Vacation to north korea

The UN secretary-general has warned the world could be facing further conflict - as North Korea steps up its preparedness. As the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches, Antonio Guterres said he fears the world is "sleepwalking into a wider war" with its "eyes wide open". He pointed to the war in Ukraine as having undermined global solidarity and trust, and urged all countries to recommit to the UN Charter, which calls for the peaceful settlement of disputes. After experts set the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight - the closest it has ever been to "global catastrophe" - Mr Guterres urged the general assembly's 193 member nations to change their mindset to decision-making and look at "what will happen to all of us tomorrow - and act". This is instead of near-term thinking, which he called "irresponsible" and "immoral". "The so-called 'tactical' use of nuclear weapons is absurd," he said, calling for nuclear-armed countries to renounce the … [Read more...] about UN chief fears world ‘sleepwalking into wider war’ – as North Korea steps up preparedness

February 07, 2023 09:51 A North Korean balloon flew into the South Korean airspace and floated around in the sky for a few hours before being blown towards the East Sea on Sunday. The military here kept close track of the incursion, which seems to echo a huge Chinese spy balloon that invaded U.S. airspace until it was shut down on Sunday. A military spokesman said on Monday, "We didn't take any other action because we believe it was a North Korean weather balloon that didn't intrude on our airspace on purpose." According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff here, the balloon crossed the border to Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. It floated in at such a low altitude that it was detected by a thermal observation device. "North Korean weather balloons often cross the military demarcation line, and so do our weather balloons," the spokesman added. "But we have increased surveillance given the recent flyover of a Chinese spy balloon in the U.S." UN … [Read more...] about N.Korean Balloon Crosses into S.Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his military to expand its combat exercises and strengthen war preparedness as he looks to escalate an already provocative run in weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening tensions with its neighbors and Washington. Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission on Monday and encouraged the armed forces to perform “ever-victorious feats” and display “matchless military strength” to open a new phase in development, the country’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. The meeting came amid signs North Korea is planning a military parade that may be an occasion to showcase the latest hardware from his growing nuclear weapons and missile program that’s brewing concern for the United States and its allies in Asia. The commission’s members, who represent Kim’s top military brass, discussed a series of tasks aimed at inducing “great change” in the … [Read more...] about N. Korean leader orders military to improve war readiness

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, left, chats with Interior Minister Lee Sang-min during a parliamentary interpellation session at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Monday. [NEWS1] The People Power Party (PPP) and Democratic Party (DP) locked horns in a grueling parliamentary interpellation session Monday, with conservative lawmakers slamming DP Chairman Lee Jae-myung for alleged misdeeds and liberals criticizing the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's gaffes. The National Assembly on Monday kicked off its three-day interpellation session to question government officials on politics, foreign affairs, unification and security issues. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, Foreign Minister Park Jin and Interior Minister Lee Sang-min were some of the senior government officials questioned on the first day. Asked if prosecutors plan on arresting DP chairman Lee, Justice Minister Han said that a "fair investigation" will be conducted according to the … [Read more...] about Parties trade accusations during interpellation session

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Ukraine and the three Baltic countries, all former Soviet republics, moved a step closer Friday to boycotting next year’s Paris Olympics because of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes. The International Olympic Committee plans to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as “neutral athletes” despite their invasion of Ukraine, saying it can't discriminate athletes based on their citizenship. However, countries have been excluded in the past. The Olympics also have a history of countries choosing to boycott rather than compete against athletes they believed should not have been invited. 1920 — Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey are not invited to the 1920 Antwerp Olympics after defeat in World War I. Host nation Belgium was one of the countries Germany occupied. After the … [Read more...] about Olympic bans and boycotts go back a century

Some White House reporters have been pushing the Trump-Russia Collusion narrative for two years now, and many of them are not willing to let it go despite the fact that there’s still no “there there.” The Daily Caller’s Stephanie Hamill, Vince Coglianese and Henry Rodgers call them out on it, while highlighting other absurd and biased questions. “Fact-Checking The White House ‘Truth Seekers'” is a weekly program that dissects what’s going on at White House press briefings. The White House press corps is supposed to be made up of unbiased journalists who cover the president and anything White House-related. But in the Trump era, some of these journalists have turned more into activists, regularly posing biased questions that advance a largely left-leaning agenda. The Daily Caller team is keeping close tabs on what’s happening during the briefings. While there are some solid, fair White House reporters, there are others who we can’t say the same about. TheDC highlights the … [Read more...] about Reporters Desperately Try To Keep Trump-Russia Collusion Narrative Alive, Even As Evidence Fades

Lee Ha-kyung The author is a senior columnist at the JoongAng Ilbo. The world’s lowest birth rate and fastest aging have caused a hemorrhage in Korea’s national pension. The pension is post-retirement social security. But the system has been impaired with fewer working people and more retirees. At this rate, the pension fund will completely run out in 2055, a year when those born in 1990 become 65. If the current pension system is to be maintained, the premium rate should be raised to 30 percent of income by 2060 from 9 percent today. Some of the younger population have started to demand the national pension be scrapped. Instead, they prefer individual liability for old age. Even with pension benefits, Korea’s poverty rate in the older population is 37.6 percent, nearly tripling the average of developed countries. Both the young and old are seriously asking what the country exists for if it cannot protect their future. President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to undertake the … [Read more...] about [Column] Preventing a national pension nightmare

YOU SANG-CHUL The author is the head of the China Institute of the JoongAng Ilbo and CEO of China Lab. Last year marked the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and China and between Korea and Vietnam. I still have vivid memories of Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc visiting Seoul in December. About a month upon returning, Phuc suddenly resigned. He supposedly stepped down for his ethical responsibility for two vice prime ministers who were involved in a corruption scandal, as both of them are close to him. Others are attributing his resignation to an ongoing power struggle. The Vietnamese Communist Party adopts a group leadership system led by four heavyweights: the general secretary, the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the National Assembly. The secretary general controls the party and the military while overseeing the state affairs. The president is in charge of diplomacy and national defense whereas the prime minister manages the … [Read more...] about [Meanwhile] Sinicization of Vietnam?

William H. Rehnquist, who died Saturday at the age of 80 almost a year after learning he had thyroid cancer, helped lead a conservative revolution on the Supreme Court during 19 notably successful years as chief justice of the United States. Including 14 years as an associate justice, Chief Justice Rehnquist's tenure on the court was not only one of the longest in the institution's history but also one of the most consequential. With a steady hand, a focus and commitment that never wavered, and the muscular use of the power of judicial review, he managed to translate many of his long-held views into binding national precedent. Chief among those was an enhanced role for the states within the federal system, which the court accomplished under his leadership by overturning dozens of federal laws that sought to project federal authority into what the Supreme Court majority viewed as the domain of the states. In the zero-sum game of the tri-partite separation of powers, the Supreme … [Read more...] about William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Is Dead at 80

See the article in its original context from November 12, 1972 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. “The Best and the Brightest;” Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam's latest, most important and impressive book, sets out to discover why America got involved in the worst and messiest war in our history. “What was it about the men, their attitudes, the country, its institutions and above all the era which had allowed this tragedy to take place?” They were, after all, “the best and … [Read more...] about How we got into the messiest war in our history