Search at gold mine called off

Indonesian authorities end rescue operations at the collapsed gold mine in north Sulawesi after a gruelling 10 days.

SINGAPORE: A US military commander said that his country was keeping a close watch on North Korea following reported activity at a rocket launch site.

The head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Adm Phil Davidson said he was committed to maintaining UN sanctions against North Korea and a “readiness of our forces there.”

Davidson added that he was working with countries including South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France to catch any sanctions breaches via methods like ship-to-ship transfers.

“Many of those nations will contribute either maritime patrol aircraft or ships later this year. They’re all sequencing them into their schedules,” he said yesterday.

On Wednesday, foreign experts and a South Korean lawmaker who was briefed by Seoul’s spy service said North Korea was restoring facilities at a long-range rocket launch site that it dismantled last year as part of disarmament steps.

The reports surfaced less than a week after President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Vietnam but failed to reach any agreement on the North’s nuclear programme.

Davidson spoke to reporters ahead of a lecture in Singapore, where he will talk about the importance of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Among the key factors is unity among Asean nations, with which the US will hold a joint maritime exercise in 2019, he said.

Last October, the bloc held its first joint maritime exercise with China, a major trading partner that’s locked in territorial disputes with several of its members in the South China Sea and a wider trade dispute with the US.