Borneo Bulletin Digital

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2020
France
backtracks
from ban on
chokeholds
by police
Page 25
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AP) — North
Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison
ofice building just north of the
heavily armed border with South
Korea yesterday in a dramatic display
of anger that sharply raises tensions
on the Korean Peninsula and puts
pressure on Washington and Seoul
amid deadlocked nuclear diplomacy.
The demolition of the building,
which is located on North Korean
territory and had no South Koreans
working there, is largely symbolic.
But it’s still likely the most
provocative thing North Korea
has done since it entered nuclear
diplomacy in 2018 after a United
States (US)-North Korean standoff
had many fearing war. It will pose
a serious setback to the efforts
of liberal South Korean President
Moon Jae-in to restore inter-
Korean engagement.
North Korea’s oficial Korean
Central News Agency said the
nation destroyed the ofice in a
“terriic explosion” because its
“enraged people” were determined
to “force (the) human scum and
those, who have sheltered the
scum, to pay dearly for their
crimes,” apparently referring to
North Korean defectors who for
years have loated anti-Pyongyang
lealets across the border. The
agency did not detail how the ofice
in the North Korean border town of
Kaesong was destroyed.
Photos from the South’s Yonhap
News Agency showed smoke rising
fromwhat appeared to be a complex
of buildings.
The agency said the area was
part of a now-shuttered inter-Korean
industrial park where the liaison
ofice was located.
The North also said it has cut off
all government and military com-
munication channels with the South
while threatening to abandon bilater-
al peace agreements reached during
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s
three summits with Moon in 2018.
Some outside analysts believe
the North, after failing to get what
it wants in nuclear talks, will turn
to provocation to win outside
concessions because its economy
has likely worsened because of
persistent US-led sanctions and the
coronavirus pandemic. North Korea
may also be frustrated because
the sanctions prevent Seoul from
breaking away from Washington
to resume joint economic projects
with Pyongyang.
The liaison ofice has been shut
since late January because of coro-
navirus concerns. The ofice, report-
edly built with South Korean money,
was the irst such ofice between
the two Koreas since their 1945 divi-
sion and was considered a symbol
of Moon’s engagement policy.
Seoul’s Blue House said presi-
dential national security adviser
Chung Eui-yong, who shuttled be-
tween Pyongyang and Washington
to help set up Kim’s irst summit
with President Donald Trump in
June 2018, convened an emergen-
cy meeting of the National Security
Council to discuss the North’s de-
struction of the liaison ofice. De-
tails weren’t immediately released.
File photo shows South and North Korean of icials attending an opening ceremony of a joint liaison of ice in Kaesong. PHOTO: AFP
N Korea blows up inter-Korea liaison office,
raising tensions
TOKYO (AP) — Black smoke was
billowing yesterday from a cruise
ship docked at a port near Tokyo
as crewmembers and dozens of
ireighters and coast guard per-
sonnel battled to control it.
The cause of the smoke was
not immediately known, and the
coast guard reported no injuries.
The local coast guard branch
said the smoke was com-
ing from the top deck of the
Asuka II, one of Japan’s largest
cruise ships.
No passengers were on the
ship, its operator NYK Line said.
The company said 153 crewmem-
bers were on board for essential
duty and were ighting the ire.
The cruise ship has been
docked in Yokohama Port, west
of Tokyo, since early April after
returning from Singapore where
it had undergone maintenance.
Yokohama Port is where the
Diamond Princess cruise ship earlier
this year had a coronavirus outbreak
that infectedmore than 700 people.
Black smoke billowing from cruise
ship docked near Tokyo
SRINAGAR, INDIA (AP) — At least
three Indian soldiers, including a
senior army oficer, were killed in a
confrontation with Chinese troops
along their disputed frontier high
in the Himalayas where thousands
of soldiers on both sides have been
facing off for over a month, the
Indian army said yesterday.
The incident is the irst
confrontation between the two
Asian giants in which soldiers have
died since 1975.
The Indian army said in a
statement that a “violent faceoff”
took place in Galwan valley in the
Ladakh region on Monday night
“with casualties on both sides”.
“The loss of lives on the Indian
side includes an oficer and two
soldiers,” the statement said.
“Senior military oficials of the two
sides are currently meeting at the
venue to defuse the situation.”
China, for its part, accused
Indian forces along their Himalayan
border of carrying out “provocative
attacks” on its troops, leading to
“seriousphysical conlicts” between
the sides.
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Zhao Lijian gave no details on any
casualties on the Chinese side,
but said yesterday that China had
strongly protested the incident
while still being committed to
maintaining “peace and tranquility”
along the disputed and heavily
militarised border.
India says three soldiers killed in standoff with
Chinese troops