No Trump”.
The crowd included residents from the southeastern county of Seongju where the system is being deployed who say it poses health and environmental hazards and argue that its presence could make them a priority target for North Korea.
THAAD was approved by Moon’s ousted predecessor, conservative president Park Geun-Hye, who then steamrollered the project through a hasty environmental review during her last months in office as she became ensnared in a massive corruption scandal.
Call for NKorean Oly participation:
South Korea President Moon Jae-in said Saturday he hopes to see North Korean athletes at next year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea to ease tensions over the North’s nuclear program.
Moon made the comments during the opening ceremony of the world taekwondo championships in the South Korean town of Muju, where a North Korean delegation led by International Olympic Committee member Chang Ung was also present.
The championships, which will feature a performance by the North Korean taekwondo demonstration team, mark the first sports exchange between the Koreas since the liberal Moon took office in May.
Moon has expressed a desire to use the Feb 9-25 Pyeongchang Olympics to reach out to North Korea, with relations between the two at their lowest point in decades. During his stay in the South, Chang is expected to meet South Korean officials to discuss cooperation at the Winter Olympics..
N. Korean soldier defects:
A North Korean soldier defected to the South after crossing the heavily fortified border, a defence ministry spokesman said Saturday, the second soldier to defect this month.
There was no exchange of fire between the two sides when the North Korean soldier, a private, smuggled himself across the border to the south, the Yonhap report said.
His defection came after another North Korean soldier walked across the tense border on June 13.
On June 18, a North Korean civilian swam across a river to defect to the South, with styrofoam pieces strapped to both shoulders to stay afloat.
Early this month, two of four crew members of a North Korean fishing boat which drifted to the South refused to return home. They were allowed resettle.
Park’s friend gets 3 years:
A South Korean court has sentenced a longtime friend of ousted President Park Geun-hye to three years in prison for using her presidential ties to unlawfully get her daughter into a prestigious Seoul university.
The Seoul Central District Court on Friday said Choi Soon-sil “committed so many illegal activities” as she pressured Ewha Womans University to grant admission and then provide academic favors to her daughter despite Chung Yoo-ra’s questionable qualifications.
Choi is being tried separately over more serious charges, including allegations that she colluded with Park to take tens of millions of dollars from the country’s largest companies in bribes and through extortion.