01/05/2020
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Australian government said on Friday it would meet a week ahead of schedule to decide whether to ease social distancing restrictions, as the numbers of new coronavirus infections dwindle and pressure mounts for business and schools to reopen.
Australia has reported about 6,700 cases of the new coronavirus and 93 deaths, well below the levels reported in the United States and Europe. Growth in new infections has slowed to less 0.5% a day, compared to 25% a month ago.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was imperative to lift social distancing restrictions as early as possible as 1.5 million people were now on unemployment benefits and the government forecast the unemployment rate to top 10% within months.
“We need to restart our economy, we need to restart our society. We can’t keep Australia under the doona,” Morrison said, using an Australian word for quilt.
Morrison’s government has pledged spending of more than 10% of GDP to boost the economy but the central bank still warns the country is heading for its worst contraction since the 1930s.
With less than 20 new coronavirus cases discovered each day, Morrison said state and territory lawmakers would meet on May 8 – a week earlier than expected – to determine whether to lift restrictions.
“Australians deserve an early mark for the work that they have done,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
Australia attributes its success in slowing the spread of COVID-19 to social distancing restrictions imposed in April, including the forced closures of pubs, restaurants and limiting the size of indoor and outdoor gatherings.
Morrison said 3.5 million people had downloaded an app on their smartphones designed to help medics trace people potentially exposed to the virus, though the government is hoping for about 40% of the country’s 25.7 million population to sign up to ensure it is effective.
Cabinet will also decide next week how to restart sport across the country, the prime minister said.
The government says any resumption of sport should not compromise the public health, and recommends a staggered start beginning with small groups that play non-contact contact sport outdoors.
The recommendations suggests Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) competition may not get permission to restart its competition as soon as many in the sports-mad country would like.
Source: Reuters
Posted in 10%, accelerates, ahead, APP, April, attributes, Australia, Australian government, boost, Business, Canberra, Central bank, closures, competition, contraction, coronavirus, coronavirus infections, COVID-19, deaths, decide, decision, doona, downloaded, dwindle, ease, economy, Europe, Friday, gatherings, GDP, imperative, indoor, lawmakers, lift, medics, meet, more than, mounts, National Rugby League (NRL), new, Numbers, outdoor, pledged, pressure, Prime minister, pubs, quilt, recommendations, reopen, restaurants, restrictions, schedule, schools, Scott Morrison, smartphones, Social distancing, spending, success, Sydney, trace, Uncategorized, unemployment, unemployment benefits, United States, week, whether |
Leave a Comment »
22/04/2020
SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) – China has allowed 200 employees from South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) to enter the country to work on an expansion of the firm’s NAND memory chip factory, the company said on Wednesday.
The move came after China said on Tuesday that it was in talks with some countries to establish fast-track procedures to allow travel by business and technical personnel to ensure the smooth operation of global supply chains.
China said it has reached a consensus on such an arrangement with South Korea, without elaborating on the terms, including whether individuals entering China will be subject to quarantine.
China, where the virus first emerged late last year, blocked entry last month for nearly all foreigners in an effort to curb risks of coronavirus infections posed by travellers from overseas. After bringing the local spread under control with tough containment measures, it is trying to restart its economic engines after weeks of near paralysis.
A chartered China Air Ltd (601111.SS) plane flew in the Samsung Electronics employees on Wednesday, a company spokeswoman said.
Samsung said its employees will follow the local government’s policy upon arrival, without elaborating.
Shaanxi province, where Samsung’s NAND memory chip plant is located, requires people travelling from overseas to undergo a 14-day quarantine, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.
“Samsung employees will not be exempted from the 14-day quarantine rule imposed by the Shaanxi province. They will get coronavirus tests at the airport upon arrival and will be transported to a local hotel designated by Chinese authorities,” an official at the Consulate General of South Korea in Xi’an told Reuters.
Samsung Electronics in December increased investment at its chip factory in China by $8 billion to boost production of NAND flash memory chips.
Source: Reuters
Posted in $8 billion, 14-day quarantine, 200, according, after, Airport, allow, allowed, allows, Arrangement, arrival, Beijing, billion, blocked, boost, bringing, Business, came, chartered, China, China Air Ltd, chinese authorities, chip factory, Company, consensus, Consulate General, containment, control, coronavirus infections, coronavirus tests, countries, Country, curb, December, designated, economic engines, effort, elaborating, emerged, employees, ensure, enter, entering, entry, establish, exempted, expansion, Factory, fast-track, firms, flash memory chips, flew, Foreign Ministry, Foreigners, from, from overseas, global supply chains, including, increased, individuals, Investment, last month, late last year, local governments, local hotel, local spread, located, measures, memory chip, move, NAND, near, nearly, Official, operation, overseas, paralysis, People, personnel, plane, Plant, policy, posed, procedures, production, quarantine, reached, requires, restart, Reuters, Risks, rule, Samsung Elec, Seoul, shaanxi province, smooth, South Korea, South Korea’s, spokeswoman, staff, subject, talks, technical, terms, tough, transported, travel, travellers, travelling, trying, Tuesday, Uncategorized, undergo, upon, Virus, Wednesday, weeks, whether, without, work, Xi'an |
Leave a Comment »
21/04/2020
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ill after media outlets said he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was in “grave danger”.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based speciality website, reported late on Monday, citing one unnamed source in North Korea, that Kim was recovering after undergoing the procedure on April 12. The North Korean leader is believed to be about 36.
CNN cited a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter as saying Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in grave danger after surgery. Bloomberg quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the White House was told that Kim took a turn for the worse after the surgery.
However, two South Korean government officials rejected the CNN report without elaborating on whether Kim had undergone surgery. The presidential Blue House said there were no unusual signs coming from the reclusive, nuclear-capable state.
Kim is the unquestioned leader of North Korea and the sole commander of its nuclear arsenal. He has no clear successor and any instability in the country could be a major international risk.
The state KCNA news agency gave no indication of the whereabouts of Kim in routine dispatches on Tuesday, but said he had sent birthday gifts to prominent citizens.
An official at the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, which deals with North Korea, told Reuters the source did not believe Kim was critically ill. China is North Korea’s only major ally.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing was aware of reports about the health of Kim, but said it does not know their source, without commenting on whether it has any information about the situation.
South Korean shares exposed to North Korea tumbled and the Korean won fell on the reports. The won traded down more than 1% against the dollar even as South Korean government sources said Kim was not gravely ill.
U.S. stock futures were trading 0.5% lower, but it was not clear how much of that weakness was owing to the collapse in U.S. oil prices and consequent concerns over global demand.
Daily NK said Kim had been admitted to hospital on April 12, just hours before the cardiovascular procedure, as his health had deteriorated since August due to heavy smoking, obesity and overwork.
It said he was now receiving treatment at a villa in the Mount Myohyang resort north of the capital Pyongyang.
“My understanding is that he had been struggling (with cardiovascular problems) since last August but it worsened after repeated visits to Mount Paektu,” a source was quoted as saying, referring to the country’s sacred mountain.
Accompanied by senior North Korean figures, Kim took two well-publicised rides on a stallion on the snowy slopes of the mountain in October and December.
KIM’S HEALTH KEY TO STABILITY
An authoritative U.S. source familiar with internal U.S. government reporting on North Korea questioned the CNN report that Kim was in “grave danger”.
“Any credible direct reporting having to do with Kim would be highly compartmented intelligence and unlikely to leak to the media,” a Korea specialist working for the U.S. government said on condition of anonymity.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, declined to comment on the reports of Kim’s health.
“We are regularly gathering and analysing information about North Korea with great concern,” he said. “We will keep gathering and analysing information regarding North Korea by collaborating with other countries such as the U.S.”
Kim’s potential health issues could fuel uncertainty over the future of the reclusive state’s dynastic rule and stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States, issues in which Kim wields absolute authority.
With no details known about his young children, analysts say his sister and loyalists could form a regency until a successor is old enough to take over.
Speculation about Kim’s health first arose following his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of its founding father and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.
On April 12, North Korean state media reported that Kim Jong Un had visited an airbase and observed drills by fighter jets and attack aircraft.
Two days later North Korea launched multiple short-range anti-ship cruise missiles into the sea and Sukhoi jets fired air-to-surface missiles as part of military exercises.
The missile launches were part of the celebrations for Kim’s grandfather, Seoul officials said, but there was no North Korea state media report on his attendance or the tests.
Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, especially on matters concerning the country’s leadership, given tight controls on information. There have been false and conflicting reports in the past on matters related to its leaders.
Kim is a third-generation hereditary leader who rules North Korea with an iron-fist, taking over the titles of head of state and commander in chief of the military since late 2011.
In recent years Kim has launched a diplomatic offensive to promote both himself as a world leader and his hermit kingdom, holding three meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, four with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and five with China’s President Xi Jinping.
He was the first North Korean leader to cross the border into South Korea to meet Moon in 2018. Both Koreas are technically still at war, as the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Kim has sought to have international sanctions against his country eased, but has refused to dismantle his nuclear weapons programme, a steadfast demand by the United States.
Source: Reuters
Posted in 1950-53, 2018, 36, about, absence, absolute, accompanied, admitted, after, air-to-surface missiles, airbase, ally, analysts, anniversary, anonymity, anti-ship, April, armistice, arose, attack aircraft, attendance, August, authoritative, authority, aware, “grave danger”, “monitoring intelligence”, before, Beijing, believed, Birthday, birthday gifts, Bloomberg, Blue House, border, capital, cardiovascular, cardiovascular problems, cast, celebrations, China, China's President Xi Jinping, China’s, Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Chinese officials, cited, citing, Citizens, clear, CNN, collaborating, collapse, coming from, commander-in-chief, comment, commenting, compartmented, concerning, concerns, condition, conflicting, consequent, controls, Country, country’s, critically ill, cross, Daily NK, deals, December, declined, demand, denuclearisation, details, deteriorated, difficult, diplomatic offensive, Direct, dismantle, dollar, doubt, drills, dynastic rule, eased, elaborating, enough, especially, exposed, false, fighter jets, fired, first, five, following, founding father, four, future, given, global demand, government officials, government spokesman, grandfather, gravely, head of state, health, heavy smoking, hereditary, hermit kingdom, himself, Hospital, hours, ill, indication, information, Instability, intelligence, international, international risk, iron-fist, issues, Japan’s, KCNA news agency, Kim, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un, knowledge, Korean, Korean War, launched, leader, leadership, leak, lower, loyalists, Major, matter, matters, media, media outlets, meetings, Military, military exercises, Monday, Mount Myohyang, Mount Paektu, Mountain, multiple, North, North Korean leader, notoriously, nuclear arsenal, nuclear weapons, nuclear-capable, obesity, observed, October, Official, old, one, only, overwork, owing, part, peace treaty, President Moon Jae-in, presidential, procedure, programme, prominent, promote, Pyongyang, quoted, receiving, reclusive, recovering, refused, regency, rejected, repeated, report, reported, reports, Resort, Reuters, rides, routine dispatche, routine dispatches, rules, sacred mountain, sanctions, saying, sea, senior, sent, Seoul, shares, short-range, sister, situation, snowy slopes, sole commander, source, South Korea, South Korean, speciality, speculation, stalled, stallion, state, steadfast, still at war, struggling, succession, successor, Sukhoi jets, surgery, take over, taking, talks, technically, tests, Third-generation, Three, tight, titles, told, top, trading, treatment, Tuesday, tumbled, turn for the worse, two, U.S. official, U.S. oil prices, U.S. President Donald Trump, Uncategorized, uncertainty, undergoing, undergone, United States, unlikely, unnamed, unquestioned, unusual signs, urn for the worse, villa, visited, visits, Washington, weakness, website, well-publicised, whereabouts, whether, White House, wields, without, won, world leader, worsened, young children |
Leave a Comment »
12/02/2020
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China reported on Wednesday its smallest number of coronavirus cases since January, lending weight to a prediction by its top medical adviser for the outbreak to end by April, but a global infectious diseases expert warned of the spread elsewhere.
Financial markets took heart from the outlook of the Chinese official, epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, who said on Tuesday the number of new cases was falling in some provinces, and forecast the epidemic would peak this month, even as the death toll in China rose to more than 1,100 people.
World stocks, which had seen rounds of sell-offs over the virus, surged to record highs on hopes of a peak in cases. The Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hit new highs, and Asian shares nudged higher on Wednesday.
But the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the epidemic poses a global threat akin to terrorism and one expert coordinating its response said while the outbreak may be peaking at its epicentre in China, it was likely to spread elsewhere in the world, where it had just begun.
“It has spread to other places where it’s the beginning of the outbreak,” the official, Dale Fisher, head of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network coordinated by the WHO, said in an interview in Singapore.
“In Singapore, we are at the beginning of the outbreak.”
Singapore has reported 47 cases and worry about the spread is growing. Its biggest bank, DBS (DBSM.SI), evacuated 300 staff from its head office on Wednesday after a confirmed coronavirus case in the building.
Hundreds of cases have been reported in dozens of other countries and territories around the world, but only two people have died outside mainland China – one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday the world had to “wake up and consider this enemy virus as public enemy number one” and the first vaccine was 18 months away.
In China, total infections have hit 44,653, health officials said, including 2,015 new confirmed cases on Tuesday. That was the lowest daily rise in new cases since Jan. 30.
The number of deaths on the mainland rose by 97 to 1,113 by the end of Tuesday.
But doubts have been aired on social media about how reliable the figures are, after the government last week amended guidelines on the classification of cases.
‘STAY HOPEFUL’
The biggest cluster of cases outside China is aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Japan’s port of Yokohama, with about 3,700 people on board. Japanese officials on Wednesday said 39 more people had tested positive for the virus, taking the total to 175.
One of the new cases was a quarantine officer.
Thailand said it was barring passengers from another cruise ship, MS Westerdam, from disembarking, the latest country to turn it away amid fears of the coronavirus, despite no confirmed infections on board.
“We try to stay hopeful,” American passenger Angela Jones told Reuters in a video recording. “But each day, that becomes a little bit more difficult, when country after country rejects us.”
Echoing the comparison with the fight against terrorism, China’s state news agency Xinhua said late on Tuesday the epidemic was a “battle that has no gunpowder smoke but must be won”.
The epidemic was a big test of China’s governance and capabilities and some officials were still “dropping the ball” in places where it was most severe, it said, adding: “This is a wake-up call.”
The government of Hubei, the central province at the outbreak’s epicentre, dismissed the provincial health commission’s Communist Party boss, state media said on Tuesday, amid mounting public anger over the crisis.
China’s censors had allowed criticism of local officials but have begun cracking down on reporting of the outbreak, issuing reprimands to tech firms that gave free rein to online speech, Chinese journalists said.
The pathogen has been named COVID-19 – CO for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for the year it emerged. It is suspected to have come from a market that illegally traded wildlife in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan in December.
The city of 11 million people remains under virtual lockdown as part of China’s unprecedented measures to seal infected regions and limit transmission routes.
Travel restrictions that have paralysed the world’s second-biggest economy have left Wuhan and other Chinese cities resembling ghost towns.
Even if the epidemic ends soon, it has taken a toll of China’s economy, with companies laying off workers and needing loans running into billions of dollars to stay afloat. Supply chains for makers of items from cars to smartphones have broken down.
ANZ Bank said China’s first-quarter growth would probably slow to 3.2% to 4.0%, down from a projection of 5.0%.
The likely slowdown in China could shave 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points off both euro zone and British growth this year, credit rating agency S&P Global estimated.
Source: Reuters
Posted in &P 500, American, ANZ Bank, April, “dropping the ball”, barring, Beijing, British growth, broken down, capabilities, cars, cases, central province, China, China’s, China’s economy, Chinese, CO for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19, Communist Party boss, companies, comparison, coronavirus, coronavirus cases, COVID-19, Credit rating agency, Cruise Ship, December, Diamond Princess, disagree, disembarking, dismissed, Dow industrials, Echoing, elsewhere, end, epidemic, epidemiologist, estimated, Euro Zone, expert, experts, fall, fight, ghost towns, global, Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, Governance, Government, gunpowder smoke, Hong Kong, hubei province, illegally traded wildlife, infected regions, infectious diseases, items, January, Japanese, laying off, lending, limit, Mainland China, Makers, market, MS Westerdam, NASDAQ, near, needing loans, number, Official, officials, outbreak, outbreak’s epicentre, paralysed, passenger, passengers, pathogen, peak, Philippines, Port, prediction, provinces, provincial health commission’s, quarantine officer, quarantined, reported, Reuters, S&P 500, S&P Global, seal, Singapore, smallest, smartphones, spread, state news agency, supply chains, surged, terrorism, Thailand, toll, top medical adviser, transmission routes, travel restrictions, Uncategorized, video recording, virtual lockdown, wake-up call, Wednesday, weight, whether, won, workers, World Health Organization (WHO), World stocks, world’s second-biggest economy, Wuhan, Xinhua, Yokohama |
Leave a Comment »
23/01/2020
GENEVA (Reuters) – A World Health Organisation panel of experts on the new coronavirus met on Thursday to evaluate whether the outbreak, which has spread from China to several countries, constitutes an international emergency.
The 16 independent experts in disease control, virology, epidemiology and vaccine development were holding a second closed-door meeting at the U.N. agency’s headquarters in Geneva after not reaching a decision on Wednesday.
Didier Houssin, an adviser to France’s national health security agency, is serving as chair. Chinese health authorities made a presentation by teleconference and have allowed a WHO team into the country who are due to report back to the panel.
A news conference was expected later in the day.
Here are some facts about WHO Emergency Committees:
– Director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Monday that the WHO had called an Emergency Committee to assess the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year.
– Declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern – known as a “PHEIC” in WHO jargon – is rare.
– The WHO panel’s recommendations, after assessing any evidence of human-to-human transmission and other factors, would be put to Tedros, who would decide whether to declare an emergency.
– Only five emergencies have been declared in the past decade: the H1 virus that caused an influenza pandemic (2009), West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, polio (2014), Zika virus (2016), and the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2019).
– The WHO’s criteria, laid out in the 2005 International Health Regulations, define a PHEIC as “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response”.
– Such situations are “serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected”, carry cross-border implications and may require immediate international action, its rules say.
– A declaration would lead to boosting public health measures, funding and resources to prevent and reduce international spread.
– It could include recommendations on trade and travel, including airport screening of passengers, although the WHO generally aims to avoid disruptive trade restrictions.
Source: Reuters
Posted in “PHEIC”, China, Chinese health authorities, coronavirus, decide, disease control, emergency, Emergency Committees, epidemiology, expert panel, experts, Geneva, independent, influenza pandemic, international emergency, International Health Regulations, national health security agency, new virus, polio, Public Health Emergency of International Concern, Uncategorized, vaccine development, virology, West Africa’s Ebola, whether, WHO, World Health Organisation, Wuhan, Zika virus |
Leave a Comment »
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 
South Korea, China cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim gravely ill
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ill after media outlets said he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was in “grave danger”.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based speciality website, reported late on Monday, citing one unnamed source in North Korea, that Kim was recovering after undergoing the procedure on April 12. The North Korean leader is believed to be about 36.
CNN cited a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter as saying Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in grave danger after surgery. Bloomberg quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the White House was told that Kim took a turn for the worse after the surgery.
However, two South Korean government officials rejected the CNN report without elaborating on whether Kim had undergone surgery. The presidential Blue House said there were no unusual signs coming from the reclusive, nuclear-capable state.
Kim is the unquestioned leader of North Korea and the sole commander of its nuclear arsenal. He has no clear successor and any instability in the country could be a major international risk.
RELATED COVERAGE
The state KCNA news agency gave no indication of the whereabouts of Kim in routine dispatches on Tuesday, but said he had sent birthday gifts to prominent citizens.
An official at the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, which deals with North Korea, told Reuters the source did not believe Kim was critically ill. China is North Korea’s only major ally.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing was aware of reports about the health of Kim, but said it does not know their source, without commenting on whether it has any information about the situation.
South Korean shares exposed to North Korea tumbled and the Korean won fell on the reports. The won traded down more than 1% against the dollar even as South Korean government sources said Kim was not gravely ill.
U.S. stock futures were trading 0.5% lower, but it was not clear how much of that weakness was owing to the collapse in U.S. oil prices and consequent concerns over global demand.
Daily NK said Kim had been admitted to hospital on April 12, just hours before the cardiovascular procedure, as his health had deteriorated since August due to heavy smoking, obesity and overwork.
It said he was now receiving treatment at a villa in the Mount Myohyang resort north of the capital Pyongyang.
“My understanding is that he had been struggling (with cardiovascular problems) since last August but it worsened after repeated visits to Mount Paektu,” a source was quoted as saying, referring to the country’s sacred mountain.
Accompanied by senior North Korean figures, Kim took two well-publicised rides on a stallion on the snowy slopes of the mountain in October and December.
KIM’S HEALTH KEY TO STABILITY
An authoritative U.S. source familiar with internal U.S. government reporting on North Korea questioned the CNN report that Kim was in “grave danger”.
“Any credible direct reporting having to do with Kim would be highly compartmented intelligence and unlikely to leak to the media,” a Korea specialist working for the U.S. government said on condition of anonymity.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, declined to comment on the reports of Kim’s health.
“We are regularly gathering and analysing information about North Korea with great concern,” he said. “We will keep gathering and analysing information regarding North Korea by collaborating with other countries such as the U.S.”
Kim’s potential health issues could fuel uncertainty over the future of the reclusive state’s dynastic rule and stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States, issues in which Kim wields absolute authority.
With no details known about his young children, analysts say his sister and loyalists could form a regency until a successor is old enough to take over.
Speculation about Kim’s health first arose following his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of its founding father and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.
On April 12, North Korean state media reported that Kim Jong Un had visited an airbase and observed drills by fighter jets and attack aircraft.
Two days later North Korea launched multiple short-range anti-ship cruise missiles into the sea and Sukhoi jets fired air-to-surface missiles as part of military exercises.
The missile launches were part of the celebrations for Kim’s grandfather, Seoul officials said, but there was no North Korea state media report on his attendance or the tests.
Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, especially on matters concerning the country’s leadership, given tight controls on information. There have been false and conflicting reports in the past on matters related to its leaders.
Kim is a third-generation hereditary leader who rules North Korea with an iron-fist, taking over the titles of head of state and commander in chief of the military since late 2011.
In recent years Kim has launched a diplomatic offensive to promote both himself as a world leader and his hermit kingdom, holding three meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, four with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and five with China’s President Xi Jinping.
He was the first North Korean leader to cross the border into South Korea to meet Moon in 2018. Both Koreas are technically still at war, as the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Kim has sought to have international sanctions against his country eased, but has refused to dismantle his nuclear weapons programme, a steadfast demand by the United States.
Source: Reuters
Posted in 1950-53, 2018, 36, about, absence, absolute, accompanied, admitted, after, air-to-surface missiles, airbase, ally, analysts, anniversary, anonymity, anti-ship, April, armistice, arose, attack aircraft, attendance, August, authoritative, authority, aware, “grave danger”, “monitoring intelligence”, before, Beijing, believed, Birthday, birthday gifts, Bloomberg, Blue House, border, capital, cardiovascular, cardiovascular problems, cast, celebrations, China, China's President Xi Jinping, China’s, Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Chinese officials, cited, citing, Citizens, clear, CNN, collaborating, collapse, coming from, commander-in-chief, comment, commenting, compartmented, concerning, concerns, condition, conflicting, consequent, controls, Country, country’s, critically ill, cross, Daily NK, deals, December, declined, demand, denuclearisation, details, deteriorated, difficult, diplomatic offensive, Direct, dismantle, dollar, doubt, drills, dynastic rule, eased, elaborating, enough, especially, exposed, false, fighter jets, fired, first, five, following, founding father, four, future, given, global demand, government officials, government spokesman, grandfather, gravely, head of state, health, heavy smoking, hereditary, hermit kingdom, himself, Hospital, hours, ill, indication, information, Instability, intelligence, international, international risk, iron-fist, issues, Japan’s, KCNA news agency, Kim, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un, knowledge, Korean, Korean War, launched, leader, leadership, leak, lower, loyalists, Major, matter, matters, media, media outlets, meetings, Military, military exercises, Monday, Mount Myohyang, Mount Paektu, Mountain, multiple, North, North Korean leader, notoriously, nuclear arsenal, nuclear weapons, nuclear-capable, obesity, observed, October, Official, old, one, only, overwork, owing, part, peace treaty, President Moon Jae-in, presidential, procedure, programme, prominent, promote, Pyongyang, quoted, receiving, reclusive, recovering, refused, regency, rejected, repeated, report, reported, reports, Resort, Reuters, rides, routine dispatche, routine dispatches, rules, sacred mountain, sanctions, saying, sea, senior, sent, Seoul, shares, short-range, sister, situation, snowy slopes, sole commander, source, South Korea, South Korean, speciality, speculation, stalled, stallion, state, steadfast, still at war, struggling, succession, successor, Sukhoi jets, surgery, take over, taking, talks, technically, tests, Third-generation, Three, tight, titles, told, top, trading, treatment, Tuesday, tumbled, turn for the worse, two, U.S. official, U.S. oil prices, U.S. President Donald Trump, Uncategorized, uncertainty, undergoing, undergone, United States, unlikely, unnamed, unquestioned, unusual signs, urn for the worse, villa, visited, visits, Washington, weakness, website, well-publicised, whereabouts, whether, White House, wields, without, won, world leader, worsened, young children | Leave a Comment »